How Thinking Slowly Now Can Help You Make Better, Quicker Decisions In The Future

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The factors that influence our decision making and the 2 systems of our thinking.

Without even knowing, our nutritional choices are being influenced by external factors in our environment. We may believe we are in control of our choices and our actions in regards to food selections and purposes. This is true in a sense. Our brain is in control, however what we may not be sure of is which System of thinking in our brain is working. The purpose of this article is to help you slow down your thinking and train your brain to make quick and automatic decisions that are aligned with your goals.

Here are a few factors that influence our nutritional choices and behaviour:

• Foods away from home tend to have more Calories, fat, sugar and salt and less fruits, veg, fibre.

• Sensory elements such as lighting and sound (ambience), even the waiters personality can influence what and how much we eat at a restaurant.

• Price is a huge factor. Price alone can have a greater impact over a health message.

• When we’re given a large portion, we tend to eat a large portion. 

• Making foods more accessible leads to increased consumption/purchase and inversely making the less accessible reduces consumption/purchase. 

• In most stores the ratio of highly processed foods exceeds the volume of foods like fruits and vegetables.

• Even just the sight of a highly preferred food increases our desire to eat [3]

It is quite important to note that most people don’t recognise the environmental factors that influence their decisions or deny being subject to influence by these contextual cues. 

Our brains are amazing organs. They are small in comparison to our body but control everything that we do. Every thought, movement, action, memory. Our brains are in control of us, but what is in control of our brain?

In this article we will be discussing the 2 systems of thinking of our brain and the factors that influence our decision making when it comes to nutrition.

Key words:

Contextual influences: factors that influence our decisions

Heuristic: to find or discover, problem solving, self discovery

There are believed to be 2 systems in the brain:

System 1 is the brain’s fast, automatic, intuitive approach. System 1 is fast, automatic, frequent, emotional, stereotypic, unconscious.

System 2 is the mind’s slower, analytical mode, where reason dominates. System 2 is slow, effortful, infrequent, logical, calculating, conscious.

By building skills through System 2, they can then become System 1 skills (more automatic).

Think about maths, simple addition or subtraction. You can automatically answer 2 + 2 = 4 or 7 x 3 = 21. At one point in time it was a lot more difficult, requiring more time and effort through System 2, but now it’s a System 1 task. 

In nutrition, it might’ve taken a while to look at a food and say whether it was a Protein, Carb or Fat. Now you know Chicken = Protein, Bread = Carb, Avo = Fat. Once System 2, now System 1.

We can develop the System 1 skill by training System 2 thinking.

Basically how we can improve our nutritional knowledge and understanding to make informed decisions. 

What is affecting our informed level of nutritional knowledge. 

You might follow some great evidence based people on Instagram like Layne Norton, Martin MacDonald, RP Strength, Mackenzie Baker, and James Smith. Plus you’re huge FNC fans.

However there is still some gurus out there that add some biases into the brain that make you doubt some things or add confusion to the mix. 

Not only that, everywhere you go, you’re processing information from your environment. Not only the people that you follow, the things on your newsfeed, the people you spend your time with - but nearly everywhere you go there is one or more of our senses being stimulated and informed about food. 

There is research that suggests that our dietary behaviours are in large the consequence of our automatic responses to contextual food cues, many of which lead to increased Caloric consumption and poor dietary choices. [1] It also states that our brains have a limited capacity to recognise, ignore and resist the cues that influence our eating. Further confirming that humans have a finite amount of energy and willpower. There is only so much temptation we can endure before we give in. 

When we look at restaurants and grocery stores, their primary role is for people to purchase food items. They are designed strategically to maximise sales. Research has been done on the location, labelling, pricing and pairing of items that influence us to buy certain foods. These foods generally aren’t the ones that fit into our “Protein and Plants” or goal aligned categories. 

As we don’t have control over our senses (such as sight, smell, sound), we also don’t have control over the ways these senses are influenced through our environment in settings where food is available. We don’t even realise how the factors influence our food choices. 

There is a growing body of research suggests that people respond to contextual cues without conscious thought or decision-making. This is our System 1 thinking taking over. Fast, automatic, instinctual, without conscious thought. 

A study actually measured how quickly consumers can make a decision to choose a preferred snack food [2]. After ranking their favourites out of 50, they were presented with a series of random images of two of the snacks lasting 20 milliseconds and were able to choose their preferred food item in over 70% of trials at average speeds of 404 ms.

In more natural settings we tend to make decisions about food very quickly without weighing up options or consequences.  When people make rapid decisions they rely on heuristic devices, such as the appearance of objects, familiar pictures, shapes, sizes, logos, brands and prices. 

When we rely on this heuristic cues we tend to make larger, more Calorie dense choices that contain more sugar and/or fat. Food cues such as marketing or labelling also often tend to mislead and confuse people into making a decision by suggesting a food is more appealing or even more “healthy” than is really is. Think “protein” products, low carb/low fat items or our health halo foods.

