Confident Eaters

How to eat fewer treats without going on a diet
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Georgie: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Confident Eaters Podcast, where you get proven methods to end overeating, emotional eating, and stressing about food. We are heading for harmony between your body, food and feelings, hosted by me, Georgie Fear, and my team at Confident Eaters. Hello, welcome to the Confident Eaters podcast with me, Georgie Fear, and Christina Holland. What are we going to talk about today, Christina?

Christina: Treats!

Georgie: Yes, treats! Always a fun topic. I love me some treats. My top three, just for the record, dark chocolate, 72 percent specifically. I also love a really good brownie. Especially if it has chocolate chips in the brownie.

Walnuts can, can come or go. I'm happy either way. But like, there's definitely gotta be chocolate chips in the brownie. And I also really do like a good chocolate chip cookie. What are your [00:01:00] top three, Christina?

Christina: Mine are freshly baked chocolate chip cookies like a skillet cookie even with ice or brownies with ice cream or nachos just like a chips and queso would be great. Those are probably my favorites.

Georgie: Yes. We love to talk treats around here at Confident Eaters. They are one of life's pleasures, and in our quest to be, and help you be, healthier and more confident, we also want to make sure there's a lot of fun included. Almost everyone we work with has a lower body weight on their list of goals they want to achieve.

It's one of the things we have an amazing track record at helping people get to. So almost everybody also includes a Treats Observation Week in their coaching journey at some point. Now this isn't to judge, But it's just to observe and keep a log of the foods like desserts, fried food, alcohol, or sugar sweetened beverages.

Basically, we want to keep track of the lower nutrition foods, the [00:02:00] ones that we have just for fun. That's what we talk about when we say treats. Once we have that baseline, or whatever number came up in the observation week, we have options for how to proceed. But, one way or another, reducing that number is almost always a necessary step for weight loss.

I'd say very rarely, I've seen an occasion where somebody was having very few treats. I would say less than 10 percent of their total calorie intake was from treats. And in those people, we actually don't need to reduce their treat intake. It's usually more productive to work somewhere else.

I've only seen that a handful of times in my career. What would you say, Christina? Do most of your clients do the observation? And then do most of them need a reduction after that initial week to reach their goals?

Christina: Yes, I would say 100 percent of the people that I've worked with are not under eating treats. Well, maybe not a hundred, but quite a few of them. And I think it's definitely an important first step and it's very eye opening for clients. Like when you are tracking it, you're like, Oh, I didn't realize how [00:03:00] many that I was.

But like you said earlier, the non judgment part is a big piece that is important to keep in mind with that observation.

Georgie: Yeah, it's so ingrained for many people to feel guilty. And I know when people are Keeping notes on how they're eating or how their days are going. Sometimes they'll say, and I had French fries and then there's a little sad face next to it.

Christina: Right.

Georgie: Yeah, that's super common

Christina: Yeah, I've definitely seen that.

Georgie: And I, if it's in that typewritten tracker, I'll usually delete the smiley face and I'll say like, you don't have to put a frowny face there.

I mean, I hope they were decent, but there's nothing wrong in and of itself with choosing to eat a food that's just for fun. It is part of the journey to reach your goals. I also have realized when I've been coaching other coaches and doing educational sessions with people from gyms or health coaches, and they're talking about food intake with their clients, they will often say that their clients don't have any treats. And I tell them, your clients are not being honest with you. So, be careful how you ask. [00:04:00] Like, you definitely want to ask about treats in the context of, like, we love this stuff too. We eat it.

All my other clients eat it. Let's celebrate it and think about how we want to choose it. it's, Not a case of, like, finger wagging because, oh my god, you want to eat a dessert.

Christina: Yeah.

Georgie: So most people to reach a weight loss goal, just scientific fact, are going to need to take in a reduced amount of these treat foods from where their baseline is.

But many of the people we work with also have a really high sensitivity to food limitations, and that's something we honor and that we want to work with instead of against. You may have heard me call this food limit reactivity in another episode. Essentially, if you feel a disproportionately negative or even panicky emotional state arise when you even think about cutting back on food, that's what we're talking about. Even if you don't feel particularly emotional or upset at the idea, it can still seem like a bummer on the horizon to think, man, [00:05:00] to reach my goals, I'm gonna have to eat less of some of that stuff that I find really fun. And you've probably done this before. If you've ever gone on a diet.

