My googling found this.
Maxwell Maltz was a plastic surgeon in the 1950s when he began noticing a strange pattern among his patients.
When Dr. Maltz would perform an operation — like a nose job for example — he found that it would take the patient about 21 days to get used to seeing their new face. Similarly, when a patient had an arm or a leg amputated, Maxwell Maltz noticed that the patient would sense a phantom limb for about 21 days before adjusting to the new situation.
These experiences prompted Maltz to think about his own adjustment period to changes and new behaviors, and he noticed that it also took himself about 21 days to form a new habit. Maltz wrote about these 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.”
I originally bought into the idea because once I started eating oatmeal for breakfast, it did become a habit. I look forward to eating it. At first, I thought I was crazy but now I realize it’s a welcome habit.
When I dove deeper into Maltz’s premise, I noted a key word that people often ignored while studying his work. “Minimum”. Maltz said it took a “minimum of twenty-one days” to form a habit. His cheerleaders dropped the word “minimum” and the twenty-one days stuck. It’s still referred to as gospel in several publications, including my cardio rehab reference materials.
A more recent study, published in 2024 determined “the median time to develop a habit was between 59 and 66 days, while the average ranged from 106 to 154 days. Some individuals formed habits in as little as four days, while others took up to 335 days, showing that habit formation is highly individualized.”
As I’ve examined my own habits, many have changed over the past several months. Health issues caused me to rethink numerous things. Just because I didn’t take medication on a regular basis didn’t mean I was as fit as I thought. I have a few flaws with the two major ones being over-weight and a couple of narrowed arteries. Changing my habits helped address both. I’m eating better and exercising more.
In addition to eating oatmeal most mornings, I haven’t touched a saltshaker this year. I stopped that when I went on my Mediterranean Diet. I’ve eaten beef and pork one time each in the past several months, so they’ve been scarce. I’ve not prepared anything that came from a box because of the preservatives found inside. Preservatives are evil and I’m not a fan of evil.
I’ve avoided white as well. No white bread, sugar, pasta or rice. I’ve never worn white after Labor Day and now my lips won’t accept it either.
My dad was a smoker for most of his early years. I hated it. He smoked in the house, the car, with friends, and at work. He came home from a physical one year and told my mom that the doctor told him to stop smoking because of some spots on an x-ray. He didn’t stop. He went back the following year, and the doctor offered a more dire warning. “If you don’t stop, you won’t be back next year.” He stopped immediately. After smoking for decades, he went cold-turkey, and he never smoked again living his last few decades smoke free.
I’m not pledging to never eat white, but I am committed to taking better care of myself. I have things I want to do and people I want to do them with. Motivation is a big deal. I have some and I intend to use it.