Has anyone else noticed that there is a ridiculous amount of food arrangements at this time of year?
Candy towers.
Dried fruits shaped like a Christmas tree.
Candy bars shaped like a wreath.
Baskets of nuts and cheese and chocolate.
You are not going to see any of this come March, right? But for sure now we see all the prettified arrangements popping up everywhere – at the office, at a party, on your front step. Yep, people love to gift food, especially during the holidays!
Now you have to deal with it.
So what do you do? In the past you’d jump right to it, snagging a handful of candies or slice of cake whenever you pass them. But now you have a plan and you’re trying to finish the year strong. So how do you resist the pull of the unexpected treats popping up everywhere?
You don’t.
You don’t have to resist the treats. You do, however, have to follow one simple rule:
Follow your plan.
If you follow what I teach, you know I teach you to make a plan the day in advance for everything you eat the next day. So if you made your meal plan for the day and you pass a treat that’s not on it, you don’t eat it.
But you can have it tomorrow.
What’s the difference?
Let’s review for a minute and teach planning in advance for any newbies. When you plan, you use the most highly evolved part of your brain (called the prefrontal cortex) to think up the best and most beneficial plan for yourself. You make a plan that serves your weight loss goals and think through what will not only be available but also what you’ll probably want and what will serve your body best.
When you make decisions in the moment, you’re using a more primitive part of your brain (the amygdala). It’s a very fast decision-maker, but it doesn’t care one bit about the future. It just wants what it wants right now. You can see how this might not work out the best for your weight loss goals…
Your entire job is to follow the plan you made the day before. So when you have an encounter with an unexpected treat, you still can have it. But you can only have it when you’ve planned it for another day. How does this work? You see the treat, you take the treat, and you save it for tomorrow when you’ve put it on your plan. Almost everything can be saved for one day…
Here’s what happens: When you plan your treat for another day, one of two things will happen. Either you will enjoy it as much as you would have that day, or you won’t even really want it. Planning takes away the thrill of the unexpected and the illicit sense that you’re getting away with something forbidden. That part doesn’t need to be associated with food – your life is supposed to be thrilling, not your food. So enjoy the food, but not for thrills. One word of advice: If you choose to eat the treat, be present while you’re eating and fully enjoy it. Taste every bite. Eat only as much as you enjoy (you’ll likely get tired of it early if you’re not distracted).
So now you know how to make a plan and still have your treats. You can use this every day, even on Christmas day! Now, go forth and use that higher brain to make your food plan!
Need more? Go to the courses section and get Weight Loss For The Holidays. You can also grab Mindful Eating Meditations to help you slow down and make better food decisions no matter what challenge you face.
Here’s your video help for the week!