Whether it's a book, a paid program working with an individual, there's usually some point at which they will have to specify that it's helpful to eat less sugar, or processed foods, or alcohol. If they don't address that topic, it's unlikely to have any impact on your actual body weight. So, how do we accomplish this effect of weight loss without having people cross over into that diet y, oh my god I'm stuck in a trap and I hate it, sort of mindset?

This is where the art of coaching really comes in. So the diets that you've experienced in the past have probably had a lot in common. When I think of a diet, I think of something that ignores your preferences. It ignores your mental and emotional well being, and it's inflexible. It's just sort of like a rigid set of behaviors or rules, and that's just what you're supposed to do all the time.

What we teach, [00:06:00] on the other hand, is making informed treat decisions. This method takes into account, what are your favorites? What are the things you don't like as much? And what situations impact your treat enjoyment? And it stays flexible, so you can always make different calls based on how you feel in the moment.

Christina: Right, so the secret to eating fewer treats with our clients is not to go on a diet or restrict your favorite things. Instead, we are talking about helping clients evaluate how to choose what the best treats are for them. And I think when people hear that, you might be thinking, well, like there's some list of these are the best treats for fat loss, but the reality is everyone, like Georgie has already mentioned, has their own preferences. So there's really no best treats list per se, but the skill we want to teach our clients is to determine. what those best treats are for them. And by doing that, we talk about worth it lists. And if you're going to have a treat, we want to [00:07:00] make sure that you're only having the treats that are absolutely amazing and worth it to you.

And we like to break the worth it ness down into a few categories. I want you to consider what do you like to eat as a treat? Just in the form of like, you like the taste of it. The second category to think about worth it treats would be your mood. What kind of mood contributes to a positive worth it treat experience.

And then there is the environment or situation or setting that you consider whether a treat is to you. So if you think about that for yourself, what are the things that you genuinely just enjoy eating? we mentioned ours already, but if you were to hand me like some store bought packaged cookies or hard candies, for example, to me, it's just not worth it. So it's just not

Georgie: Mm hmm.

Christina: as tasty to me. So I would more often than not say [00:08:00] no. Those things are not worth it to me. What about you, Georgie? What's on your not worth it?

Georgie: I actually have probably a bigger not worth it list, because I really, really like I love the few things that I love. I'm not into any cookies that don't have chocolate. So like oatmeal raisin, cranberry white chocolate, white chocolate macadamia nut. I'm sure they make some people super happy, I'm not shaming anyone's treats or yucking anyone's yum.

But for me, it doesn't seem really high enjoyment to me. I also don't really enjoy pastry that much. So like croissants and the sort of like flaky dough sort of things just never have really been up my alley and I'm with you on not being super interested in hard candy or fruit candies, though I have to say I got a sore throat earlier this year.

And for some reason, I really enjoyed them when I had the sore throat. It's a little comforting. So I also don't really have a taste for fried foods. So, you know, French fries and similar stuff don't really hold much appeal to me. And I also don't [00:09:00] drink alcohol, which is something that a lot of my clients really enjoy.

So yeah, I really find that my worth it treats come from the sweet baked good category.

Christina: hmm. Mm hmm.

Georgie: and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just, I know where to focus. By saying no to things like French fries or a glass of wine, I can say yes to the chocolate.

Christina: Yeah. And it's interesting, because I would say, even in the last year, a lot of my clients have shifted their relationship with alcohol specifically, and I think it's becoming more and more popular to not use that as a treat, because they can think about, The impact that it has on these other categories of worthiness that we're going to talk about.

Georgie: Yeah.

