Let's say you just arrived home from a long day of stressful work and there is a gooey plate of chocolate chip cookies sitting on the counter. You are in a weakened state from the stress of the day and the time of day and those cookies are begging to be eaten. A stratedgy that has worked well for my clients is the following.
1. Acknowledge that you really WANT the cookies. Acknowledge that you do not NEED the cookies to fuel your body.
2. Tell yourself that you are going to have 1 cookie, but not right now, later.
3. Drink a big glass of water.
4. Distance yourself from the trigger food. In our scenario, go get into your at home clothes, take a shower, play with the kids or dog, or exercise.
5. When your mind goes back to cookies or trigger food remind yourself that you are going to have one, but later.
6. Have a healthy dinner.
7. Have another glass of water.
8. If you still really can't stand it and must have a cookie, take out 1 (have someone else put the rest away), put it on a plate and sit down and eat it.
9. Acknowledge that it was a delicious cookie and do not feel guilty.
10. If you mind returns to the trigger food fix a decaf coffee or green tea.
I hope this helps. The idea is that eating one cookie is a whole lot better than eating the whole plate. As much as we may try to keep are trigger foods out of the house, we sometimes come face to face with them and you need a stratedgy to deal with it. I would love to hear your stratdgies as well.
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