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Change Your Thinking – Change Your Shape –
Daily Motivation Tips –Finish your plate there are children starving in Africa
These last few days I have heard a couple of people mention how they have to finish their plate of food. The general advice we have all heard is that because there are starving children in Africa we have to finish what you have been given. This is yet another false belief which does not help your body.
The issue of finishing your plate is centered around wasting food with the view it can help others in the world. The reality though is that the food on your plate has been cooked, end of story! It is considered eaten whether you touch it or not. Do you think you are going to send those bits of leftovers by post to Somalia? It has no bearing on kids in Africa. Once it is on your plate it is used.
Even if everyone in the Western World did finish what was on their plate it will have little effect on the food issue in Africa. The world has enough food to sort that problem out now if it wanted to. It is a huge political issue / crisis that prevents that from happening. So give up the delusions of grandeur that your plate affects their situation. The moment the food is bought it is considered eaten, in fact the moment the food enters our country it can be considered waste whether you buy it, put it on your plate or even eat it.
The more effective way to reduce the amount of food wasted is to save what you do not eat rather than force yourself to finish something you do not want. This means the same meal can be extended for other meals and thus help “save the world”. I am all for helping to reduce the food that is wasted and the reducing the burden on the environment but sadly it has nothing to do with finishing every last thing on your plate.
To start breaking the belief that you must finish the plate look to leave a very tiny bit of food the next time you eat. Following this leave a little more (though still a tiny amount). Continue increasing this amount until you can simply eat as much food as you need and leave the rest for later. If this is really impossible for you (which it isn’t) then simply buy smaller plates or put less on your plate in the first place.
Mind-body change exercise
- The next time you have a meal purposely leave a tiny bit of food on your plate. Repeat this process by leaving gradually larger amounts of food each time until you no longer have the urge to finish the food
- Prevent having to battle the “finish your plate” anchor by initially putting less on your plate in the first place.
- If you find yourself struggling to finish a plate of food gently remind yourself that the food does not affect people in other parts of the world and the best way to help them if it did would be to save that very food you are forcing yourself to eat.
Helping you Change your thinking and change your shape…
Ben Wilson
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