Why I Did Not Freak Out About Eating a Bagel...

Huge news! I ate a bagel for lunch today. It was full of carbs and grains, and it was certainly not balanced out with a vegetable. I toasted it and topped it with goat cheese and it was amazing.

And guess what? It did not result in a raging sweet tooth I couldn’t kick, an afternoon nap, or a rumbling tummy 10 minutes later.

You see, for a very long time, I believed that carbs were “bad” and should be limited. All they led to was a sugar crash, hunger, and exhaustion. In the past, if I ate one of these terrible, carb-loaded foods, lets say a bagel; it would lead me to do one of two things.

One, I would eat it, full of guilt, and vow to eat a salad for dinner to “balance” it out. There would likely be an extra workout in my future, and I would be hungry 10 minutes after eating it, simply because I told myself I would be. Plus, I knew that I had an evening filled with lettuce ahead of me.

The second thing that might happen was that I would eat one bagel that would be so delicious, it would turn into 2, and then, who knew when I would another bagel again, so it would turn into 3, and so on and so forth. I’d end up miserable, guilty, swearing off bagels for another eternity and start a new diet the following day.

Today was different for a couple reasons. For starters, I was craving a bagel for the past few days. In the past, this would have gone on for months, before I gave in and it would be way too late. This time, I picked up my favorite gluten free brand at the store and knew I could have one any time I wanted.

Well, I wanted one for lunch today so I ate one. There was no debating about whether it was a good decision, or whether I had already eaten carbs with breakfast, I just ate it. I ate it knowing I could have another tomorrow or the next day, or even in an hour if I was still hungry for it. I enjoyed it. There was no guilt, no judgment, no labeling my food. It was just food.

I moved on and got started with work, felt hungry a bit later and had a mango. Nothing groundbreaking. I wasn’t hungry again until dinnertime. In fact, I didn’t even realize what had happened until just now, hours after eating and enjoying a bagel for lunch.

Now that was a lot of talk about one bagel, but if you struggle with food, you know why I’m excited. In summary, here’s what I did to not freak out over a bagel…

•  I ate the food I wanted when I craved it.
• I did not label my food as anything (good, bad, etc…)
• I did not pass judgment on my food choice
• I knew that I could have the same food whenever I wanted it. There were no diets ahead!

Want to do the same? Let me know by applying for a totally free strategy session with me. Together we can put a stop to your diets for good!

P.S. My very first podcast interview with the Lifestyle Accountability Show is up today! Check it out here.