Write Your Own Eating Script

Imagine, you are at a fancy restaurant celebrating your friend's birthday. You are all busy cheering and laughing with friends, and suddenly, you notice that the plate full of brownies in front of you is all empty. Where did it go? When did you eat all that?

Your mind would be just solving the puzzles when the sudden regret and negative thoughts would flood in. Your mind would be telling you how you ruined your whole diet by eating those brownies. You may think you cannot control yourself or you can not make healthy food choices. You probably had those thoughts all night, right?

But in reality, it is not you; it is the environment that influences your food choices and encourages you to make bad decisions that you regret later on.

The things you do is the reflection of both the environment you are in and who you are. Various things like your surroundings, state of mind, emotions, location, time, and many more affect your ability to make food decisions. And we call this "situational eating".

No matter how much you stick to your routine and how long things are going smoothly, things happen. And all of a sudden, you slip down from the path you have been following all along.

Maybe you will go to the office, and it's the birthday party of one of your colleagues. No matter how much you try to avoid it, you end up having a big slice of that cake your colleagues insisted on. Or, you come home after work, and there is a bowl of your favorite dessert in front, sent to you by your loved ones. This may weaken your ability to make healthy decisions at that time.

But don't worry—we are going to tell you how you can set up that environment for success. But first, you have to know what kind of eating scripts you are following. Because awareness alone is a huge step.

What Kind of Eating Script Are You Following?

Do you remember what you ate last time? It could have been a snack while watching your favorite show or a glass of wine with an outside dinner with friends, which you probably can't recall.

That's because all those were not your own choices but automatic behaviors.

Yes, most of us don't eat more because we want it or need it, but sometimes we eat just to follow our eating scripts.

These eating scripts are the habits which are built by ourselves while eating in a certain situation or environment. When we repeat that certain eating behavior we are solidifying our behavior and over time that certain situation becomes our trigger for eating, even when we are not very hungry. And that's how we end up eating mindlessly.

Sometimes, you may have ingrained those eating scripts so much in your daily routine that you won't be aware of them. How would you know if you are following an eating script or not? Well, we are here to help you with that. Let's look at some examples here:

Do you finish the tub of popcorn every time you watch a movie, drink beer at every sports event, sneak that bowl of ice cream from the fridge after putting the kids to bed, or cannot stop yourself from grazing mindlessly while cooking? Always eat every last bite of food on your plate? If the answer is "Yes" in any of those situations, then you are following your eating script.

But don't worry—we have a simple solution for you—rewrite those eating scripts. Yes, rewriting those eating scripts will help you change and get closer to your goal.

Rewrite Your Script

Identify your script

The first thing you have to do is to identify your script. To do that, think about the different situations that lead you to eat. There would be certain events, actions, emotions, or daily situations, such as finishing the plate of brownies in front of the TV or eating the bag of chips whenever you are out with friends. These are examples of eating scripts.

Make a list

Reverse the script

That way, you would still be following your script but in a healthier way.

Final Words

Sometimes, we are totally unaware of what we are eating in a certain situation or environment, which leads us to follow an eating script. But if you are aware of those scripts, you can also change them with a little effort. For example, you can simply replace your ice cream bowl with a bowl of green salad while watching TV.

We know It may not be easy at first. But deprogramming those habits would be incredibly rewarding and freeing; it would give you some space to focus on all the other things in life that make you satisfied and happy.