I am semi-excited and scared to be back at work this week. The first week of work is Inservice. It involves a State of the College Address, various faculty development meetings, department meetings, advising, as well as an ice cream social.
Amidst all this there is generally a fevered rush to get classes prepped. Syllabi need to be updated. Online courses need to be revamped. Assignments need to be reconsidered.
Most of this can fit in fairly well, except when you have a new textbook. This can add upwards of 700 pages of reading as well as a complete overhaul of the courses. Soon you are making decisions about what is most important to get done for the students and what would just be nice. It is what I'm going through right now.
I generally enjoy this week as everyone comes back and there are plenty of people to talk to. It's how I get my social fix. However, being social is also distracting. A simple question can lead into a full-fledged conversation and soon I've prevented myself and several other people from accomplishing work.
The other major obstacle I have to getting ready for the new semester will be my CPR/AED training. I'm getting certified. The college would like all their faculty and staff to be certified and I support that goal. I feel that it does little good to have life-saving technology spotting the hallways if you don't know how to use it. I pray that I never have cause to use it, but I'm glad that I'll know what to do should the need arise.
Still, that good thing is four hours taken away from other good things that could be done. Fortunately, advising usually makes up for the lack of time other meetings create. During advising time we have nothing to do but sit in our offices and wait for students to show up. It is generally a five hour block of time. Guess what? Students rarely show up for advising (though many of them should). The students that are mostly likely to show up are often the ones that need the least advisement. I attribute that to student denial and unwillingness to do school related work until school starts next week. Their procrastination is my gain. I use that time where I can't leave the office as the time I get most of my work done.
So work started Monday and I'm working like a busy bee to get everything ready for next week. I have gotten a good portion of it done. I'm at that point where I need to give my documents a day or two away so I can look at them with fresh eyes. There are errors in there somewhere, but I'm so tired of looking at syllabi that it has become hard to find them. That gives me the rest of today and Thursday to work on those "would be nice, but not necessary" projects for beginning the semester.
For example, one of my colleagues and I are planning a little experiment where we switch places at the beginning of class to see if anyone will notice. It should be fun. After that, it's all downhill. The routine is set, the lectures are well practiced. If I can only survive in-service week it will be a great semester.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Being a Better DM
I am a gamer. I have been as long as I can remember. I grew up on board games. My family had a fair collection. Family gatherings involved card games. Video games slipped in: first an Atari, then an NES, and so on. In high school I started tabletop roleplaying on a Star Wars system. We would meet in the art room at lunch time and game. The only thing I remember was shooting some spare parts for target practice.
The DM graduated a few years before me so gaming stopped. I didn't game again for a long time, mostly because I didn't know anyone else to game with; I lived in a small town. At college I was more interested in other types of gaming. However, in 2007 I came back to gaming as the Dungeon Master (DM) for a D&D 3.5 game (Nerd speak. If you don't understand, it's not important). This challenged me. I needed to learn the rules (several books worth--one of my players wanted to be a Warlock). I had to plan the story. I had to teach most of my players the rules I had just learned.
While the rules were fairly simple, because of my deep and abiding love or rulebooks, telling the story was more difficult. This is because there is no set way to tell a story. There are few rules for story creation. There are lots of ways to do it, and a lot of ways to do it poorly.
In D&D the major obstacle is too many storytellers. If the game is running correctly it should be a collaborative storytelling process. Each players gets a say in how the plot develops. This is a big deal for me. As a writer I like to develop plots, create likely scenarios, and guide everything towards a specific ending. Things should tie together. Nearly everything is important. Players often seem to care less about the story and more about what cool things their character can do. They generally blow stuff up. Note: I know that is a huge generalization and there are some great players out there who want to advance a cool story.
This means you have two possible outcomes. The first is holding to your plot against all odds. You remove options from the players, explain why what they want to do doesn't work, and drop hints about "acceptable" behavior until they get the hint and play along. This is appropriately known as "railroading"; players hate it.
The other option is letting the players do whatever they want. You throw your plot out the window and make up consequences for their actions as you go along. After the players leave you cry into your notes and then attempt to pick up the pieces. The players might love this at first, but it generally makes for a horrible story and the players will eventually lose interest. The campaign dies. Also, before the campaign dies the Game Master (GM) stops having fun. If he's not enjoying the campaign, no one is. They are part of game just like everyone else. Their enjoyment is important. So you need to find middle ground.
I'm learning a lot about this from my friend David. He's been a GM for two decades (or thereabouts). I am currently a player in his campaign and it has been illuminating. I wish I could tell you about all the insights he has given me, but many are still sinking in.
One of the great things that I've learned from him is the idea of treating the campaign as if it is a television show. The story comes in seasons. Each season has a central story arc. Within that arc you have episodes. Those episodes are a single night of gaming or two nights as an occasional "to be continued" happens. The episodes advance the story.
You also plan filler episodes. These are episodes that generally aren't about the central story, but allow the players a lot of freedom. They can get out craziness, but then they are generally ready to get back to the main story. Even better, if you can later find ways to tie the filler stories into the main story you will seem like a genius in the eyes of the players. It also adds a lot of depth to the campaign.
Another idea I've learned is that you treat the episodes like television writing. Good series don't write one episode at a time, they write all the episodes so they connect together better. Take time to plan the campaign, not just a session. If you plan episodes in advance then you can have a game plan for how unexpected player actions change the world. You'll have more time to anticipate what the players might do. For example, in my next campaign (Pax Malio Season 3) the players will (hopefully) choose to engage in a specific action. Time of day will affect the outcome. Not engaging in the action affects the world. Are there other things the players might do that I have considered? Sure, but the better prepared I am the more it will seem like reasonable repercussions to player actions and not just punishment for not following the script.
This is really the crux of telling a story as a group. You can't force the group to tell the story you want. You also can't them do whatever they want. Good GM's give players options to choose from and know how those options will affect the story. Some options will be more or less attractive. Mysteries, good mysteries, will keep the players within the boundaries because they want to solve the mystery. You can't plan an ending to a campaign (or sometimes even a single session). You have to plan several and see which one you end up at. Good GM's should read Choose Your Own Adventures regularly to get the idea of options in roleplaying.
In the end, I think the thing that makes this easiest is knowing your group. The more experienced a GM is with a group the more they'll have a good idea of what will happen. Then they can plan accordingly.
My campaign has me excited. My friend David's campaign is ending. We have about 6 episodes left. This will probably take us through 2013. 2014 is my year. This has given me more time to plan a campaign than I've ever had. I am currently planning about eight episodes. I have a small handful of them rough sketched. I don't have an order for how this happens. In the end their won't be one. I'm just going to present problems to the group and see which ones interest them. However, problems not dealt with will have consequences.
I have never been so excited for a story and as the game happens I will be blogging about how it goes. I see this last season being the most successful story I've ever played. I hope my players end up enjoying it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
Last words of advice then. If you have a great idea for a campaign start planning it now. Plan it as discrete episodes. Make options. Make several endings. Don't wait until your group is ready for a new campaign. Don't even wait until you have a group. Rough sketch it (don't finalize anything) now and you'll be better able to tweak in the details as your players hit the field and all your planning is for naught.
The DM graduated a few years before me so gaming stopped. I didn't game again for a long time, mostly because I didn't know anyone else to game with; I lived in a small town. At college I was more interested in other types of gaming. However, in 2007 I came back to gaming as the Dungeon Master (DM) for a D&D 3.5 game (Nerd speak. If you don't understand, it's not important). This challenged me. I needed to learn the rules (several books worth--one of my players wanted to be a Warlock). I had to plan the story. I had to teach most of my players the rules I had just learned.
While the rules were fairly simple, because of my deep and abiding love or rulebooks, telling the story was more difficult. This is because there is no set way to tell a story. There are few rules for story creation. There are lots of ways to do it, and a lot of ways to do it poorly.
In D&D the major obstacle is too many storytellers. If the game is running correctly it should be a collaborative storytelling process. Each players gets a say in how the plot develops. This is a big deal for me. As a writer I like to develop plots, create likely scenarios, and guide everything towards a specific ending. Things should tie together. Nearly everything is important. Players often seem to care less about the story and more about what cool things their character can do. They generally blow stuff up. Note: I know that is a huge generalization and there are some great players out there who want to advance a cool story.
This means you have two possible outcomes. The first is holding to your plot against all odds. You remove options from the players, explain why what they want to do doesn't work, and drop hints about "acceptable" behavior until they get the hint and play along. This is appropriately known as "railroading"; players hate it.
The other option is letting the players do whatever they want. You throw your plot out the window and make up consequences for their actions as you go along. After the players leave you cry into your notes and then attempt to pick up the pieces. The players might love this at first, but it generally makes for a horrible story and the players will eventually lose interest. The campaign dies. Also, before the campaign dies the Game Master (GM) stops having fun. If he's not enjoying the campaign, no one is. They are part of game just like everyone else. Their enjoyment is important. So you need to find middle ground.
I'm learning a lot about this from my friend David. He's been a GM for two decades (or thereabouts). I am currently a player in his campaign and it has been illuminating. I wish I could tell you about all the insights he has given me, but many are still sinking in.
One of the great things that I've learned from him is the idea of treating the campaign as if it is a television show. The story comes in seasons. Each season has a central story arc. Within that arc you have episodes. Those episodes are a single night of gaming or two nights as an occasional "to be continued" happens. The episodes advance the story.
You also plan filler episodes. These are episodes that generally aren't about the central story, but allow the players a lot of freedom. They can get out craziness, but then they are generally ready to get back to the main story. Even better, if you can later find ways to tie the filler stories into the main story you will seem like a genius in the eyes of the players. It also adds a lot of depth to the campaign.
Another idea I've learned is that you treat the episodes like television writing. Good series don't write one episode at a time, they write all the episodes so they connect together better. Take time to plan the campaign, not just a session. If you plan episodes in advance then you can have a game plan for how unexpected player actions change the world. You'll have more time to anticipate what the players might do. For example, in my next campaign (Pax Malio Season 3) the players will (hopefully) choose to engage in a specific action. Time of day will affect the outcome. Not engaging in the action affects the world. Are there other things the players might do that I have considered? Sure, but the better prepared I am the more it will seem like reasonable repercussions to player actions and not just punishment for not following the script.
This is really the crux of telling a story as a group. You can't force the group to tell the story you want. You also can't them do whatever they want. Good GM's give players options to choose from and know how those options will affect the story. Some options will be more or less attractive. Mysteries, good mysteries, will keep the players within the boundaries because they want to solve the mystery. You can't plan an ending to a campaign (or sometimes even a single session). You have to plan several and see which one you end up at. Good GM's should read Choose Your Own Adventures regularly to get the idea of options in roleplaying.
In the end, I think the thing that makes this easiest is knowing your group. The more experienced a GM is with a group the more they'll have a good idea of what will happen. Then they can plan accordingly.
My campaign has me excited. My friend David's campaign is ending. We have about 6 episodes left. This will probably take us through 2013. 2014 is my year. This has given me more time to plan a campaign than I've ever had. I am currently planning about eight episodes. I have a small handful of them rough sketched. I don't have an order for how this happens. In the end their won't be one. I'm just going to present problems to the group and see which ones interest them. However, problems not dealt with will have consequences.
I have never been so excited for a story and as the game happens I will be blogging about how it goes. I see this last season being the most successful story I've ever played. I hope my players end up enjoying it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
Last words of advice then. If you have a great idea for a campaign start planning it now. Plan it as discrete episodes. Make options. Make several endings. Don't wait until your group is ready for a new campaign. Don't even wait until you have a group. Rough sketch it (don't finalize anything) now and you'll be better able to tweak in the details as your players hit the field and all your planning is for naught.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Psychology and Health or How I Stay Fit
Hello everyone! I know that a major concern people have today is weight loss. You see it everywhere. Heck, I use to worry about it too. Especially a little over a year ago when I weighed close to 180. Then I dropped a lot of that way and people asked me how I did it. I told them honest: I got sick and stopped eating. Not healthy and it didn't make me feel good either. That is why this post isn't going to be about weight loss. It's going to be about health which is much more comprehensive than just weight. I should prelude with a disclaimer: I'm not advertising this. I don't think this will work for you. I'm not a doctor, nutritionist, or other health professional. I don't plan on this blog being widely read so I don't have references at hand for some of the information I'm going to write about, but if you want them I can get them. This is just what I am doing for my own definition of health and it makes me feel better, even if it's not really working.
