Treats are Our Friend

Chocolate Cake with Nutella Icing

Have you ever wanted to throw out all of the “junk food” in the kitchen, so it won’t be there to tempt you?  This is the thinking of fat people.  Consider the thin people you know.  Do they wage  war on the bag of chips in the pantry?  This act of determined restriction is misplaced and tends to produce temporary austerity followed by a glut of binge eating of the very foods we banned from the house.

If you want to be at peace with your body, free of weight issues, AND maintain an ideal weight reverse your belief that cookies are “bad” and recognize they have an important place in our overall level of satisfaction.  In order to enjoy a metabolism that rocks (and burns fat) you have to be balanced.  To become balanced we have to be fulfilled from ALL our food—including treats.  To become fulfilled we must give our bodies exactly what they need, which includes a small amount of quality treats.  There, I said it: treats are our friend.  Sure, we largely need a diet of plants (whole grain, veg, and fruit), but we also need some dairy, meat, fats, and…dessert.  Medically, a diabetic must observe restrictions from sugar and carbohydrates, but in general, we need the full monty--of food groups, that is.

You are invited to take this challenge:  over the next two days rate the treats you eat on a scale from 1-10 with ten indicating the most satisfying experience and one indicating the least satisfying.  Also pay attention to the time of day you eat the treat.  This exercise serves three purposes:

1.     It teaches us to tune in and assess our food for quality, freshness, flavor, and its worthiness
2.       It helps us discover what we REALLY like and what food is only mediocre
3.       It reveals the time of day when we get the most pleasure from our treats

Many coaching clients have reported this exercise revealed the difference between quality foods and stuff they used to eat out of habit that did not satisfy their genuine need for pleasure.  One client told me she no longer ate Tootsie Rolls because, “They are hard, overly sweet, and not at ALL chocolate-y.”  I asked her what she did like and she gushed about the “food-gasm” she had from a single square of very good dark chocolate.  

Another benefit of this challenge is most people found they prefer a treat in the afternoon, which eliminated the late night ice cream binges.  When we act upon our preferences, there is no need for discipline.  Clients learned they simply do not PREFER ice cream right before bed.  Instead, they have it guilt-free at 4:00 p.m.  To learn more about how to avoid overeating treats watch this two-minute Body Peace Coaching tip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWvSjtQsaKU&feature=plcp .  Click here to read more about overcoming compulsive eating: http://miraclepilltruths.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-to-stop-eating-when-you-are.html

 

The best result of this exercise it the habit it creates of tuning in and tasting food, instead of escaping while chewing.  By engaging the brain and staying present while eating we give our bodies the chance to talk back to us and tell us what we need, when we need it, and when we have had enough. 
  

After taking this challenge, please feel free to send feedback and share your discoveries by emailing me at: tres@tresbonpublishing.com.  I look forward to reading about your healthy new connections with your body.

Tres Hatch is the author of: Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy