Slipped? Destroyed Your Diet? 7 Tips to Get Back on Track
Often, whenever I give a talk, I hear from people who started eating sugar again and who wanted some guidance. Here’s an article I wrote to help them — and you — if you fell off the no-sweets wagon.
Slipped? Destroyed Your Diet? 7 Tips to Get Back on Track
By Connie Bennett, CHHC
Did you fall off the diet wagon? Did you eat foods you promised to forego? Are you upset with yourself for “stupidly” eating sugary or fast-acting carbs?
Time and time again, my clients and readers of my book SUGAR SHOCK!complain to me about how they stumbled and fell down yete again. They desperately want to know how to get out of their muck and kick sugar, refined carbs and other horrible habits — and for good this time.
Here are 7 tips to pick yourself up and get back on track and finally succeed.
1. Be gentle with yourself. If you slip and forego your good intentions, this is not the time to berate and belittle yourself. Instead use this “mistake” to lavish yourself with compassion, understanding and sympathy. Yes, you messed up, but your’re human so give yourself a break!
2. Accept that you’re imperfect. People with food issues and unhealthy habits often tend to expect themselves to get everything exactly right–or perfect. That sets you up for a huge letdown. Now that you’ve slipped, use this as a chance to claim your humanity, which means you’ll make mistakes from time to time. Owning up to your limitations can be quite freeing.
3. Consider this a golden opportunity to start again. Instead of viewing your falling off the wagon as the most horrible dieting disaster or other fatal error that never should have happened, regard your slip as a chance to begin anew. You see, whenever you make a so-called “mistake” such as this, this could be exactly what you need! Think about it: Aren’t you always more psyched when you begin a project?
4. View your slip as a learning experience. Falling off the no-sugar, no-coffee or no-more-late-nights wagon could be just the instructive incident that you need to to break out of your habit. So be thankful (yes, you heard me right — thankful!) that you “sinned” and ate those junk foods, swigged caffeine like it was going out of style or burned the midnight oil. Now study yourself dispassionately like a lab rat to see just how much damage you caused yourself by slipping. Doing so will enable you to develop deeper resolve to boldly move forward with conviction and finally succeed.