Since the sickness back in 2012 I've been working to get in shape and stay there. I want my weight loss to be healthy. Last time I weighed myself I was sitting at 153.6. That puts my BMI right about a 23. Healthy! However, I would like to get it under 150. Why? Trying to get it under 150 will help keep me concerned enough that hopefully it won't go higher. Keeping weight off can be one of the hardest bits. Maintaining a goal should help me maintain my healthy weight. Anyway...on to
4 Ways I Stay (Get) Healthy
1. Sleep
Sleep is important! I can't emphasize this enough. If you want to be healthy, get enough sleep. If you need 8 hours, get 8 hours. Don't just assume that if you can get by on six that you only need six. Find out what enough sleep is for you! I'll blog about that later.
Studies show that sleep deprivation has negative effects on the body. It makes us slower and we don't have the same energy. This makes it hard to exercise. Studies are also showing that lack of sleep messes with appetite hormones such as ghrelin and leptin. Basically, when you don't get enough sleep you are more likely to feel hungry and less likely to feel full. You'll eat more! Outside of weight, sleep deprivation can also harm the mind making us anxious, irrational, and screwing with our memories.
Sleep = health. I try and get a good night sleep every night!
2. Stretch
I don't stretch everyday, but I know I should. Stretching should be one of the first things we do in the morning. Not a serious stretch, but a light one to help loosen up the muscles. Look at little babies. Look at cats. Look at dogs. What do they do when they wake up? They stretch! What do adult humans do? Stumble to the kitchen or the bathroom. No wonder I'm so tense!
I don't know all the benefits of stretching, but I do know it's good for me. A light stretch before working out can help avoid injury. A good stretch after working out can increase flexibility. A good stretch before bed often helps me sleep better. I'm trying to stretch everyday to help myself feel healthier.
3. Exercise
I have heard that we should get a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise each day. Everyday is hard, but when I exercise I do get my thirty minutes. Here's how: 1. Push-ups and crunches. I try and do these 5 days of the week. I have no organized schedule. Sunday is an off day and then one other random day (often Friday). In general I do crunches until I can't do anymore which is about 50-60. Then I do push-ups until I can't do anymore which is about 30. Then I take a break and come back and do it again. On days when I'm really motivated I try and get in a 3rd set. Generally, each set has fewer reps, but that's okay by me. My goal is to get back to where I was at 18 (I know! That's one tall order) and be able to do three sets of 40 push-ups. Crunches doesn't have a goal.
A recent addition to my push-up regiment is the Saturday morning workout. In between katas I do sets of 10 push-ups in five variations: regular, fingertip, knuckles, diamonds, wide. I've only done this twice. The first Saturday I made 100 push-ups. This last Saturday I made 160. I think 200 push-ups would be a good end goal, but we will see what happens.
2. Karate
I do karate three times a week. The adult class is 75 minutes, so that's 150 minutes of karate a week across two days. However, I also take my daughter to a kid's class so that adds another 45 minutes. Throw it my personal Saturday morning workout and n a good week I'll get as much as 5 hours of exercise just from karate. It's fairly low impact exercise, but it does have me moving a lot of the body in a lot of different ways so it's a good all-over workout. Added benefit it's practical. My current goal for karate is to learn all the kata from my style. There are 18 kata, I know 16 of them (thus 160 push-ups on Saturday mornings). I should have all of them by the end of the year.
