3 Steps to Avoid Tempting Foods (and Other Eating Habits)

[00:00:00] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The Mesh.

[00:00:10] Hey I'm Amy Chang and I'm a nationally board certified health and wellness coach and this

[00:00:16] is Healthy AF. Here we're going to bring to you all things health. You'll hear stories

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[00:00:56] Hey everybody and welcome to Healthy AF. I'm so excited to be doing this episode. I actually

[00:01:04] asked a friend like what do you think I should talk about on the next episode and she

[00:01:08] said oh, tempting foods and I'm like okay it's a good one. So here it is, this is a quick

[00:01:16] and dirty nothing conceptual about this podcast episode three tips. What do you do about

[00:01:24] tempting foods? Number one, do not buy them. Now that sounds simple when you have teenagers

[00:01:33] in your house it's not as simple okay I have a rule in my home that you can buy cookies

[00:01:43] I can buy cookies for you but I better not find them. And there's a reason for that because

[00:01:50] they're too tempting and I have no willpower okay. So there might be a designated spot in

[00:01:56] the pantry that they go behind, there might be even a place in your closet in your bedroom

[00:02:03] that they go in. But they can't be sitting out on the counter. That's a no go for me.

[00:02:08] Okay, so if you're buying them maybe you're hiding them they are out of sight out of mind.

[00:02:14] Here's another one too that fits into this category of don't have it. You know of gosh

[00:02:21] I guess it was probably a decade ago now. A new donut shop opened up in my town and

[00:02:28] it was all the rage and people were like have you tasted the new donut shop donuts and

[00:02:35] my answer was no. I don't do a new donut shop thank you I don't need anything else that

[00:02:44] I'm trying desperately to avoid at this point in my life right so it's making these choices

[00:02:50] like dude if you are avoiding sugars don't go to the bakery okay and that sounds a little

[00:02:59] crazy town but depending on how much you're struggling you know somebody else can go pick

[00:03:04] up your kids birthday cake. You don't have to put yourself in that situation if you know

[00:03:10] it's a super tempting new skill for yourself just don't do that that's the first tip

[00:03:17] don't buy it second tip is know your triggers now this one is a little bit more difficult

[00:03:25] for me with sugars in particular and I will just share this out of the gate about a

[00:03:32] week to 10 days before I get my period I could eat sugars hand over fist and you know I love

[00:03:40] to tell y'all to give yourself some grace and there have been a lot of days where I've said

[00:03:45] Amy just eat the cookie you feel stressed out and miserable and you know you're using this

[00:03:49] to cope and that is okay eat the cookie. The problem is when you're pre-messual full 10 days

[00:03:58] you can't have 10 days of cookies okay so I had a hard time identifying that I was pre-messual

[00:04:09] and that was the trigger. I didn't have a hard time identifying like when I don't sleep well

[00:04:16] I am gonna want more sugar that day so if I know I've had a poor sleep I'm like okay be on the

[00:04:23] lookout you might need to take a nap you might need to make sure you have more delicious snacks

[00:04:29] that you really like but you're gonna have to do something because sugar grimmel is gonna come

[00:04:34] your way and bite you so know those triggers is it stress is it tired is it you haven't eaten all day

[00:04:43] and now you're eating something you don't want to eat is it a fluctuation in your hormone

[00:04:50] is it um you know I can think of actually quite a few times in my life that I have been triggered

[00:05:02] and reach for the Oreo cookies some of it was parenting. I used to love lucky charms man when

[00:05:11] the little when the kids were little I'd buy box and eat it not let not let them have any

[00:05:16] because I wasn't gonna feed that to my children yeah sugar and I have had a diabolical complicated

[00:05:21] relationship in 51 years. Know your triggers and start becoming aware of what they are so that you

[00:05:32] can head that off at the past and give yourself another comfort so that you don't go to the comfort

[00:05:38] you don't want to have uh last tip explore the impact and the possibilities okay this is a big

[00:05:50] conceptual um uh concept to chew on right so explore the impact how do you feel when you

[00:06:03] drink that sixth beer eat that gluten um load up with cheese have that sugar whatever it is that

[00:06:14] you really want to shift about your diet how do you feel when you overeat how do you feel when

[00:06:21] you eat late um get present to the impact of that decision now you can

[00:06:33] write more paragraphs than you think you can on the impact of that decision for instance if I

[00:06:41] were just to take the a surface level dig I'm not kidding at my um love hate with gluten

[00:06:54] if I eat some gluten uh pretty consistently I am more likely to have a fluffy tummy and when I

[00:07:03] have a fluffy tummy I'm more likely to be gassy and when I'm more likely to be gassy I'm more likely

[00:07:10] to be embarrassed and when I'm more likely to be embarrassed I don't want to go salsa dancing after

[00:07:18] I've had a week full of gluten belly because I don't want to fart on somebody now if you're not

[00:07:25] cracking up right now that's probably you should be but that really is the impact of when I eat that

[00:07:33] red wine I noticed that some red wines when I went to sleep I woke up with

[00:07:39] a headache but some red wines when I went to sleep I woke up with a meh it was just harder for me

[00:07:47] to like generate me I have a hard enough time keeping the um seasonal affective disorder the depression

[00:08:01] overwhelm at bay so that I can perform and be happy and find joy and play I don't need anything else

[00:08:11] that's gonna make me meh when I wake up so knowing that impact was like wow that's very motivating to

[00:08:21] make that change of I'm not gonna have that red wine so that's a driver that takes you from a place

[00:08:28] of like oh I don't like this I'm gonna change there's another driver too and we've talked about

[00:08:37] this in several podcasts it's a big thing for me the other driver is going to somewhere you want to

[00:08:43] go so just as important as looking at like how is it that I really feel when I eat this certain way

[00:08:52] and um why don't I like that and what about that doesn't work well for me the flip side is

[00:09:01] you know what when I don't do that habit or when I don't eat that tempting food

[00:09:08] I actually feel great I wake up in the morning with more energy and a better mood

[00:09:14] I'm less gassy my poops are regular and I don't have to push it out and my hemorrhoid doesn't get upset

[00:09:25] like really work it all the way down when my hemorrhoids not upset I'm not as worried about my health

[00:09:32] I feel like I'm healthier and feel like I'm more capable okay so really look at

[00:09:41] when I don't do this tempting food habit actually I feel better and I'm more active

[00:09:51] and that makes me happier and then when I pick up the kids from school I'm not so stressed out

[00:09:57] you see how you can really work through both the impact of the habit

[00:10:04] and also work through the possibilities that are available to you when you are not enacting that habit

[00:10:16] so there you go three tips I wrote them down hang on don't buy it or go near it

[00:10:24] know your triggers for tempting foods and food habits and number three is explore the impact

[00:10:32] and the possibilities the impact of living inside that habit and the possibilities of living outside

[00:10:40] that habit to really get clear on what's at stake when you fall prey to temptation

[00:10:50] and don't forget to give yourself some grace for peak sake we're all just practicing here right

[00:10:55] subscribe and like and comment below and tune in next time and I'll see you again on Healthy AF

[00:11:03] thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Healthy AF podcast

[00:11:07] I hope that it has helped you create a new possibility for your health and sets you in the

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