Resisting Food Temptation

I often get asked by clients what techniques I use to keep my diet healthy and not give in to temptation of eating fast food or foods high in sugar and fat.

Here’s 3 of the techniques I use:

1. Planning ahead:

I’m always thinking about my next meal, where will I be and what can I eat. So this means thinking ahead, should I take something with me or will I be able to buy something healthy I also try to do a cook-up at the weekends and freeze individual meals for the weeknights when I get home late. That way I know that I will eat healthy meals. For me, its about routine, eat healthy, train, rest. If I don’t eat healthy its hard to have the energy to do my job.

2. Don’t have “bad” food in the house:

I try not to have chips, chocolate, cake, ice-cream etc in the house. That way if its not in the cupboard or fridge, I can’t eat it. If I’m having a party or friends over, I’ll buy the party food the day before so its not there for me to eat anytime.

3. No extras at work:

When I worked in an office environment it was very difficult. It seemed everyday there was a morning tea for someone’s birthday,  or an office function or luncheon. I had a rule for these occasions. I wouldn’t eat any extras at the office. So I would say no to the cake at morning tea. At first it was hard, but it got easier and my colleagues got used to me not eating the food. I would always still attend the morning tea, but would just have a coffee. Another thing I used to do was bring my lunch to work with me from home. I did this for two reasons, 1) I needed to eat at a certain time and 2) I’d then have a healthy lunch. There was also the added bonus of saving money. It didn’t always work everyday, but it was a good way of trying to stay healthy.

Using these techniques helps me to stay healthy, but I also enjoy eating lots of different foods. If I want to eat chocolate biscuits, I do (in fact I would eat two or three biscuits every day). If I go out and I want to have dessert or cake, I have it. I am very active and train hard, so I can have these foods occasionally without it affecting my weight or health.

I find these techniques work for me, and when you eat less food with sugar and fat, your body stops craving these foods.

Eating healthy and exercise is a discipline, it takes commitment and hard work, but it’s worth the effort to feel fit and healthy.