3. Walking/running. I walk to work most days M-Th. That's 1 1/2 miles. If it isn't too hot at the end of the day I also work home. Three miles round trip. Nights I don't work often end with a late night walk. These are faster paced to make them more impactful (buzzword!). Those walks are generally about three miles too. Talking to my Doctor friend David I learned that a walk should be about three miles before it really starts doing any good for your health. I'm set there.
Added to the walking is running. Several months ago I confessed to my coworker/friend Shelley that I don't understand people who exercise until they get sick. I was mostly thinking of runners when I said that, probably because running more than anything makes me feel like I want to vomit. I want to get past this and I've been inoculating myself to running by doing it every Saturday morning. I run laps around the local park where I do my Saturday morning karate workout. It's a good warm-up before the karate. Given the size of the park (it houses several softball fields) a lap is about .8 miles. I started off doing a half lap before I would walk the rest. Now I'm up to the full .8 mile lap. Slowly but surely, I plan to advance that to 2 miles even. Then I'll be satisfied. Of course, that will be slow enough that I'll never feel like I'm dying after I run.
4. Eating Better
A big portion of eating healthy for me is eating smaller portions. I'm not depriving myself any, but I'm realizing that I eat too much. For example, on burrito night I used to eat two burritos packed full of goodness. Then I would eat some cheese quesadillas afterwards. On barbecue night it would be a burger, a brat, a hot dog, AND sides. Now I'm trying for a single burrito; a burger, a brat, or a hotdog; a small handful of chips. Of course eating less food isn't always easy. Here are some things that are working for me.
a. Smaller plates. Experiments have shown repeatedly that the bigger plate you have the more you will eat. This generally holds true even if you go back to refill the plate. We essentially have three plate sizes. I generally try and use the smallest. I also try not to cram as much food on there as possible, but use what comfortably fits.
b. Plan for children's leftovers. I have a big problem with eating my children's leftovers. This generally leaves me feeling like a little too full and gives me more food than I need. However, when I plan that I am going to do this (some meals are more predicable than others) I will take less. Then the leftovers give me just enough to satisfy.
c. Eat slower. Honestly, I'm not good at this one. In my home you'll generally see me walk away from the table first while everyone else is still chowing down. I'm not a slow eater. However, I know I should be and it's something I'm working on. Dinner conversations help to slow me down.
d. Put the dinner away immediately. I tend to be a grazer. If food is left out I will come back and snack on the little tidbits. The best way to avoid this is to put it in the refrigerator. Out of sight might not be out of mind, but it definitely helps.
e. Eat the right amount the first time. I try and avoid seconds, because it seems that when I take seconds I generally take too much. Then I overeat.
f. Have a piece of candy. Seriously, why not? If I deny myself I'll just obsess over it and then binge later. If I give in early I'm more likely to walk away after a small handful of M&M's or a single cookie. Fighting the urge will generally turn into a small handful of cookies later.
Here comes the psychology. It's called thought suppression. The basic premise is that when you forbid yourself from thinking about something you have a tendency to think about it more. Tell yourself not to think about those cookies and those cookies will invade every other thought. What does that mean for diets? Don't forbid yourself certain foods. You'll just obsess and avoiding them will be harder. Better to eat a controlled portion in the first place. However, there are things you can do. Instead of forbidding yourself from thinking about it, distract yourself. Go do something else so you can't think about food. Admit that the craving is okay, you're just not interested. Don't have the food in the house. Out of sight helps keep it out of mind. You'll have an easy time fighting the urge for ice cream if it isn't there reminding you every time you open the fridge.
Of course, that's not the end of the psychology. Thought suppression has another dark side. It's called the rebound effect. What happens when you're done forbidding yourself from thinking about food? Will the temptation disappear as soon as the fruit is not forbidden? Nope. Not at all. There will be a temporary rebound effect after the restriction is removed. You'll think about it even more! That's where binges come from. You deny and deny and deny. Then when you break you don't just break a little, you break hard time. It's why I try not to deny myself foods.
