In your efforts to manage your food triggers, one of the best techniques is to create buffers that will protect you from slipping into eating.
Whenever possible, put some distance between you and your high-risk, problem foods.
Instead of trying so hard to improve your willpower, simply don’t allow yourself to be tempted in the first place.
Look closely at the purpose of certain food items such as the candy jar on your desk. Is it there because you have a strong need to be liked or accepted?
If so, look for some new ways to connect with others such as handing out free flowers once a week or sharing books you enjoy.
If you’re determined to change your life, make a clean sweep of trigger foods around you.
Most people who quit smoking don’t keep packs of cigarettes around to see whether they can resist them. Treat food the same way—get rid of what puts you at risk for giving in and overeating.
Today’s assignment (my answers are in blue)
1. Eliminate one trigger from your life. Choose one food or category of food, and make the decision to protect yourself from it. Record it here.
Ice cream- don’t buy it. If I want ice cream, go to a place that sells it by the dish or cone, and get a “child size” serving. (You’d be amazed at all the places that are happy to do this for you.)
Chocolate chips- never have an open bag in the house. Buy them only when I’m baking something that requires the entire bag.
2. Clear that item from all of your regular storage places, including your home, car, office, and even your shopping list. Write down what you did.
I recently threw away a partial bag of chocolate chips! I know that if I start eating them, I have a VERY hard time stopping. So it’s best to not have them around. (One time, I melted them in the microwave so I’d quit eating them.)
3. List any other food triggers that you plan to eliminate as well as ones you need to protect yourself from in the future.
I plan to ignore the cookies at the coffee shops I go to. I will remind myself that the cookies they sell are very disappointing because they aren’t that good.
Excerpted from Day 63 in the book 100 Days of Weight Loss