Protective Diet Class #338

Eliminating the Diet Struggle Rewards Cycle

This class acknowledges the reality that we are wired for challenge and easily bored when things become routine. Julie Marie shares how to break through boredom to keep the excitement fresh and the rewards of a Protective Diet and Lifestyle flowing indefinitely.

Announcements

• Engage in our official support group, Protective Diet Living (PDL). Join Live Chats & Coaching Hour for personal assistance.
• Shop https://www.protectivediet.com/azure, the organic farm that delivers near you, for low-cost, high-quality PD staples.

Vocabulary

Diet Struggle Reward Cycle	Betterment Practices	Anticipation Rewards	Challenge
Effort-Driven Rewards Circuit	Effort-Filled Actions	Dopamine	Transition to Goal

Action Steps for Staying Engaged

• Understand the Effort-Driven Rewards Circuit in Your Brain
• Society talks about ease like it’s the ultimate goal, but the truth is, it’s boring. We are driven to seek challenge.
• Dr. Kelly Lambert calls this the “Effort-Driven Reward Circuit.” Our brains need routine, but constantly seek for excitement.
• In particular, the effort-driven rewards circuit is driven by physical activities that involve our hands—activities that produce tangible products we can see, touch, and enjoy—like knitting, tending a garden, rolling pita bread, or making sauerkraut.
• These effort-filled actions, their associated thoughts, plans, and ultimate results excite and energize us. They change the physiology and chemical makeup of our brain, giving us an emotional sense of well-being called “effort-driven rewards.”
• When we feel bored, rather than abandoning supportive routines, we need to add effort-filled actions that light us up.

• See How it Connects to The Diet Struggle Rewards Cycle
• When we start a new health program, we give it our best effort. The effort fuels rewards and we want more. But by the time we reach our goal, our actions feel easy and routine. With less effort, the intensity of reward fades. Driven toward excitement, we quit and line up for something new. In the process, we abandon the routines that helped us reach our goal. Soon we find ourselves back in the struggle and the cycle begins again. We need to make the cycle work to our advantage.

The Problem – We are wired to enjoy a good struggle. When we have ease, it’s boring and we quit. It is human nature to search for the next challenge. – The Diet Struggle Reward Cycle occurs when we experience excitement and motivation when starting out due to our effort-filled actions. The best part of a Protective Diet is your transition to goal. Once you get there, your pants fit, you feel great, but there’s no new excitement. There is no challenge anymore. Ease and boredom set in. Then human nature drives you to abandon what works and go looking for something new.

The Fix – Add challenge, not change. – Introduce effort-filled actions into your supportive routine to keep your Protective Diet and Lifestyle exciting. – The Protective Diet is a paved, proven path that is outlined for you, including an average weight loss of 10lbs/month. It’s easy, simple, and gets boring if you let it. – As soon as it feels routine, it’s time to introduce effort-filled Betterment Practices to keep the rewards flowing. – Protective Diet programming offers many ideas for betterment. You are also encouraged to discover and share your own by asking, “What lights me up?”

• Assess Where You Are in the Cycle and Prepare For the Next Step
• Protective Diet programming is designed to help you break through boredom and find sustained excitement and fulfillment.
• Once you have achieved your goal, there is another interesting challenge to engage in. Choose one and experience the exciting transition to goal all over again. With continuous betterment, you never experience boredom that leads to quitting.
• Are you in the Exciting Transition to Goal phase or are you ready for your next Betterment Practice? Each phase offers effort-filled actions so you continue to feel effort-driven rewards. Tell us your next step in the PD-Ed Classroom this week.
  

