What excuses have you thrown out for not sticking to or starting a food journal? Too busy? Traveling? Friends in town, birthday party, kids…Are these the same excuses you use to explain why you haven’t reached your goal???
Tuesday, I started a 14 day travel session that will give me plenty of excuses, if I want them. But what I want is to feel my best and so I’m thinking of creative ways to stick with the food journal and continue working through my own food choice issues. Like a small notebook, a fridge in my hotel room, packing a salad for the plane and so on.
Largely I am a very healthy eater, but as one savvy HBBC’er pointed out maybe we should get a point deducted for eating too many sweets. I can easily hit 9 servings of fruits and veggies in a day, but fill the rest of my plate with sugary treats which sort of negates my healthy attempts.
To be very clear, I have no issue with people including treats in their life! It’s one thing for me to choose a great big Ghiradelli sundae for dinner and another to simply reach for cookies and candy as a stress reliever throughout the day.
I know all the information about how processed sugary foods hinder weight loss, cause mood swings, cause health issues, etc….but in a moment of frustration those aren’t the things coming to mind. Instead, long-term habits take over and I unconsciously look for something comforting.
REALIZATIONS
So what am I learning in all this journaling? Look at that I reach for sugar when I am feeling stressed out…because I feel alone and like there is no one to reach out to. This is not because I’m alone, I can talk to people but as an only child it was how I coped with things. I remember trying to “sneak” treats off to my room because I knew I needed to lose weight, but ohh I wanted that sugar.
After eating sugar to ”comfort me”, that triggers guilt, anger and sadness that I have once again failed at a goal I set (i.e. no sugar) and knowing that I”m getting in my own way. Hence my bigger reason for wanting to kick the sugar, I’m really tired of the cycle of beating myself up about it.
Maybe this sounds a little dramatic, but honestly I have a feeling many of you have gone through the same things. So the point of all this is that the food journal provides a way to start recognizing patterns. Acknowledging a habit is the first step, next is creating new behaviors or just recognizing a choice for what it is so you can change it in the future.
What excuses have you been using to justify actions? What tools are you using to break them?
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Gratitude Journal
Jan 12
I am grateful for The Big Bang Theory
I am grateful for ginger green tea
I am grateful for crisp winter air
I am grateful for caring friends
I am grateful for hotel in room fridges
