Address Emotional Eating and Lose Weight

I know this may sound cliche (and maybe just too easy) but one thing I have always suggested for emotional eaters is to journal feelings. I suggest it because those who do it are much more successful  mastering their emotional eating! Negative feelings frequently occur because specific needs are not  being appropriately met. By making this self-realization a person can gain more control over any kind of emotional eating (stress, frustration, boredom, anger, etc.)

When you truly understand what you are feeling through writing  you might also also note any patterns that might occur. For example do you find you always eat when you are overwhelmed and stressed? How can you get your needs met better or how can you diffuse the stress in an appropriate way? Do you find that you always eat in specific situations with certain people? By exploring these things in a food diary and/or along with your feelings you can figure things out and take some steps to actively change your eating behaviors.

For more direction with emotional eating and writing you might try reading the Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size by Julia Cameron. She's got some  inspiring insights of what others have discovered and some specific writing techniques which ultimately helped them overcome emotional eating.

The bottom line is if you self-sabotage your dieting efforts because of any kind of emotional eating you need to address the feeling behind the eating regardless of how you find the correlation.

Success in Weight Loss is a Mindset

Wouldn’t it be great if you realized that the very obstacles you seem to face are merely created in your mind rather than being real? When you view something with self-doubt rather than the “I can” attitude full of faith and conviction you will succeed. So replace doubt and fear with a strong conviction of certainty and you will succeed. You give away your own power to the food rather than realizing your mind can be stronger. So no matter where you are in your weight loss, rethink it,  start today with a different strong life force of real faith of self encouragement, belief, and trust in yourself that this time you will make it.

But  just how do you do it? Face the challenges head on, step by step, day by day, challenge by challenge and get help if you need to. So even if the upcoming holidays seem so full of temptations  remember you really can be successful. Act as if failure really is impossible because it is if you believe that.

“Act as if failure is impossible, and your success will be assured. Wipe out every thought of your not achieving your objective, be brave and set no limits on the workings of your imaginations. Never be a prisoner of your past, Become the architect of your future…and you will see that nothing can stop you.”  - Author unknown

Dirty Little Secrets that Restaurants Hide

I’ve never been a fan of pushing dining out whether in regular restaurants or fast foods but now I’m convinced it’s a downright conspiracy to keep American overweight and unhealthy. In fact the writers of Eat This Not That have started confronting some local chains.  I applaud their efforts to let the public see things as they really are. Here’s just one of many dirty little secrets they found:

“Maggiano's Little Italy doesn't want you to know just how many calories and carbs you're consuming in those massive pasta portions. (As the menu puts it, "Family-style service or individual entrees are available ... Whichever you choose, you'll have plenty to share or take home.") Note In Italy, a standard pasta serving means 4 ounces of noodles with a few tablespoons of sauce. At Maggiano’s, a large order of pasta translates into two pounds of noodles piled high on a hubcap-size dinner plate (15 inches in diameter). A PR rep responded to our request for nutritional information a week later: "Sorry for the delay, I had to wait for corporate approval. Unfortunately, they have declined to participate." - "July 2008 Update: With no New York City locations, Maggiano's is still hiding from us — and you. But we're still watching.”

Do read more dirty little secrets that have been discovered here.  I'm sure there are numerous other resturants besides the ones discovered here doing similar things. These examples are exactly why the public needs to have the nutritional information boldly posted. Ignorance certainly is not bliss when it comes to our health.

Conquer HalloweenTemptation

The other day I gave you some tips to get you through the challenging day of Halloween. These few tips will help you get the right attitude to follow through on them:

• Realize that you really do have discipline, willpower and self-control.  I know you have accomplished things in life that have required these qualities, right? Well, losing weight is not that different, you just have to channel your focus towards it.  Remember it’s really about attitude and your committed decision that controls discipline and willpower.  You don’t allow people to control you, so don’t allow food to control you either! Don’t give permission to let if affect how you feel. You have the power!
• Be grateful your life is not about your weight.  Put things in perspective. You have all the basics in life if not a few luxuries, something that billions of others cannot say. You have the power of choice which is something that you should cherish every waking moment. Once you are thankful for the things you do have in life, not having that ideal weight today won't matter as much. You may not be exactly where you want to be, but note there are others that aren’t even close to where you are.
• Need more? Read this for more attitude adjustment.

Happy Halloween! Focus on the holiday fun rather than the so-called treats. (It's not a treat if you feel bad for eating too much of it.)

Haunted by Halloween Treats?

Halloween is the kick off season for weight gain. Don’t be “tricked” into devilish weight gain! Here are some tips to stay on track:

• Buy Halloween candy the day before Halloween so it’s not sitting around to tempt you. Store it in places where you are not constantly exposed to it.
• Purchase only the candy items that you don’t like.
• Consider passing out non-food treats to the kids.
• If you absolutely must have a Halloween candy, enjoy a moderate amount of it, but only if it doesn’t set you off on a binge. Fruit of course, would be the best choice.
• Emphasize the fun part of Halloween. 
• Halloween night is so hectic sometimes a healthy meal is not even a consideration. Plan on consuming leftovers from the night before or have something you can just grab and eat or assemble quickly.
• Eat dinner a bit earlier so you get that evening meal in. If you miss dinner entirely it’s a set up for over indulging later!
• Offer to buy your kid's candy when it comes in so the leftovers aren't "haunting" you. Then get rid of it. Or keep the extra candy in a spot where you aren't constantly tempted to see it and eat it.
• Enlist your spouse or friend to support you (NOT be the food police).
• Just because those mini candies are so little, remember they can add up real quick.
  
