I don’t know the first time I heard about trigger foods. About how the best way to not binge is to not bring them into the house.
Word.
I have a great aunt. She is great and my grandmother’s sister, so both interpretations work. Anyway, my great-aunt Sandy makes cookies. Sandy’s cookies are amazing.
I mean, amazing. She brings them everywhere. Weddings, funerals, anniversary parties. When my sister-in-law found out she was pregnant, she actually asked, “Do you think Sandy will bring cookies to the baby shower?” That’s what Sandy’s cookies are to us. What is the typical spread? This is the cookie table from our wedding.
And on our vacation last week, Sandy brought cookies. My favorite, the sandwich cookie (the last one pictured in the container above). Nut puffs. Buckeyes. Chocolate covered pretzels. Chocolate covered ritz and peanut butter. All the good stuff.
I ate a lot of them. Until they were gone. And I drank a lot of milk to go with them.
But after they were gone, I was fine. I didn’t overeat on the cheese crackers I brought with me. I didn’t have ANY of the chips (and there was a variety). Other than the cookie debacle, I ate very well on vacation. Not fried stuff. I didn’t buy ice cream when everyone else did. I decided I would have dessert once and I stuck to that. Other than the cookies, eating was stellar. But those cookies…
I think that’s a big part of the reason I’m keeping my eating so focused. I don’t keep anything that resembles a trigger food in my house. I think we’ve bought one package of cookies in 2 years. I don’t buy sweetened cereals because I’ll eat the whole box in 2 sittings. I only buy single servings of ice cream (tiny little Ben and Jerry’s) and only on the day that I have the calorie allowance for them AND only one for each of us.
Maybe it’s me and control. But I have a much easier time telling something “no” in the grocery store than once it comes into my house. So I just don’t bring it here. At the grocery store, I can think numbers. I can look at calorie counts, roll my eyes, and put it back. I can read ingredients and know that I’m making the decision not to eat anything I don’t know what it is. I have control over the grocery store.
But once a food comes into my house, it’s mine. It’s assumed that I’m going to eat it or I wouldn’t have bought it. I have a very hard time saying no once it’s here.
I have a hard time controlling my eating when we go home home too. Nate’s mom usually has peanut m&ms sitting around. My mom always has white bread and creamy cheese slices and pasta salad. And once it’s there – and I’m not in analytical grocery store mode – it’s like I have permission to eat it.
I know how to handle my own environment. And hopefully now I’ll have insight to help me handle the triggering foods at our parents’ houses. I’ll keep you posted.
But Sandy’s cookies? I just can’t say no. But I should be okay until the baby shower.
Maybe I’ll run a marathon the day before or something.
With more time and practice you’ll get better at saying no in other peoples homes. It’s awesome you have that under control in your own house. Hopefully your man is also good about keeping out those kind of foods, or keeps them somewhere you don’t know about it. I’ll flat out ask my husband to take his snacks to the office and he obliges. I totally agree that it is easier to say no in the grocery store, I can breeze by the frozen deserts in the store, but at home, the ice cream sammys call my name. I’ve compromised with the husband and he buys the 100 calorie version. Sadly those can’t be taken to the office.
But that being said, I don’t eschew all treats. Some, like those cookies, would be a reason to have one, and probably one of each and that would be okay. Kudos to you because from the way your wrote it sounds like they weren’t a trigger food after all. I mean if they were you wold have thrown healthy eating to the wind and eaten the chips, the fried stuff, the ice cream, I’m sure the list goes on.
As for other peoples homes. I often still find that weight loss/maintenance is a bunch of mind tricks, so I like to think of things I would like to eat as “other peoples food”. I had a series of roommates in high school and college and more than once may have eaten their snacks and may have more than once been called out on it. One girl even wrote her name on her foods in the fridge– that was least of her issues though. Anyways– sometimes it helps me to think back to those days. Even though I know that these treats are offered for my enjoyment, because they love me, because they think I am getting to skinny , because these are the foods that other people live with or whatever. But once I think, nope, not yours. I have a much easier time saying no. Say it enough, it becomes habit. Just because it is there, doesn’t mean you have to it. You are in control of what you put in your mouth. Sounds like you are doing a damn fine job it.
I so totally get that! When it’s in the store, it’s easy to resist – it’s not mine. But when it’s in my house it’s mine and when someone offers it to me, they’re actually giving me permission to eat it! I have to work on that!
My friend and I were talking about this very thing this morning. I’ve been doing really well, but this weekend I bought cookie dough to make with these new pans I have to review for my other blog. I think I ate 10 last night. I felt like I was going to throw up. I was really sick. Afterwards I realized that I just really can’t have that kind of thing at my house. Period. I wish I could control myself, but I can’t. At least not yet.