Seriously. Stop it. Stop it right now. I'm not saying you can't have a slice of pie to celebrate Grammy turning 80 ok? I'm not saying you can't enjoy that cupcake at your kid's 5th birthday party. Please. What I am saying is...when you reach a goal, whether it's a fitness goal or some other personal acheivement like a big project you completed at work, or maybe just for having a super awesome 2 weeks, do you immediately reach for food?
If you think "I deserve a margarita" or "I'm going to treat myself to a King Size package of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups"...that is emotional eating. Starbucks has been one of my guilty pleasures for the last 7 years! And I frequently rewarded myself with a "Grande-Non-fat-Upside-down-Caramel-Macchiato"! I have a rewards account app filled with shiny little gold stars to prove it. Gold stars people! Starbucks (God love 'em)...just reinforcing the emotional eating habits of most of the world's population. "But, but if I get 12 gold stars they'll give me a free coffee! I simply CANNOT turn down a free "Grande-Non-fat-Upside-down-Caramel-Macchiato"! Curse those little gold stars! #shameful. [sidebar: I haven't earned a gold star since 4/25...maybe I should go reward myself with one. NOT!] And how many times have you rewarded your kids with food? #guilty. "Oh little Johnny did so well at the dentist today. Let's go have froyo!!" Yes, that makes perfect sense. "Little Suzy got straight A's let's reward her (and the entire family for that matter) with a trip to the Crave Cupcake shop." Last year, at the end of Zach's 3rd grade school year, his teacher (God bless her) handed out candy bars to every child for different acheivements throughout the year. My Zach walked away with a box of Good & Plenty's for having lots of good ideas all year. He also walked off with a snickers bar for being voted the kid who was always laughing & having a good time. I loved that teacher, but I wanted to slap her for rewarding my kid - and all the other kids - with all that sugary shit. (Sorry, that's how I feel about candy right now!) Having a great moment in life and celebrating it with food is considered emotional eating because you are doing it for the sole purpose of pleasing the reward center in your brain. It's time to start retraining our brains.
So yesterday, Zach had some birthday money still burning a hole in his pocket and wanted to go to the bookstore. So we headed on out to BAM for the afternoon. And since I'm making healthy choices every day, I decided to park at the END of the parking lot and we walked! This is a great way to get in some extra steps right?! Once inside the bookstore, I decided that I was going to reward myself for having gone 3 weeks without a snacking binge, no junk food, and making it half-way through the fix. Why wait until the 21 day fix is technically over since I'm going to continue trying my best to make this clean eating and portion control thing a way of life and not just quit after the 3 weeks. By the way, we pass a Starbucks on the way to the mall and I'm happy to report that as tempting as that used to be, I was really excited about getting a new book instead! So what is my point? The point is, find something you like and make that your reward instead of focusing on rewarding yourself with food. Does this mean I wil never drink my caramel macchiato again?? Heavens no! It means that when I do...I will do it because I am getting together for coffee with a friend to catch up!
What is one thing you can reward yourself with instead of food? I wanna hear it!
What is one thing you can reward yourself with instead of food? I wanna hear it!