How I’m Breaking My Nighttime Dessert Habit

So I just finished one of the best books I’ve ever read.

No seriously guys, I feel like everyone, like absolutely everyone needs to read this book. It’s called Atomic Habits by James Clear.

James Clear is super well-known for being an expert on habit formation. And his book, Atomic Habits is your guidebook to breaking bad habits and creating positive new ones. I’m not talking about woo woo garbage. This book is full of actionable steps, and is one of the most useful reads you’ll find.

I personally find that it’s way harder for me to break a bad habit than implement a good one. Our minds have a way of justifying the craziest things, even though deep down, we know it may not be best for us. One of my vices is my nighttime dessert habit. You guys know what I’m talking about. After dinner, you feel yourself reaching for a bowl of ice cream… or the tub.

Okay so it’s not quite so bad. For me, I found myself reaching for dark chocolate after dinner. Which is fine, but the thing is, I don’t think it’s healthy to be dependent on it. Listen, I want to continue to enjoy dark chocolate, but developing dependency means I need it every single night. And then, those 2 pieces of dark chocolate turn into 4, and then it’s all downhill from there.

Long story short, I decided to use the Atomic Habits principles to break this habit.

The habit loop is based on 4 mental stages: cue, craving, reward, response. In order to create a habit, you do the following: make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying. And in order to break a bad habit, you inverse that. So in order to break my dessert habit, here’s what I did:

1. I bought chocolate orange tea

I decided to replace dark chocolate with tea. Dessert after dinner is what I associate to relaxation and luxury. So what I did was buy a really great tea (this one, if I’m being specific) to give myself that same feeling. I also put the tea in the same place that I usually keep chocolate.

2. Brush my teeth and start my skincare routine immediately after dinner

In order to make tea more attractive, I pair it with something I really look forward to: aka, my skincare routine. I brush my teeth right after dinner to make it super hard for me to eat dessert, and then start my skincare routine. Afterwards, I curl up with a mug of tea and a book.

3. Keep no dessert in the house to avoid temptation

Listen, if the dark chocolate is there, I’m going to want it. But going out of my way to buy dark chocolate at 8pm when I’m changed into my PJs most likely with a face mask on? It’s unlikely. This way, I made it super hard for me to access my bad habit.

4. Created a habit contract

You create a habit contract with someone to hold you accountable, as a means of making bad habits really painful. We have bad habits because of the instant gratification factor. Even though we may be harming ourselves in the long run, our brain only focuses on the immediate reward. By making a bad habit painful, you condition your brain to not want it anymore. So, if I eat dessert after dinner for the next one month, I have to miss my next eyelash extension appointment. I love getting my lashes done – they make getting ready way quicker since I no longer have to wear makeup. Not to mention, I have a loyalty program with my salon, where I pay less if I get them done every 2 weeks. If I miss an appointment, I have to pay for a full set, which sucks majorly. So the brutality of the consequence far outweighs the instant gratification I feel if I have dessert after dinner.

And there you have it! This is only one of the changes I’ve made thanks to this amazing book. If you’re looking to improve yourself, I highly recommend you give this book a read!

PS – if you enjoyed this, make sure you check out why you need this specific planner and what I learned from The Archetype Diet.