The Munchies lurk in the shadows of your living room. It's an ambush mission. An innocent victim obliviously watches TV. They hit, full force during a potato chip commercial. You never saw it coming. Their main weapon is the urge. Not just a regular urge, but a focused craving that can be maneuvered at will towards a particular brand of potato chips.

Awareness is the first defense. In martial arts they teach you to deflect a punch rather than stop it. It takes less energy and uses the motion of the attacker against him. Deflection is the style of defense needed in battle against cravings. You cannot stop them by trying not to think of the munchies.

Like a boulder rolling down a mountain, cravings bounce and bang into other needs, stirring emotions and desires into an avalanche. A tiny craving has become a powerful urge that affects every fiber of our being. Allowing a craving to build anticipation can only lead to disaster. Deflection uses the energy of a craving to form positive thoughts. It is best done quickly before the emotions escalate.

Neurons
Your brain has adapted its neurons to your present lifestyle. For example, many people like to wake up slowly while reading the paper and drinking a coffee. Billions of neurological cells have become adapted to certain amounts of neurotransmitter stimulation, in certain sequence, at certain times. If a visiting friend interrupts that morning schedule, even if you are not conscious of it, there will be a feeling that something is not right. You may become irritable and edgy throughout the day. The brain has not received its normal doses of neurotransmitters in the normal sequence and rhythms, and they react with stress as though something were wrong.

It has taken years to establish your present addiction to food. Your entire neurological processing is dependent on the pleasure of food for balance. Your neurotransmitters are expecting the next fix. Food is your escape, relief from worry, entertainment, and comfort, and is more intimate than your best friend. Removing food from its powerful position by cutting down food intake causes imbalance. You feel vulnerable and sensitive, similar to the effects of drug withdrawal. The symptoms are physical and emotional: anxiety, irritation, restlessness, headaches, stress and feeling out of balance. You are forcing your brain to change its neurological process, a change that sends shocks throughout the body.

As kids, we discovered an electric cow fence. No barbed wire and mesh for this farmer, just a thin orange wire two feet from the ground. We dared each other to touch it. Timidly, I reached out my hand. At first, there was nothing, then ZAP. I leaped back with a howl. After a few minutes, I calmed down. I decided that I could handle it, so I grabbed it again. Another ZAP but this time, I just let go. On the third time, I grabbed the wire and hung on, ZAP, ZAP, ZAP. I discovered that I could easily endure the shock if I just relaxed.

A small calf could have walked through that fence, but that small shock was enough to stop a 1000 lb. bull. Like that electric cattle fence, cravings keep us in place with small shocks. If we only held tight and ignored those shocks, we would realize how powerless they are.

Freedom is only a few shocks away. Let us leave the land of Burger Kings, Dairy Queens and burger shepherds wearing clown suits. It is a land of sickness, disease and death. If you listen in the quiet, you can hear The Shepherd's voice. Softly, He calls us onward. Green pastures and still waters await us.