Saturday Night is for Fighting (food cravings)!

[SKUtah]

My grand kids stay at my house nearly every Saturday night. This week was no exception. I resolved to not participate in the snacks that would make available while they were here. I made a few changes to the snacks available so they were more self-serve (buying individually wrapped, single serve ice cream bars instead of a 1/2 gallon of ice cream, for example) and they cleared and rinsed their own dishes. They will also take any snack leftovers with them today when they go home.

I found the kids' snacks to not be the biggest problem because I had a plan for that, instead it was my own habits. It's true nothing good happens in the kitchen after 9:00 and I realized that after I stayed up to watch a movie later. I was really thinking about food during the movie, I mean really thinking hard about food!! Movie time is usually snack time, too, so I knew it was just a habit and I could work through it but it was tough. I can't ever remember scenes of people eating doughnuts in a movie making me want to walk to the kitchen and find something to snack on, but that was happening last night! A "bad guy" was eating a raspberry jelly doughnut and I think I missed everything he said during that scene. I was seriously focused on the powder sugar confection he was eating while planning all the things bad guys do. In the end, I managed to drink tea and water and went to bed right after it was over. I even left the tea cup out on the side table so I didn't have to walk in the kitchen, but I fought through it and made through! All small victories but victories none-the-less. 

Woke up, remembered all that, and feel incredibly strong today. 

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.-Aristotle

[SKUtah]

10 minutes ago, SKUtah said:

My grand kids stay at my house nearly every Saturday night. This week was no exception. I resolved to not participate in the snacks that would make available while they were here. I made a few changes to the snacks available so they were more self-serve (buying individually wrapped, single serve ice cream bars instead of a 1/2 gallon of ice cream, for example) and they cleared and rinsed their own dishes. They will also take any snack leftovers with them today when they go home.

I found the kids' snacks to not be the biggest problem because I had a plan for that, instead it was my own habits. It's true nothing good happens in the kitchen after 9:00 and I realized that after I stayed up to watch a movie later. I was really thinking about food during the movie, I mean really thinking hard about food!! Movie time is usually snack time, too, so I knew it was just a habit and I could work through it but it was tough. I can't ever remember scenes of people eating doughnuts in a movie making me want to walk to the kitchen and find something to snack on, but that was happening last night! A "bad guy" was eating a raspberry jelly doughnut and I think I missed everything he said during that scene. I was seriously focused on the powder sugar confection he was eating while planning all the things bad guys do. In the end, I managed to drink tea and water and went to bed right after it was over. I even left the tea cup out on the side table so I didn't have to walk in the kitchen, but I fought through it and made through! All small victories but victories none-the-less. 

Woke up, remembered all that, and feel incredibly strong today. 

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.-Aristotle

[Glendene]

I can very much relate to evenings in front of the TV watching whatever and craving salt, fat and sugar. In fact, watching TV is a trigger for me so in tandem with starting the Whole30 yesterday, I'm givng up TV/streaming/etc. I'm looking forward to seeing what I do with the extra time I have on my hands. 

[kirbz]

One of the many things I learned from my Whole30 experience is just how many food rituals we have that we don't even realize we have. For me, it's camping! Depriving myself of cheese, crackers, salami, and hot chocolate actually affected my camping experience. It just wasn't quite the same. And I didn't even know  those things we so linked in my mind until I chose not to have one of them! 

If nothing else, it's always better to be mindful of the choices we make, and not simply a slave to habits! 

[Keen On Clean Fuel]

Since we associated food with special occasions or experiences, we do feel "deprived" in the beginning removing the foods we have ALWAYS had in those situations.  Think birthday cake at a birthday party and an alcoholic beverage at a weekend party.  Whole30 helps so many aspects of our life, but one of the most important is our relationship with food.  After becoming mindful and intentional with our eating behaviors, we will be able to redefine these experiences with different pleasures -- such as enjoying the company we are with and feeling empowered to make the decision to skip the cake and alcohol because we CHOSE to.  Navigating food freedom is a journey and you will continue to learn more about yourself the more you work on it.  Give yourself grace and I wish you the best!