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Today I had a session with my client, Jen, who has been sick for the past two weeks. At the beginning of our session, Jen told me that her eating has been off track since she got sick. I asked Jen where she’d like to improve, and she said that she’s been eating ice cream every night. Jen hadn’t had ice cream in close to a year because dairy just doesn’t work for her– it causes her stomach aches, inflammation, and swelling in her feet. Jen said that when she got sick, she just wanted to eat the food that was most comforting to her, and that was ice cream. I asked Jen if she had let dairy creep back into her other meals, too. Jen said that it was really just the ice cream in the evening and she was happy with how she was eating otherwise. I pointed out to Jen that she really wasn’t very off track at all! We had one specific area to clean up– ice cream after dinner– not the whole day to get back on track, which was very good news.

Jen realized that she was actually far more on track than she was giving herself credit for and said that she was ready to cut out ice cream again, starting tonight. Jen and I made a very cohesive Response Card for her to read every morning and every night right after dinner for the next week:

How to Cut Out Ice Cream:

  1. Remember that cravings are like itches. The more I pay attention to them, the worse they get. The moment I get really distracted is the moment they start to go away. When the ice cream craving tonight hits, I can: do laundry, call my sister, do the dishes, online shop for my upcoming trip, read my book, do some work.
  2. Cravings do not get worse and worse. Their intensity always reaches a peak and then they start receding. I’ve seen that the hard part of my cravings usually lasts five minutes MAX. Remember that I am always just five minutes away from success.
  3. The first three or so days will be the hardest and then it will get significantly easier. I’ve seen that the more I eat ice cream the more I want it; the less I eat it, the less I want it. Just get through the next three days. You can do it!
  4. I’m not giving up ice cream to deprive myself, I’m giving it up because it doesn’t work for me! A lot of good will come from not having ice cream. My feet and stomach won’t hurt, the scale will go back down, and I’ll feel fully on track, in control, and so proud of myself.

woman writing notes

I asked Jen if there were any sabotaging thoughts she might have this evening about not having ice cream and she said she might have the thought, “I still don’t feel that well so it’s okay today. I’ll start cutting ice cream out tomorrow.” Jen made the following Response Card to address that thought:

I’m feeling much better than I was, so not feeling well is not an excuse. Besides, I have to start TODAY and not wait for tomorrow because if I put off starting, I’ll exercise my giving-in muscle and make it so much less likely I’ll actually be able to do it tomorrow.  Starting today means it will actually happen.

With these Response Cards in place, Jen felt much more confident about her ability to once again return to an ice cream-free life!
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