20th October 2011

Finding Inspiration: Eating right

Geek culture can sometimes promote the most unhealthy habits from the time we are very, very young. I remember being a wee kindergartner when a new round of transformers were making the rounds in happy meals at every fast food stop on the block and my brother and I begging mom and dad to snap those meals up. As an adult, one of my favorite things to do on the weekends is to hit up the movie theater. However, you know I’m not going to skip the popcorn and Icee option.

I’m not saying geek-dom and unhealthy habits are synonymous, but sometimes it can be difficult to make the right choices. So how can we eat right when eating has become intertwined with so many of our favorite things?

1. Training our tummies. You can train yourself to desire healthier foods. It’s true. Research now proves that fast food has addictive qualities much like drugs and alcohol can have on our bodies. Plan to slowly change your diet by making small switches. Instead of chips, have pretzels. Instead of fruit snacks, have grapes. Instead of chicken nuggets, have an un-breaded chicken breast. Slow changes and slow evolution can train your tummy to crave the healthy stuff instead.

2. Planning for pitfalls. I know the movie theater is going to be ground zero for destroying my healthy eating habits. As a result, I never show up to the movie theater hungry. I also mentally prepare myself for ordering the kiddie size popcorn with no butter in advance. That way when I get there, I won’t talk myself into a larger size.

3. Stock up on Halloween sweets. My love of peanut M and M’s will never go away. I just know it. That’s why I buy the mini bags en masse during the Halloween candy shopping season. Those small little bags give me just a taste of one of my favorite things, but lets me skip over the extra calories.

Need inspiration for something? Send us your biggest inspiration pitfalls to [email protected] and we’ll try to help.