"In this way you won't be putting too much strain on your brain. Your habit will be similar, so it's easy to accept, yet different enough to take you out of autopilot and have an impact on your weight loss," says Huberman.

Once that happens, Baard says environmental influences will kick in to help form a new habit. "It's going to take some discipline, but if you can just make that one initial break in your habit, those environmental changes will begin reinforcing a new behavior in your brain," he says.

That said, Huber also reminds us that we have to be willing to tolerate a little bit of discomfort every time a habit is changed.

"It doesn't have to be pain, you don't have to be miserable, but you do have to stretch out your comfort zone and recognize that you are going to feel out of sorts until the new behavior pattern is created," says Huberman.

Baard tells WebMD you make the whole process easier if you find a sense of satisfaction in breaking your food habit.

"You want to feel good about yourself, you want to know that food is not telling you what to do, that you can do with food whatever you choose," says Baard. This, he says, is calming to the brain and can help balance the discomfort you feel from veering from the familiar to new, uncharted territories.

Overcoming Food Habits: Some Practical Tips

While changing the way we think -- and the associations we make -- may seem hard, changing our actual behavior may be easier than we think. To help you get started, here are six things you can do right now to put change in motion.

1. Eat anything you want -- but always do it sitting at the kitchen or dining room table. "Changing not the foods you eat, but where you eat them, will help break some of the association with that food, which in turn may help alter how much and how often you eat it," says Huberman.

2. Change anything about your food habit you can, including the way you eat it. "If you always hold the ice cream spoon in your right hand, hold it in your left; if you always eat out of the container, put it in a bowl. The idea here is to take yourself off autopilot so you begin to think about what you are eating and why you are eating it," says Huberman.

3. Avoid visual cues that tell you to eat. 'If you always think of eating a candy bar every time you pass the vending machine, consciously go out of your way not to pass the vending machine," says Aronowitz. The same is true if TV is your food trigger. "Make a point not to eat in front of the television -- or change the channel away from the show you always associate with that pizza or bowl of chips," she says.

4. Institute the '15 minute' rule. As soon as you get a "cue" to eat, train yourself to wait just 15 minutes before you do. Aronowitz sa

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