Positive steps: Thurs. April 13

[Gaelen]

One of the websites I check out regularly is called www.conquerfood.com by Caryl Ehrlich. Ehrlich has a program (of course) but the Book Excerpt portion of the site regularly puts up sections of her book for free (my favorite price...!)

This month's excerpts fit really well with some of the emotional eating issues many of us confront. One section this month is called Mistaking Hunger (http://www.conquerfood.com/book-excerpt.html), and it has some great advice for those of use who may have succumbed to a challenge:

"If you buy, prepare, serve, and accept a little less food, you’ll eat less. Ultimately, you’ll be a little less.
If you don’t bring it into the house you won’t eat it. Out of sight, out of mind.
If it doesn’t taste good or look good or satisfy the eye and palate, don’t eat it.

We all belong to a nation of people who finish everything on their plate. That is not necessary. You may leave food over. It’s okay. Food is wasted if you put it into a body that doesn’t need it. Better to throw it away. If you order less the next time, there will be less to waste.

When you go off your program because you’re human, you didn’t blow it, weren’t bad, or a failure. Don’t beat yourself up. Simply get back on your program at the very next meal. Try to figure out what you could do next time the same thing inevitably happens.

The quicker you’re back on your program, the more you’ll want to stay on your program. It is becoming comfortable, enjoyable, and preferred behavior.
Think of things you can do if you’re thinking about eating but know you’re not hungry."

Passover starts today (shalom to those celebrating) and the Roman Easter holy week is already in full gear for Sunday. Eastern, Russian and Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations are also in full sway...and with them, family dinners and gatherings, and all sorts of "only once a year" treats that may or may not work on PP. How will you handle them? How will they affect the positive steps you've taken so far--and how will those positive steps affect your responses to well-established holiday food traditions?

Remember...dyed hard cooked eggs are on plan...but the chocolate foil covered ones, not so much. ;)

[banshee]

Good thoughts, Gaelen. I'm actually not going to be tempted by anything this weekend. DH and I aren't actually going to visit family for Easter this year, in part because I have to get prepped for our vacation next week, so I won't have any off-plan foods to tempt me. Although Easter isn't usually a problem for me. I love ham, and the in-laws don't make a bunch of tempting sweets like they do at Christmas. I'm not really tempted by the mass-produced stuff anyway. What I have to be careful with are the homemade goodies. When we're at the in-laws for Christmas, I do indulge in one piece of homemade fudge that DH's aunt makes. It's one of those occasional things (only once every other year!) that I figure I can handle now that I'm on maintenance. But I do have to be careful that it doesn't end up being 3 or 4 or 5 pieces!

My April challenge is still on track. Last night's hot-tubbing indulgence fell through, so I curled up in bed with a good book for an hour instead. I didn't do anything "accomplished", but I allowed myself the freedom to not worry about that. I actually was really productive at work, plus I know I'm going to be super busy and get hours of things accomplished this weekend as I launder and do all the other stuff to get ready for our vacation.

I'm also allowing myself to not be concerned about the fact that I won't have my office back in shape before the trip. Part of my challenge in this month's development of habits is to not obsess over the fact that things aren't getting done "quickly". I have a tendency to want to do everything right now, which generally leads to overdoing things and then not doing anything for a few months, leading to another marathon cleaning session, etc. etc. I'm trying to get into the mindset that I can just do a little at a time and eventually things will get done and continuing to do a little at a time will keep things organized.

[gitfiddle]

Thanks for the link, Pat. I saved all three pdfs to my computer and will read them a little later. As a compulsive overeater from wayback, I am always looking for the silver bullet, so to speak. I could probably write a book myself!

Mary, I can certainly identify with the "leave it so long it becomes a major chore" syndrome. I actually learned some neat tricks at flylady.com that work in the bathroom at least. The "shine your sink" usually has to wait until Saturday though. It's also hard to let go of things because of the "what will people think" syndrome, which was brought up on another thread somewhere. I do let them go sometimes, then get the old guilt.

This board is so big that I have trouble finding old threads when I want to re-read what someone said! :p