I was going to finish by talking about eating healthy, but I don't really have a lot to say about that. I'm not an expert and won't pretend to be one. I do like Alton Brown's approach to eating. You can find it around the internet, so I won't bother re-posting it here. I think the biggest thing I try and do is cook most of my food, avoid soda, and choke down some fruits and veggies occasionally. Oh, and my morning egg for breakfast. It really does help stave off the munchies until lunch time.
Since the sickness back in 2012 I've been working to get in shape and stay there. I want my weight loss to be healthy. Last time I weighed myself I was sitting at 153.6. That puts my BMI right about a 23. Healthy! However, I would like to get it under 150. Why? Trying to get it under 150 will help keep me concerned enough that hopefully it won't go higher. Keeping weight off can be one of the hardest bits. Maintaining a goal should help me maintain my healthy weight. Anyway...on to
4 Ways I Stay (Get) Healthy
1. Sleep
Sleep is important! I can't emphasize this enough. If you want to be healthy, get enough sleep. If you need 8 hours, get 8 hours. Don't just assume that if you can get by on six that you only need six. Find out what enough sleep is for you! I'll blog about that later.
Studies show that sleep deprivation has negative effects on the body. It makes us slower and we don't have the same energy. This makes it hard to exercise. Studies are also showing that lack of sleep messes with appetite hormones such as ghrelin and leptin. Basically, when you don't get enough sleep you are more likely to feel hungry and less likely to feel full. You'll eat more! Outside of weight, sleep deprivation can also harm the mind making us anxious, irrational, and screwing with our memories.
Sleep = health. I try and get a good night sleep every night!
2. Stretch
I don't stretch everyday, but I know I should. Stretching should be one of the first things we do in the morning. Not a serious stretch, but a light one to help loosen up the muscles. Look at little babies. Look at cats. Look at dogs. What do they do when they wake up? They stretch! What do adult humans do? Stumble to the kitchen or the bathroom. No wonder I'm so tense!
I don't know all the benefits of stretching, but I do know it's good for me. A light stretch before working out can help avoid injury. A good stretch after working out can increase flexibility. A good stretch before bed often helps me sleep better. I'm trying to stretch everyday to help myself feel healthier.
3. Exercise
I have heard that we should get a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise each day. Everyday is hard, but when I exercise I do get my thirty minutes. Here's how: 1. Push-ups and crunches. I try and do these 5 days of the week. I have no organized schedule. Sunday is an off day and then one other random day (often Friday). In general I do crunches until I can't do anymore which is about 50-60. Then I do push-ups until I can't do anymore which is about 30. Then I take a break and come back and do it again. On days when I'm really motivated I try and get in a 3rd set. Generally, each set has fewer reps, but that's okay by me. My goal is to get back to where I was at 18 (I know! That's one tall order) and be able to do three sets of 40 push-ups. Crunches doesn't have a goal.
A recent addition to my push-up regiment is the Saturday morning workout. In between katas I do sets of 10 push-ups in five variations: regular, fingertip, knuckles, diamonds, wide. I've only done this twice. The first Saturday I made 100 push-ups. This last Saturday I made 160. I think 200 push-ups would be a good end goal, but we will see what happens.
2. Karate
I do karate three times a week. The adult class is 75 minutes, so that's 150 minutes of karate a week across two days. However, I also take my daughter to a kid's class so that adds another 45 minutes. Throw it my personal Saturday morning workout and n a good week I'll get as much as 5 hours of exercise just from karate. It's fairly low impact exercise, but it does have me moving a lot of the body in a lot of different ways so it's a good all-over workout. Added benefit it's practical. My current goal for karate is to learn all the kata from my style. There are 18 kata, I know 16 of them (thus 160 push-ups on Saturday mornings). I should have all of them by the end of the year.
3. Walking/running. I walk to work most days M-Th. That's 1 1/2 miles. If it isn't too hot at the end of the day I also work home. Three miles round trip. Nights I don't work often end with a late night walk. These are faster paced to make them more impactful (buzzword!). Those walks are generally about three miles too. Talking to my Doctor friend David I learned that a walk should be about three miles before it really starts doing any good for your health. I'm set there.
