ThinkSnack-introduction

The ThinkSnack audio track allows you to enjoy the taste of your favorite snacks without the calories. Research has shown that imagining eating a food can actually reduce cravings for it. When you think about a snack but deny yourself, you don't experience the satisfaction that comes from consuming it. With ThinkSnack, you can imagine eating your favorite snack in detail and get that satisfaction. This can work for any food or drink you crave. When you imagine enjoying a snack, chemicals in your brain are released that give you pleasure and satisfaction. Taking the time to fully enjoy your snacks can help reduce consumption. You can use the ThinkSnack recording or visualize on your own. It's important to give your full attention to what you're eating to get the full, satisfying experience. If visualization is difficult, you can have a small portion of the snack with you the first time. The principles of ThinkSnack should only be used for non-essential foods and drinks, not for essentia Your ThinkSnack audio track helps you to enjoy the taste of your favourite snack but without the calories. You're probably used to being told to avoid thinking about foods that aren't healthy or that you want to cut down on, but that can be extremely difficult to do. When you try not to think about something, you often end up thinking about it more. Then you feel deprived because you really would like some of your favourite snack right now. And it gets more and more difficult to get the thought of it out of your head. So you keep trying not to think about it, telling yourself that you can't have it, and all the time wishing that you could. Or you give in and binge on those forbidden foods and then regret it later on. And both of those options leave you feeling miserable. There is an alternative though, one where you can think about your favourite snack and enjoy it without eating too much sugar, salt or fat, without putting on weight and without feeling guilty. Research has shown that people who imagined eating chocolate or cheese ate less of that food when they were later given the opportunity to eat the real thing. So why did that happen in the research when the usual experience is that the more you think about a food, the more you crave it? The difference is in how you think about it. Usually you'll simply imagine the food, you'll visualise it or simply think about how nice it would be to have it. But you don't actually imagine eating it. So you never experience the satisfaction that you're looking for, the satisfaction that only comes from consuming and enjoying it. And so your mind keeps telling you that you want it. With a think snack you can experience eating your favourite snack in great detail and enjoy it so that you do get that satisfaction. Then your craving for it will go. And even though research has focused on chocolate and cheese, the principle can work for any food or drink that you crave. When you enjoy something, chemicals in your brain are released. The main ones related to feelings of pleasure and satisfaction are serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. When you think about having a snack and then you tell yourself you can't have it, those chemicals aren't released and so you don't get the feeling that you want. However, if you imagine enjoying eating that food in detail, then those chemicals do get released. You may have experienced this type of effect in other situations, such as remembering an enjoyable holiday and feeling good. Or at the opposite end of the scale, remembering something that scared you and feeling yourself becoming anxious. Thinking about something can have the same effect in your mind as if you're doing it for real. When you listen to a think snack, I will be talking you through eating your snack so that you can experience it in all the detail you need. Now, if you're thinking, I don't have time to sit down for a few minutes and do this, it really is time to change how you eat. If you eat whilst you're doing something else, you never get the best out of the experience and so again, you never get that true satisfaction. If you don't usually take time to enjoy your snack, then you're missing out on a lot of the pleasure, which might be why you've been consuming too much of it. It's like watching a film whilst you're talking to someone or doing household chores. You might pick up the basic storyline, but you don't take in the finer details and you don't really connect with the characters, so you don't get the full value from it. What's the point of eating something that you enjoy if you don't get the full enjoyment from it? So now, any time you have a craving, don't deprive yourself. Take some time and listen to the relevant think snack and really enjoy the experience. Get the satisfaction that you want. After a while, you might be able to do it without even using the recording. Just make sure that you spend as long as you need to, to completely enjoy your snack. And use the same attitude with the rest of your food as well. Every time you eat, give your full attention to what you're eating, so that you get the full, satisfying experience. If you don't have any experience of visualisation or have found it difficult in the past, then the first time you listen to the think snack recording, you might find it helpful to have a small portion of the snack with you, so that you can get the experience of eating it clear in your mind. You should only need to do this the first time. On future occasions, your mind can give you all the detail you need. If there's more than one snack that you want to enjoy, without the calories, the sugar or salt, then you can download the ones you want and listen to them whenever you have a craving for that specific food or drink. The principles explained here should only be used to address the think snack types of food and drink. They should not be used to reduce food consumption of essential foods or to reduce body weight in an extreme way. So, enjoy your think snack.