MyWeightLossForLife.com

Archive for June, 2007

Eating out can be a real challenge if you’re trying to watch what you eat. A little preparation and a few techniques to employ at the table can help you eat out without pigging out.

1. Eat something before you eat out. Yes, it seems counter-intuitive, but if you go to the restaurant hungry, you’re more likely to order more, and eat more. Try eating around 100 calories before you go. That might be a piece of fruit, an ounce of cheese, or something else relatively small.
2. Skip the bread. It’s easy to eat a full meal’s worth of calories just from the bread bowl. Try skipping it entirely if you can, or eat just a half of a roll if you just can’t resist.
3. Choose an appetizer or entree, but not both. The portion sizes at most restaurants are huge, so you really don’t need both. Choose one or the other.
4. Divide and conquer! Split your entree with your partner. Order one appetizer for everyone at the table. The same goes for dessert. If you just can’t resist, ask for a half-portion and split it with your date.
5. Instead of a typical appetizer, choose a garden salad or a soup with clear broth. Both will start to satisfy your appetite without adding lots of calories to the meal.
6. Avoid fried foods. Choose vegetables instead of fries or onion rings. Choose a baked meat instead of a fried one. You’ll save calories, and you’ll feel less weighed-down by your meal later.
7. Avoid breaded foods. Breaded foods are often fried, and the breading and grease add lots of calories to your meal.
8. Ask for gravies, sauces, and dressings on the side so you can better control how much of that you eat.
9. Avoid alcoholic beverages and sugared drinks. These can easily add 200-300 calories to your meal. Choose a diet drink or water instead.
10. Skip dessert. I know this is a tough one, but you can do it.
11. Don’t be a member of the “clean plate club.” Portion sizes are very large, so there’s no need to feel that you have to eat it all. If you want, ask that part be put in a carry-out container at the beginning of your meal.
12. Don’t nibble. After you’ve eaten as much as you want to, put your napkin over the food or ask your waitress to take it away. You’ll be less tempted to nibble as you socialize.

Dr. Weil has an interesting article today. Two things jumped out at me as being of particular concern: the amount of junk food we eat and the higher number of calories we consume.

One third of Americans get 47 percent of their calories from junk foods.

That’s amazing. Almost half of calories from food with very little or no nutritional value. No wonder so many of us are overweight.

As you know, I’ve been trying to eat healthy for a while, and I’ve noticed more and more how difficult it is to shop and avoid food that’s mostly junk. It’s not just the typical culprits either like candy, chips, cookies and so on. Walk up and down the aisles of your grocery store. Most of what we eat is heavily processed and packed with lots of simple starches, which aren’t much better than junk food really. From the white flour in your crackers to the sugar and salt in your soup, it’s tough to find food that’s really good for you.

To make matters worse, many foods that are touted as being healthy are really no more than junk food in disguise. I know many people eat protein bars, breakfast bars, granola, etc., thinking that they’re making a healthy choice. In many cases, these products are high in sugar and refined carbohydrates and low in fiber, not exactly what you were looking for, is it?

The average American is eating 300 more calories each day than he or she did in 1985. Added sweeteners account for 23 percent of those additional calories; added fats, 24 percent.

I worked with a woman a few years ago who would eat an entire PACK of fat free cookies for breakfast, and she couldn’t understand why she had trouble losing weight. This was during the low-fat craze; I remember reading and hearing the claim that only fat turned into fat. You could eat all you wanted of everything else as long as you avoided fat.

The problem is, fat free foods often have as many or more calories as their fatty counterparts. Manufacturers have to do SOMETHING to improve the taste, so often they add extra sugars to make up for it. That doesn’t sound like a wise trade-off, does it?

I don’t believe that there’s any “bad” category of food. The key is eating in moderation. I guess that’s too simple to ever make it as a fad.

read more | digg story

When was the last time you told yourself you’d have just one more cookie, since you had such a bad day? Or maybe you went through the drive through on the way home to treat yourself because you were exhausted. Whatever the reason, do you use food as a reward?

Food is not a reward

Whether it’s a relatively recent development or something you’ve been doing since childhood, it’s important to re-train yourself to recognize that food is not a reward.

Food is food, nothing else.

I think sometimes we get caught up in the “deserving” mentality. I had a hard day, so I deserve the ice cream. My boss yelled at me, so I deserve to not have to cook tonight. The first step, I think, is to realize those statements are partly true. You had a tough day, and you do deserve to be rewarded, even pampered. Of course you deserve some special treatment to help get over the rough day you’ve had.

But food isn’t a real reward. Yes, you may feel better temporarily, but don’t you feel worse after bingeing? Won’t you feel bad after eating that ice cream, cookie, hamburger, or whatever you chose? Instead, choose a reward that will make you feel good about yourself. Give yourself time to do something you enjoy, or take some time out to really pamper yourself. Think of all the things that you want to do and don’t have enough time for. Now’s your chance to give yourself a chance to take the time for them.

Food as punishment

If anything is worse than using food as a reward, I think it’s using food as punishment. Maybe you didn’t work out, so you’re skipping dinner. Or you ate a big lunch, so you’re allowing yourself only water and salad. Again, food isn’t a reward or a punishment, just food. If you can think of food as that, just fuel your body needs, you can go a long way to giving up your unhealthy eating habits.

Patterns often start as children

Whether you were sent to bed without supper or treated to ice cream as a reward for good grades, you may have been taught since childhood to see food as a reward or punishment. It’s terribly difficult to change your outlook, but the first step is to be aware of your perspective. When you’re aware of what you’re doing, you can start to take steps to change.

It seems that for the past several years, low carb (and now low glycemic) diets are all the rage. As with most diets, they probably work just fine as long as you follow them!

