Jim's Journey to Improve His Health: Your Environment

We all struggle with food. Keep food that you can eat around and available. Also keep a small portion of what you crave available. It is inevitable that you will crave something. If you feel you are denying yourself something you will want it all the more. For example, if you like ice cream then have some ice cream. Most of us find it challenging to control our portions of those things we crave. You can get Hagen Dase in an individual serving. So buy 1 of those at a time. Do not buy a dozen at a time, but one at a time. Also make it a flavor you like. It is much better to have a small portion of really good ice cream (eg Haben Dase ) than the same amount of mediocre ice cream.(eg Dairy Queen soft serve) If you are going to "cheat" at least have good quality.

I am married and I am very grateful to my wife. She is a great cook and cooks healthy food. Veggies, lean meat, low oils or fats. I do have 2 or 3 teenage boys. (sometimes we have an exchange student) The boys have a tendency to eat more. So she does buy some chips and desserts for them. It is not easy to avoid those foods. But we usually have something else I can eat that is healthier.

When went to a pot luck at school and you have to bring things that you can eat. Out of 50 families we were the only ones who bought fruit for dessert. Most of the desserts were cookies, cakes, and candy. The main course foods were of the type of tater tot casserole or fast food etc. In those situations bring your own.

There is an excellent book Food Rules. It is a short book. He has 63 rules. His basic premis is eat food, not too much, mainly vegetables. The rules are short and have an explanation of each one. It is an easy read. Here are a few of my favorites:

If it comes through a car window it is not food.
If your grandmother would not recognize it as food it is not food.
If the cereal changes the color of your milk it is not food.
If it is called the same thing in all languages it is not food.
You can eat junk food if you make it yourself.

So surround yourself at home and work with good food. If you are going to go outside your food zone then have good quality and enjoy, it just keep the portions smaller.

Your self control will fail when you are tired or stressed. It has been determined that people have only so much self control. You can exercise it and get more over time, but realize that at the end of the day you may be tired and have less self control. If you have food choices easily available it will help avoid those binges.

I will post my food picts later.

Here they are: