Every year I make you do it. Today is the day.
Go through the candy stash. Pick two pieces--one you love (KitKat? Peanut Butter Cup?) and one you don't (Necco wafers. Peanut Butter chunk in black wax paper. DumDum lollipop). Squash them in their wrappers (if they're squashable) then throw them in the bathroom trash.
Why am I putting you through this? Because the ability to throw food away (at least in America, where we put twice as many calories in the daily food supply as our population actually needs) is a key indicator of whether you will ultimately succeed at weight control.
You've got no problem, of course, tossing the DumDum. You know that if it's in the house, you'll eat it anyway. You get that the mindless eating of easily accessible sugar is a bad thing for you.
But the KitKat? Here's where the resistance and resentment bubble up--along with the excuses. "That candy belongs to my kid.I won't deprive him," you announce self-righteously. Yeah, right. Like your child needs one more chunk of high-fructose corn syrup and trans fats in order to be psychologically whole. Besides, you had your eye on it for yourself, didn't you?
"But that's wasting food!" True. But that food was a net loss to begin with--the medical costs associated with the binging of the last two days will cause more loss to you personally and economically than throwing away free candy.
"But it makes me happy and I want it!" Ah, now we're getting somewhere. This is an emotional reaction (and quite a logical one) to having, well, candy! Candy is fun, happy, festive, yummy, a treat, a reward! Candy is all good things. Self-control, self-analysis, self-restraint, self-discipline and long-term goal-oriented thinking are boring, and yucky. Your inner trick-or-treater is really unhappy with me right now, isn't she?
Eating mindlessly and emotionally are, in my professional opinion, the two key reasons why were are gaining weight wholesale in this country. The food calories are in the environment--and we go at them.
I won't ask you whether your higher mind or your inner trick-or-treater run your life. It changes from moment to moment, day to day and establishing the primacy of one over the other takes practice, lifestyle change and often a lot of help. All I'm asking you to do is make one choice. Throw out the candy now. Take a deep breath. That's how big changes start.
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13 years ago
4 comments:
KERI, YOU ROCK!!!
And I do mean ROCK!! I've read this post twice and read every word each time. Especially relating to the emotional eating and the food on the run that I do a lot. (not to mention the late night snacking that I hope my husband doesn't see, but he always does - either going into my mouth or later on my hips or belly- UGH!)
It's your encouragement that saves me. Making that purposeful choice moment-to-moment about how we spend our days. Taking a deep breath and RELAXING, WALKING, TALKING TO OUR FAMILIES,READING,PRAYING - just choosing to take the better choice.
It can be a fight, but it's one we're taking on for OURSELVES. To own our lives. Isn't that like teaching our kids responsibility for their actions, and ultimately, their own lives? Well, I'm taking the challenge! and I'm going take a lot of deep breaths!
Thanks, Pam
Pam, I'm proud of you! What did you pitch? How did you feel afterwards (both positive and negative emotions)? What does this tell you about the patterned way you treat yourself? I'm really curious--and your story will, no doubt, sound 85% like someone else's (who needs to read it.)
It was a BUNCH of AWESOME CHOCOLATE!!Like: baby Snickers, Twix bars, 3 Muskateers, bags of M & M's and on and on. It was TERRIBLE. Part of me thought if I ate it all at one time, I wouldn't have to toss it. HA! But even this chocoholic couldn't do that. My husband helped by hiding 2 bags that weren't even opened! And once it was all gone, I was free!
I didn't have to look at it and deny myself chocolate. It wasn't there anymore. Life was simpler. The choice had been made and I felt good about it. Like I could really do this thing of feeding my body the food it needs instead of what my emotions say it wants - for comfort, or a reward, or whatever. The results are just more of the pounds that make me feel terrible.
So, I want to feel and look good more that I want that chocolate.
Step #1.
NOW, I have to make eating a planned pleasurable, and nuturing process. Planning ahead for everything is something I try to do all the time, but eating is just something that comes in between all the planning. Which means I have to TAKE THE TIME and value myself and my body more.
Step #2 will be harder for me, but as I see the weight go and my body look better, I'm going to be empowered.
Now "free" and "empowered" are two awesome words!
Pam,
You totally get two key points I make over and over (and over) again:
#1 Structure your environment (if the choice isn't there, you won't have to sweat it) and
#2 Structure is sexy! Planning changes everything (really, everything) for the better.
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