It's a logical strategy for eating healthy: Spiral up whenever the urge to eat arises. The practice is mapped out in the initial EBT course, EBT Essentials.
The whole idea is why be the recipient of the stress-chemical cascade when you're trying to figure out what and how much to eat? Why be under the influence of those chemicals?
The eight major chemicals that drive overeating and weight gain are stress-activated. The chemicals are cortisol, dopamine, insulin, GLP-1 (of weight loss drug fame), PYY, ghrelin, leptin, and serotonin. Quieting that chemical cascade with EBT can impact carb cravings and mindless eating desires.
Hold yourself accountable for pre-meal spiral ups
It only takes about one minute, and the Spiral Up #1 Instant Boost usually does the trick. However, some people don't do it because they are afraid they will not allow themselves to eat what they want.
It takes a while to get the idea that you do not want to restrict food. That never works because you never know if you rewired the circuit. The conceptual basis of EBT is to stop forcing ourselves to go against the biochemical drives that make it hard or impossible not to do something, and instead be a real powerhouse of crushing the circuits that drive that chemical surge. If we are still overeating, despite the spiral up, all that means is that the circuit is still so strong that the drive hasn't yet turned off.
That's helpful information, in fact, ideal feedback, as it is perfect motivation to roll up one's sleeves and really take that circuit to task.
Intensive EBT, including spiraling up before eating
Yet on Friday, in a coaching session, a participant ("Michael"), who is relatively new to EBT, a couple of months in, said, "I lost six pounds in the last two weeks." Michael was in a weekly 50-minute group and opted for some coaching, too, so he was doing intensive EBT, the only kind that really works.
He said, “I don’t feel the compulsion to eat like I used to. I approached EBT as an incredible skeptic and I’m not a group kind of guy, I am a lone wolf, so this whole business about connection has not come easily for me."
I asked him what he was doing, and it turned out he was doing everything. He was spiraling up eight to 10 times per day and had already made a pass through the EBT Essentials and the How to Rewire course. He was participating actively in the group, even with connections, and had even started doing Travel Backs, the deep work of the method.
He said that each time he had an urge to overeat, he reached for the EBT app, and the tools were working.
Just do it, or give it 5 spiral ups and then really do it
The words of the old Nike campaign, "Just Do It," kept arriving in my mind as he spoke. Perhaps a new application is to say "Just Do It, spiral up before eating. Go ahead and switch off that self-harming chemical cascade. Don't ask yourself whether you want to spiral up before eating or think about whether you should reach for your app. Instead, just do it!"
If that doesn't work, do five Spiral Ups about your reluctance to spiral up before you eat. Then, make it a personal practice to switch off those hunger and craving chemicals before you eat.
Just do it. Maybe you'll be like Michael and lose six pounds in two weeks without diets or drugs, but with EBT.