What is a low-glycemic diet?

Foods that are low on the glycemic scale have less of an effect on blood sugar. So, a cookie is relatively high on the glycemic index because it’s likely to give you a pretty quick, intense jump in blood sugar. A stalk of celery is very low; it’s not likely to bump your blood sugar up at all.

Diets that are low glycemic focus on eating foods that don’t interfere with your blood sugar as much. It’s not a matter of avoiding certain foods altogether, but of planning your food so as to make the least impact on blood sugar.

Deciding what to eat

A site like The Glycemic Index can help you make better food choices. Another site to look at is Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load. Fiber helps slow down digestion, so that will help lower the GI of your food.

Use the lists to help you decide what to eat, or if your favorite snack is worth it.

Why you should care about blood sugar

This is a scenario you’re probably familiar with. You eat lunch around noon, but by mid-afternoon, you have the munchies again. Maybe you feel tired and sluggish. You grab something sweet from the vending machine to tide you over.

The candy does the trick. You feel better, but before dinner, you start to feel bad again. Maybe you feel even worse than before. You’re tired and hungry all over, and you still have the commute before dinner. What’s up?

You’ve experienced one of the bad effects of allowing your blood sugar to fluctuate widely. When you eat something high on the glycemic index, your blood sugar goes up very quickly. Unfortunately, once that initial boost is over, it also goes down very quickly. So, the initial feel-good burst of energy ends with your feeling worse in the long run.

Making the change

Switching to whole grains is a good start. They have a lower GI, and they’re usually more nutritious as well. Substitute fruits and vegetables for sweets and snack foods. It can take a long time to get used to the changes, so don’t give up. It may be easier to choose just one or two things at a time to change.

What I do

I try to follow a low-GI diet, in general. As you know if you’ve been reading for a while, I’ve been working on giving up sweets and junk food, two big culprits when it comes to wreaking havoc on blood sugar.

I can say that I feel better eating low GI. The sweets are particularly hard for me to give up, but after a while, they just don’t seem worth it. I know I’ll occasionally eat sweets, but I hope to never be quite so hooked on them as I have been in the past.

What types of changes have you made, that work for you?

If you have blood sugar problems, this may be one for you. According to the article, adding a little over a teaspoon of cinnamon can help your blood sugar rise more slowly.

Something I like for breakfast… cottage cheese, sprinkled with cinnamon and a few raisins. Very good!

read more | digg story

I saw some people gathered around the alli display in Wal Mart last weekend. No, I didn’t buy any.

I wonder how many of the people buying it noticed this little gem of a side effect? Seems that alli causes you to have…ahem… uncontrollable diarrhea. I usually take a pill to STOP that, not to get it.

Believe me, I know how hard it is to lose weight and keep it off, but taking this? I don’t think so.

read more | digg story

You know you need to exercise. You know it’s good for you, that you’ll feel better, even look better, if you do. It’s still tough to get up off the couch and just do it, isn’t it? Here are ten tips for motivating yourself to get moving.

1. Buy something to wear that you really like, but buy it a little too small. Choose something that fits but is a bit too snug for comfort and try it on every week or two until it fits well. Having something you want to wear soon can be a great motivator. Beware… If you choose something too small, you’ll get discouraged and give up.
2. Commit to some sort of challenge. Maybe you’ll do a 5k run or walk. Another option is to sign up to do a charity event. Whatever you choose, make the commitment and let other people know about it. Don’t sign up for anything too difficult for your fitness level.
3. Try a different exercise if you’re bored with what you’re doing.
4. When you feel particularly unwilling to exercise, stand in front of a full-length mirror naked. Yes, it sounds weird, but I bet you’ll be more eager to work out!
5. Give yourself a reward each time you exercise. You might allow yourself a half hour to watch a favorite show. Whatever you choose, just make sure it’s not a food reward.
6. Select a CD or an audio book that you only listen to while exercising. If the book is good, you’ll look forward to your workouts if only to find out what happens next.
7. List all the benefits of exercising and post it somewhere obvious, like the refrigerator or the bathroom mirror. Use it to remind yourself why you’re doing this.
8. Get a buddy to exercise with you. Help each other stay committed. You’ll be less likely to ditch your exercise session if someone else is counting on you.
9. Join a team. For some people, the added competition makes them less likely to skip their exercise sessions. It can also make it more fun!
10. Multi-task. Use your exercise time to walk to the store, get to know the neighborhood, walk the dog, etc.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated to work out?

Okay, I did it. I made it more than half the month, I made it through eating out, candy jars at work and at home. Did I cheat then? Nope.

I broke down and ate two Dove sugar free chocolates. (sigh) My chocolate cravings came back full-force today, and I have to say these really helped. They’re not too sweet at all, but they are practically bitter with chocolate. I guess if I had to cheat, they’re not a terrible choice, but I would have rather made it the whole month.

I’m going to keep going for the rest of the month, despite the chocolates! I know that chocolate is one of the toughest things for me to give up. What’s your weakness?

So, if you’re working on giving up sweets this month, how’s it going?

I’ve been able to maintain my goal, but it’s difficult. I can’t say that I haven’t had cravings for sweets; I have! I’m using artificial sweetener in my tea, and a banana in my cereal adds enough sweetness that I don’t miss can do without the sugar.

I really miss chocolate though, but it seems to be getting easier as the month goes on. I’m hoping that by the end of the month the cravings won’t be so bad. I’ll probably try some sugar-free chocolate, but not until after the month is over. I’m afraid that it’ll get me started again, and I’ll have a tough time continuing the habit.

How’s your progress?

I’m taking the evening off with the mister, so no longer posts tonight.  For me, it’s the start of the weekend, with all the perils that that brings.

I’ll see you tomorrow with another post. Have a good one!