Food-Free Indulgence

A while back, at the prompting of a friend, I read the book, "Breaking Free from Compulsive Eating" by Geneen Roth. Now, I am not a fan of self-help books usually, but I do enjoy reading about nutrition and the science of food, so I was pretty easily swayed into this. It was actually a pretty good read—a lot of it was spot on, while some of the uber self-help-ish exercises were a bit much for me. But there was one exercise that I thought was a total no brainer, easy enough to actually do, and good enough to share.

The premise is this: if you overeat, chances are, you use eating as a relaxation technique. You're not good at giving yourself a break, permission to relax, and you don't want others to see you doing nothing. But eating, well, hey—ya gotta eat! No one would fault you for taking a lunch break, right? Or a dinner break? Or a snack break, I mean, if you're hungry, right? So food quickly becomes our only allowable indulgence. The only thing we can do to take a break without looking lazy or feeling like a slacker.

But there are a million ways to take a break, and indulge, take care of yourself, relax for ten minutes, without stuffing your face. So as Geneen Roth recommends, write a list of the many other things you could do to treat yourself—sans food. Here's mine:

Do yoga.
Or just stretch and breathe, even if only for ten minutes.
Walk the dog.
Take a nap.
Read a magazine.
Take a bubble bath.
Lay out in the sun (with sunscreen of course...)
Paint my nails.
Give myself a home facial.
Enjoy a cup of tea in absolute silence.
Listen to a podcast.
Go for a walk alone. Yes alone. Not even with the dog.
Garden.
Get a massage.
Go to the gym.
Go to a park and people watch.
Write in a journal or blog.
Do something creative (but non-work), like photography, painting or drawing.
Listen to music.

Give myself a pedicure.
Light candles and meditate for 10 minutes.
Call a friend and catch up.


All of these things can take 5 minutes, or half an hour. The best part is, you choose when, where, for how long. And don't feel guilty about it. In fact, you'll probably feel awesome about it. Because it's good for your soul, and good for your waistline. Let me know what your alternative indulgences are!