Christina: And me too, like I had, there was a season of life where I was drinking a lot more alcohol. And nowadays, like I hardly drink it at all, if at all. And I'm like, Ooh, it just, like you said, leaves more room for these other things that are worth it to me. But I do think the next thing that is important to consider when you're [00:10:00] making your own worth it list listener is to consider your mood. When you're eating these things, if you are stressed or you're frantically eating or you're in secret trying to sneak some food or even have a kind of scarcity mindset like I have to eat this now or I won't have another chance, then those moods are not really worth it for me personally to be eating treats.

If I'm enjoying a treat, on the other hand, like with my husband or I feel at peace and I'm more present in the moment, that's a much more worth it scenario. So if you think about your environment as well, this one has come up recently with a client of mine that I wanted to share an example.

She was cleaning out the car after like a long day of errands, running around with her kids and found some French fries left in the backseat from her child's like kids meal, and , she shoved them in her mouth because she really likes french fries, but they were cold, [00:11:00] and she was distracted and tired, and then she just felt guilty for eating them afterwards, and they weren't even tasty.

Georgie: Such a good example, you know, like maybe I like french fries, but like cold french fries in the backseat left over by my kid that may have been sat on. Different story.

Christina: exactly. So for her, she was able to reflect on that experience and realize, you know, a much more worth it environment or situation would have been ordering them at her favorite restaurant, eating them fresh as part of her meal rather than these. Sat on. They probably were sat on. That's a good point. I hadn't considered when we were talking about that. But those are a couple examples. Do you have any specific examples you would say for mood or environment that impact your Worth It treat experience?

Georgie: I think a lot of people would agree with you, and I'm among them, that stressed or frantic eating, or doing it with a guilty, You know, ambiance, like, you know, hiding in the dark while your family's in the [00:12:00] other room, and like, putting other things over the wrapper in the trash can. It's just like, not the circumstance in which treats are giving us the most joy.

And a lot of people really do enjoy, as you said, sharing it with your husband. And when we're more emotionally neutral or at peace, when we have the bandwidth to really pay attention to like, wow, this is so good. I feel pretty similarly there. Specifically when I'm highly upset. I've been able to recognize that treats are not that enjoyable, which seems obvious, but is a little counterintuitive because when I was highly upset for the longest time, it was my default to go get a treat or to go get a baked good.

Like we've been through the chocolate cookie story. So I had to really hold those two things next to each other and be like, When I'm upset, I eat this. However, eating this when I'm upset is the least enjoyable way to consume it. And I had to really look at the discrepancy there to be able to change my behaviors.

So now I'm pretty solid. Like when I'm [00:13:00] upset, like, Oh no, I don't want to treat now. I can't taste it. I can't enjoy it. I need to deal with the emotion that I'm having. Also, I think if I'm hurried. I'm like running from one thing to another. Like, we all would ideally eat mindfully, but I've been known to like, you know, stuff a PB& J in my mouth between clients for lunch.

And when we're just eating for, like, the functional, hurried thing like that, I'm not going to go out of my way to eat something that's lower nutrition. Because I'm not going to have the time to, like, sit and really enjoy whatever it is. I also don't want to have them when I'm distracted by driving or working.

So, I think those are all kind of in the same vein. When I'm not paying attention to it, It's just not going to be a high enjoyment thing. So I also, I found a little bit that the time of day matters for me, like first thing in the morning, or I'd say even before lunch, I have very little desire to eat something that's like a high octane sweet.

I couldn't see myself eating. You know, like chocolate chip waffles for me don't sound good for breakfast, but I would totally eat them for [00:14:00] dessert. Just later in the day seems to be more appealing to me.

Christina: Yeah. I think I hear that sometimes. And you just made me think of something I read recently about the upsetness or the hurriedness, and it's not related to treats, but I think it applies not to make decisions when you're in a hurry or when you're in an upset state because, it's important to just like soothe the nervous system, take some deep breaths and not make, I mean, it seems obvious, but for whatever reason, it was a light bulb moment for me. I was like, I'm upset, like let's give myself some time to come down from that and breathe and maybe even give myself a couple of days before I'm going to make any major decisions here. And I don't know, I think it applies here.

Georgie: I'm wondering how many people listening had the same, like, instant recall of a decision that they made that was particularly poor that they made when they were really, really upset by something. You know, when you're just [00:15:00] reeling, those decisions can be very, very. Hard to look back on.

