S for ‘strong’

- Every time I eat when I’m not hungry or I overeat, I then feel bad about it and feel like eating even more or even more often.

- Every time I eat just what I need and want, I feel good and in control and I feel like a normal eater: there’s no need to think about food! My body is in control, my body tells me what it needs and wants.

- Every time I don’t pay attention to what I eat (e.g. by reading or by thinking about something else, not focusing on the present), I send a signal to my brain that says ‘I don’t care’. And when I don’t care, I feel bad and... you know what happens next.

Question: Where do you get the strength to pay attention and then to stop? Basically, where do you get the strength to be strong?

My answer: I find that the first moments of the day are when I decide things. I decide to be strong, I decide that today I will not overeat/will pay attention/will not get distracted/will respect food, my body, myself. Come eating time, I remember my morning promise and reiterate it. It helps me stay strong and aware throughout the meal/eating experience, and it then gives me the strength to stop when I’m full or have had enough of the taste.