“Better just polish this off, then it won’t tempt me”
“Better finish this off so it doesn’t go to waste”
I used to say this all the time … I even had a phrase “If it’s going to waste, might as well be MY waist”
Yeah, guess how well that worked out for me.
But, I know … the pain of wasting food is REAL. But, hang on a sec here … what’s the definition of waste?
“In EXCESS of what is NEEDED” …
This is what I mean when I talk about treating your body like a trash compactor. Trying to fit more in, when it’s literally the definition of waste”
As kids, we’d hear about “starving kids in Africa” … but, as an adult, I realize that I don’t honor or help starving people by simply eating more food.
That’s like a rich person saying “I’ll help the poor by hoarding more money” … doesn’t really work like that. So, let’s get practical here:
How do you stop polishing off junk food “just because it’s there?”
It’s easier than you think and takes less than 5 minutes.
And, you don’t have to try to endlessly fight temptation all day long.
***Before I give you this strategy, I’ll say this: If there is a food you REALLY struggle to exercise any semblance of self-control around, it’s probably easier not to bring it into the house.
Would you give someone who is bad with money an unlimited credit card? … That probably isn’t a wise idea.***
So, that being said, somehow a giant Costco-sized bag of chips made it into your pantry, and tonight, Netflix is calling your name.
Whaddya do?
Well, let me paint you a picture.
You’re driving down the road and you come to a 4-way stop. Do you blast through the intersection without looking?
Probably not. You come to at least a rolling stop and look around before proceeding.
Are stop signs there to stop you from driving down the road altogether?
Nope, but they are there to help you slow down, pause and take a look around.
Stop signs only become a problem when you try to hammer the gas and blast through them without looking.
What’s impressive here is that something so simple can have a profound effect on your behavior.
Unless you want to trash your car and possibly have a terrible accident … you pause and take a look around before proceeding.
So, let’s get back to that “family-sized” bag of chips.
Can we take a lesson here?
Yep. We can introduce “stop signs” into our eating, and disrupt the cycle of mindless eating.
You see, when we combine something like Netflix and Junk Food?
We basically go into a trance … we get into a rhythm of hand-to-mouth eating that isn’t going to stop until the hand is scraping the bottom of an empty bag.
This is made possible by the fact that, despite packing 2 days worth of calories into a single bag of chips, they’re not very filling.
So, what if, you take that giant bag of chips and turn it into 10 smaller bags of chips?
Now you’re starting with a more appropriate portion size.
What you’re doing here is introducing “stop signs” into the mindless eating cycle.
By adding in a stopping point, you actually have to make a conscious decision if you want to continue eating.
Awareness is the first step to change.
And you might say “Yeah, but, if I know what I’m doing, I’ll just go back and eat more bags …”
Will you actually? Have you tried?
Why not try it and see what happens?
Now, if you do implement this, and you’re still blowing through bag after bag … well, the problem isn’t mindless eating.
Then we’re moving into the realm of emotional eating.
Mindless eating is Eating WITHOUT Awareness.
Emotional eating is Eating to change our emotional state.
Stop signs might help, but emotional eating requires a slightly deeper dive into what’s really going on.
Once you know your “why”, changing “what” you eat becomes a whole lot easier.
And that’s what we do in my program Lifestyle-180. We don’t just address WHAT you eat, but also HOW and WHY.
We work on things like your mindset and habits, as well as metabolic optimization, so things like occasionally blowing a “stop sign” become much less of a problem long term.
So, what do you think? Would you try the “stop sign” method to reduce mindless snacking?