This past month as I’ve been reading “The One Thing” by Gary Keller I was reminded about the myth of relying on willpower to achieve our goals. As Gary Keller explains, on any given day we have a limited supply of willpower. Similar to a battery, our willpower gets depleted as we use it up throughout the day by resisting temptations, implementing new behaviours, filtering out distractions, suppressing impulses, and selecting long-term over short-term rewards.

Rather than relying on willpower or self-control to resist cravings we need to remove the temptation in the first place. For example, if you consistently experience sugar cravings at 3pm, you could try one of the following:

If your craving is triggered by low blood sugar: pack a snack of fresh fruit and nuts to eat at 2:30pm. (For more information on blood sugar and sugar cravings, check out my past blog here.)
If your craving is from boredom: schedule a break for yourself at 2:30pm where you get up from your desk, go outside, make a tea, or call a friend.

The idea is to build healthy habits that support healthy eating, rather than focusing on restrictions. When you create a habit, overtime it starts to become a part of your lifestyle and not something you have to think about, freeing up more of your mental power. And even if you do cave into your cravings now and then, be kind to yourself. Being healthy isn’t being perfect, and an extra sweet treat now and then is okay!