Go for the B!
“I was so bad this week . . . ”
By: Laura Christoph, PhD, NBC-HWC
Head Nourishment Coach, Three Point Balance
In the first month at Three Point Balance, a typical nourishment session opening looks something like this:
Client: “I was so ‘bad’ this week”
Coach: “It sounds like you are frustrated with how the week went. Tell me what ‘bad’ means to you.’”
Client: “I ate ice cream on Saturday and had zero vegetables at dinner that night.”
Coach: “I’m hearing you are feeling frustrated about the way you balanced your plate Saturday, and there were also another 20 meals you experienced last week. Let’s review the intentions you set for yourself this week and how those went for you.”
Client: “I said I would eat vegetables at dinner at least 5 nights this week.” (BIG PAUSE). “And I guess I actually did that!”
Gosh, we are hard on ourselves. Our brains are designed to see what is wrong and needs fixing, even when we achieve our intentions for the week!
Today, I am going to bring you some news that likely negates all you learned in Western education trying to earn your 4.0 GPA:
A solid B average is actually better than an A when it comes to making lifestyle changes!
Interestingly enough, a 4.0 lifestyle change average isn’t the best way to learn.
The Science
In a recent article in Nature communications, researchers examined the optimal learning zone for both biological brains and for artificial intelligence…and found that we learn best when we are only 85% successful:
“The rate of learning is maximized when the difficulty of training is adjusted to keep the training accuracy at around 85%. We showed that training at the optimal accuracy proceeds exponentially faster than training at a fixed difficulty.”
Neuroplasticity, the ability of neural networks in our brains to change and reorganize, is optimized when we succeed 85% of the time and learn from our failures the other 15%. When you start getting an A at a task, it doesn’t mean you “won”. It just signals that it is time to adjust the difficulty level so you continue learning.
A Real-World Application
After successfully meeting her “eat a vegetable each night with dinner 5 nights per week” goal, we decided she was ready for a higher degree of difficulty with her fruit and vegetable intentions. Together, we explored a few options she had been talking about changing including replacing ice cream with fruit for dessert, drinking a green smoothie at breakfast, or adding some crudites to snack. She chose to start with a green smoothie. Then, we adjusted the frequency at which the client wants to test this out, with the aim to make it hard enough to fail about 15 percent of the time. She aimed for six smoothies per week.
Over six weeks, my client incorporated each of these four habits, adding a new one every 1-2 weeks. As a result, she consistently met her fiber needs, balanced her blood sugar, and saw some positive body composition changes…all while keeping ice cream in her dessert routine a couple of times per week and forgetting to eat a vegetable every once in a while! She also started showing up to her coaching sessions excited to learn and grow rather than beating herself up for breaking a rule we never set.
Take Home Message : When it comes to behavior change, aim to be average. A Solid B average is better than it seems when it comes to success in meeting your nourishment targets.
Take Action: What is a nutrition change you have been approaching with an all or nothing mindset? How can you adjust to optimize your learning by aiming for that solid B?
Wilson, R.C., Shenhav, A., Straccia, M. et al. The Eighty Five Percent Rule for optimal learning. Nat Commun 10, 4646 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12552-4
AUTHOR
Laura Christoph, PhD, NBC-HWC
Head Nourishment Coach, Co-Founder
Three Point Balance
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