The 21 Day Habit Challenge
If you haven't yet heard about the 21 Day Habit Challenge, then I regret to inform you that you are about 65 years behind the trend. Don't feel bad, I only recently discovered it as well.
I have a nasty sweet tooth that I have been trying to control my whole life, I know I'm making it sound like a big deal but if you too have a sweet tooth then you know what I'm saying.
I decided to look for answers to break this habit in the same way that most people do these days: I asked my close and personal friend, Google. My search came back with the magic and almighty figure of 21 days. Initially I didn't even open the pages, I just saw 21 days and was sattisfied that this had to be accurate. Subconsience denial, perhaps?
Upon further exploration, I learned that the idea first surfaced in the 1950's by plastic surgeon, Maxwell Maltz who discovered that it took his patients approximately 21 days to get used to seeing their new face and similarly noticed that it also took him about 21 days to form a new habit. Stay with me, the boring background facts will soon be over!
To cut a very long story short, Dr Maltz wrote about his experiences and said "These, and many other commonly observed phenomena tend to show that it requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell."
Over the years, the concept changed from "a minimum of about 21 days" to "it takes 21 days to form a new habit." A common case of broken telephone.
I've done my fair share of reading this morning, and I've noticed that there are many conflicting ideas about the challenge with some saying that it's nonsense, and others saying that it works like a charm.
This is where Just Call Me Skinny comes into play! We will attempt the challenge and see if it really is a magical number or simply a myth. It is said that one can attempt to break any habit in the 21 days, but for this test we will attempt to cut out all processed, refined or unnatural sugar for the full three weeks.
The starting day will be Thursday 03 September 2015. If you have already attempted the challenge, we would love to hear your feedback, and if you haven't attempted the challenge but would like to, we would like to extend the invitation to have you join us!
Good luck to everyone- see you in three long sugar-free weeks!
