Part 4: Create a Helpful Environment

Changing how you go about your day can help get rid of eating cues and prepare you to establish new, healthy habits. Examples:

•  Change the order of morning events: get up, shower, brush hair, eat breakfast, brush teeth, read paper, walk dog.

•  Change the order of work events: take off coat, talk with co-workers, organize desk, review appointments or assignments, open email,  make calls.

•  Alter driving routine: wear gloves, turn on/off radio, raise/lower volume, try listening to a new station, open/close windows, take a new route to work.

•  Develop new telephone behavior. Stand instead of sit, hold phone with your opposite hand to your opposite ear, talk in a different room, walk as you talk.

Be realistic. Allow time to establish a new habit. Some new habits are picked up quickly. Others may take several weeks or months of practice.

Be consistent. Practice your new behaviors every day. This is how your new behavior will become a reliable habit.