• Tackle this challenge with a positive attitude! Check Dana's blog as well for additional input on Halloween challenges.
  

It won’t be a Happy Halloween if you feel bad about over doing it the next day and you won't feel like the devil made you do it!

Staying Motivated

With the holiday season almost here a client was worried about her motivation waning. She asked me for some motivating quotes to help keep her on track. Actually clients ask for this a lot. (I’ve been known to adopt a few for myself too.) She wants to put them in her food diary which incidentally is always  good for anyone to stay on track no matter what time of the year a person is dieting. (Food diaries are also proven to promote weight loss.)  I gave her a few of my favorite quotes which are:

• ”If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you got.” – author unknown
• “If you fail to plan you plan to fail.” – author unknown
• “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.” – author unknown
• “You must do the thing you think you can not do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
• "Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments." - Jim Rohn

Readers let’s build on these. Please post some of your favorite quotes that keep you on track for Halloween this coming weekend and the months ahead.  Or just tell us what you do to stay motivated during tough times.

Too much sugar = Prison?

With Halloween and the holidays looming right ahead of us I happened to notice this bit of news around candy consumption with children. “Willy Wonka would be horrified. Children who eat too much candy may be more likely to be arrested for violent behavior as adults, new research suggests.” The study was published in the October issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry and paid for by Britain's Economic and Social Research Council.

Now that’s a pretty bold statement but when you think about it I believe there really could be  a lot of merit in continuing on with these types of studies. Blood sugar disturbances (especially hypoglycemia) can alter mood chemistry dramatically and probably even more so with children. This is definitely worth taking a more serious look at. (Note that a person can have hypoglycemia for years and it may go completely undetected.)

Readers what do you think? How do you or your children act when they consume too much sugar?

Do prescription appetite medications work for weight loss?

Do prescription appetite suppressants work to curb appetite and lose weight? They do and they don’t. Let me clarify. They do reduce appetite but the problem is the minute a person goes off them the same problems still may exist if a person has not properly changed their eating behaviors and addressed any emotional components to overeating, which are frequently the core causes of overeating in the first place.

I’ve also seen situations when appetite suppressants have been given and clients maintain a false sense of confidence in their eating choices. In other words they think nothing will tempt them ever again and they will never gain the weight back and that could be the medication talking.

In the past I have also found clients who were not monitored and/or assessed properly and were given appetite suppressants too freely and irresponsibly.

Lastly if taken for too long of a time the medication may be hard on the adrenal system, especially if a person is highly stressed to begin with.

So, if you do decide to go on a medication for appetite control realize you also need to change any bad eating habits to be successful for the long haul.

A Spicy Recipe Rub - Help for Inflammation

A few weeks ago I was discussing the anti-inflammatory diet. Since a big component in this diet and food plan includes adding in specific spices I thought I’d share a great recipe I came across on EatingWell.com.  It’s a “rub” which can be used on most protein sources; it contains very few calories and has all the great benefits of fighting inflammation regardless of your own diet plan! So here it is:

ACTIVE/TOTAL PREP TIME: 5 minutes

EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

• 6 Tablespoons curry powder
• 3 Tablespoons coarse salt
• 4 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 Tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 Tablespoon dried mint
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger

Combine curry powder, salt, crushed red pepper, cumin, coriander, mint, turmeric and ginger in a small bowl. "Rub" on your favorite protein source and cook as desired. Note: not for those of you who prefer milder tastes although you could easily eliminate the red pepper and still get some great benefits.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per teaspoon: 5 calories; 0 g fat (0 g sat, 0 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrate; 0 g protein; 0 g fiber; 211 mg sodium; 19 mg potassium.

To fight any kind of inflammation (heart disease, diabetes, obesity, lupus, etc.) utilize ND's IF factor on any food you do a search on. Go here and check out what the label can tell you.

 

Guilt Free Peanut Butter

I don’t know about you but doing most of my dieting in the fat free era of the 80's I still tend to be a bit wary of things heavy in fat. As a result I even gave up peanut butter because it was one of those foods I could literally eat right out of the jar. But at long last I have found a great tasting peanut butter that is almost all protein with very little fat. (Contrary to common thinking peanut butter is mostly a healthy fat not a particularly high protein source.) Anyway the peanut butter I now enjoy is called PB2. Two tablespoons has 52.2 calories, 3.4 carbs, and 5.65 grams of protein.

And yes, it really does taste good! And, because you basically just add water to the pure dried peanut mix you can make up as little or as much of what you want. Incidentally, it also comes with a chocolate version. That I won't tempt myself with!