Battling Our Blunders

Isn't it funny how good friends can connect even when miles apart? I was just talking with my mom about identifying weak spots in our eating habits and I decided to come write a blog about it. Before I blogged, I read my friend's blog on organization in the household, and here's her blog - all about identifying weak spots. Click here to read it - it's really good!

At any rate, my friend is talking about time management, and I'm talking about waist management. One of the biggest helps I have found is to identify trouble before it arrives. Sit down and decide where you are failing - for me, it's dinner time. I have all the resolve in the world until I get into the kitchen and am surrounded by food. It's just too easy for me to grab a snack out of the fridge, taste dinner while I'm cooking, have a glass of wine to unwind in the kitchen... My solution: gum. I chew gum while cooking. I haven't been able to do this for many, many years - I have an allergy to aspartame (NutraSweet) and ALL gum contains it. Yes, even Juicy Fruit and Big Red have aspartame. But I found a great little health store that carries gum in several flavors that is all natural - no artificial sweeteners!! Yay for me!! So away I chew. I pop a piece into my mouth before I get out of the car at home so I am ready for the attack of the munchies before I even walk through the front door.

Another area of weakness for me: when someone else prepares the meal. If someone prepares a meal and I decide I am only going to eat salad, all hope goes out the window the minute I am sitting in front of all the good food. My plan to foil the flavors: tell someone my plan! This afternoon before we got ready for lunch I told my mom I was going to eat yogurt and fruit only. When it came time for lunch, even though I was dying for a hot dog, my mom hadn't cooked one for me - why would she? And even if she had, I would have had to face her with the hot dog on my plate - openly failing in front of someone else is good motivation for me. One warning: please do not ask your spouse or your friend to help monitor your eating and then get upset when they do. Many of my women friends have admitted to asking for help from their husband then getting mad when he makes a comment about that second serving of potatoes. That's not fair and your support system will quickly fade away.

So what is your weakness? Where do you fail? Be honest! Sit down and go over your day - you already know where you're going wrong, don't you? Come up with a plan of attack - if it's eating out at lunch, leave all credit/debit cards and cash at home. No money = no fast food. Finishing you children's plates the trouble? Serve them much smaller portions - you're less likely to have food leftover and it will help them not overeat at the same time. Or tell them when they are done they need to clear their plates, scraping all food into the trash. Less food and less work for you! Double bonus! An office birthday party? Tell everyone you'll cover the phones while they're eating cake. There are solutions - we just need to come up with the plan and stick to it. That's the hard part! But we can do it - one day at a time - one battle at a time will slowly win the war.