When we make decisions surrounding food we often weigh up things like: price, sensory appeal (taste, texture, smell, sight), convenience, familiarity and even whether it is goal aligned.  

This is all well and good if we actually took the time to do this by using our System 2 thinking process. However we often stick to the speedier System 1 version that requires the minimum amount of effort. 

We previously mentioned that we have a finite amount of energy, willpower and self control. 

Behavioural studies have been done and suggest that self control can fatigue just like a muscle. Self control can also be depleted by tasks that don’t require self control such as making decisions or doing cognitive tasks. 

A study was done where participants who had to memorise a 7-digit number were 50% more likely to choose chocolate cake over fruit salad compared to participants who had to memorise a 2-digit number [4]. Imagine how much information your brain needs to process each day before it even thinks about food. Then throw in a tempting environment or a choice between ice cream or yogurt and you can see why it gets harder as the day or week goes on. 

Hence why building healthy habits and making informed decisions are further endorsed by us at FNC. 

When people are overwhelmed with too much information, they often resort to their more automatic behaviours. If your automatic behaviours (habits) aren’t goal aligned, this can cause an issue. 

Cognitive depletion is considered a prime reason why dieters fail to maintain their diets and weight loss over the long term. [5,6] This means the more we are required to think during a given period of time, the less energy/willpower we will have and the more important it is to have a solid foundation of nutritional habits. Ideally we don’t want to take on  more than our brain is actually capable of especially when trying to build new and positive behaviours for our health and fitness goals.

Hence why we promote a step by step approach at FNC. 

How do we do this?

In the initial phases of building habits, take your time. Use your System 2 thinking process.

This requires you to be careful, intentional. Weigh-up your options, make comparisons, read labels, look at the benefits or consequences of certain choices. 

Build up your knowledge and confidence in making choices that are aligned with your goals before relying on your System 1. Train your brain to make good, positive, goal aligned choices automatically just like you trained it to do quick math and label foods into their macronutrient category. 

When you’re confident that your goal aligned choices are automatic, put your new System 1 thinking skills to the test.

If you’d like to improve your knowledge of nutrition to help make informed and automatic decision that are aligned with your goals, contact us today to start working with a coach or sign up to our education programs.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3667220/

[2] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1998456

[3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195666384800082

[4] https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/26/3/278/1815363

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18444745

[6] https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/soco.2000.18.2.130

4 Tips To Build New Habits

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4 TIPS TO BUILD NEW HABITS

We live in a world full of information - literally called the information age.

We know what to do, but why don’t we do it?

Sometimes there is too much information, or even misinformation. Yet, when we know the fundamentals, the biggest bang for buck behaviours that are aligned with our goals and the person we want to be, we don’t do it. 

One of the reasons is due to our habits.

We are trying to undo years of actions and behaviours that have been practiced over and over again until they become habits. 

Our lives are essentially a sum of our habits. Our body composition, our happiness, our bank account, our successes. All a sum of our habits. We are what we repeatedly do. If we can change our habits, we can ultimately change our lives.

Today we are going to go through some strategies to help build new habits that are aligned with your desired identity - the person you wish to become.

Keep this thought in the back of your mind as you read this and even afterwards.

BIG DREAM, SMALL STEPS

Building habits is not based on a time domain. It is about getting successful reps in. How many times your practice that behaviour

So here are the 4 tips on how to help BUILD NEW HABITS and getting those successful reps in.

1. MAKE IT EASY

When Chinese weight-lifters first start learning their skill, they spend 12 months on a PVC pipe and 6 months on an empty barbell. Arguably the best in the world, spend 18 months practicing a new skill the easiest possible way to ensure the movement patterns become engrained, become a habit. That is how they get the successful reps in. If they added weight too early, their form may have faltered and the amount of good form successful reps would be reduced.

In nutrition we can MAKE IT EASY in 2 ways.

Create an environment where making the right choice is easy. We want to remove the barriers of practicing a desired behaviour whilst also making it more difficult to practice old behaviours. 

Make it easy to make Protein and NDFs your first choice by having them visible and easy to consume. Have a variety of Protein sources available in your fridge, freezer and pantry. Keep fresh and frozen fruits and veggies in an easily accessible area whilst reducing the ease at which you can choose more indulgent, processed, calorie dense items.

The next is to cook and prepare meals within your skill level. When I first started my nutrition journey, I began with Kangaroo burger patties, frozen veggies, tins of tuna and microwave rice. I built the habits of making healthier choices that were aligned with my goals and then build upon that skill. 

Look for No Prep or Easy Prep options that don’t require much time or effort so it is easy to get started. 

A new habit shouldn’t feel like a challenge at the start. It should feel easy. 

