I Know My Food Triggers and Will Control Them

We often talk about NOT eating certain things, so it was nice to get some reinforcement in a recent Jillian Michael's e-newsletter (they're great; I'm on all sorts of fitness e-news lists!) about not depriving ourselves and moderation. I like how Jillian talked about knowing your food binge triggers--things you can really do in moderation. My food triggers: tortilla chips, my grandma's zucchini bread and sweet potato biscuits and my dear friend Gina's Red Velvet cake. So, I don't keep tortilla chips in the house and limit my Mexican eating out and thank goodness Grandma is in Virginia and Gina isn't a full time baker!

What I'm learning to do now is to enjoy things I want and not beat myself up when I know it's just a treat and I'm working hard every other meal and day in the gym. Recently, it was a lamb burger from Marlow's with feta and some tasty sauce. I switched out the roll for a pita and got asparagus instead of fries and I was TOTALLY satisfied and in food nirvana. And after my tennis match the same day, a few of us went to Little 5 points to eat. It was about 10:00, but I was a little hungry. I passed up the calamari (which I LOVE!), homemade bread (which I LOVE MORE!)--both ordered by my pals--and the apple beignets with Georgia caramel sauce (and yes, I LOVE apple desserts and caramel!) and opted for the salt (easy on the salt I asked) and vinegar popcorn. Yep, salt and vinegar popcorn. It was sooo tasty! I was a little annoying to the waiter, I know because I asked if the popcorn was cooked in oil and when he said it was actually microwave popcorn that they spruce up, I asked to see the package. It met my requirements for not as much of a fat punch, so I ordered it. IT WAS SOOO GOOD! I really enjoyed every bite of it and felt great about my choice. I didn't feel like I missed out on anything.

This was a true learning moment for me. I know I can control my food triggers! I HAVE TO if I want to be Shay Shay Fit!