Temptation! Just don’t allow it near you!

Yesterday I was sitting at my desk alongside my PA, two of my fellow Directors and their PA when some sample snack pots arrived. These were little containers with a variety of delicious snacks from nuts, dried fruit, baked wheat, mustard-coated nuts – you name it they were there. Initially I resisted seeing them as nothing more than food I didn’t need that, once I’d eaten one, I would want more!

As my colleagues munched away contentedly, making various comments on the good or bad qualities of each individual product, I ended up not being able to resist joining in the tasting party. I didn’t eat a lot but I ate more than if they hadn’t been there!

I then got a bit cross. These products were being marketed as being ‘healthy’ but I suggest that the fat and calorie value of them probably amounted to those contained in a Mars bar by the time you had eaten the whole pot – or two!

I wouldn’t mind having a £1 for every time a dieter has said to me ‘but nuts are healthy aren’t they?’ and ‘dried fruit is good for you, isn’t it!’. The answer is yes to both questions but they are HIGH IN CALORIES! The fact remains that if you eat something – whatever it is – extra, it is putting more calories in to your body which will prevent you from losing weight if that is what you are trying to achieve. Food producers want you to buy their products and we have to be aware that if we are to buy it, it must have a place within our healthy eating campaign.

So, remove temptation. Realise that if you have something around you that you basically like, you will probably eat it. Don’t put yourself to the test as you will almost certainly fail. I know I would.

Make sensible choices and you will be a winner in the long run. It really is worth the effort and resisting the temptation to buy them in the first place.