Making small changes or “baby-stepping”
the process keeps every decision in the frontal
lobe of your brain, in “effort” territory.
Simply limiting added sugar (“I’m going to
have only one sweet treat per day”) leads to
incessant battles of willpower, continued
cravings, and small sugar hits, which keep
your brain focused on sugar. When faced with
the offer of a cookie, your decision-making
process is extensive, and painful: “Should I
eat it? Is this what I want for my one treat?
Maybe just today I’ll have two treats. ...” But
by committing to eliminate all added sugar,
you’ve taken it out of the equation and made
that decision more automatic, which makes it
easier to continue that behavior until it
becomes a habit. When faced with the same
cookie offer, your decision-making process is
easy: “Thanks, but I’m not eating sweets
today.”
In addition, the only way this program will
work is if you give it the full thirty days—no