Taste Life Blog

What was I thinking? On Monday I baked a pan of bars for church. I was super excited to bake I have been following a no sugar diet for my candida diagnosis since July.  As I was baking, the chocolate chips almost jumped out of the bag and talked to me. (I am serious.)  I didn’t eat one chip but I thought about them. I used to “test” the bars and eat the corner right after I baked them. I didn’t do that either. When I finally cut the bars for church I had to taste just one…a small, baby-sized one.  I felt guilty. For two days half the pan of bars sat on my kitchen counter. Working from home and writing at my kitchen island, these bars had a life of their own. They haunted me.  Tuesday and Wednesday I didn’t eat one. But Thursday…was it the celebratory day of Halloween or the IT meltdown that led me to stand at the kitchen counter and gobble up three bars as quickly as I could. The bars won!  Our environment always wins.

Many clients go on and on blaming overeating on their lack of willpower. Willpower is having a very strong internal motivation where you are willing, and I mean really willing, to do what it takes to get what you want. People think willpower is a trait that either you have or don’t have; kind of like turning on the willpower faucet or not. It doesn’t exist like you think.

Willpower is won’t power.  I “should” do this. Willpower is often full of obligation and shame and when did obligations and shame get you far in life? Your environment is stronger than your will. It is about your environment not you.

Key Points

• Dump willpower which is won’t power
• You are the product of your environments
• Redesign your environment to match your goals
• Without significant environmental design, no process of change is even sustainable
• With designed environments, willpower is optional (gotta love that!)

Suzie my client complained of recently gaining ten pounds.

First Step: We identified her top three triggers.  Many meetings with lots of junk food, working long days and feeling like she deserved Chinese take-out and overeating when dining out with friends.

Second Step: We designed supportive environments. Buy snacks like almonds to keep in the car.  Buy healthy snacks for work like yogurt and fruit. Make a grocery list and shop on Sunday. Dump the tempting foods like noodles and Mountain Dew from the kitchen.

The less you see food the less you think about food and the less food you will eat. Period. How you store and where you store your food influences what and how much you eat at work and at home.  A “normal” dietitian would stop here. I am not normal.  I would say it is bigger than this. It is about your beliefs. Your beliefs become what you do. They shape the decisions and actions you take. Your thoughts create your life. What you think today creates your tomorrow.  Dump the old beliefs that don’t serve you anymore such as “I worked so hard I deserve this bag of potato chips.” Instead focus on who you want to become.

Believing in your will power is an obstacle and major mistake to becoming healthier. The popular magazine diets perpetuate this myth even more by having you believe if you have willpower you will lose weight if you want it badly enough.  Dump the “I want it badly enough” willpower idea!

Surround yourself with people that bring out the best in you. You become like the top five people you hang with. Are those five people shining examples of who you want to be or giant warnings?

Surround yourself with food that will create your future self. You get to decide if you want to be average, unhealthy and unhappy or extraordinary, healthy and happy.

You can predict your future through creating and designing your environment. Ever notice the word eat is in the word create? What you eat today does indeed walk and talk tomorrow. The “weigh” to predict your future is to create it. Better get busy! We would love to hear how you designed your environment to support you!