2. MAKE IT OBVIOUS, MAKE A PLAN - IMPLEMENTATION INTENTIONS

We all have goals but a common misconception is that we lack motivation. What we actually lack is a plan. 

Studies have been done where people who actually wrote down a plan of when and where they intended to practice a new behaviour such as exercise we more likely to follow through with that intention when compared to groups who simply said they wanted to exercise more. 

This is known as an “Implementation Intention” and they are effective for sticking to goals in numerous studies. They increase the odds of sticking to a new behaviour such as studying, exercising, recycling, quitting smoking, going to bed earlier, etc.

People who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through. Often we are too vague with our goals and intentions. “I want to exercise more” or “I want to eat healthier”, but we never say where or when these habits will happen OR even what we intend to do. 

This process creates CLARITY in the actions you intend to implement.

Here is an example. 

I will [BEHAVIOUR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]

I wanted to start reading more and be on my phone less to start the day so mine was.

I will READ MY BOOK at 530am in the LOUNGEROOM, after I shower every morning.

Want to get to the gym more? 

I will GO TO THE GYM at 5pm at CROSSFIT GEO.

Want to meditate?

I will MEDITATE at 8pm in my BEDROOM

For your nutrition, writing a plan of what you intend to eat can be how you implement this strategy. 

Want to add more PROTEIN to your diet?

I will add PROTEIN POWDER to my Oats and Berries for BREAKFAST at 8am.

I will eat CHICKEN with Rice and Veggies for LUNCH at 12pm.

I will eat YOGURT and Fruit for my SNACK at 4pm

I will eat FISH with Salad for my DINNER at 8pm. 

If you don’t plan out your actions, you rely on willpower or motivation but if you plan out when and where you will practice your desired behaviours, your goal has become real. 

3. MAKE IT ATTRACTIVE - FUN GETS IT DONE

Let’s be honest, if good habits were fun you’d already be doing them. When we find a task boring or monotonous, we may not want to practice it but we know that we need to practice them to get the successful reps in to form new habits. And, healthy nutrition habits are perceived to be pretty boring - meal prep, shopping, boring meals - but that doesn’t have to be the case.

There was an engineer who loved Netflix and wanted to exercise more, so he created an exercise bike that was powered Netflix if he cycled at a certain speed. 

What we can learn from this is that if we combine the fun stuff with the not so fun stuff, the latter is more likely to be completed. 

This is known as “Temptation Bundling”.

Pairing an action you want to do with an action that you need to do.

Pair something you love with a habit you want to build and you may find yourself doing it more, and even enjoying it. When we enjoy things, we do them more often - successful reps!

Personally I love music and podcasts. For me I like to pair that with my more boring tasks like cooking or shopping. 

How do you create a temptation bundle?

Create 2 columns. 

In the first column, write down a list of pleasures and temptations you enjoy doing. 

In the second, write a list of tasks and behaviours that you should be doing, that you want to start doing that are aligned with your desired identity - but you often procrastinate.

Then, pair them up.

Eg. Taking your headphones to listen to music while doing the shopping

Listening to music/podcasts/audio-books while walking to get your step ups

Watching Netflix while chopping the veggies or cooking dinner.

You’re more likely to find a behaviour attractive if you get to do one of your favourite things at the same time.

4. MAKE IT SATISFYING

The cardinal rule of behaviour change. 

What is immediately rewarded is repeated, what is immediately punished is avoided.

Reward yourself immediately after completing a new habits. “If the puppy does a trick, it gets a treat” - yes you are a puppy in the metaphor.

And no, we aren’t saying to have some chocolate after you eat some Protein and NDFs. 

Our goals are delayed rewards that obviously take time, so we need an immediate reward to stay on track. We need some reinforcement to keep practicing the healthy eating behaviours. 

With nutrition, we can increase the satisfaction of a meal by making it taste good. WHAT? A healthy meal that tastes good? It can’t be true! But it is!! Using flavours, herbs, spices, seasonings, and low calorie sauces can reward us to make this a repeated behaviour while in the background our delayed reward of health and body composition are accumulating.

In SUMMARY

Make It Easy: Cook at your skill level, Control your environment

Make It Obvious: Make a Plan in advance

Make It Attractive: Bundle fun stuff with new habits.

Make It Satisfying: Reward yourself with flavoursome goal aligned foods.


As previously mentioned, there is no shortage of nutrition information out there. It is important then that we find a way to apply it to our lives that is easy, obvious, attractive and satisfying to ensure we enjoy the process and get the successful reps in to form these habits that ultimately shape our lives.

At FNC, you get the nutrition education - the knowledge needed to get you towards your goals. 

You also get the guidance and the tools of how to implement the knowledge. 

Plus you get the support of the FNC Coaches and the FNC community.

If you would like to learn more about our services, our education program, our community, contact us today by clicking the link below.

Knowledge without action is wastefulness and action without knowledge is foolishness.

REFERENCES:

Atomic Habits by James Clear