Christina: Yeah, So it's just got me thinking now,

Georgie: Yeah. I usually say to clients, like, you know, when you're under the influence of alcohol, you don't want to get behind the wheel of a car because bad things can happen. So if you acknowledge that you're under the influence of a really strong emotion, I don't want to get behind the wheel of a chocolate bar.

Christina: there you go. That's you and your car analogies There again So what can be a helpful simple action step for the listeners right now is just to start making these lists. So what are situations, moods, or settings that could contribute to a positive treat experience? When it comes to treats, we're not really eating them for their nutritional value, so we want to think about our overall experience of the situation, like we've been describing, or the mood, the situation, [00:16:00] who we're with.

So something that comes up frequently with some of my clients is that they identify that there are entire categories of these low nutrition foods that are just not worth it. Like you mentioned.

Georgie: Yeah, I am a great example.

Christina: Alcohol, fried foods, just not that interesting, not appealing. So they're comfortable saying, well, I don't prefer soda or fried foods or alcohol, but I enjoy sweets and desserts.

So it's easy for them to just give up these other categories When they consider they're worth it lists and that narrows the selection for them quite a bit. So they don't have to be as picky. But what about those clients? And I might be one of these people who are like, I like all the things. How do you help them when it comes to be more selective?

I like the fried foods. I like the desserts. What do we do?

Georgie: Sure. First, I think it's such a nice character trait when people are like, I don't know, so positive about all different foods. And I find those [00:17:00] people are generally lovely to be around because they also think about how much they like all sorts of different experiences and people and places. So yeah, when I meet a client and they're like, but I love all of these foods, I point out that the goal here is to reduce the. energy contribution of these foods to our diet, and if there are treats that somebody's eating that they're like, it's not even that good, it's kind of meh, those are the obvious low hanging fruit, like let's just save those, keep the good ones, you know, Bob's your uncle, we're eating fewer calories, but if somebody's like, I am enjoying all of these, none of these are disliked, We can sort of raise the bar, because we can still usually separate a top tier of like, these are my favorites, from like, I still like these.

I don't want to disrespect these over here, but like, we can still sift for like the top, top tier ones. And also we may find that if they really, really do feel All of these treat foods are equally enjoyable and they just can't seem to [00:18:00] stratify any sort of favoritism among them. We can still make progress by looking at the circumstances or moods and deciding that in these set of circumstances I'm going to say yes to a treat most of the time because that feels like a better decision.

And in these circumstances, I know it's going to work out best if I say no to a treat. And so simply trying to adhere to you know, those worth it circumstances or moods. There's also something to be said for frequency and novelty. So if somebody says, I really like all of these foods, they may also be able to tell if they have been eating a lot of treats.

Say they've been on vacation on a cruise ship and everything's all you can eat. And they've had like three, four, five treats every day for the last seven days. The treats that they're eating by the end of that trip are probably not giving them as much of an enjoyment sensation as the ones at the beginning of the week, because they've been having them so frequently.

So we can look at the [00:19:00] frequency with which they're eating and figure out what maximizes the enjoyment of each treat without spacing them so far apart that they start to feel like they're on a diet.

Christina: I think that's a really helpful framework. And I can think of a specific example of a client who really loves ice cream. And, you know, wants to eat ice cream with her family and enjoy it and be mindful. But then there have been nights where she's upset. Work was stressful. She gets up in the middle of the night and she's like in the kitchen by herself eating ice cream.

And as much as she loves the flavor of it, it's like, is that how I want to have my treat experience? So I do think considering all of these categories can be helpful to narrow the focus a bit. So now let's talk about treats and seasonal stuff. And the concept of FOMO or fear of missing out. There are specific treats that maybe you can [00:20:00] only have at certain times of the year or if you go to a specific place.

This has definitely come up with a few of my clients who love to travel or if there's like a holiday season, you know, we just had Easter. Easter for those of us who celebrate and there's the Cadbury eggs and the Reese's eggs And it's I can only get them this time of year And then if you're traveling, well, I can only eat like the very best gelato if i'm in italy so What we want to be aware of in those scenarios. You even mentioned the cruise ship the vacation is Are we falling prey to that fear of missing out? Like, I can only have this here, so I better have it now. Or I don't want to miss out on this, like, awesome enjoyment of this treat right now. And we also can recognize that that's linked to having a scarcity mindset.

