Do you reward yourself with food?

Do you get yourself a chocolate bar because you deserved it after you had a very intense phone call with a boss?

Do you get yourself a beer to celebrate a weekend coming? Woohoo! It’s Friday - Give me a beer!?

Do you have a cake to reward yourself for doing so well on your weight loss journey??

Or do you grab glass of wine in the evening because you’ve “earned it” for whatever reason comes to your mind?

Now the question is how often do you do it??

Positive outcome of using food as a reward is - you feel in that moment better. But the challenge comes if you feel bad about it...

Negative impact it has on you when you start feeling guilt, shame, regret, you hear negative self talk, judgment and you might also notice weight gain, that will affect your self esteem and confidence.?

You can read here PubMed Article how Food reward affects food intake that can lead to obesity.

Today I’d like to take you to GO BACK TO THE ROOT OF YOUR REWARD. ?

This is very important to understand because you will stop blaming yourself that it is your fault why you are doing this, but once you realise when it all started, you will wrap yourself with self compassion.?

I remember as a kid, my mum always used to feed me and she always told me “treat yourself”, “have a cake, you earned it”. So my brain accepted that every time I deserve something, I should treat myself with food.

Maybe you had parents or grandparents who told you, “if you don’t eat all of your plate, you won’t get a pudding”.?

“If you are a good girl/boy, you will have an ice cream”

“If you pass the exam, I will take you out for a lunch”

You’ve hurt yourself and your mum/dad told you “Do you want a Nutella sandwich?”

Silly things like this, when you are growing up have a significant impact on forming your relationship with food, and in this sense if something bad/good happens, you will get food to make you feel better.

Did you experience any of these comments when you were growing up?

I will share with you 3 strategies what you can do about it.

INCREASE SELF AWARENESS?

The key with self awareness is to remove any guilt, shame, judgment, criticism.?Just become an observer.?

How to increase self awareness:?

• Become an observer. Just watch yourself without any judgment.
• Notice triggers
• Notice emotions
• Notice thoughts
• Start becoming aware of the pattern
• With self awareness it helps journaling, meditation, being present
• Just a note: increased self awareness doesn't happen overnight, but it is a constant work in progress

REFLECT - ASK YOURSELF QUESTIONS

When you catch yourself saying to yourself “I deserved/earned it” and then have a chocolate/glass of wine/beer, I want you to ask yourself following questions:?

• If I reward myself with food, do I really feel this is my reward or do I eat it because it is my habit??
• How will I feel afterwards??
• What will I say to myself after I eat that food?
• How will I feel about myself?
• Why do I have need to reward myself? ?
• Why acknowledgment wouldn’t be enough?
• Is there anything else that comes to my mind that I can reward myself with, that doesn’t involve food??
• What could that be? (Write a list. This can be to pamper yourself, book a massage, get something small and nice for yourself, plan a holiday or do anything else that makes you feel good)

SET A WATCH TIMER ON 10 MIN?

Notice the urge or an intention to reward yourself - turn your timer on 10 min and watch the magic happens! Your urge will go away…?

Most of us live lives on auto pilot and putting your watch timer makes you to strengthen your reaction time. Which means, if you create yourself a space in time, you will have time to reflect and make a conscious decision on what you really want to do, rather than what has been installed in you like a habit and the key is if you really want to do it, you have to find peace with that.

If this is something that you want to work on, but you don't know how, book a free 20 call with me and we can have a conversation if I am able to help you, if not I will be able to recommend you good resources where you can explore more.

Just click the link below.

Wishing you all a great Sunday and if you need anything, tips, tools, strategies, just get in touch.

Your Food Mindset coach,

Adrijana