It’s Friday, and today is the start of Labor Day Weekend.
It is common for dieters to lose focus
around special events, like holidays and vacations.

Think about what happens to us at Thanksgiving,
Halloween, or Christmas when we tend to “forget”
to pay close attention to our food intake. 

Imagine you are a (good) parent shopping at the mall
with your two pre-school children.
You wouldn’t get so preoccupied that you forgot
that you brought your kids along.
Instead, you’d always know where your children were
and what they were doing.

Most parents have the mental ability to stay alert,
even after the kids are in bed. This built-in awareness,
or focus, helps them know when their children are at risk.
Sometimes we don’t set out to overeat or ignore our diets,
we simply lose our focus – the ability to stay aware
of our eating plan while we enjoy our food together with
conversation and special activities.

We can have fun and still Focus.
We need a way to hold continual awareness
in spite of what’s going on around us.
It’s tough, but it can be done.

Part of staying focused is:

Remember:  Frequently remind ourselves about our food-plan and goals.
Pull Focus back quickly:  When slipping into old patterns, intentionally renew focus.
Stay Alert: Mentally identify our individual emotions in the situation.

  It is important that we don’t “forget”
about our weight-loss or maintenance efforts,
so we need to develop a built-in awareness to help us
stay focused on what it takes to live with the weight we want.

There are many different food plans,and many ways to look at eating.
All of them work for someone, but none of them work for everyone.

The following quote is from a member of a forum I frequently visit.
The principle discussed is the matter of choice and responsibility for that choice,which actually fits into many different food-plans, however. in the present quote,
the principle is being applied to “S” days in the No S Diet.

“Something I want to mention is out of the books
Beating Overeating and Overcoming Overeating by Gillian Riley.
She says to give yourself Complete freedom (seriously)
and tell yourself you CAN do whatever you want.
Then ask yourself, I am I really Choosing??
This has really freed me in the past eating changes.

I ask myself, What do I really want,
do I want to go ahead and eat/overeat,
and then imagine the outcomes of both choices
the negative and positive, how I will feel, ect.
if I choose one or the other.

Then I can decide what I TRULY want to do,
whether its negative or positive,
and I also have to ACCEPT the consequences ect.
So in doing it this way I am taking responsibility for my choices.

Instead of just binging a whole bunch and beating myself up afterwards,
If I think it over and imagine how I'll feel later
and what might be the consequences of doing it,
I didn’t always want to overeat/binge!
In fact, a lot of times, I chose NOT to do the negative thing!

I can ask myself what I REALLY want (quality vs. quantity)
and then eat accordingly. If I REALLY want to binge, I can binge,
but then accept the consequences with no problems.
If I REALLY want to enjoy a few treats without going overboard,
then I could choose that too.

I think If I truly ask myself I could be more true to myself
and my true desires. It is a powerful tool,
with also allowing yourself complete freedom!”

This is a principle of mental control, and seems completely reasonable.

 The elephant in the room here though, is the possible chemical effects of highly altered foods on the body,
and their attraction and availability in our current world.

And ….if…. these modern (non) foods with combinations of salt/fat/sugars and man-made chemicals that help with flavor and shelf-life, actually affect an individual body the way alcohol affects an alcoholic… making it almost impossible for some bodies to establish ongoing mental control after any of that substance enters the body.

I don’t know. 
But when bingeing is a personal problem, it seems like this might be an issue to consider.