Free food is everywhere: donuts in the break room, candy at the bank, and the dinner rolls at the restaurant. It can be an automatic reaction to eat the free things, but should you? Let’s answer that!
Should You Eat Free Things?
When it comes to free food our first reaction is usually “AWESOME!”, right? I mean, we love free stuff, who doesn’t love to get things for free-ninety-nine! I know I do! But a lot of the time these foods come at really random times when we might not be hungry. or not know if we’re hungry. Or, to be honest, they’re food we might not even LIKE! But it seems like if it’s free it’s 1896% more attractive and we WANT it!
5 Tips To Stop Mindless Eating
I remember break room cake used to be my kryptonite. I would ALWAYS have a large slice. Even if it was like 8 am. I HAD to have it. It was almost like a compulsion. That is, until I started to implement these 5 tips to handle these situations:
- Ask yourself if you’re hungry. Rate yourself on the hunger scale. (Snag a copy of mine here in my free e-book, The Ultimate 5 Step Guide To Food Freedom!)
- Ask yourself if you LIKE the food. Think back to a time you had whatever it was and remember if it was even GOOD!
- If you’re not hungry but it’s a food you want to try, ask for some to take home to eat when you DO want it.
- Remind yourself you can have this food whenever you want! You can stop at a store and pick up a fresh, hot donut literally any time.
- Ask yourself how you’d feel if you never saw the free food. Is it just the allure that it’s free that is making you want it? Or did a donut sound good before you saw the dozen your co-worker brought in?
There is nothing wrong with grabbing a slice of cake from yesterday’s retirement party if you really want it, if something sweet will hit the spot- even if it’s stale! The key here is to hone into the “why” of your eating it. Sometimes just using one of these 5 simple tips can really allow you to assess if you want the free food or not. Allowing you to FEEl better- VS food coma-ed from those day old donuts that probably didn’t taste good!
Leave a comment with the last free food you ate! It seems to be everywhere!
Happy food rule breaking,
XOXO
-Colleen
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Brittany Ward says
The last free food I actually TURNED DOWN was free birthday cake someone brought into work. They sent out emails tempting everyone, even walked around telling us all to grab a piece… However, even though I LOVE cake, especially chocolate cake, I used the hungry scale plus a little self talk similar to the questions above and didn’t grab a piece. I didn’t want it! I felt amazing that I didn’t take a piece just because it was there. I’ve just started the intuitive and mindful eating last week, and already it’s made a great impact on how I physically feel( not bloated or like I’ve overindulged), and how I want to continue with the intuitive and mindful eating.
Colleen says
I used to do the SAME! Free cake was the vice! Totally okay to have some when you want without guilt, but it’s also fine to pass! Amazing!