Added to the walking is running. Several months ago I confessed to my coworker/friend Shelley that I don't understand people who exercise until they get sick. I was mostly thinking of runners when I said that, probably because running more than anything makes me feel like I want to vomit. I want to get past this and I've been inoculating myself to running by doing it every Saturday morning. I run laps around the local park where I do my Saturday morning karate workout. It's a good warm-up before the karate. Given the size of the park (it houses several softball fields) a lap is about .8 miles. I started off doing a half lap before I would walk the rest. Now I'm up to the full .8 mile lap. Slowly but surely, I plan to advance that to 2 miles even. Then I'll be satisfied. Of course, that will be slow enough that I'll never feel like I'm dying after I run.
4. Eating Better
A big portion of eating healthy for me is eating smaller portions. I'm not depriving myself any, but I'm realizing that I eat too much. For example, on burrito night I used to eat two burritos packed full of goodness. Then I would eat some cheese quesadillas afterwards. On barbecue night it would be a burger, a brat, a hot dog, AND sides. Now I'm trying for a single burrito; a burger, a brat, or a hotdog; a small handful of chips. Of course eating less food isn't always easy. Here are some things that are working for me.
a. Smaller plates. Experiments have shown repeatedly that the bigger plate you have the more you will eat. This generally holds true even if you go back to refill the plate. We essentially have three plate sizes. I generally try and use the smallest. I also try not to cram as much food on there as possible, but use what comfortably fits.
b. Plan for children's leftovers. I have a big problem with eating my children's leftovers. This generally leaves me feeling like a little too full and gives me more food than I need. However, when I plan that I am going to do this (some meals are more predicable than others) I will take less. Then the leftovers give me just enough to satisfy.
c. Eat slower. Honestly, I'm not good at this one. In my home you'll generally see me walk away from the table first while everyone else is still chowing down. I'm not a slow eater. However, I know I should be and it's something I'm working on. Dinner conversations help to slow me down.
d. Put the dinner away immediately. I tend to be a grazer. If food is left out I will come back and snack on the little tidbits. The best way to avoid this is to put it in the refrigerator. Out of sight might not be out of mind, but it definitely helps.
e. Eat the right amount the first time. I try and avoid seconds, because it seems that when I take seconds I generally take too much. Then I overeat.
f. Have a piece of candy. Seriously, why not? If I deny myself I'll just obsess over it and then binge later. If I give in early I'm more likely to walk away after a small handful of M&M's or a single cookie. Fighting the urge will generally turn into a small handful of cookies later.
Here comes the psychology. It's called thought suppression. The basic premise is that when you forbid yourself from thinking about something you have a tendency to think about it more. Tell yourself not to think about those cookies and those cookies will invade every other thought. What does that mean for diets? Don't forbid yourself certain foods. You'll just obsess and avoiding them will be harder. Better to eat a controlled portion in the first place. However, there are things you can do. Instead of forbidding yourself from thinking about it, distract yourself. Go do something else so you can't think about food. Admit that the craving is okay, you're just not interested. Don't have the food in the house. Out of sight helps keep it out of mind. You'll have an easy time fighting the urge for ice cream if it isn't there reminding you every time you open the fridge.
Of course, that's not the end of the psychology. Thought suppression has another dark side. It's called the rebound effect. What happens when you're done forbidding yourself from thinking about food? Will the temptation disappear as soon as the fruit is not forbidden? Nope. Not at all. There will be a temporary rebound effect after the restriction is removed. You'll think about it even more! That's where binges come from. You deny and deny and deny. Then when you break you don't just break a little, you break hard time. It's why I try not to deny myself foods.
I was going to finish by talking about eating healthy, but I don't really have a lot to say about that. I'm not an expert and won't pretend to be one. I do like Alton Brown's approach to eating. You can find it around the internet, so I won't bother re-posting it here. I think the biggest thing I try and do is cook most of my food, avoid soda, and choke down some fruits and veggies occasionally. Oh, and my morning egg for breakfast. It really does help stave off the munchies until lunch time.
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