How many times have you gone out and bought or eaten something you really didn’t need after seeing a commercial for it on television? Restaurants and businesses are open to make money. Television advertisements cost a lot of money. A good advertisement makes the product look especially appealing and is designed to stimulate interest and bring in customers! This is the goal of effective advertising! It doesn’t take a business degree to figure this out! As someone trying to lose and later maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle, I needed to consider such ads as potentially hostile propaganda, and I needed to keep my feelings in check. If I saw a commercial for a gigantic burger meal special at a well-known fast food place, do I want to run out and have it, or think about it until I try it? Do I sit there and salivate? Or do I simply overlook it or treat it as something I am disinterested in and have no emotional attachment to, such as an ad promoting the latest, greatest dog food? (I happen to have cats) Am I attached, or am I obsessed? Whenever my focus turns to either unhealthy foods, or to food when I am not hungry, or if I find myself excessively interested in something, such as food, I need to look at what is going on inside of me. What am I feeling? Anxious? Tired? Angry? Lonely? Depressed? These are warning signs something isn’t right. It is like a warning light goes off on your dashboard, indicating your vehicle needs a tune up! If I find myself craving a substance, it is a warning light indicating something isn’t right inside and I need a tune up! I need to examine what is going on and face it honestly, rather than stuff myself or chase a craving.
External messages from many sources, including television commercials, billboards, mail advertisements, magazine or newspaper ads, even the delicious aromas emanating from the exhausts of many restaurants are always there to remind us to eat! We need to learn to “tune out” the external messages that are bad for us, and “tune in” to what our bodies are telling us! We need to be mindful of situations where we are particularly vulnerable. Television is one potentially huge pitfall. It doesn’t have to be. The problem is when and how we watch television, and what the television is “telling” us! We often sit down to unwind and watch television after a long, stressful day. We have likely already eaten a satisfying dinner. Suddenly, we are bombarded with colorful, enticing ads for all sorts of foods, such as huge juicy steaks and burgers, pizzas loaded with toppings, fried chicken, and more! Many of the foods shown are high in calories and fat! Advertisements frequently promote fast food, and make foods look especially appealing! Seeing ads for food is like being not so subtly reminded to eat something, even if we don’t want or need it!
Watching television at anytime has this risk. Television grants outside advertisers 24/7 access into your home allowing them to pitch their products, many of which could threaten your progress, many of which are items you wouldn’t keep in the house, or are perhaps items with which you have struggled to control your overeating in the past! While you can choose not to greet the door-to-door salesman, you can make healthy choices in the supermarket and on menus and you throw away junk mail, television is more of a challenge. It comes directly into our homes, bypassing the front door and security system, straight into our living rooms and bedrooms, and it appeals to our senses, showing us delicious looking food and telling us we want it! Seeing a printed ad for food is different from seeing something broadcast anytime day or night in HD color and surround sound! You have to be the gatekeeper! My advice is to record shows on a DVR and zip through the commercials! If you are watching a live event, be aware of what the television is telling you! External messages are always vying for our attention! You just finished a healthy dinner and are watching television and you see an ad for the most delicious looking pizza, and they happen to be running a special and they deliver! It looks amazing on your big HD flat screen television, staring you in the face, telling you to call and order one and have it at your door in 30 minutes! You don’t need or want the pizza! Have a slice or two of pizza another time! Think about what your body needs! Instead of eating when you are full or making poor choices, find other things to do that don’t involve eating! Go for a walk, call a friend, read a book, pray, meditate, and live, and when you eat, remember it is all about balance and healthy choices! Keeping healthy, satisfying, low calories snacks around for when you are hungry is crucial! It is just as easy to eat a large bag of chips and still want more as it is to eat a bowl of fresh fruit and be satisfied! The difference is hundreds of calories!
I liken our struggle with what the external world is telling us and what our bodies are telling us to the old cartoons where a character’s conscience is standing on one shoulder and the devil is standing on the other shoulder, tempting them to do something they know is wrong! In this case, the messages are: “eat this!” and “you want this!” Stop and think! Change the channel! Don’t give in to the temptation! Give your body what it needs in terms of nourishment. Don’t go eat something just because an advertisement tells you to! As you learn to listen to your instincts and to your body, the external messages will be less and less important. The internal messages will be key. You will be telling the external messages to take a hike! You have the power! You are in charge!
