Be Offensive!Super Bowl Snack Strategies

February 6, 2010

Sneaky Super Bowl Snack Strategies
Tips for not making dumb food decisions

1. Think About The Consequences of Your Food Choices and Make Mindful Decisions About What You Eat or Don’t Eat.
Most dumb diet decisions happen when we we aren’t actually making decisions at all. When I polled my indoor cyclists about whether they had an action plan for this Sunday, handling the Super Bowl food, they blinked at me and shrugged. We just do stuff or we don’t do stuff. Then (Monday morning) we pretend that if we don’t think about consequences, there are none.I also call this compartmentalization-Think Tiger Woods. Or Bill Clinton.

People who are successful at losing weight recognize that the little decisions they make everyday end up being important, so they make them mindfully. They rehearse in their mind saying “No thanks. Doctor’s orders.I’ve given up thousand calorie junk food. But it DOES look scrumptious, thank you for asking.”

2. Set Yourself Up For Success. Create Opportunities To Make the Right Decision
Do this by bringing healthy appetizers to your party. Or not making calorie laden bombs.
Delay technique. Get in the habit of delaying, even if it’s only a minute or two, between an impulse to give in and actually doing something there’s a good chance you’ll regret.

So if a simple “no I said I wouldn’t eat that,” isn’t effective, then tell yourself: “Well, maybe I do deserve it, but not yet. First I’ll set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes. I’ll drink a big glass of water, and then read the front page of the newspaper and then maybe do 2 sun salutations. Then if I still really want it Ill have it. Nine times out of ten, in a fe minutes the urge will have passed.

3. Visualize Consequences.

Another effective trick is the same thing I do if I don’t feel like brushing my teeth. Tempted to skip your workout? Don’t just ask yourself “do I want to go to work out now?” Because of course the answer is “hell no!”

Instead, ask yourself the same thing you ask yourself about skipping brushing your teeth-Will I make up this up later in the week? Will I feel like it more later? How do I feel after I miss a few? Do I really want to lose momentum and feel guilty and like crap? How virtuous will I feel after wards if I just suck it up and work out ?

When considering taking the first chip from a plate of supreme nachos, do you ask whether it’s worth an extra five to ten miles on the treadmill in addition to what you usually have to do? If you indulge, will you feel pleased with your self or will you still want another chip when the first one is gone?

Successful dieters ask themselves questions such as this all the time. They don’t always get the answer right, because imperfection is inevitable and even necessary. The tip is to never stop questioning.

4. Butterfly Effect-Little Decisions Add Up
Suppose you have a very important but challenging goal, like saving money for your 3 kids college education. You may realize, theoretically, that it’s going to take a lot of effort, but do you make all the small decisions you need to in order to get there?

It’s a tough reality to acknowledge that life is about trade-offs. You don’t get to have it all. Pretending this isn’t true can mean not having the funds when your kids head to college.
5.Not to Decide is to Decide

If you often think whimsically, “I’d love to take a Zumba class someday” but instead you sit home wathing re-runs of Seinfeld, then really you are deciding that you’d rather watch tv than learn Zumba.

These sort of decisions don’t feel like decisions, though, partly because if we really put any thought into it, we’d never make them. Would we really squander our precious time on this planet doing things like checking our Facebook status every five minutes or watching two consecutive hours of The Office reruns?

6. Still Making Dumb Decisions? Shrink Yourself!

No, not literally. Mentally. Better yet, if you can afford an actual shrink, go see one.
If you’re making consecutive bad decisions, maybe it’s not just a question of willpower. You may have one conscious agenda- to eat healthier and get in shape. And an entirely different subconscious one- to never feel unloved, or to distract myself from how I’m feeling, or to stay invisible.

Ask yourself if your dieting has a pattern. When do your actions contradict your intentions? Do you always overeat after a visit with your in-laws? Do you overeat when your hubby returns from a business trip? You may have a self- sabotaging loop that plays in your head to encourage these self-defeating behaviors. It’s beneficial to learn how to tune into these conversations. A trained therapist can do this. Once you can hear what you’re telling yourself, you can start questioning some of the ridiculous things you play on the loop in your head.

But you already knew all of this. I’m just sayin’.
What are YOU doing after the Super Bowl???
See you Monday.