Think Positive Positively!

LOW-CARB LIVING, STONE AGE-STYLE The foods we eat contain three major nutrients: fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Manipulation can allow you to literally mold other behaviors. Manipulation allows for you to change the way that people are going to behave in several other ways. It will allow you to convince people to act in certain ways. It can allow you to even change the way in which other people think, allowing you to literally change the thoughts in the minds of others. W ithin this article, you will take a closer look at what manipulation is. You will learn all about how it exists as a form of social influence and you will also look at some of the most common reasons that people choose to manipulate those around them. When you read through this article, you will want to keep in mind that this is the background information that you will need. You will see the ways in which manipulation exists and how it works. You will also understand the reasons that are commonly used to manipulate other people as well. Social Influence and Manipulation The problem isn't me. The problem is the alcohol. And then this: If I take the alcohol away, the problem has gone. And with these thoughts I found a small sense of strength. I managed to tap into the tiny part of me that still believed in myself, that had some power. The problem isn't me. The problem is the alcohol. If I take the alcohol away, the problem has gone.

I seized on that tiny feeling of strength, got up off the loo, and made a monumental decision. I was going to quit booze--completely. Each has its own building blocks: Fats are made of fatty acids, proteins consist of amino acids, and carbohydrates are made of a type of sugar called glucose. Fat and protein come primarily from animal products such as eggs, meat, and dairy products, and from oily foods like nuts and olives. You get carbohydrates from plant products, including fruits, vegetables, flour, potatoes, rice, and sugar. Your digestive tract has to break down each kind of food to its basic building blocks--either fatty acids, amino acids, or glucose--before it can be absorbed into your bloodstream. If you're typical of most modern humans, you get most of your calories from carbohydrates--foods that your digestive system breaks down into glucose. However, we didn't always eat this way. Prehistoric humans mainly ate other creatures--large ones, small ones, fish, and even bugs. The plants they consumed--grasses, roots, and wild fruit in various stages of ripeness--contained plenty of vitamins but yielded little in the way of calories. That's because natural vegetation is full of indigestible fiber and other substances that interfere with the breakdown of carbohydrates to glucose and prevent their absorption into the bloodstream. The digestive tracts of our ancient ancestors had to work hard to digest the plants they ate. Ultimately, manipulation exists as a method of social influence. Social influence itself is the way in which people will naturally change their actions and behaviors depending upon the social environment that they are in. When you give in to social influence, you are most likely to be changing the way that you are acting in response to something else that happened around you. That could be in response to what someone else has asked or said to you. It could be in response to the actions of someone else. It could also be in response to what you believe that those around you think or will do. G enerally speaking, there are three primary methods of social influence. These are compliance, identification, and internalization.

Each works slightly differently, but they both work to make use of two inherent needs that people have--the need to be right and the need to be liked, both of which we will be discussing in more depth later. C ompliance No more trying to control and moderate. No more attempting to do deals with myself. Alcohol was going from my life and I would teach myself how to be a non-drinker. How completely and utterly terrifying. All my years I had been conditioned to believe that alcohol was a vital ingredient if you wanted to lead a full, fun life. Facing the prospect of never drinking again was like standing on the edge of a cliff, staring into a black abyss. But I knew something had to change, and this was it. Alcohol had to go. I had no idea what was to come. Getting sober transforms every single aspect of my life. Whatever glucose they absorbed trickled into their bloodstream over several hours. Most of the vegetation they consumed passed through their intestines undigested. STARCH: NATURE'S Rocket Fuel HOW DO seeds get energy to sprout if they're underground and don't have leaves to soak up sunlight? Nature solves this problem by loading up seeds with a powerful fuel: starch. Starch is nothing but sugar molecules linked end to end by flimsy bonds, which plant and animal enzymes have no trouble breaking. Starch looks like a white powder, but it's actually chains of glucose molecules stacked together like cordwood to form tiny crystals loaded with caloric energy. No food we commonly eat, including fat, has as many calories packed into as small a space as starch.

The funny thing is, you can't taste it. Starch doesn't turn to sugar until it reaches your gut, where it is quickly broken down and absorbed into your bloodstream. T his refers to the appearance of agreeing but not actually agreeing in theory. You may act in the way that was requested of you, but you are not going to actually believe in it. For example, imagine that you are currently being asked to change a policy at work--perhaps you are told that you must refuse to serve anyone wearing purple and green shirts. If they are wearing both purple and green, you are told that you must not allow them to enter your store. Despite the fact that you may think that the rule is silly or is something that should not be enforced, you do force the point simply because you believe that you must follow through with what you were told to do. After all, if you do not comply with the whims of your employer, you will simply no longer have one. The result is that you will tell other people that they cannot shop in your store on the basis of the color of their clothing. You tell them that if they change their clothing, they can come in, but if not, they cannot enter. You apologize for the rule and say that you disagree with it, but you have no choice but to follow along. After all, you still have bills to pay. After my sad and shameful hiding-the-bottle moment, I go through a monumental turnaround. I quickly come to the realisation that for most of my adult life I've been an A-grade emotion-avoider, using alcohol to help me hide from uncomfortable feelings. Coming to terms with my sadness and anger (plus every other emotion you can name) is a painful and messy process. I slowly discover how to embrace fear and vulnerability, which enables me to properly connect not only with myself, but with all the people around me. I learn how to recognise the workings of my brain, how to distance myself from my thoughts, and how to ground myself in my body and the moment. I learn how healing tears are, and how pure joy makes my breath catch in my throat. I also discover new, authentic ways to relax and unwind, and how to socialise without a drink (or eight) in my belly. Mingling with others while sober is awfully awkward and uncomfortable at first but, like everything else after quitting, it eventually becomes my new, comfortable normal.

I realise that parties and events succeed or fail based on a range of factors that don't include the type of liquid I have in my glass. In short, I discover that I don't need alcohol to live a full, fun life, and that all the messages I've been fed my whole life regarding alcohol are complete and utter bullshit. About 10,000 years ago, the human diet changed dramatically. In an area known as the Fertile Crescent in what are now parts of Iraq and Syria, wild wheat and barley grew in abundance. The seeds of those grasses contain unusually large amounts of starch, a powdery substance that consists of glucose molecules linked together in long chains. Enzymes in the seeds can break the bonds that hold the starch molecules together and use the glucose for the energy needed to sprout. The high starch content of these seeds gave them a jump start so they could mature quickly during the short rainy season typical of this region. Although Mother Nature intended starch to be used as an energy source for plants, not animals, the bonds that hold its glucose molecules together are weak enough that the digestive enzymes of animals can break them, too. To keep predators from eating the starch in these seeds, they were encased in rock-hard husks. You can't just strip wheat seeds from the stalk and eat them; Somehow you have to extract the starch from the husk. About 10,000 years ago, some of our more resourceful ancestors learned to grind wheat and barley seeds between rocks and let the wind blow away the chaff. You still have mouths to feed. You need to work. This is compliance--you act as if you are in agreement even if your true thoughts on the matter are contradictory. I nternalization I nternalization, on the other hand, is meant to influence the way in which people think and act at the same time. It is the attempt to change the thoughts of someone else while also encouraging the change of behaviors as well. It is essentially getting people to agree with you and the thoughts that you have. It is asking people to change the way in which you are able to think and act at the same time.