Saturday night we were hosting our friend and his children for dinner.  He’s following Paleo plan, and we were sharing woes of weight loss.  It struck me then that this diet is going to be life changing – it can’t be temporary measures! I need to take things one day at a time.   Yes, my long term goal of weightloss is on my mind. But,  when I step on that scale and have gained a tenth of a pound,  I can’t kill myself.  There is alot going on here – more than just watching carbs/sugars and getting into exercise. I have to combat my habits and  what triggers me, my cravings, and know the  foods that will put me on downward spiral. I also learned that I need to figure out how to feel less stressed.

Habit # 1 – social connection. I think, this time around I’m more aware of my connection with food. I think back to Dr. Fred Bisci (he was the Nutritionist that was treating me the time around with my asthma flare ups). His diet was raw and I have to say, I had greater mental clarity and energy. But, it was a very difficult diet for me. If you have the chance to meet him, do it! He’s an amazing person.  He made it all to clear that our connection with food has to change, we need to make it less social. Think about it, we do tend to congregrate a lot around food – what is a holiday party without appetizer, entrees and then desert buffet? Superbowl and wings!

Studies have shown that we tend to eat more in social environments (Pliner, Salvy, Leone,and Jarrin, 2007)- if everyone else is taking seconds at the buffet, why can’t you? I’ve caught myself with this many occasions, even when we go out to eat. The appetizers and then a round of deserts.

I think my baby step here (on top of taking things one day at a time), try to disconnect socially from eating. I can enjoy going out, but need to make sure I eat right.

What  would be one of yours?