YOUR GOAL TODAY

Complete the "Situational Experiences with Food" questionnaire below. It’s that simple, right? Unfortunately, not. It actually requires quite a bit of reflection. Even armed with the perfect optimal or weight loss diet your ingrained social or cultural habits will influence you more than you realize. Today’s step may be the most important.

**Who’s really in control when eat in different environments? / Photo: Cottonbro**

SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCES WITH FOOD

Your intent isn't to eliminate the eating experience from your life. It's to heighten it from day-to-day (not just on special experiences)! To do this, you must examine your relationship with food in various situations over the 1-2 weeks. While you may need to dig into the memory bank to answer a few of these questions, try to use present examples as often as possible (we are examining your current trends and patterns, after all). By the way, you'll notice reoccurring questions in each category (important for comparison).

Restaurant Eating
-What defines an enjoyable social dining experience IN A RESTAURANT with friends and/or family? Any particular elements? Do you typically order meals that you never make at home? Type of setting, food, drink, people, environment, etc.? Be specific when describing different scenarios. My example: I love sharing a dining experience in a new (neighborhood-size) restaurant with 3-4 other people (6 or more gets too cliquish to me). We order 5-10 different dishes and share them while we taste a variety of exquisite big red wines. No dessert is necessary to complete my experience.
-Do you have a typical eating routine that you follow in these experiences? If so, what? E.g., Mama needs her Old Fashioned before the steak, and compound butter hits the table :) (there goes Mama and her Old Fashioneds again!) Sidenote: My great-grandmother (Nani) always drank a Manhatten before dinner with my great-grandfather.

At-Home Dinner Party Eating
-What defines an enjoyable social dining experience AT HOME with friends and/or family? Do you serve appetizers or other dishes you typically don't day-to-day? Any particular elements? Types of setting, food, drink, people, environment, etc.?
-Do you have a typical eating routine that you follow in these experiences? If so, what?

Vacation Eating
-What defines an enjoyable social dining experience ON VACATION with friends and/or family? Any particular elements? Types of setting, food, drink, people, environment, etc.?
-Do you have a typical eating routine that you follow in these experiences? If so, what? My example: If I'm near a body of water, I'll most certainly order fish or seafood for many of my meals.

Day-to-Day Eating
-What defines an enjoyable eating experience DAY-TO-DAY? Any particular elements? Type of setting, food, drink, people, environment, etc.?
-Do you have a typical eating routine that you follow in these experiences? If so, what? What determines the type of experience you create? My example: If my work schedule bleeds into the evening, the prep time for a meal will diminish exponentially.

In-the-Office/At-the-Laptop Eating
-What defines an enjoyable eating experience while working IN-THE-OFFICE or AT-THE-LAPTOP? And, yes, I said enjoyable. What would an enjoyable eating experience look like while professionally multi-tasking? Any particular elements? Type of setting, food, drink, people, environment, etc.?
-Do you have a typical eating routine that you follow in these experiences? If so, what? What determines the type of experience you create? My example: My meals tend to be served in a pyrex dish next to my laptop so that I can mindlessly fork my veggie mix into my mouth. Insert trough joke here.

When-I'm-Stressed/Tired Eating
-What do you tend to grab when you're stressed or tired?
-How do your portions vary when you're stressed or tired?

Eating with Particular People
-Do you tend to eat differently with different people? If so, describe the differences. My example: Ill eat more plant-based options with my friend Craig than with my buddy Jeff. I may consume more alcohol with Stu than I would with Erik.