by
Melanie Mendelson
All Rights Reserved
Do
you clean off your plate even when you are
already full? Do you finish the dinner scraps
just because you can't stand the thought of
throwing out the food? Do you eat that last
spoonful of chili in the pot just because
nobody in your family wanted to finish it?
To get rid of this extra food, do you choose
to throw it right in your mouth?
If
that sounds like you, you are not alone. This
behavior is very common. Most of us have been
taught not to be wasteful. When we were little,
we were told to clean off our plates, so it
is deeply ingrained in our minds. We feel
guilty about throwing out good food, especially
since we know that there are so many starving
people in this world.
In
addition, since we paid money for the food,
we perceive leaving food on our plate as wasting
money. It is especially true in restaurants
- if there is not enough leftovers to take
home, most of us will clean off our plate
because we feel we have to get our money's
worth.
Even
I often struggle with this food waste issue,
because I grew up in Russia where there was
a food shortage. Not only was the food expensive,
but also you had to stand in several-hour-long
lines to get it. Of course, I was conditioned
to never waste food. Even though now I live
in the United States where food is plentiful
and easily accessible, I still have a hard
time throwing food out when I need to.
Obviously,
those last pieces of food that we eat just
so we don't have to throw them out go right
to our waist and hips. Day after day, it really
adds up. All this food that we eat after we
are already full turns into tens of pounds
of body fat. You avoid wasting the food, but
instead you waste your health, your goals
and your weight loss efforts.
Next
time you are about to eat because you feel
guilty for the wasted food, tell yourself:
-
You Are Not A Garbage Can!
Instead
of throwing the unwanted food in a trash,
you are throwing it into your stomach. By
doing that, you are treating your body as
a garbage can. You are not the medium to gather
stuff that nobody wanted to eat!
To
get over the guilt associated with wasted
food, think of it from the perspective that
this excess food is actually serving a better
purpose when it's thrown out than it would
have if you'd eaten it. If you'd eaten this
excess food, this food would do harm (make
you gain weight). If that food is thrown out,
it has no benefit, but it does not do any
harm either. No use versus harm - throwing
the food out is the lesser of the two evils.
When
you do clean off your plate, it definitely
does not help any of those starving people
that you feel so guilty about. Also, don't
think that you are wasting your money if you
don't finish all the food you paid for. The
money is already spent - you are not going
to gain more money by eating more!
If
you break the habit of cleaning off your plate
when you are not hungry, you will automatically
start losing weight. Treat your body well.
Don't use it in the same way you'd use a garbage
can.
Melanie
Mendelson is one of those select few people
who succeeded in losing weight and keeping
it off. She lost 23 lbs and got down to her
ideal weight, and she reveals all her weight
loss secrets in her special guide. Visit Melanie's
site at http://www.practical-weight-loss.com
