Don't Clean Your Plate and Lose Weight!
It's time already for another of my Top 100 weight loss tips, so this one comes in at article number 32. This series is moving along brilliantly so far and it's amazing to think that there are only another 31 articles to go to complete it.
So, this post looks at something that I'm guessing a lot of you do, even without realizing. It's cleaning your plate at every meal, by which I mean you eat every last scrap of food on the plate. Well, if you're doing it, stop it!
You Do Not Have to Clean Your Plate
This is something that is drilled into us during childhood, especially if we come from a relatively poor background where money was not abundant and the food that was put on the table had to be eaten. What did your parents try to drill into you?
- You shouldn't waste food because I had to work my fingers to the bone to provide it for you.
- Think of all the starving kids in Africa who would kill to have your meal.
- Waste not, want not.
- Who do you think your father is, Rockefeller?
- Money doesn't grow on trees.
- I slaved in a hot kitchen for hours to make that meal for you.
OL, you get the idea. We all had one form or another of conditioning to eat all of our food because we were poor and couldn't afford to waste it. Yes, I know these are noble sentiments and yes, I know we shouldn't waste food and yes, I know it's wrong to even think that way with all the starving people in the world.
But you are also trying to lose weight, right or wrong?
Well, then those sentiments are unfortunately going to have to go out the window for the duration of your diet or whatever weight loss strategy you are employing to shed those excess pounds, I'm afraid. You see, whatever your past conditioning, you are going to have to be very firm with yourself and break it with extreme prejudice! No more cleaning the plate with every meal, OK?
Guilt is Never an Appropriate Emotion!
What this does is create a system where you stop feeling like you're doing something bad if you leave unwanted food on your plate. But unwanted it most certainly is, so unless you are adamant that you want to keep that spare tire of yours, then stop feeling guilty and start feeling empowered!
Empowered means you make the decisions which affect your life and it's you and only you who can decide to leave the excess on your plate when you are happy that you have eaten enough. It's one of the tricks used by celebrities who manage to stay looking slim, fit and young, like Suzanne Somers for instance.
That food you have left is excess calories that won't be settling themselves on your belly, or backside, or wherever else the fat likes to accumulate around your body!
So don't fret about it, just do it! You'll be glad you did.
100 Weight Loss Tips number 31 follows in the next post!
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Posted on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 in Top 100 Weight Loss Tips | 1 Comments
1 thoughts on "Don't Clean Your Plate and Lose Weight!"
Brendan says:
I think eating a meal and then deliberately leaving some of the food on the plate is actually a sound technique for losing weight as it primes the subconscious to recognise that you really don't need to feel guilty about not cleaning your plate. Very interesting post... thanks for writing it!