When the potato chips need to leave the house

What’s the difference between cutting out potato chips from your diet and not having potato chips in your house?!

EVERYTHING!!

Think about the last diet you did or the last time you made some strict rules about your eating. Remember how much time you spent thinking about all the foods you couldn’t have? Or dreaming about what you were going to eat once your diet was over?!

Did you spend equal amounts of time thinking about how excited you were to eat more vegetables? Or how happy you were to say no to fries and order a side salad with your sandwich instead?

Hell no, you didn’t! That’s what eliminating food does to our brain. It makes us feel deprived. And so we’re not exactly focusing on the positive. Instead, we’re thinking of all the foods we can’t have!

Now think about how it would feel like to know that you could have any food you wanted?! But the trade-off was that you had to be willing to exert some level of energy to obtain it?

What do you think would happen?

Instead of just popping chips in your mouth while you’re distractedly looking around the kitchen (not because you’re actually hungry, but because you just need a break from work), you would actually have to be aware enough to decide you want chips. You would also have to want them enough to go to the store and buy them.

How many times would you hop in the car to get the chips?

I actually have no idea how many times you would do it, but my guess is you would eat a lot fewer chips if you had to make an effort!

Most of our urges pass quickly. And when not easy to satisfy, we forget about them and move on to something else.

In my experience, restriction creates and enhances urges.

But by allowing yourself the food, but not making it easy and mindless, you are creating an intentional relationship with food. You’ve invited your brain - not just autopilot - along for the ride.

And that will start getting you the results you want.

If you struggle with cravings, check out this cheat sheet. I’m sharing some of the most common solutions for cravings.