Spitting it out

My dietetic student intern, who also happens to be a personal trainer, health coach and mother of five shared some hard-earned wisdom on change and the power of now. Check it out at www.dietingdifferently.com/blog.  It sparked some additional thoughts

Years ago, I was listening to the radio (probably NPR!) and the speaker declared that we really only have the here and now. We can’t step into the future in order to change it, nor can we rewind and undo things. Life truly is made up of a million moments of now.

That hit me hard because at that time I was living in the binge/repent cycle, which is full of promises to do better tomorrow. But the only thing we have to make the future what we want is by doing what is in our control now.

I hear you singing the same song! “Tomorrow, tomorrow, I’ll eat better, tomorrow, it’s only a day away!”. Tomorrow I will make that appointment. Tomorrow I will exercise. Not to hate on tomorrow, because many “tomorrows” have saved my sanity. But today can be better too.

In response to this new realization, I started doing something weird, but it helped. The moment I sincerely started to regret eating something I went to the trash and spit it out, or threw away whatever was left. Now, this can be part of disordered eating habits, and the last thing I intend is to encourage any of that. But it wasn’t about purging calories. It was the principle. I wasn’t going to keep doing something when I know I didn’t like what it was giving me anymore. 

It was about living according to the dictates of my conscience. It was standing up for me. I was rebelling against my excuse to just finish this binge and start over later. You know this story too. The “I'll work on eating healthy after the holiday” trap we are all trying to climb out of. 

Creating a “win” right now, snowballed into more victories. Like, when I was turning that cake in the break room into my lunch, I would still go grab the vegetables I packed and eat those too. I decided to always try to include something nutritious when I ate sweets. This started out merely as a principle telling myself that while I was not going to cut sweets out of my life, I wasn’t going to let sweets cut out the foods my body needs. 

When I broke that rule I felt so much yuckier! I realized I felt so much better eating vegetables (or other nutritious food) before eating desserts. This made watching the portion and timing of my treats an instinct that I hardly think about or try to do. It’s just what feels right. 

Building the courage to confront my excuses grew into courage to tell others no also. Sorry Grandma, I still love you, but no, I don’t want another slice of your wonderful cake. 

So my dare, not challenge, it is a dare- is that sometime today if you start to notice you are getting full and still eating, get up and throw that food away. You aren’t saving the earth, and you are not saving yourself money by eating that. 

If you are already good at not overeating, go to the next step. If you realize you haven’t eaten a vegetable all day, walk straight to the fridge and grab a handful of carrots (or anything else you are willing to eat). Even if you only eat 3 tiny carrots. It isn’t about the carrot. It is about taking advantage of the now and standing up for the future that you want to have.

May 2020 bring you that future you wish to have. And may you have the courage and patience to make it happen.