Breaking BAD Habits

I can see how easy it is to eat junk. I recently reentered the work away from home world, as well as am taking some college courses again. My school hours are 1-4pm. And I work 1130-730. Now this may not seem to bad. My hours are nice enough. The problem that I have is this: These are the times of day most people are having lunch and dinner hours. I am used to eating lunch around noon, and dinner around 6. So the 2 days a week i am in school, I am driving during my normal lunch time. Work days I am already at work when I usually eat. I spend over an hour a day driving, 6 days a week. When you are in the car that often it's difficult to not stop in somewhere an hit the drive thru. (I had a jumbo Jack and fries on the way to school the other day.) I was starving an had woken up late. My other problem is that no matter how early I set my alarm for, I hit snooze an sleep as late as I can. I have to be up at least 2 hours before I can eat anything, and usually am already on my way by then. (try eating a bagel with cream cheese and jelly while you drive) So bad habits come back. I have been taking meals for lunch. And keep healthy things with me to resist eating junk at work. I do alright on my way home, but when I get home I am so tired and have homework to do and cooking is not in the gameplan. When I went shopping last I was careful about what I bought. I stayed away from frozen foods with a few small exceptions of french fries and taquitos. I have been making snacks of fresh celery and peanut butter with honey. I buy the Jif, it has less of the crap in it an no preservatives. Just peanuts, honey, and a bit of soduim. But all in all peanut butter is not that bad for you. It has far less fat and calories than microwave popcorn and frozen dinners. While fresh whole foods are best for all of us, there are still ways to eat well and fast without eating junk. Read the labels. It may look harmless, but you would be amazed. Look at a Marie Callanders Pot Pie. I love those. but if you eat 2 a day you have exceded almost all of your recommended daily allowence for everything. They have over 1000 calories in one. Even the new smaller ones, (10.5 oz) have about 650 fat grams. I recently quit smoking an took up Yoga in it's place. I made a deal to myself to trade a bad habit for a good one. It's all about the small things we do that make a big difference. The next time you are in the grocery store, make one or two small changes. Instead of can veggies, but fresh ones. Replace the box potatos with a salad. It's very easy to integrate veggies into your meals, think of the colors of what you are eating. Put colorful foods on your plate. Try a fresh fruit salad for dessert instead of chocolate cake. Fresh corn on the cob instead of canned peas. Always trade a bad habit for a good one. Everytime you do your new "good habit" congradulate yourself. You can never have to many GOOD habits.

How your friends and family may be killing your diet....

Many of us already know what I'm about to talk about, but few of us know what to do about it. A good friend of mine made the simplest comment the other day, but I've been mulling it over ever since. She said "It's so hard to eat right when everyone around you is eating the wrong stuff." Now she is not heavy by any means, but in the last year she has put on 20lbs she would rather not have. I am sure her situation is very similar to many other people out there. She has 2 children, a husband, and works full time and goes to college at night. Her job and home life are the reason she gives for her weight gain. She explained to me that with a 8 and 9 yr old in the house, at times it's easier to pick something up on the way home from her night classes. So fast food is often on the menu. Her husbands hours vary at times so he is on occasion not home at dinner time. Quick fix meals, microwave stuff ect. Her job is in an office full of other people who often have lunch together. They either order in, pizza, subs, ect. Or a large group gets together to go eat at a nearby Mexican place. So, between being extremely busy, having children whom are used to fast food, and the people at work eating junk all the time, she has a very hard time making good choices for her meals. This also had me thinking back to my days of working away from home, each place we would order in from had a $15 - $25 min. for delivery. Now if you are really just wanting a sandwich, you would run around and collect orders from everyone. Needless to say, we ate a ton of pizza, chinese, and on ocassion Jason's Deli. Location made a difference as well, only 3 places were within delivery range for us. Making terrible choices is so much easier when everyone around you is eating things like pizza. Willpower is an amazing thing, but I love pizza and a salad just dosn't compare. So, how do we fix these delicious downfalls? Try these suggestions:

1. Find another person at work who is dieting as well, go have lunch with them
   
2. If you must eat fast food, take advantage of the "better" choices they offer. Have a salad instead of fries. Bottle water instead of soda. Grilled chicken instead of fried.
   
3. Take healthy snacks with you, keep them in an easy to see place so you will be less tempted to get a candy bar from the vending machine.
   
4. Make a goal to cut out 1 bad food each day. Slowly increase this until you are no longer eating any junk.

Other people eating badly is not always so easy to fix. Schools offer junk for lunch. Pack a lunch for your child. If they love PB & J, pack that with an apple. A small change will not shock them so badly, and they may not even notice. Add extra veggies to your meals. Trust me, people will notice. My husband has recently started eating better. I didn't do anything but mention it to him. He works on the road 14 days at a time, but he said he has been eating at Subway and getting salads more often than before. He has almost completely cut out hamburgers from his diet. Our house is packed with fresh fruits and veggies. He went and bought celery and oranges the other night for snacks. Hmmm. I thought I was going to have to force this stuff down his throat. All I had to do was change what I have in my house, and not eat junk in front of him. Now I still like the occassional burger, but only about once a month. Just like my freind said, It's hard to make good choices when everyone around is making bad ones. I guess it goes the same for good choices. If people see you eating good for you food, it just may make them take a second look at that plate of nachos they just ordered.