It’s important not only to mindfully accept your
cravings but also your occasional failures to resist them. If you give in to a craving
and then feel guilty or hopeless, you may end up eating more junk food just to
help yourself feel better or because you have given up trying. Remind yourself
that nobody is perfect, making mistakes is normal, and your slip was not the
end of the world. Instead of beating yourself up over it, change direction.
Every second that passes is a chance to begin to recover from your mistake.
It’s never too late to do the right thing.
First, limit the damage — stop eating the craved
food. Giving in to a craving doesn’t have to turn into a binge. It’s never easy
to stop eating something you’ve been craving. It can be as though you’re on a
highway going fast in the wrong direction. What you need to do is slow down and
look for an exit.
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It’s never too late to do the right thing.
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Here’s a trick that may help you stop eating
after you have given in to a craving. As soon as possible, curl the toes of one
foot and repeat to yourself, “I am exiting now,” or, “I don’t really want to
eat this.” The discomfort of your curled toes and the irony of your self-talk
will help anchor you to reality.
Keep repeating the phrase and keep your toes
curled until you have the presence of mind to stop eating. Then immediately use
one of the tools from the previous section to calm your craving. Second,
evaluate what went wrong and make a plan for next time so you won’t make the
same mistake again. Rehearse your plan a time or two before you are tempted
again.
Copyright ©Stan Spencer, PhD –Originally appeared in The Diet Dropout's Guide to Natural Weight Loss by Stan Spencer, PhD
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