Joy’s Healthy Lifestyle Log

I woke up at 2 in the morning feeling bloated. I’m hoping it was caused by the Chinese Orange Chicken since that was something I’m planning to eliminate from my diet anyway. Anything that helps me sleep better has been a strong motivator for my healthy lifestyle in the past, so I’m hoping that works well now.

I’m reading The End of Overeating by David A. Kessler. The materials and ideas aren’t particularly new, but put all together, they are really helping me. I eat the way that I do because the food industry has carefully conditioned me to do so. In order to eat the way that I want, I will have to painstakingly recondition myself. Reconditioning is less about will power and more about personalized behavior modification techniques.

The technique that I’m drawn to at the moment is rule-making. If I make rules that keep me from even entering a decision-making process about eating certain things at certain times at certain places, then I can eliminate cravings before they start. I tell my brain it’s not an option which puts me in a mindset to be easily distracted from the problem food. I’m attracted to this technique because it has worked for me in the past, even though I wasn’t as strategic with it as I’m being now.

So, I’ve made two rules in two days effecting the worst problem that I encountered on each day.

Rule Number 1. No calories after supper except for one of these things: sorbet, a cocktail, a piece of fruit.

I seem to like rules with exceptions because it makes my Inner Child feel like she’s getting away with something. My sorbet is homemade and mostly fruit. It also feels like dessert which sometimes cues me in to stop eating. I drink one or two cocktails a week in the summer, using the fresh mint in my garden, and many fewer in the winter. Alcohol has never been a big force in my life and doesn’t seem to trigger either more drinking or more eating, so that’s a reasonable treat. The fruit exception is just in case I really do get hungry after supper and neither of the other options are available.

Rule Number 2. No food from the mall, the gas station, or the drug store. The only exception to this rule is a sit-down meal at a mall restaurant when I’m with someone else.

That should eliminate some of my worst location trigger eating, something that Dr. Kessler discusses frequently in the book.

Filed under: Motivation, Rules on August 15th, 2009