Hi Lisa.
I've found a trick that helps jog my memory so I don't put non LDL foods in my mouth out of habit. It's not that I'm hungry or craving anything. I know to eat if I'm hungry, and I don't crave the bad stuff anymore. Sometimes it's just plain habit, and sometimes it's "eating" an emotion (also a habit that has the strength of many years behind it!
)
Anyway, after getting far too relaxed with my LDL good habits over the winter, I decided I needed something to make me stop and think. I use a method that behavior modification counselors sometimes use. I pay myself for staying 100% true to LDL. For right now I am "paying" myself in $, though I will probably alter my methods from time to time just to keep it interesting. Right now, though, I am getting back into my love of quilting, and I like having a little cash to spend on my passion without feeling guilty.
My personalized method is this: Beginning every Saturday, I set aside for myself $5 for every day I am true to LDL. If I stay on plan until Friday, I have $35 to spend as I please, or to save for a future purchase (something I WANT, not a necessity -- I'm thinking cute shoes in the near future). If I slip, say on Monday, I lose all of the money saved for the week up to that point ($15), but I can still gain $20 for the remainder of the week.
I need the consequences to be immediate, but not so tough (like losing a whole month or more of rewards) that it gets discouraging if I step off the path. It has really worked for me for the past 6 weeks or so! If I automatically reach for something non LDL, I immediately think what it will cost me. By the time Wednesday or Thursday rolls around, I really do not want to eat something that will cost me $25 or $30! Not once in the last 6 weeks have I reached for anything remotely off plan. My hubby does not need to eat LDL, so there are a lot of things in the house that are not on plan, though they are not tempting unless they are within too easy reach, especially if I am too busy to cook, or stressed or extra tired.
In the future I might choose a reward of doing something special rather than saving money. And there will probably be times when I can't afford myself
and will have to have an alternate plan. But, amazingly, it is working so well!
I really love the way I feel so much healthier, more energetic, more present with life when I eat true to LDL. But that has just not been enough incentive to permanently break the habits and the library of excuses built during so many years. I know they say it takes several weeks to break a bad habit and replace it with a new one -- but I find those old habits are always lurking in the background, using any excuse they can devise to become part of my life again.
I know I will have to deal with the emotions I habitually "eat" as they come up, but this "pay as you go" plan keeps my commitment to not cover them with food (and fat) in the foreground.
Best of luck as you figure out your own strategies!
Terri