What are your thoughts on non-food rewards?
Do you give yourself a tasty treat as a reward for things – especially when you’re dieting or have just finished exercising?
Well, treating yourself with food can create a vicious cycle and bad habits – especially when you’re dieting. So if you’re trying to break out of that cycle or find out why you can’t stop rewarding yourself with food, you’ve reached the right place!
It’s time to get away from that mindset! Here’s how to beat that treat mentality with non-food rewards.
How to Treat Yourself With Non-Food Rewards
Like dogs and kids, my ears perk up when I hear the word treat. The problem is, a treat is usually something I put in my mouth. But, unfortunately, it’s something that has too much sugar, fat, and carbs.
And do you know what happens when I eat a treat as a reward? I end up regretting eating it later on.
It’s a vicious cycle that triggers a lot of feelings and emotions inside me.
When growing up as an obese kid, the word treat was usually synonymous with “reward.”
- A day-long bike ride across the border into Illinois from Wisconsin got me ice cream.
- A good grade in school got me homemade chocolate chip cookies.
- An extra hand helping me go grocery shopping meant that I got candy as a reward.
The overall feeling behind these “rewards” was that I deserved it!
But did I really deserve it?
Eventually, I got to the point where I was rewarding myself daily. And the rewards just got bigger – from theater-sized boxes of Spree candy to 4 scoop ice cream sundaes with chocolate syrup and nuts. Of course, I ate it all up.
Until the day I went cold turkey.
Here’s What Happened When I Went Cold Turkey.
I stopped eating any desserts for one ENTIRE month!
It might be a shock since I am not an “elimination” diet type of health coach. Nor do I propose a sugar-free diet for any of my clients.
This month of sweet abstinence taught me an important lesson.
The daily struggle was real, but the month was also a blur in my memory, so I can’t share just how intense that daily struggle was. What I will never forget is what happened one month later.
I Came to a Realization.
I had one of my most vivid eating memories. After an intense absence, I allowed myself a one-time dessert extravaganza called “Offering to the Goddess.” It was a smorgasbord of chocolate fondue, marshmallows, bananas, and graham crackers over an open flame. It was god-like.
Treats Are Not the Same as Rewards
You may think it’s counterintuitive to reward yourself for a month of weight loss by eating sweets. But, like Gretchen Rubin, I feel it is important to treat ourselves with things that give us pleasure.
In her words, “A ‘treat‘ is different from a ‘reward,’ which must be justified or earned. A treat is a small pleasure or indulgence that we give to ourselves just because we want it. Treats give us greater vitality, which boosts self-control, which helps us maintain our healthy habits.”
What I learned from my experience is that treats are not the same thing as rewards. A treat is a momentary pleasure. On the other hand, a reward can be a long-lived pleasure for a job well done.
Ten years later, I can still taste the Offering to the Goddess.
Notice also that not all treats must be an indulgence. For example, the media makes us believe that you must savor a piece of Dove chocolate in your lingerie while wearing dark red lipstick or that a birthday is NOT complete without a 7-layer cake with cream cheese frosting and fondant blanket.
Eating for Fuel vs. Eating for Pleasure
Focusing on non-food rewards instead of using foods is critical for people who struggle with their relationship with food.
If you have ever struggled with weight, you are probably all too aware of the struggle between eating for fuel and eating for pleasure.
Using food as a reward can create an unhealthy cycle that can lead to an unhealthy relationship with food.
Here are some things to remember.
Food is a universal need that every single human body needs to survive.
With food being available to us at all hours of the day, any day of the week, many of us see it as more than a source of fuel – we see it as a reward.
But food is not a reward. It’s fuel.
So why does it make us feel so good?
Food makes us feel good because it doesn’t judge. It also releases dopamine in our bodies which triggers the reward circuitry in our brains. But we can do this with non-food rewards too!
If you tend to use food as a reward, take a step back to understand why you are rewarding yourself with food. Are you tired, feeling anxious, stressed, celebrating? It’s critical to know why you reward yourself with food so that you can stop this cycle – but doing so required critical attention to why and how you use food as a reward.
Here Are 10 Great Non-Food Rewards
Consider these non-food rewards on your weight loss journey:
- Get outside for some sunshine
- Read a book
- Color
- Get some zzzs
- Unwind with a movie
- Do a manicure/pedicure
- Book a glamour photoshoot
- Take a bubble bath
- Buy yourself flowers
- Try a new fitness class
When choosing to lose weight, you have to learn the difference between treats and rewards. Once you do, you complete one more milestone on your weight loss journey!
Let Me Help You
I may be a health coach, but I am also a real woman living in a real sugar-obsessed society. So I won’t tell you that you have to replace cake with kale, Coke with kombucha, or sugar with Shakeology. That answer is not satisfying to me, and it probably isn’t to you, either.
Every single dietary change I have made in my 100-lb weight loss journey respected what my taste buds needed along the way. Yours should, too.
But maybe it’s time to take your diet to the next level and stop looking at non-food rewards for your weight loss journey.
Let me help you.
I have a variety of very satisfying non-food rewards that you can also fall in love with.
Contact me today to find out how I can help you in your weight loss journey.
It’s your turn! Share some of your favorite non-food rewards in the comments!
Liked this article? Here are three more about healthy living!
A Lifelong Headache: The Signs And Symptoms Of Chronic Migraines
How To Unpack And Interpret Mixed Signals
What Emotional Labor Really Does To Us At Work And At Home
This article was originally published on January 9, 2013 and has been updated for 2021.
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