Should You Taper Off Bad Habits?

Talk to anyone about breaking bad habits, and you’ll have people who say it’s better to taper off the habit. Then, there are those at the opposite camp who believe cold turkey is the only way to go. It probably depends on the bad habit you have. But, in some cases, it’s best to consult with a professional such as your doctor.

Some habits are easier to break than others. Therefore, tapering off may not make sense with the easier ones. For example, are you looking to quit swearing?

 Consider doing it immediately. You may still revert to swearing on occasion. But, this habit is not going to hurt your health, unless you get punched by saying a swear word to the wrong person.

When people try to quit smoking, some doctors will prescribe patches. You wear these patches on the skin, and they release nicotine into the skin. Over time, the amount of nicotine reduces to the point of having little enter the smoker’s system. The nicotine patch system is obviously one that has you taper off your use of tobacco.

Sometimes, it’s dangerous to go cold turkey with bad habits. If you have a heavy drug or alcohol problem, it could kill you when you go cold turkey. Your system may go into shock, and you can die from that shock. For this reason, heavy addiction requires detox and rehab. Professionals can regulate when you are ready to lower your consumption of the drugs. They also offer counseling to help you try and stay away from those drugs.

The best advice is to find out from a professional how you should approach solving your bad habits. If you have a problem with eating the wrong foods, you should be able to stop immediately, i.e., cold turkey. But, you will need to replace the bad foods with good ones. Do you know what those good foods are? Most people don’t. In this instance, it’s best to consult with a dietician. 

Keep in mind that often your general practitioner doctor hasn’t received training for advising on food. They can offer advice that you need to change your eating habits. They can also give you general help such as cutting back on salt and sugar, etc. But, don’t expect them to structure a diet for you. That is not what doctors do.

 You can break bad habits, but you need to learn everything you can about how to do it.

Not Exercising Is A Bad Habit.

You may not realize it, but you may have a bad habit. Getting regular exercise is considered a good habit, and therefore if you are not getting regular exercise, that is a bad habit. The good news is that you can break this habit relatively easy.

You don’t have to participate in anextreme exercise to reap the benefits of exercise. You just need to be consistent and do it frequently. But, this does not mean that you should do it every single day. Three to four days of exercise, every week is going to be good enough for most people.

Your best bet is to find a qualified professional, i.e., a personal trainer, to set up a program for you. If you just start doing random exercises, it still may benefit you. However, having a structured plan will give you the most benefits in the shortest amount of time. A good trainer will get to know your body and will tailor a plan around what he or she finds out about you. The trainer should also ask what your fitness goals are. You may be looking to bulk up, or you may want to have more stamina and energy. Your trainer should ask you several questions to determine what you want out of the program.

If you decide to go it alone, i.e., without a trainer, make sure you do a bit of research on how to set up the exercise program for yourself. This option is harder for you because you are probably not qualified as a trainer. Also, you won’t know if you are doing the exercises correctly. An alternative approach is to use a trainer for a few days or weeks, and then as you get used to the exercises, cut the ties with the trainer.

If you do nothing else but increase your walking, this is better than not doing any exercise at all. Therefore, if you continue to walk regularly, you may consider the bad habit broken. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you can walk one day per week and say that you’ve broken the habit though - because that is not enough. As previously stated you need at least three days per week.

You can build up your stamina over time by starting out with small durations and then increase the duration as your body gets used to your routine. Many people get the exercise bug and end up increasing their activity over time.

Should You Taper Off Bad Habits?

Talk to anyone about breaking bad habits, and you’ll have people who say it’s better to taper off the habit. Then, there are those at the opposite camp who believe cold turkey is the only way to go. It probably depends on the bad habit you have. But, in some cases, it’s best to consult with a professional such as your doctor.

Some habits are easier to break than others. Therefore, tapering off may not make sense with the easier ones. For example, are you looking to quit swearing?Considerdoing it immediately. You may still revert to swearing on occasion. But, this habit is not going to hurt your health, unless you get punched by saying a swear word to the wrong person.

When people try to quit smoking, some doctors will prescribe patches. You wear these patches on the skin, and they release nicotine into the skin. Over time, the amount of nicotine reduces to the point of having little enter the smoker’s system. The nicotine patch system is obviously one that has you taper off your use of tobacco.

