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Be Prepared!

One of the best things you can do for yourself as you begin your new abstinent life is to make sure that your cupboards and your fridge are stocked with plenty of abstinent food.  Following your food plan involves a lot more than just resisting you binge foods.  It also requires that you be pro-active by bringing abstinent foods into your home, and plenty of them.  Not just enough to get you through a day or two, but enough extra to get you through a couple weeks or more.  I am talking about dry-goods and frozen foods.  Things that you can have on-hand in a pinch so that you have no excuse for going off your food plan if you, for example, get sick and can’t get to the store.  Or if you lose electricity.  Or if you are trapped indoors due to a snowstorm.  I know that for myself, I am never closer to breaking my abstinence than when I am hungry and about to cook (usually dinner) and I don’t have all the ingredients in the house that I need to make my abstinent meal.  Nothing can set-off a temper tantrum in me faster than that.  All my old resentments about “having” to be “on a diet” and the associated feelings of self-pity come right to the surface.  I start banging pans around and crabbing under my breath about how it is not worth all this trouble,…  (I never said I was a poster child for the 12-Steps.  I am more of what you would call, “a work in progress.”)

I also find it very helpful to keep my measuring cups and spoons handy.  For me this means that they stay on the window sill above my kitchen sink.  I also make sure I have a spare set of measuring cups and spoons, just in case the ones I need are dirty.  Nothing will discourage the use of measuring cups and spoons like not being able to find them when you need them.  Plus, before I leave the house in the morning, I make sure that all the pans and utensils that I need to prepare my dinner meal are clean and ready to go.  I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to come home from a long day, hungry, tired, and ready to cook, only to find that everything I need to do it is sitting in the dishwasher, dirty, because I forgot to turn it on.  Finally, I also find it helpful to prepare for long car rides.  I like to bring fruit with me.  It doesn’t “feel” like the food I used to binge on in my car during my days as an active food addict, so it doesn’t “set me off,” but it takes the edge off just enough to get me safely and sanely to my next meal without that ravenous feeling.

By taking the time to consistantly do these few simple things, you will be helping yourself stay abstient for the long haul.  And that’s the whole point.

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March 8, 2012 This post was written by Categories: Tricks (& Tools) That Work For Me Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
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