If I Don’t Have A Plan For The Environment, The Environment Has A Plan For Me

Feb 25, 2010

It is almost insulting how much the environment dictates the food “choices” we make. I find that really smart people (or at least those of us who think we are) seem to have a harder time with this. It’s like we think we should be able to “out think” our natural visceral response to food and override our often poorly programmed history. If this were about intelligence, don’t you think that all the smart people would be thin?

If intelligence is to even be part of the equation at all, it is probably best utilized to come up with creative ways to manage the environment. Because it’s pretty simple. We eat what is around us to eat. And if we played any part at all in how that environment came to be there in the first place (like we chose the restaurant, or we actually bought the food), then this decision was made, this pathway was paved, long before we ended up nose to nose with the food.

When I buy a large amount of something, be it 2 gallons of ice cream (on sale of course) or multiple boxes of Girl Scout cookies (did you know that you could just make a donation?), I am deciding up front that I will definitely be overeating at some future date(s) – as yet to be determined perhaps, but totally predictable. For God’s sake, I’m 62. Could I possibly have not noticed this pattern before?! In fact, let’s face it, when I cut the coupon, or even read the ice cream coupon section or walk down that aisle, the binge is already in the works.

This is great news. The thing that has absolutely the most influence on what goes in my mouth is the thing that I am most able to control! What I do to manage the environment!

And I know I am not the only one. Cases in point:

Client Number 1: The deliberate use of pre-paving the environment to head off predictable disaster.

Let’s call her Mary – decided to take the time on a Sunday to pre-prepare the weekday night dinners. It took at good 2-3 hours on a Sunday afternoon granted, but she figured that that was probably the same or less time than she would have had to spend anyway fetching/preparing individual meals day by day.

Not only did that make it easy and convenient to make good choices, but those choices were now not subject to influence by the type of day she had had, her energy level, hunger, or mood. She also did not spend time in the kitchen (picking) when she was the most hungry, she did not ask herself what she had a “yen for” (a loaded question at best at the end of a long day), did not skip making the vegetables (who needs another pot to clean?) and did not end up out at a restaurant eating a “Saturday night dinner” (wine, bread, all the accoutrements) on a Tuesday!

Another client, Alice, prepares her family’s dinner as soon as her kids leave for school when she is less hungry, and Ellen feeds her kids dinner as soon as they are home from school. They typically all eat something then anyway, as kids are naturally hungrier earlier in the day. This also partially solves the now common problem of dinnertime activities that end up interfering with eating as a family. At least Mom and the kids all eat together.

Client Number 2: An intentional plan for disaster headed off because someone else controlled the environment.

Let’s call her Celeste – had had a really awful day at work, was PMS-y (for you guys, if you haven’t figured this our already, that means having an almost uncontrollable urge to eat anything not nailed to the floor – especially chocolate), and was going for the traditional Shabbas dinner at her Mom’s where she had a somewhat “shakey” history at best. She was saved from herself by a supportive environment. Mom works at her weight too, and she has worked long and hard at creating a wonderful Friday dinner experience for all, but amending it in such a way that it doesn’t derail her weight conscious family members.

Client Number 3: How the environment derailed an otherwise on track person.

Let’s call him Todd – had recently had hip surgery, and “helpful” friends had decided that the best way to support him (and his diabetic wife) was to deliver food. Which would have been great, except that one dropped off dinner that included 2 loaves of homemade bread, another provided 3 lbs. of his favorite candy, and yet another brought a tray of pastries from a great city bakery. Kind of makes you wonder about other people’s agendas about your weight, doesn’t it? Guess what this client – who had been doing really well with his weight loss prior to this surgery, this client who doesn’t keep any of these things in his home normally, this client who was in pain and on crutches and supposed to stay off his feet except to go to the bathroom – guess what he managed to hobble his way to the kitchen and eat?

If you just ate for breakfast or a late night snack of 15 unplanned chocolate easter eggs theoretically for the kids Easter baskets, or 3 boards of matzo with cream cheese from the 10 lb. box they gave your for free at the grocery store…ask yourself these questions:

Where have I been investing my energy? Have I put it into: