Friend of Julie: Choose Wisely

Do you ever have moments when a non-key-friendly food is in front of you and time suddenly seems to stop? It's just you and the food. Everything around you becomes a blur except for that food and it's calling your name. In moments like this, we get to choose: continue on our weight loss journey towards our goal or turn off the main road. In moments like this, the choice is ours alone. Circumstances and people are influences, but ultimately--the decision is ours. Choose wisely.

Photo source: Best Fan Photos from Comic-Con 2012

Earlier this week, I had such a moment. My day was going great, but the day was nearly over, I was out of out of time to finish my list of long errands, and I was hungry. I was in the mood for something hot and spicy, so I stopped at Taco Bell. I hadn't been to Taco Bell in a few years, but I was confident their menu offered a few good choices.

Standing in front of the cashier, my confidence wavered. I finally settled on a chicken bowl and a beef burrito, with no beans, no rice, no tortilla, etc., for either item. I must pause here to say that as I wrote this I went to Taco Bell online to see what is in the bowl and I will not order it again. Next time I will choose more wisely.

I squeezed hot sauce from several little packets onto the chicken bowl and then ate all of it before opening the burrito. Oh-oh! It's wrapped in a tortilla--they did not hold the wrap as I had asked. Sigh. Carbs have been calling out to me for weeks. This was going to be one of those hard moments.

"I can do this" I said to myself.

"I'll just scrape everything off the wrap and into a bowl." This only took a few seconds, but it was one of those moments when time slowed down. It was just me and that wrap, everything else was out of focus.

"Just one bite will be okay," a nagging voice whispered in my ear.

"It won't hurt anything," the nag insisted, getting louder as time slowed down even more.

"Nobody needs to know! Nobody will know!" the nag began to shout. Time came to a stop.

As I scraped the ingredients into my dish, I pushed away the craving to have just one bite of the wrap.

"Tap, tap, tap." I thought, "push away" that thought. (Julie uses her hands to visually reinforce this tapping technique. As one hand moves closer to face, the other hand pushes (taps) the hand away.)

"Again," I repeated. "Tap, tap, tap." I tossed the tortilla into the trash.

The nag was silent. The balance of time was restored. The moment passed. Victory!

This wasn't my first moment like this and it won't be my last, but the choice is always mine.

Have carbs or sugar been calling you? Tap away (push) those cravings. Be okay with how hard it is in your moments when non-key foods call out to you. Feel victorious when you choose not to eat them. If you make a regretful choice, be gentle with yourself and move on. Tap, tap, tap. Instead of beating yourself up, focus on something you can change right now. Choose to jump back into the river right this moment. Choose to eat foods that support your weight loss goals. Choose to reach your goal size.

When irrational thoughts pop into your head - choose wisely what you do next.

One of my favorite examples of a bad outcome from irrational thoughts comes from the movie Ghost Busters:

"The traveler will come in the form of any structure you choose." Zeus told Ghost Busters Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis).

"I couldn’t help it - it just popped in there!" Ray said after a giant Mr. Stay Puft Marshmallow Man materialized.

"Ray has gone bye-bye Egon. What have you got left?" Dr. Venkman asked.

"Sorry Venkman, I’m terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought." Egon replied.

Choose wisely. Don't let food leave you terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought.