I'm out of touch with reality.

I was cleaning out some papers this morning and came across some of my old lie-truth charts. These are the charts I used to change my thinking about food. It was interesting to read them over again from the vantage point of time.

What I noticed was that my reasons for overeating seemed to fall into just a few tried and true categories:

· I should eat because…
· I might as well eat because…
· I deserve to eat because…
· I can’t do this because…

Oh, and there was also an interesting “I’m out of touch with reality” category. This could also be called the “I can’t think of any other good excuse, so I’ll just pretend this is the truth” category.

Here are some examples in this category:

- I could have had more at supper, so this isn’t really a snack.

- This pizza is so good, and I bet it’s not really five points per piece.

- It’s the night before Valentine’s Day, so it’s okay to eat.

- This will be my brownie from the potluck. It’s not really a snack.

- These crackers with frosting probably aren’t too many points.

The funny thing is that I wouldn’t have even known I was saying these things if I hadn’t filled out the lie-truth chart. They were just quick little things I told myself subconsciously to justify eating outside the boundaries.

If I were to tell myself the truth, which was that I really didn’t like living with boundaries and wanted to be able to indulge my every desire, then I would have felt too guilty to eat. Telling myself the lie allowed me to throw off responsibility and eat with relish.

What filling out the lie-truth chart really does, then, is to bring those lies to the surface. If I see what I’m telling myself this time, I’ll be more likely to recognize it the next time. And after a while, I’ll start recognizing it before I eat. Which will make me less likely to break the boundaries.

(Note: You can find a lie-truth chart at www.truthwaypress.com under sample content.)

P.S. I'll talk more about the other categories in future posts.