You can do anything for 15 minutes

[Guest guest]

Here's two good pieces of advice from FlyLady (www.flylady.net)for

this holiday season:

1) Let go of your perfectionism. This means everything from

decorating to diet.

2) You can do anything for 15 minutes. Now, FlyLady is usually

referring to housework when she says this, but one of her members

wrote in with a whole new take on it. She was recovering from

serious depression and she applied that rule to her own behavior.

Every time she felt those horrible feelings overtake her, she

promised herself she would endure them for 15 minutes before acting

on them. (ie going to bed, popping a pill, downing a pint of icecream

etc.) What she discovered was that 90% of the time, the feelings

were gone before her timer went off.

So, I'm trying that with holiday goodies and other avoids. If I'm

really hungry I'll have some protien, otherwise, I'll try waiting for

15 minutes before eating that cookie. Im not setting a timer,

though, or Ill be salivating like Pavlov's dogs everytime it beeps.

LOL! So far, I've forgotten about the goodies everytime.

Robin

[Guest guest]

Some of you on this list taught me to take my ( " with meal " )supplements 15-20

minutes *before* the meal. If my meal isn't going to take that long to cook, I

find that I have to set a timer to remind me to eat, because after 16 oz of

water and all those pills, my appetite is quenched for a lot longer, and I may

get busy and forget all about food for an hour or two! Now I'm thinking I should

apply this 15-minute concept to " courses " of a meal--as I notice that once I

start eating, I eat too fast, and don't notice the feeling of satiety--and it's

not just a feeling in the digestive tract, but a brain thing.

Gretchen

[Guest guest]

Hmmm...I'm noticing this right now: I just ate a hefty bowl of turkey in broth,

which left me feeling full. Three minutes later I'm reading an article online,

and the thought comes to me: " Isn't there something more I could add to my

breakfast? " Is this the effect of insulin in the brain? I read that it makes you

want to eat....

One could combine this understanding with the other technique I've used, and

will use as soon as I finish typing, to brush one's teeth immediately after

eating. That provides something to do while those 15 minutes pass.

Gretchen