In the office there is a gal who has a Costco-sized box of Goldfish crackers on her desk. I walked past her desk on three different occasions, and all three times she was reaching into the box to grab another handful while still chewing the last handful. 

Nutrition fact: One serving of Goldfish crackers is 55 pieces and includes the following:

• 4.5 g fat
• 230 mg sodium
• 20g carbs
• 4g protein

One serving would put me at 2/3 of my daily allowance of 30 g of carbs. 

I don’t know anything about this woman, but I do know she probably does not need to be eating Goldfish crackers. That said, if she does want to eat Goldfish crackers, she has already set herself up to eat too many by keeping the carton within arm’s reach on her desk. 

Sometimes it’s not about having willpower. Sometimes it’s about setting yourself up so you don’t have to use willpower or be in a position to make bad choices.

On Thursdays I check out of the hotel and treat myself to a different breakfast than the usual sub-standard hotel breakfast items. There aren’t many healthy choices on the road. I don’t have a car, and the hotel only has a microwave (The 80’s called and want that microwave back by the way) and mini fridge. Meal preparation is out the window.

On my walk from the hotel to the office there is a McDonald’s on one side of the road and a Denny’s on the other side of the road. Obviously, neither one is a great choice. I know I’m not going to get high-octane fuel at either location. But it’s like filling up at the gas station near the airport. You know it’s probably low-quality gas and high-priced, but that’s the gas station that’s available and who cares anyway it’s a rental car right? You drove it high speed over a few speed bumps, dented a rim taking a corner turn too close, and left the ashtray full of cigarette butts, so what’s some bad gas to boot? No I don’t smoke, and I don’t even get a rental car for this client. But you get the idea. 

The problem with Denny’s is I don’t eat there, so I’m unfamiliar with the menu. If I sit down at that counter, I’m already hungry and there are so many choices that I have set myself up to make a bad choice.  

McDonald’s, on the other hand, is a known quantity. Before Project Food as Fuel I would get two sausage egg McMuffins and a large hot coffee with cream. Now I order a la carte: two egg whites, two sausage patties, and still a large hot coffee with cream. Why egg whites and not whole eggs? I don’t have anything against whole eggs, in fact I’d prefer them. But the challenge is how to avoid ordering confusion. When you order “two egg whites” there is no confusion. When you order “two eggs,” now you have to explain not scrambled but the eggs that come on an egg McMuffin but not the eggs that come on an egg biscuit. But I don’t want the muffin or the biscuit. So I just order egg whites.

I don’t negotiate with myself. I don’t say say, “well maybe this one time I will have one sausage egg McMuffin.” 

Nutrition Fact: One sausage egg McMuffin has the following:

• 27 g fat
• 920 mg sodium
• 30g carbs
• 21g protein

The figure that raises an alarm for me is 30g of carbs. That blows my daily allotment right there. I’m not worried about the fat or the sodium. In fact, my daily intake of sodium is supposed to be 5 grams per day. Yes, that’s not a typo. “Your blood pressure must be through the roof!” Nope. I check it every day and it is literally exactly normal if not sometimes a little below the standard 120/80. By the way, that’s without the blood pressure medication I was previously taking for almost twenty years. There are lots of nutrition myths out there.

Deciding what I’m going to eat long before I’m hungry and at the location to eat has made a huge difference. 

Are you setting yourself up for failure or success?