When the new year rolled in I vowed to make some changes in my life. But because of some past failures I felt it necessary to make better preparations this time. I began by reading a book called The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It by Stanford University psychologist Kelly McGonigal. My hope was to learn how to improve my self-control so I would eat less unhealthy food and weigh less. I also hoped to improve my willpower in order to eat more healthy food, exercise more, curb my TV watching habit, and make other improvements in my life.

But as I started reading I immediately realized that the tools in this book are perfect for aspiring vegans. I can’t count how many times have nonvegans told me “I just don’t have the willpower to go vegan” or “I can’t resist cheese”! The strategies described in The Willpower Instinct are exactly the sorts of things that can turn a wannbe vegan into a “vegan for life.”

In that vein, I’ve decided to write a series of posts here at Vegan Soapbox that highlight a key point made in The Willpower Instinct and then illustrate an example or two for how that concept might help VS readers go (or stay) vegan. The articles here will loosely follow the book from begining to end. This is part one of the series: Awareness.

From the book:

“This may sound simple, but psychologists know that most of our choices are made on autopilot, without any real awareness of what’s driving them, and certainly without serious reflection on their consequences. Heck, most of the time, we don’t even realize we’re making a choice. For example, one study asked people how many food related decisions they made in one day. What would you say? On average, people guessed fourteen. In reality, when these same folks carefully tracked their decisions, the average was 227. That’s more than two hundred choices people were initially unaware of – and those are just the decisions related to eating. How can you control yourself if you aren’t even aware that there is something to control?”

McGonigal then explains that one of the first steps to changing behavior is to track the behavior. She says that we have to switch off the autopilot and start being aware of what we’re doing.

Obviously, when it comes to food a great way to do that is to use a food diary. When we use a food diary it helps us become more aware of what/who we’re eating. We can also start to notice other factors: when and where, how and with whom. We can notice triggers and trends. And this will be the foundation for making change. This will inform us of which areas need the most work, what other nonfood things might be helpful to avoid or include, and so forth.

A food diary is great for a number of reasons. It not only helps you become of aware of when you’re eating and what you’re eating, it also helps you set up a baseline from which to guage progress. All too often we begin down a path of personal transformation and then plateau at a point where where we seem to forget the progress we’ve made. At that point, relapse is common. So if you start with good data it makes it easy to measure your progress and celebrate the small victories. When it comes to veganism, this is especially important. For example, for the nearly-vegan it can be good to remember that one piece of dairy cheese pizza doesn’t undo all the vegan meals eaten.

So, if you’re not yet vegan then start a food diary to track your eating. For a couple weeks don’t try to change your habits, just pay attention to them. This will help you begin to become more self-aware and ready to change.

If you’re already vegan but feel you may relapse soon (or maybe you already have) do the same thing and track your eating. Take note of when you feel being vegan is easy and when you feel it is hard. Try to see if there’s any correlation between other things (like drinking alcohol or going out to eat at certain restaurants). Becoming aware of why you’re struggling to stay vegan is the first step to changing those habits and keeping you eating a diet that’s good for animals, the planet, and you too.

And finally, if you’re already vegan but you want to eat a bit healthier then start a food diary and notice when you’re choosing the less healthy vegan options as opposed to the healthier ones.

Becoming aware of our poor choices is the first step to changing them.

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Sections: Vegan Resources
Topics: book, book review, food diary, go vegan, resources, stay vegan, strategies, techniques, temptation, tools, veg, willpower