We’ve all felt the pressure. Whether you find yourself desperately trying to convince your boyfriend that a chicken salad is a better option than sausage pizza, drooling over the brownies your roommates insist on showcasing on the kitchen counter, or taking what you can scrap from the rents, the people around us effect our food choices.
“Another bottle of wine?”….ohhh I really shouldn’t, but I guess this is only our second get together this week. “Dessert?” ….oh just a bite…”One more glass?” well at this point why the hell not. .. and the tip of the ice burg has been breached.
“Out of sight, out of mind” is no longer an option. Temptation steams under your nostrils with the added kicker that everyone is doing it. So how do we deal? Avoiding all people and rerouting your walk to work to bypass bakeries won’t last for more than a week. We need laughs with friends, cuddles with our partners, and short routes to work. We have to cope. Below I offer my tried and true tips for squashing peer pressure and building will-power around food.
Know Your Body: Your body is not like my body. While I can’t digest dairy without feeling like a bloated corpse, you can munch cheese without a second thought. Each and every person has a unique makeup with an equally distinct set of nutrients needed to function at optimum energy levels. Experiment with food and exercise. Learn what makes your body tick and then stick to it. As time rolls by we’ll need to adapt and alter those choices as our body chemistry morphs, but in the meantime stick to what you already know about your stellar bod. In other words, if you know the chilli in the pad thai is going to keep you up all night with heart burn, opt for another dish.
Take Responsibility: As easy as it is to blame others and your environment for excess weight gain, it all comes back to personal responsibility. Friends don’t force feed us. Own your choices. Tough love, but it’s reality.
Hold Your Ground: Like an old growth red wood, root and don’t let go. You know your body, you have all the tips you need to master portion control for life, now all it takes is sticking to it. While your model thin pal might be able to eat whatever she wants and taunt that you can as well, don’t listen. Her genes are different then yours. And the vast majority for that matter! People will try to convince you that you can let loose, and by all means do cheat every once in a while, but know that you aren’t crazy in trying to stick to a certain way of eating.
Two Letters: Learn to say NO. While positive thinking and saying yes more often are great tactics for getting the most out of your days, NO should not vanish from your vocabulary. Especially with food. This might mean you have to sit amongst burger scarfing mates, but sit happy knowing you’ll walk out feeling light and happy.
Weigh The Options: One more glass means another half hour of low impact calorie scorching. Which would you rather do? Plain and simple. Bartering is fair play, just know what you are trading.
Willpower, discipline and self control only improve with practice. The more we practice the more automatic our responses pop. Win the battle and the war on pressure with diligence and consistency.
As I think back on the past few years I can only think of one period of time when I feel I had complete control over my diet. When I lived on my own in a studio. I’d go for drinks or dinner with friends a few times a week and concoct all my own meals. As they say in Oz, that was “easy as!” Complete control.
Before, I had the pleasure of a live in boyfriend. To all the ladies out there, I know you can relate. While your man can guzzle down an extra large pizza without gaining an ounce, us gals are forced to cave under the pressure or sit in the corner picking at a salad, avoiding even a glance at the greasy pie.
Most recently, traveling steadily and rooting in share houses and hostels, I’ve battled with self control more than ever. Picture me, Mrs. health nut, dining with six chain smoking, beer passing, pizza munching, hostel pals. “Want some?” Ummm…I’ll pass. This is a nightly battle people! Turning down free food is bad Karma, right?
But in all seriousness, the pressure I face everyday with food has forced me to tame my desires. I stick to the rules that work for my body, allow others do what they want, and let any flack from the peanut gallery roll off my back.
How do you deal with peer pressure?
