6-Week Slim-Down: temptation, resisted
Things that have conspired against my healthy eating plan this week:
- The discovery of gourmet toaster pastries at Toronto’s Bake Shoppe.
- Child birthday parties where the parents offer the adults cake
- A wheel of brie from the holidays, rediscovered under the baby spinach
Things that have supported my healthy eating plan this week:
- Packing lunch the night before some days, and having instant oatmeal at my desk for the day that didn’t happen
- Packing along sliced apples or pears with cinnamon sprinkled on them
- Listening to CBC’s The Current‘s “Slim by Design” segment exploring how kitchen design can impact on your eating habits.
The last reminded me of one of my favourite books about eating by Brian Wasnick’s book Mindless Eating. (He’s the interviewee in that link.) Our family took just one piece of advice from that book a few years ago, which was to serve the parts of the meal that should be more limited – mashed potatoes, for example – at the stove, but put all the vegetable sides and salads on the table.
Now when we’re still talking and people serve themselves seconds, it’s much more likely we’ll all go for the veggies. This is one of those killer life hacks that’s worked for us — if you have one, please share in the comments! (We’ve also got 10 easy tips for successful weight loss right here. And of course it’s not too late to sign up for our 6-Week Slim-Down!)
My challenge for this week is to set up a food environment at home that supports my goals. We have an old-fashioned cookie jar that is glass on our counter where my son and I put the cookies we make on Sundays for his lunch box. I’m going to move that into a cupboard and make a few other changes to make sure fruit is visible and nothing else is.
And hide the fancy cheese!
(Photo courtesy of Kathleen Franklin/FlickrCC)