If you’ve been reading my blog posts, you may have noticed that they all highlight strategies which, when utilized regularly and over time, will help you develop self-control around food.
The beauty of these techniques is that they allow room for off-plan eating—that is, foods like burgers, fries, candies, and cokes, for instance.
This allowance is important—necessary, even—because, whether you like it or not, most people (that includes you, Dear Reader) cannot control what they stick in their pie hole for long. But they CAN control other behaviors, and it’s these other behaviors that I’ll continue to focus on in these posts.
A few years ago I walked into an all-day counselor training on gambling addiction and came vis-à-vis with an old favorite—the Chocolate Croissant—generously included in every attendee’s tuition. Luckily, I wasn’t hungry since I’d fortified myself with a real breakfast of champions—fresh fruit, steel cut oats, and ground flax. Nevertheless, chocolate croissants!
Need I say more?
How to control compulsive eating
It was time to break out my “after the next healthy meal” strategy, summed up thus: After my next healthy meal, I can have [object of my unfettered longing].
Therefore, I would fulfill my desire for chocolate-infused-white-flour-and-butter post lunch—which the workshop organizers had also provided in an effort to entice participants (gambling addiction’s not very exciting, but food is!). However, knowing the meal would not be a high-nutrient one, I had brought my own Huge Mega Salad with beans and cashew dressing.
Over the ensuing four hours, my mind wandered frequently from the finer points of reeling in a slot machine fanatic to the much anticipated bain au chocolat. Luckily I had strategically placed said contraband with my salad and some other belongings in a corner on the other side of the room (another very useful strategy to help control compulsive eating).
Occasionally, though, my conniving brain would instigate a mental tug-of-war, “I should just have that thing during the morning break and get it over with!”
“I could do that,” my Wise mind interjected, “but I’ll be so happy when I finish my salad that
I waited.”
So I waited.
The morning dragged on with the French pastry teasing me from across the way, but at long last lunch time arrived. My impulse was to plow through my salad with a modicum of cursory chewing, but I reminded myself of my goal to be the last to finish eating (a bonus strategy for impulse control).
Thus I initiated my slow eating tools—putting the fork down between bites and making conversation with my new friends. As usual, my ginormous bowl of greens drew lots of questions, and folks eyed my bowl with envy as they munched ham and cheese on rye, Lay’s originals, and oatmeal raisin cookies. Before I knew it, our lunch break was over and it was time to practice our newly acquired counseling skills on each other.
I’d forgotten all about my croissant!
Happily, there was still the afternoon break, during which I slowly savored my treasure—first the puff pastry, layer by layer—until I made it to the chocolate jackpot. Yummy!
Homework
Next time you’re faced with a strong extracurricular craving, allow yourself to indulge—after the next healthy meal. Utilizing this technique regularly will help you gain more self-control over food. Bonum appetitionem!
Caroline’s 4-module Taste Bud Rehab Program helps people adopt a nutrient-rich diet by teaching them the psychology of permanent weight loss.