It’s commonly assumed that you either have willpower… or you don’t!
So, when we find ourselves mindlessly reaching for the second (or third … or fourth) biscuit, we beat ourselves up for “being weak” and “having no willpower”
Personally, I think willpower is BS! Yes, you may have perceived willpower for a limited time IF the end goal is motivating enough, but in my humble opinion, in order to make better food choices and control portion size long-term, you need to look at your environment instead of what’s between your ears!
Give this a try, and you’ll see what we mean.
Conduct a kitchen makeover…
Use the steps below to clean out your fridge, freezer, cupboards and any other places you stash food!! In the process, you’ll make some of your trigger foods a lot harder to eat and other foods a lot easier to eat.
Step 1: Make a list
Determine your red, yellow, and green light foods.
As you know, we don’t advocate labelling foods “good” or “bad” per se, this is about you being honest with yourself and identifying what foods serve you and what foods you know you’re better off avoiding.
EVERYONES red, yellow, and green lists will be different.
Here’s how to identify yours:
Red light foods = “no go” foods. These are foods that present such a difficult challenge for you that they just aren’t worth the struggle. Red light foods may not work for you because:
* They don’t help you achieve your goals
* You always overeat them
* You’re allergic to them
* You can’t easily digest them
Processed foods often fall into this category.
For example, one of my red foods is chocolate! If it’s in the house – I’ll eat it! FACT! Because I know I will overeat, I avoid having it there! Do I still eat chocolate? Of course, I do!
I just only buy it when I plan to eat it and I only buy the quantity (e.g. a small bag of Maltesers rather than a family size!) that I know I’m happy to eat them WITHOUT feeling ANY guilt surrounding this decision.
Yellow light foods = “slow down” foods. Maybe you can eat a small amount of these foods but can then stop, or perhaps you can eat them in the company of others, but home alone you are aware it could be a very different story!
Once again this is NOT about restriction, this is about you being completely honest with yourself and deciding to make choices that empower you, rather than make you feel like 💩
Green light foods = anytime foods. They are nutritious and make your body and mind feel good. You can eat them normally, slowly, and in reasonable amounts. Whole foods usually make up most of this list.
Step 2: Get cleaning!
You’ll probably need a bin for this part!
First, get rid of the red-light foods. To reduce waste, consider donating unopened, non-perishable, unexpired items to a food bank, and compost what you can’t donate.
Remember, overeating is no less wasteful than putting the food in the bin, given your body doesn’t actually need the calories. You might even find that your kitchen makeover actually saves you money over time because you’ll stop buying certain foods that simply aren’t serving you.
Next, deal with the yellow light foods. You have a few options here. You can remove them, keep them in smaller quantities to prevent overeating them, or put them somewhere out of sight!
As they say “Out of sight, out of mind”.
Lastly, stock up on your green light foods. Put these foods at the front of your fridge, freezer, cupboards etc, making them easily accessible and your first option when hunger strikes.
Step 3: Feedback
The next time you crave a red or yellow food, make note of what happens. Do you reach for a green food, since that’s what’s right in front of you? Do you drive to the shop to get food you crave? Do you hunt down that yellow food you hid in the back of the cupboard? Or… did you decide not to eat anything at all because it requires way too much effort?
Making a conscious note of a behaviour is the first step to determining any unwanted patterns or habits. Once you have this awareness, it makes deciding to make a different decision next time that little bit easier.
Take away; Your environment can make it much harder to make better eating choices.
If a food (healthy or not) is in your house or possession, it’s highly likely that you will eventually eat it!
This is why relying on willpower or motivation alone is a fundamentally flawed plan! No matter how much or how little willpower you actually have, you’ll eventually default to the easiest food options, especially when you’re tired, stressed, emotional or simply just really hungry!
By removing red light foods, and reducing yellow, you make the choice to eat green foods so much easier… almost no willpower required. 😜