We all know one thing for sure: When we get hungry, we eat! That's why one of the most important routines we practice is packing a snack. We know if we don't have a tasty, and satisfying, snack within reach when the snack attack happens we will land on the nearest eatable object and take it out totally mindless of the consequences! OK, that may be a bit melodramatic but I daresay there is not one among us that truthfully say that has never happened to them. :)
I think the following is a true statement: We have scheduled snacks to avoid unscheduled snacking.
Have you ever thought of it that way? The difference between the two is the control in which we carry them out. Our scheduled snack is thoughtfully planned to meet our bodies nutritional requirements and help keep from, heaven forbid, getting too hungry. The unscheduled snack can be an emotional response or a sensory response, both of which take our good WW sense and throw it out the window!
So, what to do, what to do? We all know from years of experience the snack attack is not going away. But what we can do is minimize it's control over us. The first way, of course, is having our plan friendly snack ALWAYS on hand: a satisfied stomach is the first line of defense, it gives our brains that much needed minute to pause and make a better choice.
But what happens when you've had your apple and cheese (fiber, protein and fat) with a nice cup of tea and your co-worker brings in the Christmas Cookie Exchange tray?? Ahhhh! The oh-so delectable tray of sugar! Key word here is sugar. This is often the kind of situation where no amount of apples, banana, cheese, almonds etc will win the day. This is where you have to pull our your most powerful, and perhaps a bit rusty, tool...your brain power! Your brain possesses the strength to deal with the most tempting sugar-laced-I'll-make-you-happy-because-I'm-your-best-friend-morsel. You just have to practice using it like you practice all the other routines.
A great way is to combine your knowledge with your want power. For example: I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I cannot have 1 sugar-laced-I'll-make-you-happy-because-I'm-your-best-friend morsel. Not one. One, always, ALWAYS, leads to the entire tray, box or bag. Always. Always. And from our conversations I know many of you are the same. Maybe the only difference between us is that I have finally accepted that fact. If you accept the fact that you are powerless over sugar, perhaps you will start seeing it in a different light. How do you think you would look at that cookie tray if you accepted that for you it's not just a sugar-laced-I'll-make-you-happy-because-I'm-your-best-friend-morsel but the first step into a painful bout of self-loathing causing you to lose sight of your goal? That may be putting it a bit strongly, or, if you're like me, it may be exactly true.
So, if you know 1 is not an option, does that mean you have no indulgences at all??? Absolutely not!! All of us, thank goodness, have indulgences that can be "one and done". Indulgences that don't lead to more, more, more. For me it is something high fat, no sugar. Something I can buy a controlled amount of....eat, enjoy, track and be done. Or have in a restaurant...order, eat, track, go home. What is your one-and-done indulgence?
Now we get to the want power! When the sugar-laced-I'll-make-you-happy-because-I'm-your-best-friend-morsel enters you personal space, use your want power in conjunction with what you know to be true about your relationship with sugar. Do you want to stay in control? Use that! Do you want to feel good about yourself? Use that! Do you want to keep moving toward your goal and not away from it? Use that! Know what you want, truly want, and use it. Using you brain power and your want power together puts you in the position of power. And that's better than sugar.
