Don’t Rely on Willpower! Willpower is NOT a Strategy…
Willpower Is Not the Problem
A lot of people assume their biggest problem is willpower.
They think they need to be stronger, more disciplined, more committed, or just better at saying no.
But very often that is not the real issue at all.
One thing I have seen again and again over the years, and with my clients in The Alkaline Life Club, is that healthy choices feel very different depending on the state the body is in.
When blood sugar is unstable, stress is high, cravings are kicking in, and the system feels under pressure, everything becomes harder than it should be.
Not just weight loss.
Food choices. Energy. Mood. Motivation. Consistency. The ability to think clearly and make good decisions in the first place.
That is why relying on willpower is such a poor strategy.
Because willpower works worst at exactly the moments people tend to need it most.
And this is also why the body can sometimes feel stubborn.
If the system feels deprived, stressed, inflamed, or under threat, it will often cling on. To cravings, to fatigue, to excess fat, to old patterns.
Not because you are weak, but because the body is trying to protect itself.
When the body feels better supported, better nourished, and more stable, it tends to respond very differently.
That is what this video is about.
Below, I explain why willpower is flawed, why decision fatigue and blood sugar matter so much, and one very practical thing you can do to stop relying on willpower as your main strategy.
One practical way to stop relying on willpower is to make sure you have something ready for those moments when blood sugar drops and cravings hit.
That is why I have linked my No-Bake Super-Fast Bliss Balls recipe below. It is quick, satisfying, and built around the kind of ingredients that help support steadier energy and better satiety.
Transcript of Video:
Willpower is broken. It is not a strategy, and I do not want you relying on willpower as part of your health journey. Hi, my name’s Ross Bridgeford. I’m the bestselling author of the Alkaline Reset Cleanse and the forthcoming “The Alkaline Life” book. And today I want to talk to you about willpower because so many of you are starting your health journey.
You’re getting that real motivation from somewhere, thinking this time it’s gonna happen, and your strategy is, I’m gonna have strong willpower. I’m gonna go for it, and I’m gonna do it, and I’m gonna be good this time, I’m gonna be really strong. It doesn’t work like that. Willpower is not a strategy. We’ve been researching willpower for probably the last 20,
30 years. We’ve discovered a lot more about the brain in recent times. We know that there are three flaws when it comes to willpower and why it cannot be relied upon. Firstly, we have recently discovered semi-recently, the concept of decision fatigue. We have about 15 strong minutes of decision making per day. And that’s not just about your food. That’s about should I hit the snooze button?
Should I check my phone first thing in the morning? What should I have for breakfast? Should I take the bus to work? Or should I walk? Should I check my emails again? What am I gonna put in the kids’ lunchbox? All of these impact our decision making ability, and we get 15 strong decision making minutes a day decision fatigue is real.
So we are gonna be focusing on this little lesson about what happens later in the day a few times. But what do you think happens later in the day when you’ve been making decision after decision all through your morning routine, all through your work day, what you’re having for lunch, what you’re having for dinner, and when you’re getting hungry later at night,
your willpower is leaving you deserted. That’s number one. Number two, the fuel for willpower is super inconsistent. And when you’re first starting out, and when you’re coming from a perspective of a standard modern diet of sugar and gluten and processed foods and packaged foods, this sends from the first thing you are eating in the morning to the last thing at night.
Your blood sugar and insulin levels on a big, up and down, massive highs, massive lows all throughout the day. When you’re craving something sweet, some simple carbs, something salty is usually when you’re at the bottom in the trough of your blood sugar, the decision making centers in the brain are powered by glucose. When your blood sugar is at its lowest,
your willpower, once again deserts you. So when you start with an unhealthy, acidic gluten and sugary preserved food breakfast, this sends you on a spiral. By mid-morning, you’re at a trough. When you’re hungry And looking for a snack and wondering what to get your blood sugar’s low, your willpower desserts, you, you consume something maybe with a bit of sugar,
maybe some simple carbs, and it gets you through lunch. And then after lunch, as you’re digesting all that food, your blood sugar drops again. Mid-morning snack time, mid-afternoon snack time, your willpower has deserted you once again because your blood sugars are low after dinner, the same thing. Whenever you are feeling that snack attack time and you go to reach for a snack,
you go to reach for some food, your willpower is at its lowest and your body is craving sugars because your blood sugars are low. So number one, decision fatigue. Number two, the fuel of willpower is really inconsistent. Number three, when we are living in a state of stress, which so many of us are, this also impacts that decision making center of the brain,
which is responsible for your willpower strength. This isn’t just emotional stress. When the body is experiencing a spiking cortisol and adrenaline, this is physiological stress within the body. And an acid forming diet contributes to this. The studies show us that when the pH drops, the adrenals pump out more cortisol in another cruel twist of fate when cortisol is higher, pH drops as well.
But that’s a vicious cycle for another day. So when we’re constantly eating acid forming foods and drinks, pH gets driv driven down, the body’s alkaline buffering system kicks in to bring it back up. That stress of raising the pH from that slightly acidic level just up to where it’s safe again, causes the adrenals to pump out cortisol. It causes a state of stress in the body,
and it impacts that decision making center of the brain again. So it’s another vicious cycle. The more acid forming foods we are consuming, the less willpower we’re gonna have. Willpower is not to be relied upon. It is not a strategy. What I want you to take from this is the quick step that you can use right now to help sort of smooth out that blood sugar peak and trough to give yourself a fighting chance when you’ve got that snack attack time,
that hunger pang, and you just need to get something in below this video, I’m giving you my favorite snack recipe that you can make in bulk. You can take with you it in an airtight container. It’ll last all week, and you can utilize this snack. And the nutrients that are inside this snack are specifically in there to do two things. One,
balance your blood sugars and support your pancreas to balance your insulin response. Number two, the satiation formula, protein, fat, and fiber together keeps you full for longer. So this snack does both of those things. It keeps you full for longer, and it balances that blood sugar, and it enables you to stabilize throughout the day so that when you are so,
so, so super hungry and you need something right now, it gives you that thing to get you through till you can get to a healthy lunch, till you can get home and make that healthy dinner to give you just that little bit of sweetness after a meal. So you don’t then go craving those really, really naughty things. So that snack directly glows video is gonna really,
really help you with this piece so that you can stop relying on willpower. And I want you to know this before we leave. If you’ve ever felt that you don’t have strong willpower, if you’ve ever felt that you are somehow weak or just you give up too easily, it’s not your fault. Willpower is flawed. It’s not meant to be relied upon.
It’s certainly not meant to be a strategy. Take from this some comfort that you are just the same as the rest of us. And utilize the strategies, put the strategies in place to protect yourself and give yourself those safety nets for when those hunger pangs hit and that snack attack comes around. I hope you’ve enjoyed this. Don’t forget to look out for my new book, The Alkaline Life.
It’s out now and you can order HERE and get TONS of bonus training from me!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this. Leave me a comment below, make sure you share and like, and subscribe, and I’ll see you all in the next lesson.
