Are you a Kitchen Nibbler?

While cooking, do you often taste or pop that tiny bit in your mouth? Come on, it's okay. Lots of us do it. Remember when you were a child and it was a treat to "lick the beaters?"

Most of us take small tastes, sips, or nibbles of whatever we're preparing to see how it tastes (uh, huh, sure, that's why we do it). Tasting a tiny bit from the corner of a spoon is one thing, but taking bites and thoughtlessly chewing away while cooking can add hundreds of calories a day without your realizing it. All those nibbles and crumbs add up.

If you carefully weigh and measure your food (as many on programs such as Weight Watchers do), you'd know that an ounce of food is often not a very large bit. Ever seen an ounce of cheese? It's about the size of your thumb, believe it or not. How easy is it to pop those in your mouth?

So next time you cook, notice if constant nibbling and tasting is something you do, and make an effort to break that habit. You can eat a piece of fruit before you start cooking so you won't be so hungry; chewing peppermint gum also helps, because it gives a peppermint taste which effectively ruins the flavors of many other things. I like to eat a pickle which does the same thing; it changes the mouth from wanting something sweet in an instant.

Treat the tasting habit like any other, and when you notice you're starting to dip a finger or take a lick, just stop. Put the food down, wash your hands. It may take some effort at first, and that's okay. Take a sip of water and a deep breath. Keep a notepad and write down a tally for every time you start to eat a bit but then stop yourself. Use 25 calories for each nibble event. Add up the events times 25 and see how many calories you're getting without realizing it. You'll be shocked how often it happens at first. If you change from 10 or 20 nibbles down to two or less you'll have made big progress. After a month of this you'll also lose some weight.

But I Don't Want to Stop Nibbling!

EFT for Reluctance (Learn EFT for weight loss--see resource box below). If you're reluctant to stop tasting while you cook, use EFT on that directly:

"Even though I don't want to stop tasting, it won't turn out right and the meal will be ruined and these ideas just are horrible and won't work for me anyway, (big breath here), I deeply and completely accept myself and my reluctance anyway."

It's easy to see why making a small change can add up to a big results, so start today. Notice where you add a bit here and grab a bit there and then just start to slowly change the habit. It's helpful to keep a journal to track your progress, since these are slow changes but they do make a big difference when given a chance to work.

Using EFT for weight loss is a fun way to try something different and see what happens.

~~ Kathryn Martyn Smith, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, Weight Loss Coach and owner of One More Bite Weight Loss is the author of "Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss." Learn to use Kathryn's One More Bite Approach with The Daily Bites: Mini lessons in using EFT for weight loss

_________________
© efriend | Contuct Us