38/365 Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

When you eat out, you are faced with many temptations. Over the course of this blog I will try to address each one and give you a defense against them. Today's temptation to battle is how to say no when you're already full.

I am a big fan of 20/20 and remember a segment about how eating with others makes us eat more. A study was done where two women were sitting in a room eating ice cream. They both started out with a serving each with the ice cream container between them. After they finished the first serving, Woman 1 got another scoop of ice cream. She was told to do this whenever she and Woman 2 finished their helping. Woman 2 voluntarily proceeded to get another scoop as well. Woman 1 got yet another scoop. Woman 2 followed. You see the pattern that is happening. When food is placed in front of us, we will continue to eat it as long as someone else is eating it. Even if you're full, part of you, for whatever reason, will continue to eat anyway.

I'm sure that you have experienced this just as I have at dinners, luncheons, or any food date. Eating is a social thing but, be mindful of what that can mean to your endeavors to eat healthily and consciously.

At home, my solution for this is to first remove your plate and utensils from the table. Don't even give yourself the option to civilly eat some more. Try to remove the food from the table entirely. Store it so that you don't get an extra helping. At a restaurant, place your utensils on your plate and your napkin on top of it. It certainly would not be polite to grab your utensils again and get more food. Even better, have your waiter take your plate or box up your leftovers as soon as he/she can. Out of sight, out of mind.

When tempted to get an extra helping when you're not hungry, put the food out of your vision as much as possible. If you don't see it, you won't think about it.

In health,

Lauren