Home Lifestyle The Power Of Habits Habit Formation From Adolescence: How This May Play A Role In Living...

Habit Formation From Adolescence: How This May Play A Role In Living A Healthy Lifestyle In Adulthood



Around 90% of your overall personality and habits were actually developed when you’re still young, 10-year old or less to be exact. Because you were still so young, you were prone to making certain assumptions based on what others tell you. Aside from what you learned on your own from various influences, like your parents and other outside factors, you also received some mental conditioning. 

This kind of conditioning, however, does not just come from your parents or guardians. There are also other people around you and other outside factors that have a great influence on your overall personality and habits. For instance, there are your teachers, peers, friends, religious leaders, peers, and other family members or relatives aside from your parents. You may also be conditioned and influenced by the media and television. 


How can Mental Conditioning Influence your Food Choices?

Your early and past childhood really played a major role in shaping who you are. Your food choices and eating habits, for instance, are influenced by how you were conditioned when you were still a child. Years of negative food choices may have caused you to develop conditioned brain circuits resulting in your mental additions to specific foods. In fact, there are times when you pair certain foods with positive experiences and feelings, further conditioning your mind to eat them even if they’re not healthy at all. 

It might be tough to resist some of the conditioned food choices habits you have but rest assured that it’s possible. There are still ways for you to do some mind conditioning to change for the better. All it takes is to have a strong commitment and dedication to reverse the habits you developed in the past. 

Note that no matter how strong and deep food conditioning is, the power of your mind can still change it. You can start conditioning yourself and your mind now to begin making healthy food choices with these tips:

  1. Talk to yourself – Be more and more conscious about your food choices instead of letting your subconscious rule. For instance, you can tell yourself each time you crave for a cheesecake to drink a cup of healthy herbal tea, instead. While talking to yourself out of your unhealthy cravings, keep on reminding yourself the exact reason for doing this. You can start telling yourself that by doing this, you’ll feel much better, increase your energy, and lower your risk of dealing with certain health issues. 
  2. Be more aware – Each time you go back to making a poor food choice, describe such choice to yourself. Alternatively, you can describe it to a close family member or friend. When describing the poor food choice you made, do not forget to notice every sensation, urge, situation, and thought that caused you to make the decision. 

By becoming more aware, it will be easier for you to recognize the specific factor that urged you to make poor food choices, thereby allowing you to condition your mind to fight it before you give in. 

  1. Create a competing or alternative response – This means that you’ll have to figure out an opposite choice or behaviour to a bad food choice. Ensure that this response is something that you can apply anytime and anywhere. For instance, you can bring a healthy food alternative with you all the time, so whenever you visit a restaurant, you don’t have to depend too much on its limited menu. 
  2. Motivate yourself – You can also rewire your brain to make healthy food choices through proper motivation. What you have to do is to create a list of all problems that might result from your poor food choices. Each time you were able to successfully resist a temptation, treat yourself or offer a reward. Note that even the smallest rewards are effective when it comes to retaining or breaking your resistance to an addiction regardless of the length of time you’ve developed it. 


While it’s a bit hard to break away from the unhealthy habits and food choices you’ve developed in the past, it’s actually possible with proper discipline and being conscious . What you have to do is to open up your mind and reflect on the way you were conditioned during your childhood. That way, you’ll know exactly how you can reverse the habits and personality you’ve developed through the power of your own mind. 




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