As many know, I have been battling with excessive appetite due to the side effects of my medication since being diagnosed over 25 years ago. Living independently over the last five years, I am realizing after finally for real being at peace that medication is a necessity and that I must work more on better eating habits and more activity. Part of that is learning when to close my personal kitchen to prevent overeating.

Part of living on your own is realizing that you must stick to a food budget and that if you eat what you had intended something for, then you must work at finding other things to eat or being creative to get by. Sometimes we must learn that the hard way or when outside conditions like we have had here the past few days have caused me to remain mostly inside, thus having to be mindful of not overeating.

As 2024 has emerged slowly of wanting to put my past behaviors behind me and wanting to work on creating better habits like more activity and adherence to medication and creating routines, it too makes me realize that I have to learn when to say no to going into the kitchen when all of the meals of the day have been consumed and that I must be mindful of what I am consuming so that I do not overeat and become frustrated at next morning’s weigh in.

I try not to make it an everyday battle, however, I use tools like my Fitbit to track things like sleep, weight, and food intake. I do this because I realize that I need real data to track things that are essential for me to realize the why and how things are working or not working well. Somedays, I am less active than others and at that juncture, I must be able to stick within the calorie target that is set for me so that the weight continues to creep up.

I must say that in the five months since giving up calories and caffeinated sodas that I have lost some weight, but I know that does not give me a total excuse to be mindless about my beverages. I know that while I too enjoy sodas from time to time, it is important to remember that they are not the healthiest beverages to have and that things like water, juice and milk should always be considered as part of the daily food intake.

It is retraining your brain to not take food into account and work on things to keep the mind busy and not be anxious, catastrophize or overthink about things that you cannot control at a given moment. Yes, there are times when we can give them to a higher power and there is a time for that daily for me, but there is also the realization that nothing can be done at that moment and eating something is not going to help it. I had to realize that by having foods that triggered me in my environment that I was setting up myself to fail and ones that I really needed, like soda, I had to learn to set a limit on because overdrinking can be cost prohibitive, especially when monies tight. Again, this is why it is important for me to plan meals out and always be mindful of calorie consumption.

I not only know when to close the kitchen, but I know that it is important to have control in the kitchen by what I allow to enter it and how much is controlled to be consumed at a given time. Discipline will come within time, but by having the simple controls at bay, it is at least a start in the right direction and going forward in 2024.