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Post by bbbearsmom on Nov 7, 2020 0:19:03 GMT
Saturday, 11/07
Day 7 – Arrange Your Environment
This is about avoiding environmental triggers that might encourage you to eat especially at the end of the day when you are low on mental energy. Beck believes in the “out of sight, out of mind” adage. This can be applied to your home, your work, or any other environment you are in for a period of time.
For changes at home she suggests:
Remove your personal temptations. Throw away give away food that might tempt you. Food you can’t dispose of and is a trigger store out of sight.
Use smaller utensils and dishes.
Work with others in your home to come up with solutions to you being able to avoid food/drink triggers.
Beck suggests being proactive at work about the food/drink environment to try to change it.
How have you changed the environment in your home, at work?
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Post by bbbearsmom on Nov 7, 2020 0:24:13 GMT
The biggest change I made to my environment when I started to lose weight was I kept sweets out of the house. That has been a big help over the years. I have drawers in the refrigerator for my fruits and veggies so I can easily reach for them. I also use a small luncheon size plate instead of a dinner sized plate. My cutlery set has two sizes of spoons, about a teaspoon sized one, and a one & 1/2 teaspoon sized one. I use the smaller one to take smaller bites and to take longer to eat.
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lizlor
Transcendent Member
Posts: 1,161
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Post by lizlor on Nov 7, 2020 3:08:46 GMT
The best change I have made this year is to sign up for our local CSA- Community Supported Agriculture- which in the summer is a weekly and in winter biweekly pickup box of organic vegetables. It forces me to 1) eat more vegetables and 2) eat vegetables I probably wouldn’t and 3) replaces the farmers market. It forces me to plan meals before things go bad. An example of something I recently made is a savory braised Escarole and white bean casserole.
When I’m measuring portions, I also go for smaller bowls or plates to make them look full.
I also have to keep sweets out of the house or I’ll eat them all. I just read about a frozen Greek yogurt bar called Yasso, which I’d like to try as a treat sometime.
I always have a bowl of fruit on the counter, but I don’t always eat it daily.
The best environment for me is a fridge of prepped healthy meals and a plan as to when to eat it.
Occasionally I will buy as low sugar as I can find kombucha as a beverage treat. If not socially drinking outdoors, which is kinda hard to do these days, all I drink is water, sparkling water or ice tea.
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Post by surfgirl on Nov 7, 2020 8:50:34 GMT
I have to keep salty snacks out of the house. During early lockdown, we were eating a lot of pretzels and it got out of control. Now I buy them more rarely. We always have a fruit bowl out, and I find having berries in the fridge a quick and easy snack. As I mentioned in my post from yesterday's thread, which I just posted in late, I had a huge cake that I brought to a friend's home tonight and I left it there, so kudos to me for not bringing any of it back home!
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Post by cathygeha on Nov 7, 2020 9:48:54 GMT
For changes at home she suggests:
Remove your personal temptations. Throw away give away food that might tempt you. Food you can’t dispose of and is a trigger store out of sight. I have thrown tempting food away, given it away, and fed it to chickens and ducks when we had them. I don't bring in much to tempt me any more
Use smaller utensils and dishes. I used to make huge pots of soup and such...still do sometimes BUT now try to use smaller ones. I have small and large dishes BUT when I am counting points/exchanges it doesn't really matter how big or small the dish is because I have fixed portions and put what I am going to have into the dish that works best. If doing CORE or not counting then a smaller dish would be a good idea
Work with others in your home to come up with solutions to you being able to avoid food/drink triggers. My husband is one to eat nuts from our walnut tree and fruit from the garden SO we don't have temptations in the house...or nothing that tempting to me.
Beck suggests being proactive at work about the food/drink environment to try to change it. Not working and not going out so...not a problem at the moment.
How have you changed the environment in your home, at work? When the children left for college the food in the house changed...especially since I was on WW and counting points. My husband is easy about food and if he doesn't want what I prepare fixes something else for himself.
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Post by mac on Nov 7, 2020 17:19:57 GMT
I've changed my environment in my home by:
* Cleaned out my refrigerator and pantry of most sugar foods and I don't buy or bring in those kinds of food anymore, I eat mostly whole foods like fresh protein, whole grain breads and cereals, fresh fruits and vegetables as well as healthy fats.
* I leave measuring spoons, cups and scale on kitchen counter top to remind me to measure. I read a good way to keep your scale clean by putting a coffee filter on scale to put food in to measure.
* I use a small bowl to put my food in and try to fill it 1/4 full of protein, 1/4 full of carbohydrates and 1/2 full of vegetables, sometimes fruit to get the food groups in everyday.
* I eat mostly whole foods, drink water and track foods everyday on my WW app and journal!
* I make sure my scale to weigh myself on everyday gives me an accurate weight.
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ladymajky
Transcendent Member
220/169/150
Posts: 871 
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Post by ladymajky on Nov 7, 2020 19:25:06 GMT
We are all experienced Beckians. I think we know that we should keep a clean kitchen, with fruit on the table and chips out of sight. It's time for us to step up our game and demonstrate advanced skills. We need to think about our environment in broader terms. As cathygeha , pointed out the other day, there are all kinds of TRIGGERS. When you think about it, the rest of the book is devoted to developing skills to tolerate physical and emotional discomfort and skills to deal with emotions -- all of which help us manage TRIGGERS.TRIGGER ➡ THOUGHT ➡ DECISION ➡ ACTION
Tidy up all the TRIGGERS –
~ Environmental – seeing or smelling food
~ Biological – hunger, thirst, or cravings
~ Mental – thinking, imagining, recalling, reading about food
~ Emotional – eating for comfort, distraction, or emotional high
~ Social – pushers, or “everyone else is having some”
Identify the TRIGGERS that evoke sabotaging thoughts
Minimize exposure to TRIGGERS that start the Chain
Change response to TRIGGERS in order to interrupt the Chain
~ Tolerate physical and emotional discomfort
~ Resolve or deal with emotions |
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Post by cathygeha on Nov 7, 2020 20:28:37 GMT
ladymajky, Interesting...hadn't thought about it quite that way. Earlier today I was reading about intentions and that took me to how to write good intentions and tie them to triggers that will lead to behaviors that will achieve the goal of the intention. I guess I hadn't thought of triggers, till now, as something that can be used for negative and/or positive behaviors...
NOTE: I put that information in the Points Plus board with the yellow heart in the points plus weekly chat thread...not sure I got it RIGHT but it was an interesting exercise.
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