This module focused on holidays & celebrations and how to 'manage' them. My first year I ate three mostly bright meals at the holidays, and had a slice of pie for desert. I say mostly because I ate what I considered bright plates, not counting the butter in the mashed potatoes or the bacon in the green beans. You get the idea. Oh, and I did have a few Christmas cookies. But no binges, no eating between meals, and I felt successful. Little did I know I was setting myself up for 'reinforced intermittence' and the internal permission to eat at the next holiday, and the next, and the next.
The past couple of years have been better in some ways, but not really so much overall. There is so much connection between food and celebrating it can be hard to draw the lines we must to stay bright.
Module 5
Holiday Meals: My balance comes from adding the flavours of the season to my meals, and focusing on the people. Yam puddings for breakfast, charcuterie board lunches in place of appetizers, and dinners loaded with sage, mushrooms and lean proteins. But there is splurging, like having a handful of Ruffles potato chips and onion dip as part of lunch, because I can rationalize how potatoes are a vegetable and the onion dip is a fat. But then there is an opened bag of chips, and I have found my hand grabbing a handful or two in the following days until they are gone. But then, it's literally a year before we buy them again. I sometimes struggle with this, and ask myself how it relates to BLE as an addiction recovery program. If I were sneaking out buying chips for the next month or so then yes, I would have to stop. But that doesn't happen, and it means something to me to have this little indulgence each year. Per BLE it should never be about the food and it's clear that I am blended with a strong part of myself that doesn't agree.
Yam puddings (or custards) spiced like pumpkin pie for breakfast truly satisfy the itch for actual pie, and I love feeling great after dinner instead of being full and grumpy. Eating appetizers for lunch and making a bright meal out of them is easy for us as traditionally we don't have sugar or flour in our appies.
Baking: Christmas cookies are a challenge for me, but I will say that compared to a lifetime of over-indulging in these sweets having a few to sample the holiday baking going on by others in the house seems fairly harmless. But again, I'm just practicing 'intermittent reinforcement', which is another way of saying keeping my addiction alive. There is a part of my brain that argues for moderation and mindful eating, and maybe that is where I will end up. But in the meantime I am not in my bright body, and need to get weight off of my arthritic back. So heading into Autumn and then onward into the holiday season, this year I feel the need to be BRIGHT. Maybe next year I will have a cookie.
What to say: this hasn't been a problem or challenge as I don't socialize and my immediate family knows how I eat. The coming holidays will be spent with my Mom, and there will undoubtedly be family around. I don't think I have any need to prevaricate. A simple, No Thank you should do, but if I am asked I will just say I do Bright Line Eating - flour and sugar make me crazy in ways I don't like so I no longer eat them. What I will say when caught eating a Christmas cookie? Addiction is hard, I do my best. But I don't really see that happening.
Birthdays & Weddings: Don't take your food scale to these celebrations. Have a Bright meal and focus on the people. Depending on the timeline of the event you may want to eat before or afterwards.
WOOP: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan - a tool to use when planning for an event, challenge, or maybe just dinner out with friends.
Outcome: Go over in detail exactly what this looks like & feels like when you successfully handle whatever it is.
Obstacle: What is the main/major obstacle you see that may derail you?
Plan: What can you do to avoid or eliminate the temptation or situation that has you concerned?
No comments:
Post a Comment