Keep food rules simple stupid
You have heard of the KISS method right? Keep It Simple Stupid? It’s the principle that says simple plans are harder to mess up than complicated ones. It works in life, with family, with work, study and every aspect of life. It can work with food rules too.
Let me explain.
When my son was young, I wanted to teach him how to cook so he never ended up like me. When he was young, I would stand him on a soapbox and have him assist me with food preparation. One key message I kept telling him was ‘Never use the knife when daddy isn’t around’. My son understood this rule and why it was a rule.
The rule was intentionally simple. I could have qualified it further by saying, ‘Never use the knife when daddy isn’t around. This rule will change when you’re old enough to handle a knife safely and know the responsibilities that go with it but for now you are in my care and must not handle the knife without me here okay?’
You can see why I kept it simple right? What seven year old would be able to process that last rule effectively? Simple messages are most effective. Repetition of those messages implants them in our conscious brain. There is a reason why politicians create simple slogans and repeat them endlessly, because that’s all they want us to remember.
Use the KISS method with your food rules
You can use the KISS method when coming up with your own food rules. So rather than ‘I will consciously try to avoid eating pizza, chocolate, candy, fried food, junk food and take-outs during the week except on special occasions’, use ‘I will never eat junk food during the week’.
Repeat the rule to yourself. Write it down. Put it on Post-It notes on your cupboard doors, your refrigerator or wherever you think you may need a little help.
A simple rule is a rule that’s easy to follow. Keeping it simple means you clearly understand what the rule means and what it’s for. The same as my son. He may have understood that later in life he might have a knife of his own and chop his own vegetables without his old dad around.
It doesn’t matter whether he did or whether he didn’t. What matters is that the rule was set in his mind and he kept to it. You can do the same with simple food rules.
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Your Coach Alan Steiner DMD