may just budge.” (Side note: this trick also works against
other forms of social pressure, such as when being offered
alcoholic beverages if you’d rather not imbibe.)
When eating out, try looking at the menu in advance and
choosing a restaurant that you know will have healthy
options. Another pro tip: thank your server in advance for
not bringing the bread basket. Who needs that staring you in
the face? (You can find many more tips for surviving
restaurants and supermarkets at
http://maxl.ug/restaurantsandsupermarkets.))
Create an Inner “Rule Book” and Write
Down Your Goals
I’ve found that by making healthy living a part of my
identity, it’s easy to skip the self-negotiation and just defer
to my inner rule book. For example, you may decide that
you don’t eat wheat products, therefore eliminating a
nonessential, nutrient-poor food group high in insulin-
stimulating carbohydrates. Some other great rules to
integrate into your definition of self might be that you’ll
“only eat red meat if it comes from a kindly treated animal
that has been fed what it really wants to eat (that’s grass) its
entire life,” or that you’ll “never consume any beverages
that have been sweetened with sugar,” or that you’ll “always
buy organic produce when you can afford it.” Try writing
down your rules and hanging them on your fridge so that
you are reminded whenever you reach for a snack. Research
suggests that writing down specific goals, called self-
authoring, significantly increases the chances that such
goals become reality.