whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you.” Ah – one of the classic sayings of childhood. Let’s see – do you remember the ever so popular, “liar, liar, pants on fire”? Given the opportunity I would have triple dog dared someone at the past political debates to stand up and exclaim that very phrase! Wouldn’t that have been a moment to go down in history – sort of like Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer? Okay, okay, so I digress a little bit. Here’s another classic from my younger days – “If insert name here jumped off the (fiscal) cliff – would you do it too?” Sorry – couldn’t resist, and yes, I know the word really should be bridge!
There are many of those childhood sayings that I wish I could pull out sometimes just to see people’s reaction. But we are not children anymore and adulthood means conducting ourselves in an appropriate manner and showing self-control (for the most part). So why is it that some of us still resort to child like behavior when it comes to peer pressure, especially when food is involved? This time of year the opportunity for that pressure seems to be awaiting around every corner. No longer can we point to someone as we are shoveling countless holiday cookies in our mouths and say with an emphatic tone, “S/he made me do it!” The cookies, the candy, the cocktails, the fruit cake (ha) – well maybe not the fruit cake – any and all food vices seem to congregate and make their presence known on many occasions.
So as adults we can not pull out those lines that we tried so hard to use as justification for our behavior as a child. No one makes us do anything! We are adults here. We do not have to eat anything that we don’t want to. Here a few pointers that I have learned along the way in my quest for better health, and I share them in the hopes that they can be take-aways for you…
1. This is my journey. This is not about anyone else. I am sorry if so-and-so will be offended if I don’t partake in the cookie platter, but when all is said and done it is my gluten-free stomach that will be crying out for mercy and my health that will suffer just so that so-and-so is appeased. Sorry! I don’t play that game anymore. So bring on the stares, the comments because I am rubber and they are glue…just kidding!!! You have your own journey, too! Be your best advocate for it!
2. No, thank you, is an acceptable polite adult response. We teach our kids to “Just Say No”, yet we don’t always exercise this same conviction. So the next time someone offers you something you really don’t want – what are you going to say? Remember – go back and see point #1…who’s journey is this? That’s right – it’s yours.
3. Don’t open Pandora’s Box. Many times we call attention to ourselves by the little comments we make and unsuspectingly draw an audience by our own actions. So many times I hear things like, “oh I really shouldn’t be eating this”… “I am going to have to exercise extra hard this week just to work all of these calories off”…etc. You get the idea. I have been guilty of this in the past, and I have to remind myself to keep those things at bay from time-to-time even now. The more we make comments like that, the more people think it is okay to then banter back and forth with you about whether you are on a diet, or why you can’t or shouldn’t be eating something. I am all about the honesty factor and if someone questions me out of their own volition then I have no problem saying that I can’t have that cookie because I don’t eat gluten and grains. I will gladly answer any questions someone may have –especially if I know it may shed light and help them in any way.
Those are just a few quick tips that have helped me along way to remember that I am an adult capable of making my own decisions not based on peer pressure, but instead based on what is aligned with my health needs. Of course that is not to say I can’t be persuaded to have a glass of wine or two! Or even a gluten-free cookie or two or three…
So just remember that even though we would like to pull a line or two from our childhood, it is probably best to leave them in our past! We need to be the adults that we are and take a stand for our own individual journey, our own health. Be strong, my friends!
* Just in case I can’t post again for a couple of weeks…I wish you all a very happy and healthy holiday season and may the New Year bring you all the best.
