last night went a little bingey.  I'm trying to pull it apart today... figure out it's anatomy so I can stop sooner next time - maybe not even start...

The beginning was when my rare beer of the month delivery arrived.  I had planned a month ago to share it with the office so I had it delivered to the office.  My offer to share was accepted and at 5 we popped open several bottles to share.  I had a couple of sips of each wich was exactly what I had planned...unfortunately, I think because I hadn't eaten enough throughout the day, the drink went to my head AND I was hungry.

So a few tastes of beer turned into cheese (ok) and crackers (not ok) while I waited for my head to clear.  Then a drive through at Burger King where I had a whopper with cheese, chicken fries, cheesy tots AND a oreo shake!!!  I don't know why when I got to the order sign all my good intentions went out the window.  I didn't take the time to see what was going on in my head and I have no idea now.  I just pulled up to the sign and it's like my logical brain shut off and all my pleasure sensors turned on and they all wanted to be... uh.. pleasured.  hah!

I know the first step to keep this from happening again is to NOT GO THROUGH THE DRIVE THROUGH!  I need strategies to keep my feast beast from taking me into it.  So, while I can't really look at my emotions at that moment (it's been too long) I can remember the conversation that those emotions created. 

Feast Beast: We're so hungry!  We should eat!  There's nothing at home to eat so we should stop somewhere.  Burger King... Burger King is good, we could have chicken fries instead of regular fries so it'll be lower carb than other places!

Now - time to apply the logic (that I should have applied last night)

First - hunger is not an emergency! I have no medical issues that require me to eat at certain times.  I could have waited the 30 minutes or so it would have taken me to get home.  Second - I need to have better selections at home.  I was gone for the weekend so I didn't prep any food and that gave the feast beast a foothold to work on -- additionally EAT more food during the day, again so the feast beast doesn't have a reason to even start the 'we're hungry' whine.  AND then... the burger and chicken fries.  These were NOT 'better choices'.  A salad would have been a better choice - or some kind of grilled chicken (like they have at Jack in the Box) would have been a better choice.  The inner pig lied to me and I accepted it.

I'm reminded of a quote by Stephen Gullo in his book "The Thin Commandments Diet" that says "There are no good or bad foods.  There are only good or bad histories with a food" 

In my case it's not that drive throughs are bad I just have a really bad history with them and if I never pull into one, I can never make impulse bad decisions like last night's...So, how do I avoid it?

I'll start by prepping better... making sure I have MRB's in my car, eating more during the day, having good 'safe' foods waiting at home but I need a few more strategies for avoiding the magnetic pull of the drive through (I spend 4 hours a day in my car so a good strategy here will really give me a boost for a BIG chunk of my day!) I'm thinking I'll put a goal photo up in my car.  Something that reminds me while in on the road what I'm fighting for.  I'm also thinking of compiling a list of quotes and/or a list of my why's and picking one to meditate on each time I'm in my car.  If I can master the habit of putting on a seat belt I can master the habit of reading a quote when I start up my car... can't I?

Anything else anyone can think of?