A Donut Will Make It All Better!

As we were talking, this week, about the effect of emotions on eating, we discussed the reasons why food plays such a huge role in helping us "feel better" and we agree that it does - in the moment!  Later we may not feel the same way about the mindless munching that took place and, indeed, may even find that it has thrown the day, or worse, the week and hopefully not, even worse, the whole weight loss thing!

 This idea that we'll feel better is rooted in childhood, well babyhood really; from the day of our birth, baby says "whaaaaaaa" and food is the response.  That goes on throughout the child years - scrape our knee, adult gives love, comfort, cleanup and a cookie!  As we become older we bring this early conditioning with us so when we feel emotional we often feel like our 7 year old self who is looking for that same love, comfort and a cookie from mom!  It's a totally valid and honest response to how we are feeling - only problem is ... the cookie is not going to "fix" it this time.  In fact it could do the opposite.  Has that ever happened to you?

This then begs the question - how do we stop this knee-jerk reaction, this conditioning?  Do we send our seven year old into purgatory forever and push those feelings away - methinks not - that seven year old is a persistant "bugger"!  So we have to acknowledge the seven year old, we have to say "there, there" and give love and comfort to him or her, in short we need to embrace what the seven year old is looking for and find a non-food (consumption food or drink) way of achieving the same ends.

Consider the question of this fictitious busy parent, mom or dad (well call him or her BP), 2 jobs; out of the home for money and in the home for the sake of a happy family life.  Now add in a visit from the grandparents for a long weekend and a family party on Sunday and oh, dear, now one of the kids has an ear-ache!  Fifteen people are arriving at 12:30PM the house is a mess, breakfast is chaos and no-one has emptied the dishwasher from last night, in fact, we forgot to run it!  What to do?   See those oreos?  They'll undoubtedly make BP feel better so BP grabs the pack rips the bag open and disappears to the basement to do laundry... or something.  15 minutes later on returning to the main floor someone has dropped a whole pot of coffee on the dining room table and it's everywhere!  Well, did the oreos fix things?  I don't believe they did, so what's the answer?  Another pack of oreos?  I don't believe so.  Seems like BP needs to do something else:

1.  Write a list of chores that have to be accomplished by 12:00 and delegate to everyone including the kid with the ear-ache!
2.  Simplify, remove anything from the to do list that is not critical to the success of the celebration, someone has to collect the cake, absolutely, but pick up green and red striped paper napkins - well, lets just say, for today, white will do!
3.  Reframe, acknowledge the feelings: "out of control", "frustration" & "anger" and ask what would be the positive benefit of taking the oreos and disappearing downstairs for 10 minutes?   Answer is possibly; "peace and quiet", "time to think", "compose myself"?  Okay, so that's what your seven year old wants RIGHT NOW, fine, lets give it to her or him.  How about taking the same 10 minutes and taking a brisk walk outside away from everything?  Is that better than disappearing into the basement and eating oreos?  Perhaps it's at least the same or at the very least not going to hurt your weight loss efforts and yes, I guess it will give us some positive feelings.

A member sent me these words to share with you:
“If you focus on results, you will never change.  If you focus on change, you will get results.”  Attributed to Jack Dixon - Author
And while I was looking up the attribution - this quote popped up, which is so appropriate for this topic too:

"If you chase two rabbits, both will escape."  Anonymous

Come and work for Weight Watchers! 
You can work for as few hours as you want to or begin to build a full time equivalent work week for yourself.  The neat thing is that you get to decide how much time you want to do.  If you're at your goal weight or close to it or if you're already a lifetime member... moms, retired folks, men and women - have you got a kind heart, a belief in the program and a few hours a week?  Why not take those and turn them into a few $ of pocket money?  Come one, come all...

We are in the midst of a recruitment drive, if you want to get a jump on finding out more, this link will take you to the space on the Weight Watchers website where you can find more information and take the plunge.  Good Luck!  (And, P.S., please mention that I am your referrer - thanks).  


There are 2 roles: receptionist and leader, each are unique and both require specific skills.  Both roles are crucial to the success of members.  


In 2 weeks we will be hosting an Employment Information Session;  a 1.5 hour meeting to speak to interested members who'd like to find out more about it.  Email me to reserve a spot on Monday 3/12 at 1PM.  The meeting is being held in Woburn at the Weight Watchers Center on Washington Street.  Come One, Come All!

2 New Products to Try:

Harvest Berries and Cream Oatmeal
Warm, creamy oats with natural, wholesome berry and sweet cream flavors make our Harvest Berries & Cream a satisfying way to start your day. With a PointsPlus value of 3 and 10 grams of fiber in every cup, our Oatmeal will help you feel full longer. It’s a berry special way to start your day. 
(Baked Apple Cinnamon has retired).

Creamy Coconut Smoothie

Weight Watchers^® line of Smoothie drink mixes is a delicious way to help you meet the Good Health Guideline for milk products and is a Weight Watchers Power Food. Prepare the Creamy Coconut Smoothie mix for a satisfying drink, and it has over 60% more calcium than 1 cup of milk!  Pack your bags, because this smoothie is a trip.

ONE LAST THING:
I want you to take a look at one more thing today - I have posted an article inside the "Survival Guide" Tab of my blog - it has to do with dealing with scale setbacks.  It gives some amazing words of wisdom from other Weight Watchers Members across the country.

If you are having some tough weigh-ins at the moment, it puts things into perspective.

Have a Healthy Week.

See you in your meeting.