If you’re on a weight loss or healthy eating campaign and find yourself fighting the temptation of food that could jeopardise your chances of success, it might be time to do a bit of Urge Surfing! Never heard of this phrase before? Neither had I until a few weeks ago, although I was already familiar with some of the principles.
Years ago, one of my roles as a personal trainer was presenting workshops for an organisation designed to provide practical solutions for families dealing with obesity.
Part of the course suggested ways to manage the cravings that adverts for snacks, confectionary and ready meals induced. One of the solutions was to use some other activity to create a distraction for at least 20 minutes to avoid acting on the impulse to eat junk. In theory, this timeframe was enough for the desire to fade and eventually pass.
‘Urge Surfing’ is a similar idea. Attributed to the late Alan Marlett Ph.D., a pioneer in the eld of psychology, he used this method for the treatment of addictions, but the principles can easily be transferred to managing food cravings as well. The idea is that urges are like waves; they rise in intensity, reach a crescendo and eventually crash. Managing these urges by ‘surfing’ them helps you to harness and override the desire and ultimately eliminate it altogether.
To fully understand and practice urge surfing, a more in-depth study is needed than I can provide here but, as a very simplified overview, urge surfing involves focusing on the sensations felt throughout the body as you experience an urge, then, by concentrating on your breathing, you move through the sensations until the wave passes.
Once you reach this stage you have successfully surfed an urge and swerved around a potential diet catastrophe!
Keep the technique in your healthy lifestyle kit bag and see it as another way to get a step closer to your 2025 goals.
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