Boy, doesn’t that title just make you sit up and take notice. I woke up thinking about this today.

Food. Writing. Diet Coke. Writing. Chips. Writing. Diet Coke. Writing. Tea. Writing. Water. Water. Water. To undo the chips and Diet Coke, of course. Writing. After returning from the fantastic Deep Thinkers retreat, I’d resolved to cut back on this, do a little more of that…

But a week later, I can feel myself, see myself, slipping into old habits. Some of it is just determination. Any kind of discipline requires inspiration followed by a boat load of determination. But to keep going, we need motivation. Motivation comes from little successes. Big successes. Encouragement. More inspiration. A notch up on the determination. But it also requires resolve in our emotions. To just do it! And this is where a lot of writers, including me, lose the wind in our sails.

So, my Deep Thinkers resolve was to drink more tea and less Diet Coke. Just to switch it up a bit. Please, NO rhetoric on the evils of Diet Coke. They’ve been targeted like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart in my humble opinion. Diet Pepsi and Sprite Zero use all the same ingredients. Anyway… that sound bite was for free.

As I’m plowing through the final scenes of my story, cranking out new dialog and prose, I can feel myself emptying out. I’m a bit distracted. My emotions are thinning. I’m good… got some energy. The end is night. Light at the end-o-the-tunnel is bright and beckoning.

But suddenly, I want a Diet Coke.

I resist. Besides, I don’t do caffeine after three o’clockish. I keep writing.

Diet Coke calling….

An hour later, I’m tooling to the 7-11 in my convertible with my little dog Lola riding shot gun. Best Diet Coke ever. Listen, writing drains, ravages our emotions. Our dear Susie May has the same battle with popcorn. We call it popcrack.

When she’s buried deep in the pretend lives of her characters, mining her heart, mind and soul with anything in her real or imaginary life that will make her characters come alive, she becomes emotionally shot. Just like I do. Just like you do.

So, she sneaks downstairs for a big, cheesy bowl of popcrack, er, popcorn.

Hey, we could do way worse than Diet Coke and popcorn. Stephen King had an affinity for cocaine! I said to Hubby one day, “Now I know why writers struggle with their weight. We sit all day, then we feed our empty emotions with yummo food.” Listen, when my heroine in on the brink of heart break as my hero faces the jowls of a fire eating dragon, a baby carrot snack just ain’t going to cut it.

But least we all become over indulged, there are some things I think we can do to change any bad eating habits.

1. Really boost your spiritual life with prayer. Even a bit of fasting. Get filled with the spirit, not food. Sometimes I take a break just to pray. I pray in the spirit a lot which most assuredly aids my fiction-drained emotions. I ask the Lord to help me figure out plot and character problems. So, if you’re not feeding yourself well spiritually, let that be your first priority.
2. Find good snacks that you like. Buy 100 calorie packs so you can track your intake easier. I like pretzels so I get the small 100 calorie packs. They’re perfect.
3. Find veggies you like. I’m not a big carrot person but I love celery with peanut butter or cream cheese. I track the calories, trying not to ruin a low cal snack with a big cal spread. Peanut butter is a great mid afternoon protein boost, too. I like radishes. They have a nice bit and crunch to them. So, find a veggie snack that works for you.
4. Fruit. Great for the sweet tooth. I keep fresh fruit in the house all the time.
5. Take a few minutes to measure your food. I bought a cheap scale at Publix and when I buy hamburger or chicken, I measure it out into 4 oz sections. I put them in freezer bags and toss them in the freezer. Those portions become my weekday lunch. I sauté or brown the meat, throw in a fresh onion, tomato, spinach and mushrooms, add some spices and YUMMO.
6. Keep at it. I am pretty good at not eating after lunch until dinner. But I had to develop a habit. Instead of eating, I take the dog for a walk around the block.
7. Don’t eat at your work station. Once I broke that habit, it became real easy to resist small temptations. I didn’t want to break my writing streak to run downstairs for a 100 cal pack of pretzels. Not worth it.
8. Believe you can do it.

Writing is hard enough without adding health issues. We can be healthy writers. Be blessed!

Rachel Hauck is the best-selling, award winning author of over 15 novels. Her latest, The Wedding Dress appears in bookstores in April. Rachel serves My Book Therapy as the lead MBT Therapist and excels in assisting aspiring authors to find their story and voice via her one-on-one book coaching services. To find out more go to: Coaching  Services OR Visit her author website at: www.rachelhauck.com.