Changing old habits

Changing habits is hard.  Especially when the habit you are trying to change is something you really like.  Day 2.  How's it going?  Well, for the most part, not bad.  Of course I always do well the first couple of weeks.  Ask me that in a couple of weeks and the answer might be a different.  That being said, how do we change habits?  To put change in your life, I suppose you add new routines through out the day and stick with them.  Replace one routine with another.  I suppose our brain needs to be persuaded.  So then how do you persuade your brain.  Rewards.  Your brain reacts to rewards.  My habit I am trying to change right now is unhealthy snacking.  I have learned that I like to snack.  It isn't always the big meal (though I am a sucker to eat out and be social with friends), but the many different little snacks.  I love gummie bears, red vines, chips, nuts (the honey roasted kind), fruit snacks, candy corn, Swedish fish, crackers and most anything I can put in my hands and snack out of.  So now how to change this habit and make the change a reward.  The trick is to be able to see what the consequence of the habit is.  Is it a good consequence or a bad consequence?  My brain might say "yes, I can already taste it."  Then my brain begins to reason and says...what about the consequence?  So the trick is how to make my brain realize that the bad consequence is really not what I want.  I need to look for the good consequences.  So how do I make the good consequence out weigh the reward I think I want to the reward I need?  This is what I am working on right now.  Motivation.  That is my reward.  Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going.  My motivation needs to be that I want more energy, I want to feel good every day, I want the headaches to disappear, I want my back to stop hurting after how many years, I want to feel like I am in my twenties, I don't want to have limitations, I want to be happy with myself.  These are all good rewards.  So, I am telling my brain, by staying away from the unhealthy snacks, that all these motivations are possible and obtainable.  Now to just believe it.