Reward Yourself – Just Not With Food

You got that promotion — let’s go out to eat!!!!  When we keep rewarding ourselves with food or desserts when we obtain a goal we may be helping ourselves along the road to obesity.

Let’s face it in our society food is:

Readily available
Tasty
Cheap
Provides immediate gratification
Is a social experience (let’s do lunch?)
Slows us down from our busy lives (it takes time to eat)

But we can’t continue the practice that food is our reward for reaching our goals.  Small goals like finishing this article or big goals like getting engaged.  If we do this we are turning food into something that it is not supposed to be.  Food is to be used as the way to fuel our bodies so that they operate at their optimum capacity.

In order to reverse this adverse thinking lets come up with our own unique list of ways to reward ourselves for successes that have nothing to do with food.  Here are some ideas:

Alternative Rewards:
Get a massage.
Have a manicure.
Take a golf lesson.
Purchase a new piece of sports equipment.
Take dance lessons.
Purchase a CD or DVD you’ve been wanting.
Get that new MP3 or the latest tech toy you’ve been craving.
Upgrade your phone or phone plan.
Treat yourself to a movie (and skip the popcorn).
Treat yourself to a play, concert or theater performance.
Purchase monogrammed stationary.
Schedule a weekend trip fishing or how about a spa.
Let yourself sleep in late.
Purchase silk pajamas.
Pay someone else to mow your lawn.

Are you starting to get the idea?  You need to make your own list!  Keep your rewards affordable so that you don’t fall back on food rewards.  You may find that you are starting to reach your goals because you have the rewards right there to keep you motivated.  Rewards for success are a good thing. Getting away from food related rewards and we will be on our way to better health.

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HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

17. September 2008
17. September 2008
Buy some new clothing! That way you're making yourself look even better with your reward!

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Written by HealthStatus Team
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

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