Protective Diet Phases

Exciting Transition to Goal		Ready for My Next Betterment Practice
You are diligently learning and applying new things. You find great joy in what you are doing. You forge ahead on the paved, proven path and experience success like you never have before.		Practices that were once new and exciting are now routine. You plateau. You consider adding certain foods back in for excitement. You are drawn to a new plant-based cookbook, program, or influencer. Or you trade the struggle of health and weight loss for a different struggle, such as job stress, relationship stress, or other crisis or loss.
Effort-Filled Actions to Take in this Phase:   – Watch the Getting Started Guide lessons – Make Jerry’s Organic Plant-based Yogurt – Pick out a few recipes and go to the store – Stock your pantry so you are always ready – Get through the 30-day Detox – Write in your Calendar of Achievements – Be in the PD-Ed Classroom every week – Implement foundational kitchen systems – Start the 50/50 Plate Practice – Experience Baggy Clothes Syndrome (BCS) – Get lots of compliments and questions – Feel energetic and powerful – Reach your goal exactly as predicted – Be amazed and love your Protective Diet – Celebrate! You did it!! Now what? Replace this list with specific actions for your next chosen Betterment Practice and experience the exciting transition to goal all over again.		Effort-Filled Actions to Take in this Phase:   – Continue the routines that got you here. Make them your one constant. – Regroup with us in the PD-Ed Classroom at least once, if not twice, a week. – Try some new-to-you recipes or watch an archived class and leave a review. – Add challenge, not change. Chose a PD Betterment Practice—try something   new that betters your food, your environment, or your stress level. Try:
		– the lifestyle recipes – deep pantry stocking – fermenting – making vinegar – gardening/landscaping – hydroponics – sprouting – seed saving – hosting a dinner party – making soymilk or vanilla	– cooking dry beans – fresh milling flour – making tortillas – home canning applesauce – a new vegetable for plant-fiber diversity – adding capsaicin for spicy food training – treating yourself to a new kitchen tool – Intermittent Fasting/Day Fasting – addressing your stress – setting a 3-month fitness goal
		– There are classes on ALL of these and more in the PD-Ed lesson archive. – Discover what lights you up. It could be anything from painting, to quilting. – DIY something. Do something with your hands that gives tangible results.

• Anticipation Rewards are even stronger than Effort-Driven Rewards because they involve dopamine production.
• When we anticipate a reward, such as a vacation or reaching an exciting goal, the brain releases dopamine. Dopamine creates a sense of pleasure and reinforces the behavior associated with the anticipation. The dopamine surge occurs just before the reward is received. The anticipation of reaching a goal can be more rewarding than the actual achievement.

Cooking Tips & Betterment Practices

• Julie Marie demonstrates the amazing Medicinal Chai Latte using the Breville Milk Café. See the recipe for full guidance.
• Avoid using plastic-lined paper cups and aluminum cans. They are endocrine disruptors with associated health risks.
• Use fresh ginger and turmeric root. Keep them unpeeled in the freezer door for easy access. Keep a bulk stash in the back.
• Buy organic spices in bulk for better quality and cost-effectiveness. Refill your daily-use spice containers as needed.
• Julie Marie demonstrates assembling a Sprout and Kraut Sandwich showing the anticipation and effort-filled rewards of having betterment recipes on hand such as sprouts, sauerkraut, fermented hot sauce, and homemade bread from fresh milled flour.
• Julie Marie mentions using castor oil on her face and shea butter as a moisturizer. Anticipate a new Lifestyle lesson soon.

Encouragement

• You do not want ease. You want to challenge yourself. You want a little bit of a struggle because this creates excitement.
• Add challenge, not change. I don’t want you getting distracted, not while I’m your greatest cheerleader.
• Our food needs to be exciting in order to keep us on program. If it’s not exciting, you’re going to go find exciting.

“You can’t sustain brown rice and plain broccoli for the rest of your life.

Not in this world. So let’s not get bored! This is very important.”

Recommended Recipes
Probiotic Pepper Sauce7-day Sauerkraut	Kids SpaghettiBread Maker Bread	Protective SproutsQuick Mix Russian Dressing		Medicinal Chai LatteInstant Tomato Soup
Recommended Classes
#260 Day One on a Protective Diet#224 Sweet Action Rituals & Routines for Betterment#298 Stress Elimination Challenge#200 Stop the Snacks Challenge			#333 Get Motivated with Exciting Goals#328 Weight Loss Challenge & the Salad Crunch Wrap#325 3-Month Goal Challenge#320 Beauty Broth Hot Pot Slim Down Support Challenge

Class Description:

This class acknowledges the reality that we are wired for challenge and easily bored when things become routine. Julie Marie shares how to break through boredom to keep the excitement fresh and the rewards of a Protective Diet and Lifestyle flowing indefinitely.

Class URL: https://protectivediet.com/courses/addressing-binge-emotional-eating/lessons/class-338-eliminating-the-diet-struggle-reward-cycle/