What to do when triggers trigger

Why this action helps

Triggers are things that make you react in a certain way, such as turning toward bad habits or poor quality food/drink.  Triggers can be things like:

• Feelings – eg sadness, happiness, boredom, loneliness, being excited, sense of failure etc
• Your actions – eg sitting down at the TV, making a cup of tea, walking past the biscuit tin etc.
• Actions of others – eg they offer you cake, they eat certain foods in front of you etc.

How to do it

Part 1 – Identify your triggers.

Use your food diary and past experience to work out why you made poor food choices in the past.

Part 2 – Plan to do something else

Use the following 3 cues to plan an alternative action next time you are triggered:

“When this happens…”	Write down the trigger you have identified. Eg – “Someone offers me cake”.
“Instead of…”	Write down the reaction you would normally have. Eg – “I would say yes please!”
“I will…”	Write down the new, better, action you will do instead. Eg – “I can say thank you, but I had some earlier and that was enough”.