How to make your favorite food taste better and reduce guilt

Question: Who enjoys and appreciates their money more...

The person who wins the lottery or the person who earned it?

Sure, the person who wins the lottery will certainly enjoy themselves, but I'd bet the person who earned their money enjoys it even more.

Think about the things you've purchased for yourself versus the things that have been given to you. As much as we might appreciate the things given to us, we always value and appreciate the things we buy ourselves more.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR FAVORITE FOOD TASTE BETTER

My favorite meal is a hamburger and fries. A little ice cream for dessert and I'm a happy camper.

[As we know, this isn't about never indulging. That is not sustainable! It's about picking and choosing what, where and when is truly memorable. If it's memorable go for it. Most of the time it's not memorable, though.]

If I were to eat a burger and fries every day, sure, it would taste good every day...

But you know what? It's not as special if it happens every day. Plus, there's no anticipation! (A key part of happiness.)

And, as tasty as a burger and fries is, nothing tastes as good as being healthy and fit feels, truly. Besides, a burger and fries lasts 30 minutes, maybe. Being healthy and fit lasts way longer.

EARNING IT

There is no question about it. When we've earned something, it tastes and feels that much sweeter. We enjoy it more.

IDEA FOR YOU

Why not make it so we have the ability to EARN our favorite meal?

Here's what I mean:

I'm a big fan of conditional rewards.

If I do X then I get to do Y...

Examples...

If I do my work then I get to log onto Facebook guilt free...

If I complete all my tasks for the day then I get to watch TV at night guilt free...

If I eat right all day day then I get to read guilt free...

If I exercise 4x this week then I get to reward myself with a massage guilt free...

Notice the guilt free?

Here's the thing: The things we 'get to' do are things we love doing, and would do anyway...

Sometimes, we over do them. Ever spend too much time watching TV, and wind up feeling guilty about it?

It's a terrible feeling. Here we are supposedly "relaxing" watching TV yet we feel guilty about it.

HOW TO GET OVER FEELING GUILTY ABOUT DOING THINGS YOU ENJOY

Well, if we do what we set out to do and accomplish our tasks for the day and week, it takes away the guilt we might feel from eating our favorite food or watching TV, or whatever it might be, because there aren't all those things we know we should be doing hanging over our head.

When we do our work first and "earn" our reward, it tastes and feels that much better. It's much more enjoyable. (Who doesn't want their favorite things to taste and feel as good as they can?) And we also get a lot more done. When get we lot more done we tend to be less stressed. And when we're less stressed our likelihood of overeating and/or indulging goes way down.

A win anyway you look at it.

-Adam

P.S. A thoughtful client wrote this:

Thanks for the great post, as always! I'm a little confused by this line though: "Why not make it so we have the ability to EARN our favorite meal?"

I thought we weren't supposed to think of food as a reward. Is the idea to have your absolute favorite food be a special reward on occasion, not to use food as a reward all the time?

My reply: Right, food isn't a reward. The real reward is getting to feel fit and healthy. It's true. We always feel better when we eat better. A wonderful side effect is weight loss.

My point is this ---> If we're going to eat our favorite meal anyway (let's say we have a special dinner coming up) why not use it as a 'carrot' to help us do daily tasks. Rather than just eating our favorite meal.

This way, we get to anticipate it, and accomplish tasks while looking forward to it (so we don't feel guilty because we'll feel we earned it). And of course, WHILE we're eating, we want to ritualize our food as much as possible. Savory is key. We want to pretend we're a food critic -- noticing the taste, texture, smell, etc. Bon Appetit!