What is food guilt? We’ve all done it to ourselves, one bad food choice leads to throwing in the towel on the entire day. That gross feeling and disappointment with ourselves, that is food guilt. Beating yourself up and assigning emotion to your food choices is the essence of food guilt.
Looking at yourself as good or bad based on your food choices – that is food guilt.
Here’s what I want you to consider: Is it working for you?
Is it improving your choices or is it keeping you stuck in a negative cycle of your own creation that leads to more choices you feel badly about?
Does it help you feel better about yourself, or help you make a better choice the next time you think about cheating? Chances are it doesn’t, and it never will. So you’ve got to stop beating yourself up over FOOD!
In today’s episode, I’ll be diving into why food guilt doesn’t work, why you should stop it, and what you should be doing instead.
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Let Food Guilt GO!
The choice you made was in the past! Don’t let a past choice affect your current emotions or your future choices. Let it go, and MOVE ON. Instead of focusing on your bad day, focus on what is next and how you are going to push forward to achieve your goals.
Create a Different Strategy
Food guilt is only making yourself miserable about choices you’ve made in the past. You can’t move forward if you are focused on the past. It is time to get rid of old bad strategies and create new strategies to move towards your goals in a positive light.
We have to eliminate what doesn’t work & embrace what does. Does food guilt work for you?
Be Objective
Don’t assign unnecessary emotions to decisions that should be objective. Food is neutral!
Take a step back from your food choice and ask yourself, does eating this get me closer to my goals? If I eat this how will it make me feel immediately? How will it make me feel in a couple of hours? How will it make me feel tomorrow? Take your answers into consideration, make the choice, and MOVE ON. Don’t spend time dwelling on the choice you made. Focus on your next choices!
Practice looking past the immediate consequences. Ask yourself hard questions about the choice. How will this food choice make you feel about yourself as you are laying in bed tonight? Will this choice stall your overall progress towards your larger goals?
Examine 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Order Consequences
Don’t ignore 2nd and 3rd order consequences for immediate satisfaction!
A 1st order consequence would be what happens immediately after a decision is made (i.e. The great taste of the cookie!). People who focus solely on 1st order consequences struggle and sabotage their overall goals.
A 2nd order consequence is what happens later, but not necessarily long term (i.e. The cookie may trigger cravings and doesn’t satisfy your hunger). A 3rd order consequence would be a long term consequence (i.e. The cookie does not push you towards your fat loss goals).
Examining your 2nd and 3rd order consequences may not come easy, and can take a bit of practice. Those who consider these consequences are more aligned with their goals and are more likely to achieve them.
Every Choice You Make Is A Lesson To Be Learned
Find a lesson in every choice you make, and implement that lesson into future decisions. Make your choices productive for you and you will accelerate progress towards your goals.
Not every correct choice will be an easy choice, but it is important to understand objectively why you are making that choice and move forward after the choice is made.
Resources
Why You Should NOT Go To ASCEND
Podcast About ASCEND: 203: Happy Anniversary, Primal Potential (Will You Join Me?)
Save the Date for ASCEND Nashville!