DAY 19: Your best eating plan is as personal as your fingerprint
Your best eating plan is as personal as your fingerprint
The 28 Days to Overcoming Food Addiction meal plan isn’t meant to last forever.
I picture you all jumping up and down at this point.
That’s fair.
There’s nothing you’re grumbling under your breath that I haven’t thought every day since I started eating this way: This food is boring.
Or …
I’m sick to death of shredded chicken.
Or maybe even …
I was better off addicted to food; at least then I enjoyed what I ate!
Now, now, now we know that last one’s not true!
Sometimes when we’re frustrated with change all we can remember about our previous situation is the good stuff. We forget about how maddening it is to feel a slave to cravings, how helpless it feels to be unable to control our compulsive overeating, and how mentally exhausting it is to obsess over trigger foods.
Maybe not the perfect analogy, but think of your addictive eating behavior as an old boyfriend (or girlfriend) you broke up with.
When you made the break you were sick of all the bullshit and ready to move on; anything was better than that! But then one night you’re lonely and start to remember all the good times. You run into him and start to think: Gosh, he’s so great! Why did I ever break up with him???
Your ex is super hot and oh, so sweet. He flatters you, makes you feel special and gives you that familiar rush of good feelings.
Until the old familiar patterns begin to re-emerge.
Before you know it you’re at each other’s throats and you’re wondering how in the hell you wound up in this situation again, when you know better.
In the 28 Days to Overcoming Food Addiction program I’ve given you the template for making a clean break from your addiction. At the risk of sounding immodest, it’s an excellent starting point for your own recovery.
You’ve made your intentions clear to your addiction: it’s not me, it’s you. And it’s time we go our separate ways.
And now that you’ve made a clean break, it’s time to create the life you want to live.
A big part of that new life is figuring out how you want to eat. Will you still meal prep and make most of your food at home? Will you reintroduce a few treat foods back into your life? Will you continue to eat at regular, 2-1/2 to 3 hour intervals throughout the day? Good questions, all.
Though we’re not ready to set aside the 28 Days program yet, it’s time to begin thinking about your best eating plan moving forward.
Now that you’ve got almost three weeks worth of food addiction recovery eating under your belt you’ve probably got a good sense of how this agrees with you.
Maybe you feel more in control eating this way (even though the food is undeniably less sexy). Maybe you’re still plagued by cravings and slip-ups so you’d feel more secure doing another round of 28 days before you introduce any changes. Maybe you desperately want more flexibility in what and when you eat and feel confident you can do that in a way that won’t trigger your addictive behavior.
These are all valid observations at this point and worth kicking around for the next week or so.
I invite you to spend some time thinking about what your personal eating plan will look like post-28 Days. After all, the best eating plan – and the best way to live in active recovery – is to go with an eating plan that works for you.
More tomorrow. Until then, stay strong.