“Off Limits” = YES!
Are you a "floodgate" eater?
Do you order the fries, swearing to stop at just a few - and find you've eaten every last one before you know it? Or swearing to have "one" serving size amount of ice cream and end up eating the whole entire bowl (like 4-5 serving sizes)? Then you are classified as a floodgate eater!
Identify your "can't have just one" foods and try to avoid them altogether. For example: substitute veggies or a salad for the fries. Substitute a reduced fat/sugar ice cream bar for that whole bowl of ice cream.
Avoid the small packaging that says a “2 or 3” serving size and choose the “1” serving size package instead. Read your labels!
Here is a neat tip to try if you are craving that floodgate food: Try tapping your forehead with your index finger for 30 seconds. Researchers say that this technique distracts the brain from imagining the food - how it looks, smells and tastes - effectively killing the desire to eat it. Give it a try!
Once you identify your “trigger foods”. It will be much easier for you to avoid them altogether. If you like sugar, a neat tip to try is to avoid or limit your intake of sugar for just 3 weeks! At the end of those three weeks, your body will have adjusted to the withdrawal, and you won’t even crave it anymore!
If you are at a buffet and they have your floodgate “trigger foods” at the table, try to reach for the buffet of fruit, or load your salad with all kinds of toppings instead. This choice will keep you fuller, so you won’t want your trigger food, and you can load up on the serving size to make you feel like you are bingeing on your favorite food, but you really are not.
“Mind over Matter” is key!
Don’t open those floodgates of poor food choices! Be aware, be vigilant, be observant, be healthy and you will be successful on your health happiness journey!