So the concern is that it would just lead to overeating, or having more, or [00:21:00] keeping you from your goals just because it's that time of year, or whatever. And marketing companies know this. They are very good at making us want those Reese's that are shaped like an egg because they taste different than the ones that are available all year round.

Georgie: wait, wait, I have had conversations with clients, and I think you may have been in on one of these, where they swear that the holiday Reese's are better because the ratio of peanut butter to chocolate is higher in the holiday shapes than in the standard Reese's

Christina: maybe that's it. Yeah. And I, I will have to agree with that. maybe it's not the best example, but the marketing companies know like,

Georgie: The Pumpkin Spiced latte is only out certain months.

Christina: right. And there's the specific holiday or time of year. There's always something. So one way that we can help with this is just identifying your values. I think it can be helpful to pre [00:22:00] decide, like how many treats if I'm on a cruise do I want to have in a day? Like what would feel best for me to still fully enjoy, and not feel like I'm on a diet, but also not feel terrible at the end of the day or feel like I've blown it. So asking yourself, you know, how, how many would feel best for me And not. eating things out of FOMO. So asking how you want to feel when you get into bed at night is a great question, but what is something you might add to that?

Georgie: I like to ask people how they have felt previously on vacations. If, you know, we're talking about vacation, like, how many drinks would you have in a day? How many desserts would you have in a day on previous vacations? And how did that feel? So it's basically just like a client centered review of previous experience.

And some people will say, you know, if I have three drinks, I'm perfectly fine. But, you know, I start to feel lousy after that. Somebody might say, I have one drink and I feel fine, but I'm a lightweight now. And if I have more than that, I start to feel icky. Or, a dessert at every meal feels fine, but if I start eating multiple desserts per [00:23:00] meal, feels not awesome.

So I mean, use your own judgment, use your own body and take what your body gives you as pretty valid information because it's likely to hold true. You know, if, if something felt good to you in the past, it may be a good baseline to try again. There's also the case with, as I mentioned before, like the novelty of food or the frequency with repetition of a particular food can decrease how much we enjoy it if it's too frequent.

There's a chain of bakery here in Canada called Cobb's and Cobb's has scones. Georgie really likes the blueberry scones from Cobb's in case anyone's wondering. And Roland and I got in the habit of walking to Cobb's to buy scones. And the first time I had one of these, it was like, The world stopped and the angels sang.

I enjoyed this scone so much. And a month or two later, I was going so frequently that it was like, meh, another scone. I don't think there was enough glaze on this one. Like it was just meh. And I was like, I need to have these less often because they're not as [00:24:00] amazing when I'm eating them. weekly or every few days.

So you can look at your own experience of the treats that you're having and you may find that you enjoy your treats more when you change them up. So maybe it's a 72 percent chocolate bar this week but then next week you want to do a batch of Homemade brownies and maybe the week after that you want to get some Fun sized candy bars and the week after that you want to try a frozen ice cream sandwich or like you just changing up the treats that you enjoy can prevent it from becoming sort of a hedonic treadmill effect where you're just not getting much enjoyment from the same stimulus

Christina: Mm hmm.

Georgie: A lot of people want to know Okay, so how far do I have to go with this?

Like, how much do I need to reduce? And usually we will observe somebody's treats level, you know, from the baseline week, and then whatever level they try after that is usually we go, for a small deduction. So if [00:25:00] somebody has, I'm just gonna pull a number out of the air, 25 treats a week, then we might say, well, how do we do with like maybe 22?

We're not going to say, how about six? Like for gradual change, and we'll see what happens with that person's body weight. And so minimal effective dose of change to get somebody's body weight onto a gradual negative trajectory And from there, we can usually figure out what level of treats works for them to be making progress.

