Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 149 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast!
So Food has been on my mind lately as of all of my allergies. Food is a big topic for so many people because it’s so easy to put on weight anymore but so hard to take it off. It takes discipline but I think there is a little more to it as well.
We travel with a group of friends several times a year. It’s so much fun and the dynamic is so good. In the past, when we travel our diet changes, especially if we are staying somewhere where there is a lot of food around that we don’t normally eat, like cookies and pound cake and chips. It’s really hard to say NO to something when it’s in front of you 24/7. It is for me anyway, but I have this one friend who has so much discipline. She will literally eat like three chips and stop…who does that? Homemade cookies around? No problem for her…she may eat half a cookie. I’m always in awe of her discipline.
My discipline is different.
Yes, my friend has discipline to not overeat but there is another type of discipline that is equally important. The discipline to not buy it in the first place. The discipline not to keep it around the house. Knowing not to put yourself in situations where you will be tempted. At home, we don’t keep any food around the house that isn’t healthy.
That is discipline. That is my version of discipline. WE absolutely do not keep any food in the house that I am tempted to eat at 3:30 in the afternoon (that’s the danger zone for me). I keep veggies that I can snack on in my line of sight. I have a good friend that keeps snap peas and cherry tomatoes on her island in a bowl, which I have now started. It keeps you nibbling on healthy whole food snacks which actually fills you up because your body is getting nutrition instead of reaching for the short term instant gratification fix that sugar gives you, which ultimately makes you crave more sugar and you know that vicious cycle..
And I know what some are going to say. That I don’t have kids and so I don’t have to keep that food around. But do you really? I grew up in a big family and you know what? My mom never allowed us to have that food around the house. Coke was a treat that we got when we went out to dinner which wasn’t often. Cookies were a treat that we made on a snow day or had on special occasions.
Another line of thought if that just simply doesn’t work for you is to pick a few treats for the kids that don’t tempt you at all. Just a thought, that works for me too. When I buy treats for my nieces and nephews and I know I’m going to be around it, I buy something they will like but I don’t, maybe gummy bears or something like that. I’ve just decided that’s what I will do
Along that thought, I was listening to Scott Adams, you know, the Dilbert cartoon creator, he was talking about the difference between wanting something and deciding on something. You WANT to lose weight, you WANT to start exercising, You WANT something but have you DECIDED you are going to do it? There’s a mindset difference there. It even sounds different when you say it. I want to lose 10 lbs vs I’ve decided to lose 10 lbs. Deciding feels like there is no other option. I looked up those two words just to see the different meanings and Decided means certain, obvious and unquestionable. Wanting means having a strong feeling, a wish or desire. So you see when you have decided to do something, it’s done.
Really the point is to find something that works for you and DECIDE to do it. Different things work for different people. You may not have the same discipline as your friend, but you have discipline, just find what it looks like for you.
It’ll be hard at first, but like everything else, once you do it a few times it gets easier and easier as you become more confident. And once you’ve been doing it for a while, it becomes a habit!
My challenge to you this week is to think about the areas in your life where you have discipline, maybe you get to work on time every day, what drives that and how can you use that same discipline in the areas where you may be having some trouble. Success leaves clues and my bet is you have more discipline than you think…I love you guys and I’ll talk to you in a few days!
