When you tip the scale on January 2nd, 2015, what number do you want to see? Your current weight plus 10-15 pounds?

I didn’t think so.

The problem is, so many of us succumb to the desire for immediate, temporary tastebud gratification (even though most holiday treats don’t really taste that great if you really think about it).

How do you get past the sudden desire to indulge in junk?

This little strategy, modeled by NLP practitioners over many decades, will give you an edge. Better yet, it’s super simple and you will absolutely NOT feel like you are missing out on anything that you really want.

When faced with the choice to eat junk, many of us FAIL by merely seeing the food, imagining how it good will taste, then eating it. Rinse and repeat. Before we know it, however, our feelings catch up to us.

When this happens, we realize how the food is affecting us physically. Then, we immediately begin regretting the decision or even indulging in a heaping dose of emotional self-defeat. Not good. In fact, doing this is a form of self-sabotage.

The good news is that NLP practitioners have found that you can short circuit this process up front. In fact, this is exactly what people with alot of discipline around food do!

Follow this simple 5 step process to avoid bad food this holiday season:

1. Look at the food that is tempting you. Go ahead. There it is! There is no use pretending it isn’t there. If you do, the goodies may end up haunting you all day! Just recognize that it is a choice to eat it.

2. Imagine eating it. Your brain is already doing this subconsciously, so just go ahead and imagine a bite of this delectable food going into your mouth and swirling around. It’s ok if your mouth starts to water here. DON’T STOP AT THIS POINT, THOUGH! Move on…

3. Now, imagine the food going down your throat and into your gut, where it will sit for the next several hours. Really get into the feeling of digesting this stuff. What will that be like for you? How will your belly feel? How will your body feel in general? What about your energy level?

4. Ask yourself the question, “Do I want to feel how this food will make me feel?”

5. Make a choice. If the answer is “Yes, I want to feel this way,” then take the bite. If the answer is “Heck no, I don’t want to feel this way!” then you won’t want to take that bite.

The idea above is to get to the feelings before it’s too late. If you make decisions based on your taste buds only, you’re setting yourself up to feel horrible in the near future. Why not spare yourself those bad feelings and the extra weight?

If you’re self-sabotage free, then you won’t want to feel bad, so you want indulge in the wrong foods or too much food once you are aware of how it will make you feel.

If self-sabotage is an issue for you, then you might choose go ahead and indulge in food that will make you feel bad. In this case, self-sabotage is the issue to resolve.

To learn how self-sabotage works and how to stop it, watch this free and enlightening video.

Resource: Mike Bundrant is the facilitator of AHA Weight Loss Coaching groups, where participants learn how to conquer the emotionally driven motivation to overeat and avoid physical activity.