And above a certain level, all other things being equal of course, their body weight will be more stable. So, having done this with thousands of people at this point, I can tell you that a general target that we work toward is going to be about 10 percent of somebody's calorie intake from treats. So for the average person, that's going to be one reasonable serving a day.

Or 200 ish calories a day. If you're particularly small, it may be more like 150 ish. But we don't want to get too neurotic about a [00:26:00] calorie here or a calorie there. So, I like to avoid numbers and measurements and go by feel as much as we can. So, for a lot of people, they'll say, How far are we going with this?

And I'll say, Well, until your weight loss starts going down. Or probably one serving a day will work. But I've also had clients where they would tally maybe 10 a week and they'd be fine. People who are active, life's not fair. They can fit in more treats to their diet. You know, I've worked with some full time athletes and they can eat a lot of calories from treats because the carbohydrates just get torched up in their training.

So it doesn't seem to be Too much of a problem. If people who have higher energy intakes typically have more room to have some fun foods in there, so.

Christina: Yeah. I think that's really helpful. Hopefully the people listening get some good info from that. And it's making me think of another question because I grew up in a family or maybe it's just like something I've developed as an adult with this tendency toward overly permissive [00:27:00] eating and what I mean by that is like just looking for opportunities to have a treat like oh It's Tuesday. Like let's have a treat or you know, we're taking a road trip where I got through the workday So any day can really be a special occasion or reason to treat yourself, so to speak, if we want it to. And part of this comes from, you know, like you mentioned earlier, this place of, I want to celebrate life, and it's exciting, and there's, like, so many delicious things to enjoy. And it often involves inviting other people into that scenario. To share that special day together. So what would you say to that, Georgie? I think a lot of clients will resonate with like the overly permissive part, or at least just finding excuses to make it a treat worthy occasion.

Georgie: Yeah, I do love that mindset of like, it's Tuesday. That's a great reason to throw a party.

Christina: Yeah.

Georgie: Let's just celebrate because we're alive. I think the main way to keep all of that fun and [00:28:00] enjoyment and spontaneity without having it get in the way of a weight loss goal is to look for all the things we can do to celebrate life that aren't necessarily through our taste buds. And there are so many other things that we can do to have a good time. So like having fun and celebration often co occur with food, but they're not the same thing. In fact, you can have a really, really good time at an event where food isn't central. And similarly, you can have a really, really lousy time, even if there's a lot of tasty food around at a place.

Fun and food are completely distinct entities. So, a lot of times when people are trying to keep that sensation of like, I want to do lots of marking special occasions, we talk about expanding their horizons and sort of looking at all of these things they can do, like dancing, smiling, cheering, hugging people that are around them.

These are all celebratory activities that aren't exactly eating. And then I also think that we can get a lot of fun and celebration from food that doesn't [00:29:00] fall in that low nutrition category. Personally, I live in Canada. Since I have moved to Canada, good produce feels somewhat like a treat. So like, if you get fresh berries, those, those little babies have traveled very far a lot of the time.

And like buying a pound of strawberries is like, Oh man, this is so good. This is a total celebration of spring. I like making fancy iced tea in the summertime, like on a sunny day, like putting some tea bags in the hot water and then pouring it over ice. And if I'm feeling like really extra, some like thinly sliced citrus in the pitcher, like it's pretty, it's enjoyable, I feel very chic.

And this is not falling in the low nutrition food category. It's just me celebrating that it's summer.

Christina: Yeah.

Georgie: there's also so much joy to be gained from the activities in our lives. If we asked 100 people about the things in the last week that made them happiest, some of them might say food. But many of them would say things like I went to my daughter's softball game and saw her hit a homerun or I went to an easter egg hunt [00:30:00] with my kids or I saw a movie with my boyfriend, you know, there are activities. There's things that we do with other people One of my friends is watching the Taylor Swift concert with her girls on one of their home streaming services And she's just having a great time watching her kids like sing and dance to every song.

So all these activities I think Or, you know, places that we can go to as frequently as we want. Cause none of them are going to get in the way of your weight loss goals. I also feel like recognizing the joy that we get from other people is tremendously underappreciated. And I feel like it's under accessed.

