Building levees

So yesterday, Yoni's (the obesity researcher -- not the musician!) quote was talking about our environment supporting our national weight gain.  He used the analogy of building levees (as in changing the environment) instead of giving people swimming lessons (teaching them how to navigate a food-ridden environment).  Swimming is hard -- people get tired when they swim -- and then they start to sink.

So think about your environment:

Your desk drawer.
Your kitchen cupboards.
Your break room.
The stash of whatever in the back of your closet, purse, glove box in your car....

Are you making easier to eat than not eat?

Are you shopping and preparing at the beginning of the week so it is easy to make smart choices when the work week rolls around?

If you are -- rock on!

If not, why??

It's hard.......??  Well, I've said it before -- it's all going to be hard in one direction or another but....

If you say "not right now" to the entire chip aisle, you won't have to say "not right now" EVERY SINGLE TIME you open your pantry door.  There will be no chips to stare you down!  And if there are no chips to stare you down, you won't be thinking about chips when you walk away, when you're sitting in front of the TV after a bad day, or in the evening when you're bored.

You've just created an environment where it is easier to go without chips than to eat them-- you've built a levee so you don't have to swim.

If you don't cave to the lure of the drive-thru (you know...."just for a soda"), you don't have to stare down the menu board advertising a snack wrap and a cookie for $1.  You can't control where drive-thru's pop up -- but you can eliminate them from your driving pattern (honestly, what are the chances you're going to dehydrate on the way home from work -- not likely, friends! Not likely!) 

Let's face it -- there are oceans and oceans of food to navigate in the course of a day -- your swimming skills are going to have to be refined.  But give yourself a break!  The opportunities to build levees in some parts of your life are there -- build safe havens so you don't drown in your own bathtub (house and office)!