As many of you will already know, my two sons and I moved in with my girlfriend and her daughter two weeks ago.
Alex and Izzie were previously based in Didbsury, Manchester and me and the boys in Bakwell, Derbyshire.
We decided on Macclesfield as it half way ish and I of course, work half the week there and know some people already.
One of the great things about living in Macc is that I get to see some of our Ninjas (we don’t have ‘members’ – gyms have members, people who pay and don’t go and know one cares or notices) out and about.
I surprised a couple of Ninjas, who saw me on a train the other day on their way to see a Harold Pinter play, with the fact that I knew who he was and had seen some of his plays. I wouldn’t recommend it though – ‘The Caretaker’ was the worst 3 hours of my life and even my sister, who is a drama teacher, describes Pinter as an ‘acquired taste’.
#########################################################
Back to the point
#########################################################
This last weekend we did the local school fete and a charity event at the Rugby club.
Yesterday at our Macclesfield RISE (Arena of Real Change) a couple of members commented that they’d “caught me out” – seeing me on Saturday drinking a beer and on Sunday having a ice cream with the boys.
As I pointed out yesterday, I’ve never denied that I drink beer and eat ice cream.
I like them both.
And if they had different affects on my health and waist line I’d probably have a lot more of them.
However there are a few important ‘paradigm shifts’ (different ways of thinking about something) that I’ve decided to make over the years with regards to these foods, that you might find useful:
1. I don’t see not having them more often as ‘restriction’. I try to follow the ‘add in principle‘ and concentrate on the positives my actions bring, not anything that could be viewed as a downside. The diet I follow allows me, and my children, to live longer and have a better quality of live – that’s all I need to concentrate on.
2. The rest of my diet is good. Breakfast is always good – no cereal or toast for me and the boys – Alex and Izzie are less good at this ;). Lunch is always pre prepped so I have food with us. Only healthy stuff in the house for tea. It’s when the rest of diet is poor (cereal for brekkie, sandwich and crisps for lunch, pasta meal for tea) that adding in a bit of beer and ice cream has more of an impact.
3. I never allow ice cream, and other such foods, to be described as a ‘treat’ or to be used to incentivise good behavior in the children. The whole “eat your food and you can have a pudding” and “be a good boy and I’ll get you some sweets” type thought processes are one of the reasons (in my opinion) that so many people struggle in adulthood to reduce their consumption of such things, even though they might be making them miserable.
#########################################################
These aren’t thought processes I’ve always had – I used to eat crap, drink a lot and love and ice cream when I was younger.
Remember – I was fat until my early 20s.
I developed these mindsets over years.
I wish I’d had someone telling me about different ways to think 15 years ago.
It would have made the whole journey much easier.
So – if you’re find it hard to maintain sensible levels of ice cream and beer (and other bad stuff) consumption, then give these thought processes a go.
If you need any more help, feel free to join our group on Facebook (click here) or add me (click here) or Matt (click here) and we’ll see what we can do.
Jon “Caught Out” Hall