At least I know in my life, I went a long time thinking like I had to make fun happen somewhat in a vacuum, like entertain yourself, Georgie. And then I started to realize like, man, doing the same thing with somebody else, like going for a hike feels like a totally different experience in a great way compared to doing that same hike on my own.

So I began to seek out other people's [00:31:00] company and friendships. And that just became such a source of joy for me that I do think it played a role in where I've gotten to in terms of not turning to food for emotions. And so in general, if you find that treat foods are your default for fun, you can broaden your definition.

There are so many, what we call real life treats. And so a lot of times with our clients, we will talk about tracking real life treats right along with tracking the low nutrition foods. And so it becomes a game of. Not reducing the fun foods, but getting more fun from the real life treats or these experiences.

So that less coming from the food department is hardly a dent in the fun of your life. Does that make sense?

Christina: Definitely. I think what I'm hearing you say is I just need to have more fun, and I'm all for it. And you can use, regular food, produce, you can use activities in that way. recognize that the people in your life can contribute to that fun. So it [00:32:00] is, I think, broadening that can really strengthen the amount of fun you're having or even maybe it's just a good reframe. Like maybe you're already having this amount of fun and you just need to acknowledge it as such.

Georgie: It's so true. Like many times people are doing fun stuff. And like, yeah, there's a cake there, but it would be fun either way.

Christina: yeah. And I tend to agree. You know, we do teach this to our clients. How can we increase the joy and pleasure and fun so that we're relying on food to play that role less as the main source of fun? And that sounds totally reasonable to me. And it definitely beats going on a diet. So tell me a little bit more about real life treats and the process we take people through with that.

Georgie: So, when you are decreasing or looking to take in a little fewer on the low nutrition food side, we encourage you to go for broke, get as many real life treats as you can. And so we have a list here that I'll read for everyone listening. And this is the list that we [00:33:00] give our clients.

And it's basically a checklist and you try and check off as many of these as you can over the course of a day and see how many you can get even over the course of a week. It's like a fun contest. So these are some of the real life treat suggestions, some of which may appeal to you, some of which might not.

It's fine to play favorites within these categories. So one, creating or enjoying music, art, singing, dancing, crafts. A lot of things fall in that category. Crochet, knitting, paint, music, ballet, hip hop class, singing in the car, so many good things. Second, outdoors, gardening, or hiking. Many of us exercise outdoors, and so we think about the lift that we get from that experience.

But even separate from the run, like just being out in the trees and under the blue sky or in the sunshine, it's a lot of fun. can be a real treat. Romance, whatever that means to you, is something that can be a real joy in your life. Some of my clients say that they're not in partnered relationships and reading romance [00:34:00] novels is definitely something that they enjoy.

Nothing wrong with that. Next, alone time, meditation, relaxation, or prayer. You know, those quiet times, even though it's not necessarily Throw your head back with laughter type of glee can just bring us a sense of calm and peace that feels really pleasant.

Comedy and laughter, love these. I'll often steer by theonion.

com or look up some comedy reels if I need a giggle. And those are always nice to smile at. Christina and I share memes quite a bit on Instagram. We send, send posts back and forth to each other.

Christina: I always get excited when I have a notification from you. 'cause I'm like, Ooh, gonna be something funny. Mm-Hmm.

Georgie: Georgie loves the internet. Socializing, spending quality time with your friends or family is a great way to think about helping yourself to serving a real life treat. I also find making plans sort of fits in with that category. Like maybe in the middle of a work day, I can't go meet a friend for a coffee, but I can send her a text and say, [00:35:00] Hey, can you have coffee Friday afternoon?

And that's it. You know, that gives me a little bit of anticipation. Retail therapy or buying something enjoyable. Obviously, we don't want to excessively rely on purchasing things for the same reason. We don't want to rely on excessively consuming things. However, nothing to say that within reason buying yourself something is A nice treat. Writing a letter or calling somebody, if you can't talk to them directly, can be a nice way to feel connected to other people. Also, bath, massage, candles, hair, nail, or skin care, all those sort of spa like things can be a real life treat. Those might be right up your alley.

