A Squirt Gun or a Party
I used to have a couple cats that lived in the back yard. They were always climbing up on the window screens and meowing for attention. They ruined two or three screens completely this way.
It was a big problem. I was getting really frustrated with them and yelling at them of course didn’t help much. I told my friend about it one day and she said that she’d heard you can train cats by squirting them with water when they’re doing something bad. They hate it.
I decided I’d give that a try so I bought a dollar store squirt gun and put it by the cats’ favorite window. The next time I saw the cats climbing on the screen, I gave them a couple shots with the squirt gun. They hissed and got off immediately.
After a few more times of this they learned their lesson. Climb on the screen and you get wet. They never did it again.
This technique works great with pets but I’ve found that it can also work with humans. Think back to when you were little and your parents gave you brussel sprouts or some other green food for dinner. I would just play with it on my plate and make faces.
Dad would tell me I couldn’t have dessert if I didn’t eat it first and I would be thinking, “no way am I eating that junk,” and dig my heels in. An argument ensues and the next thing I know, I’m in my room with no dessert in my belly. Most people probably went through this as a little kid. Unfortunately, these types of bad experiences get stuck in our subconscious and, if you’re like me, you never really get a liking for certain vegetables.
On the other end of the spectrum, think about the associations you’ve had with foods that are bad for you. We have cake and ice cream at birthday parties, we got a cool toy every time we went to McDonald’s and had hamburgers, and sometimes mom and dad would give you candy as a treat for doing your chores or being good.
With all this training from the time we are little it’s no wonder we like to overindulge on things that are bad for us. So how does all this relate to your next diet? Well, go buy a squirt gun, give it to someone who lives with you and every time you go to the fridge and pull out a piece of cake. . . No, not that.
What I’m getting at is creating a positive experience with the foods that are good for you. When you’re watching your favorite movie, munch on carrot sticks. When you’re going to your favorite place for fun, bring along a piece of fruit. I’ve found that when I do this a piece of fruit starts to look more like a piece of candy. We need to train ourselves to have good associations with the foods that are best for us. Then maybe we won’t feel like a wet, angry cat every time we eat a healthy meal.
