Healthy Tips: Personal Vices

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Everybody has their vices, we are all human after all.  It’s made for our enjoyment, so it’s not fair deprive yourself of things you enjoy.  Now don’t go and eat a whole bag of twizzlers now, but do reward yourself once in a while if you deserve it.

My vices are vast, and I particularly enjoy sweets and baked goods.  If these foods didn’t make me fat and give me cavities I would be eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  However, the reality is they do, so rather then completely deprive myself of these simple pleasures.  I use a disciplined approach instead:  

Don’t buy it:  When you’re doing your weekly shopping trip, don’t throw these things into your cart, even if they’re ten for a dollar.  Ask yourself, do you really need this in your pantry?  If you don’t have it at your fingertips, you’re less likely to eat it.  Besides, it will save you money too.

Portion size:  When it comes to snacking, if I have a big bag of something, I’ll unknowingly eat it all.  Try a smaller portion size, it will satisfy that craving without packing on the calories.  For example, rather than grabbing the 5lb tub of gummy bears from Costco, opt for a small pack from the checkout line at Safeway.  They even sell the Halloween sizes year round now.

It’s a treat, not a staple:  Treat your vices as rewards, like that gold star for getting 100% on your spelling test.  Rather then having them on a daily basis, give yourself a treat for making it through the work week or have a beer to celebrate completion of a major project.  I like to treat myself to a slurpee to help me unwind from the grind.

Burn it off:  If you feel like you accidentally overindulged the night before, get your butt off the couch the next day for a good long workout.  We’ve all had those nights where we’ve lost control of our eating, whether it was for a stag or a hockey game. (I’ve been guilty of both).  So right that wrong by burning off as much of those excess calories as possible.  Keep in mind, it’s much faster to consume calories then it is to burn them off with exercise.  See the Calorie Mathematics post for more info.

So don’t be afraid to enjoy your vices, just be responsible and disciplined about it.