Momma Said: Keep Your Fingers Out Of Your Mouth

Written by Virginia Bola, PsyD


Watching television exercises our eyes but nothing else. Unfortunately, it doesn't require us to do anything with our hands which leaves them free to grab something to eat. Then there arerepparttar food and restaurant commercials where everything is colorful and perfectly cooked. Don't even think about watching a cooking show:repparttar 137383 temptation to snack or get up and cook is totally irresistible.

How can we break this self-destructive cycle? Any diversion may work for a while but loses its strength with too many repetitions. The secret is to have multiple alternatives available. If one doesn't work at any given time, try another. Mix and match as your likes, preferences, and moods dictate.

KEEP YOUR HANDS BUSY

When your hands are involved in a task, it is difficult to eat. Finger foods and dull television are inextricably bound together like flies in a spider web. Some activities to tie up those hands include: sewing, knitting, giving yourself a leisurely manicure (wet nail polish is a sure fire defense against eating), waterrepparttar 137384 plants.

Turnrepparttar 137385 television off and try such pursuits as model making, card playing, videogames (that require both hands onrepparttar 137386 controls), sending e-mails, embroidery, and all kinds of crafts.

PREOCCUPY YOUR MIND

Weight Loss Tool: Food Journal

Written by Virginia Bola, PsyD


Allrepparttar weight control experts recommend keeping a record of what you eat. Seeing your daily intake in black and white reality can boost your pride in your self-discipline, gently confront you with some less than stellar choices you've made, or cast you into a morass of guilt and depression when you facerepparttar 137382 epicurean debacle that your food intake represents.

A food diary can become so much more useful for your weight wars if you use it as a tool for self-exploration and self-discovery. It allows you to create an oasis of support that anchors you in a world tossed by competing priorities, overwork, incredible dietary temptations, and social pressures that all lead to frustration, inwardly directed anger, diminished self-esteem, and terminal fatigue.

What do we need to do to create such a tool?

1. Buy a good spiral notebook with lots of pages and a hard cover - you're going to keep this for a long time so avoid anything that's going to easily fall apart.

2. Enterrepparttar 137383 date you started your journey: this isrepparttar 137384 baseline against which you will compare your entries forrepparttar 137385 next several months. Underrepparttar 137386 date, enterrepparttar 137387 following information as accurately as you can make it, as of this very moment:

Age Height Weight Measurements Waist Bust Hips Thighs Upper arms Clothing size Type of hairstyle Any daily exercise obtained Today's primary mood Self-Appraisal (find 3 adjectives for each area) General appearance Size and shape Personal characteristics Interpersonal relationships Self-value Family or romantic relationships Level of self-satisfaction

3. Each day, you are going to enter not only what you ate, butrepparttar 137388 thoughts and emotions that accompaniedrepparttar 137389 food. Note: Don't become obsessive - it more productive to keep this daily but if you run out of time and energy now and then, skip it, and get back to it when you can.

4. It is going to take some thought and memory-searching to ferret out what you need so find yourself a quiet spot where you can be alone and quiet. Keep your book there, close at hand, so you can quickly visit when you want to record anything that occurs to you.

5. Start teaching yourself to identifyrepparttar 137390 inner landscape that accompanies your food intake. Focus onrepparttar 137391 moments before you ate: How did you feel atrepparttar 137392 time? Were you (genuinely) hungry - create a 1 to 10 rating scale for yourself, ranging from "not really" up to "starved, faint, light-headed." Were you bored? Were you anxious and trying to calm yourself down? Were you angry and stuffing that anger down your own throat? Were you feeling sorry for yourself? Were you with good friends and just wanted to be part ofrepparttar 137393 group? Were you just not thinking? Were you trying to punish yourself -or someone else? You may find that you ate several times a day forrepparttar 137394 same reason or thatrepparttar 137395 triggers to eat differed throughoutrepparttar 137396 day depending uponrepparttar 137397 circumstances and people involved atrepparttar 137398 time.

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