A rocky road well travelled...

It had been a few hours since I had eaten lunch and I was hungry. As I walked aimlessly through the aisles one of my favorite organic shops I spied it. A beautiful chocolaty brown bar flecked with fluffy pink and white marshmallow, glistening and calling me from the shelf. I moved closer and tempted fate by picking it up. It said 'Gluten Free' Rocky Road. My justification was that surely it couldn't be as bad as 'normal' Rocky Road? I mean yes it had dairy (for those of you who don't know...dairy is my nemesis!) and sugar and fat but it was gluten free...that had to count for something right?!

Standing in the middle of the aisle, the justification continued. I was telling myself all kinds of things. I have eaten so well this week....I have trained at least 4 times....I really deserve a 'treat'!! Before I knew it I was in the car in the carpark ripping open my 'treat'.

Ravenous, I took a huge bite and as that first wave of sugar, fat and chocolaty goodness hit me I was in heaven. SO GOOD! Greedily, I took another bite and before I had even swallowed that mouthful the feeling started. The feeling of....GUILT.

Now I am sure there are a lot of you out there who are empathising (and probably laughing!) at my incident. You know the feeling....that overwhelming sensation of guilt and the self berating that accompanies it. "Damn it, I shouldn't have eaten that. I am so hopeless" or "Why did I do that? I was going so well and now I have ruined everything, may as well blow it well and truly and eat the WHOLE thing!" Sound familiar?!

Well I could have wallowed in this guilt and self berating behaviour for the rest of the afternoon, however the wellness coach within me decided otherwise! Yes, I had eaten half of the rocky road and yes I felt guilty. However that is where I let it stop. I acknowledged my feelings around the situation and accepted this experience as merely an obstacle in my path to optimum wellness. If I am to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future what can I do about these obstacles?

Let's face it, we would be living in fairy land if we thought there would be no obstacles and our path to optimum wellness would be smooth. It's the obstacles or bumps that challenge us, help us learn and most of all help us develop great strategies to overcome similar obstacles in the future. So here are a couple of my HOT TIPS (or strategies!) for this kind of obstacle:

1. Go shopping on a full stomach - simple but very important. If we are full, our blood sugars are stable so we won't be looking for sugary, salty, nutrient deplete food to snack on.

2. Ask yourself the question "Is this rocky road (or whatever your 'thing' is) REALLY going to assist in nourishing my body and lead me to my vision of optimal wellness?"

3. If you STILL feel like having the rocky road (or whatever your 'thing' is) then just HAVE it. Try to go for a smaller size or halve the amount with a friend. We all know too well that deprivation of our perceived 'joys' in life leads to binging. Eat it, savour it and most of all enjoy it! Recognise the situation as an obstacle and see if you can develop a better strategy for next time.

With Easter just round the corner I am not sure what obstacles may crop up to challenge me! What ever the case I will be well prepared with some strategies to overcome the obstacles....no matter how big!

EMIT your life!
Rhiannon