DAY 10 - REWARD & REPEAT
It’s day 10 and some of you may be rejoicing that it is over, but the hope is that this challenge has opened your eyes to future possibilities and a healthier way of life. At the very least, if you stuck to the nutrition plan guidelines and activity calendar, you should be feeling lighter and you have even lost some irritating health problems along the way. You should be congratulated.
Western culture has hijacked the reward response in our brain to primarily relate reward with unhealthy stimulants like food and alcohol. We have all experienced this dopamine pathway of the brain, when we are exposed to a stimulus which is rewarding, we experience pleasure. This can be said for something as simple as chocolate. The problem is we have conditioned ourselves from young children to be rewarded with unhealthy options like lollypops, ice-cream, and equally sugary treats. These bad habits are carried into adulthood where we continue to repeat these patterns to our detriment unless we consciously make better choices.