Aromatherapy. I never think of that one, but when I smell like a really pretty candle, I do quite enjoy that sensation, I think, especially if we've gotten used to eating for pleasure. We forget that we have all these other senses, like touch and smell, and I always talk about my furry pillows and blankets, but like, yeah, the [00:36:00] pleasing, soft things to touch, I find can be wonderful too. Enjoyable movement can be whatever that means to you. Some people love a sweaty CrossFit session. Some people would rather take a stroll in the park. Sometimes it's stretching if you're sore. But any type of movement can bring about positive feelings. Pleasure reading. The reason I say pleasure reading is because it's not really a real life treat if it's The manual that came with the air fryer or like end of quarter report for your job.

So like reading itself, not necessarily enjoyable, but if you've got a great novel or a nonfiction book you're really into, yeah, read. It's a nice, nice, enjoyable way to fill free time. Watching TV or movies is also something that many people find is enjoyable. I do find That this is another category where excess consumption can start to feel icky, like after a certain amount of minutes or hours, still sitting on the couch watching TV or scrolling through my phone for [00:37:00] me is one where I definitely find like I'm in the icky, icky zone.

I need to get up and do something else. So balance as with all things. Six more. Petting or snuggling your dog or cat or alpaca or whatever other animals you have available can be a great way to feel connected to them and enjoy a little treat. You can also make plans or visit something like a museum, a planetarium, a farmer's market, a fair, a play, seeing a movie, or a concert. Journaling can be a nice use of your spare time as well as napping, one of my favorites. Love me a nap.

Christina: Same.

Georgie: The last two I have here, sports. Puzzles and games. I do like some word games on my phone. Roland, my husband, really enjoys Sudoku. I know a bunch of my clients play Wordle. Yeah, think of that. That's exactly what they're made for.

That's what games are for, just to give us a little bit of diversion when we need it. And because so many of them are on our phones, You can do them anytime, anyplace. And the last one here is helping someone else or [00:38:00] volunteering. Now you may think like, okay, so sorting food at the food pantry, not as much fun as the napping or playing a game on my phone, and I hear you.

But I wanted to add that one in because there is research that The sort of work that we do that gives us a sense of meaning also brings with it a lot of associated positive emotions. And I know in my life, when I have sometimes felt the lowest and the most empty and dejected, helping somebody else was more effective than buying myself a new necklace or buying another book or, you know, giving myself a hair conditioning treatment.

So think about doing that. If you're grasping at straws for something to help you feel better, try helping somebody else at volunteering. It can be surprisingly lovely.

Christina: I think that's great. And it's good to hear that because even as you were just sharing all of those, I'm like, I can think of like four things I've done today that fall into the real life treats category. And don't have the perspective that it is a real life treat, then it [00:39:00] just becomes like something we do all the time. And I think that perspective is important, but I am feeling up to a little bit of challenge myself here because I think I've been relying a little too much on food for enjoyment recently to just bear that burden of being fun and joy in my life. And for those of you listening, we have a PDF copy that we can send you of that entire list that Georgie just read off for you to be able to track your own real life treats if you're interested. And the cool thing about real life treats is that we can have limitless amounts of them. So if you want to participate in this challenge with me and Georgie, I'm recruiting do it as well.

Georgie: I'm totally in

Christina: then we would love to send you this tracker to learn how to just increase your own real life treats.

Georgie: If you have a copy of my book, Give Yourself More. It is on page 242.

Christina: There you go.

Georgie: Got a real life Treats Tracker on paper if you want it.

Christina: And if [00:40:00] you don't have a copy of it, what are you even doing? Get you a copy of that. But yeah, we would love to hear from you if you're interested, send us a message and we can send it to you and we'll report back in a later episode to let you know how it goes.

Georgie: Results coming soon. So, with that, thanks for joining us today. I hope you have some new ideas for how to keep the fun and joy in your life super, super high. Maybe even higher than your baseline, while you move towards a weight loss goal. It's a matter of being more selective with the low nutrition foods that you enjoy, knowing and honoring you and your unique preferences, and branching out to take in joy and novelty from the many resources available.

We hope you have a beautiful day, and we will see you next week. [00:41:00]