Discipline is remembering what you want. What do you want? What do I want?

1. I want my clothes to fit more or less the same as they did last year.
2. I want to know that nothing I eat is going to upset my stomach, or make me tired, or make my eyes burn.
3. I want to count on having enough energy to be able to bounce up the giant set of steps in the foyer where I work.
4. I want to know that my family is eating high-quality, nutrient-dense food.

That’s just me. You need to make your own list. So what do you want? Discipline is not the same as what you want. Discipline, rather, is keeping it in mind.

Let’s say, for example, that you’ve decided that your first goal is to stop eating corn syrup. Frankly, it’s most important to recall that we make most of our major food decisions not in the kitchen but in the supermarket. If you don’t bring it home, you can’t eat it for breakfast, pack it for lunch, or cook it for dinner.

How can you make it easier to mobilize your discipline?

1. Remember to go shopping after a meal, and not right before one. Don’t arrive at the supermarket even a little bit hungry.
2. Keep a list. It may not prevent you from making any impulse purchases whatsoever, but it will definitely help. Try downloading a real-food grocery list and sticking it on the refrigerator.

Or, let’s say you’ve completely mastered the corn syrup, and your new goal is to increase the amount of green leafy vegetables in your diet. How to tackle this one?

1. Head straight to the green leaves in the produce department with your empty cart. That’s not going to be so hard because most grocery stores are set up to funnel shoppers straight into the produce section on arrival.
2. Try bringing a special grocery bag or lunch bag for your greens, and putting them into it instead of limiting your purchase to what you can squeeze into the front of your cart under all the other produce you select.

Or, you thought you wanted to kick your ice cream habit, but you’ve discovered that you love ice cream too much to go there.

1. Buy the highest quality ice cream you can afford with the fewest ingredients. Make sure all the ingredients can be bought in your grocery store. No polysorbate, no glycerides. No nonsense.
2. Serve yourself a cup or a mug, not a bowl, and eat it slowly with a teaspoon. No TV, no reading, no computer. Just you, a spoon, and a bowl of the best ice cream you’ve ever eaten. This is called mindfulness, and it is very satisfying.
3. Stay far away from any so-called ice cream that is “light,” “lite,” “diet,” or fake.

Finally, be kind to yourself. Discipline is remembering what you want. Some days, frankly, are more difficult than others. You may not always remember as well as you would like. But you get to try again tomorrow. So try not to worry. Do the best you can, and let it go at that.