‘I get caught in situations where I do not have access to smart food choices. I wind up eating things I didn’t plan on eating…’

Holiday parties? Extra-long commute home after a busy day? Endless meetings at work?

I think we all get caught in situations where we are hungry and our options for healthy foods are limited.

For me; THOSE situations were the exact excuse I was always looking for to allow overeating/ binging/ permissible gluttony. I mean — if the situation was out of my control THEN making poor food choices wasn’t REALLY my fault. Right?

‘I had no choice, Taco Bell was the only drive through around’, ‘It was quick and easy to grab, and I’m really busy’, ‘I will get right back to healthy eating just as soon as I’m not starving…” or ‘It was cake.” (Cake is simply its own classification of excuses. 🙂 )

Mind you, I wasn’t having these conversations WITH anyone, they were simply the excuse generators working seamlessly in my head.

I didn’t really WANT to plan ahead. That would mean I had NO excuses to eat all the things I thought I loved… Fast food, chips, candy, cake…

This ‘excuse’ thinking was a deeply entrenched bad habit. One so well-tuned and so cleverly hidden that it took me almost a year to truly figure out WHAT the underlying issue was.

At the core — it’s a simple (I did NOT say easy… I said simple…) mental battle…  Here’s what my dad always tells me;

If you want to, you will find the way.  

If you don’t, you’ll find the excuse.

I really, really wanted my weight, my diabetes and my issues with food to all be someone else’s fault. I needed, wanted, allowed EXCUSES to rule my weight and my eating.

Placing blame is so much more comforting, rewarding and freeing than having to ACCEPT  and shoulder the blame.

So, I finally figured out that PLANNING ahead in regards to food was a very BIG step for me.  It was going to be a critical skill if I was going to be successful in forging a new lifestyle.

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When I pack my bag(s) for the day, I always check my purse to make sure I have some kind of snack stashed away.  I don’t leave the house without going through the mental checklist; Wallet, keys, lipstick, snack… 🙂

Here’s what you can usually find in my purse/car/desk/gym bag:

• bottle of water
• apple
• 150-220 calorie bar of some sort (Kind bars or TRIO bars are my current favorites.)
• small bag of mixed nuts

Something to eat so that my options are NOT entirely limited.

So, do you have a favorite portable snack, routine or trick for remembering to take along something healthy??!

Please SHARE!  I would love some new ideas that we can all use.

My top tips?

• I keep a box of Kind/TRIO bars are in the truck of my car and in my desk.
• I have a small stash of healthy snacks at work. I re-stock it every Monday morning.
• I volunteer to be the one to bring food/snacks. I have control of my food and responsibility for feeding others WHICH always motivates me.
• I gave my good friends permission to remind me to pack a snack. I promised not to bite their heads off.

These tricks and tips no longer allow me as many excuses.

I may not get it right ALL the time, but I get it right MORE of the time.