Sometimes, it’s dangerous to go cold turkey with bad habits. If you have a heavy drug or alcohol problem, it could kill you when you go cold turkey. Your system may go into shock, and you can die from that shock. For this reason, heavy addiction requires detox and rehab. Professionals can regulate when you are ready to lower your consumption of the drugs. They also offer counseling to help you try and stay away from those drugs.

The best advice is to find out from a professional how you should approach solving your bad habits. If you have a problem with eating the wrong foods, you should be able to stop immediately, i.e., cold turkey. But, you will need to replace the bad foods with good ones. Do you know what those good foods are? Most people don’t. In this instance, it’s best to consult with a dietician.

Keep in mind that often your general practitioner doctor hasn’t received training for advising on food. They can offer advice that you need to change your eating habits. They can also give you general help such as cutting back on salt and sugar, etc. But, don’t expect them to structure a diet for you. That is not what doctors do.

You can break bad habits, but you need to learn everything you can about how to do it. Don’t rely on friends and family. They are not qualified to know what is right for you.

How to Break the Junk Food Habit.

Junk food has its appeal because it’s quick to prepare. For busy office workers, this is a godsend. They don’t have time to worry about preparing meals while they are burning the midnight oil before deadlines.

However, it becomes just as easy to get into the junk food habit at home. You come home from work, and your spouse arrives right after you. The both of you are tired, so preparing a meal is out of the question. One of you suggests to the other to order take out.

While it is okay to eat junk food on occasion, it should not be the main staple of your diet. It drags you down and packs on the pounds. Over time, it will lead to heart disease which could kill you. Not eating junk food is a challenge, because eating junk food is the easy way to fix a meal after a long working day.

To reduce your junk food intake, consider preparing several meals on your day off. Place these meals in the freezer, and you can take them to work with you. Most companies have a microwave oven, so it is simply a matter of putting the meal in the microwave and turning it on for a minute or two.

Of course, the meals you prepare should be as healthy as possible. People often pass off bringing their meals from home as eating healthy. While this is possible, it’s not a given. If you are planning on bringing your meals into work frequently, you may want to consult with a qualified dietician. Most people don’t know what is healthy and what is not. The average person does not know how to determine what is healthy.

Learn how to count calories or hire a dietician.Either will enable you to see just how high in calories junk food is. You should be able to look up the calories of a Big Mac from McDonald’s. Since most of McDonald’s food comes in standard sizes, these should not fluctuate too much from one to the next.

You should be able to find the appropriate information online. However, if you don’t feel the numbers reported are correct, feel free to call the company directly. Most will be willing to answer any questions you have, regarding the foods you eat.

For junk food that isn’t standard (like the Big Mac), try to guess if no data is available. For instance, if you buy a hamburger at an unknown fast food restaurant, use the Big Mac as a baseline. How much bigger is the hamburger compared to the Big Mac, etc.

How to Break Bad Habit.

Have you been trying to break a bad habit for a long time? You read about how to do it and give it a try. But, time and again, you keep repeating the same bad habits. Perhaps it’s eating the wrong foods, or you are smoking and simply can’t kick the habit,

Before you break your bad habits, you must think back to how you started them. What kind of mindset did you have at that point? Were you a teenager with low self-esteem? That could be why you started smoking. You wanted to fit in. You could also be overeating because you are stressed out about your job.

Once you have identified how your habits started, it’s time to determine how important they are in your life. The correct answer should be, "they are not important." But, they obviously are important, or you wouldn’t continue those habits. Try to list out why they are important. In other words, why do you need to continue with your bad habits? If you can get to the bottom of this important aspect of your bad habits, you have turned the corner on trying to break them.

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The reasons are important. But, don’t dwell on them and beat yourself up about them. You cannot do anything about the past. It’s best to move on and try to stop them going forward.
The key to stopping bad habits is to replace them with good ones
If you are a smoker and you have a craving for a cigarette, go out for a jog. Jogging can work for bad diets as well, it can take your mind off your cravings. If you don’t eat the right foods, another method is to have fruit and vegetables that are accessible. Ideally, you want to have these ready-to-eat, and place them right next to junk food.

Of course, getting rid of the junk food in the first place is a great way not to have it within reach.
The next step in breaking habits is to realign your mindset. You need to focus on what you are gaining by not continuing the bad habit. For instance, if you are having a problem with alcohol, try to keep focused on the way you feel without alcohol, which for most people, is better.

You can break bad habits, but it does take some effort and willpower. However, your life will change for the better, if you are willing to put in the effort.

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