Million Calorie Weekend

Ever been at your lifetime dieting-best and then, for some horrible reason, a 3-day weekend comes and it's like you've never seen food before in your life? Yeah. I have.

Hello, binge-eating...I've missed you.

I know that binge eating can be a result of something emotional or hormonal, but honestly, my stress level hasn't increased at all and I'm no hormonal than usual, lol, so I can't pawn off my bad behavior on an excuse like that either. I just stopped caring. Period. Which is really sad because now I feel like I have gone from this:

To this:

I resolve to banish binge-eating!

I resolve to eat small, healthy portions!

I resolve to limit my sugar intake!

I resolve to meet my weight-loss goal of 15-20 pounds by the end of march!

I resolve to get strong, get healthy and respect my body!

10 Strategies for Overcoming Binge Eating

• Manage stress. One of the most important aspects of controlling binge eating is to find alternate ways to handle stress and other overwhelming feelings without using food. These may include exercising, meditating, using sensory relaxation strategies, and practicing simple breathing exercises.
• Eat 3 meals a day plus healthy snacks.  Eating breakfast jump starts your metabolism in the morning. Follow breakfast with a balanced lunch and dinner, and healthy snacks in between. Stick to scheduled mealtimes, as skipping meals often leads to binge eating later in the day.
• Avoid temptation. You’re much more likely to overeat if you have junk food, desserts, and unhealthy snacks in the house. Remove the temptation by clearing your fridge and cupboards of your favorite binge foods.
• Stop dieting. The deprivation and hunger of strict dieting can trigger food cravings and the urge to overeat. Instead of dieting, focus on eating in moderation. Find nutritious foods that you enjoy and eat only until you feel content, not uncomfortably stuffed. Avoid banning certain foods as this can make you crave them even more.
• Exercise. Not only will exercise help you lose weight in a healthy way, but it also lifts depression, improves overall health, and reduces stress. The natural mood-boosting effects of exercise can help put a stop to emotional eating.
• Fight boredom. Instead of snacking when you're bored, distract yourself. Take a walk, call a friend, read, or take up a hobby such as painting or gardening.
• Get enough sleep. If you're tired, you may want to keep eating in order to boost your energy. Take a nap or go to bed earlier instead.
• Listen to your body. Learn to distinguish between physical and emotional hunger. If you ate recently and don't have a rumbling stomach, you're probably not really hungry. Give the craving time to pass.
• Keep a food diary. Write down what you eat, when, how much, and how you're feeling when you eat. You may see patterns emerge that reveal the connection between your moods and binge eating.
• Get support. You're more likely to succumb to binge eating triggers if you lack a solid support network. Talking helps, even if it’s not with a professional. Lean on family and friends, join a support group, and if possible consult a therapist.

Going Green

Green smoothies have been all the rage for a while now, but I'd never tried one until just recently and I haven't been able to get enough since. So, before I go on about the yummy taste, palatable texture and the large list of health benefits, let me just debunk a few myths that had kept me from "going green" in the past.

MYTH 1: You need an expensive blender.

I have a $40 version from Walmart that's about 7 years old and it works just great, so don't freak out about forking upwards of three hundred dollars for a blender(though a Vitamix or Blendtec would be fabulous!) If your blender can handle ice (I use crushed from my freezer), chances are it will be able to blend up apple slices just fine and dandy. 

MYTH 2: It's torture to drink.

I love my baby spinach, but thinking of drinking down two-cups of it in one sitting just didn't sound so amazing to me. Thing is: the fruit completely evens out the taste. I have never prepared a green smoothie that tasted like grass, or anything unfavorable, for that matter.

MYTH 3: Produce is too expensive.

I'll still agree that yes, produce is expensive, but eating healthy really relies on a large amount of raw foods because they are so good for you! It's well worth it. I've discovered that I actually save money now that I am spending it on fresh produce instead of canned or processed food, candy and other fattening snack foods.

The beauty of a green smoothie is that you can prepare it any way you like. You can experiment and try new flavors and find a taste and texture that suits you best. But lets jot down a few things that you definitely need to keep in mind before you whip out the fruits and veggies. You will need:

- Liquid (Water or almond milk)

- Dark leafy greens (I prefer spinach and kale)

- Fruits 

- Ice (optional, but I prefer it with ice)

In any order, pile the ingredients into the blender, making sure to add at least a couple big handfuls of dark leafy greens. Pour in about a half-cup of liquid and blend! People may say that there is no wrong way, but what you do not want is a liquidy and frothy smoothie where all the pulp sinks to the bottom. To avoid this, make you sure add some soluble-fiber fruits such as banana or mango to thicken up the texture and eliminate froth. This will create a more palatable, creamy texture and a milder, yummier taste as well. 

Health benefits of drinking green smoothies are:

- Easy to digest. When blended well, most of the cells in the fruit and greens rupture, making it easy for the body to absorb valuable nutrients.

- Green smoothies have fiber, unlike fruit juice. Consuming fiber is essential to our elimination system.

- When consuming your greens in the form of a smoothie, you are greatly reducing oils and salt in your diet.

- Green smoothies provide a ton of nutrients, including protein and amino acids.

- They are filling and promote weight loss. The high water and fiber content make you feel full, they provide a lot of sustenance and depending on the ingredients, can be a very low calorie snack/meal.

So what are you waiting for? Whip out that blender and give it a try! Have a favorite recipe? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear it. 

Great Starts

A healthy breakfast is an essential part of losing weight!

"People skip breakfast thinking they're cutting calories, but by mid-morning and lunch, that person is starved," says Milton Stokes, RD, MPH, chief dietitian for St. Barnabas Hospital in New York City. "Breakfast skippers replace calories during the day with mindless nibbling, bingeing at lunch and dinner. They set themselves up for failure."


It makes sense: Eating early in the day keeps us from "starvation eating" later on. But it also jump-starts your metabolism, says Elisabetta Politi, RD, MPH, nutrition manager for the Duke Diet & Fitness Center at Duke University Medical School. "When you don't eat breakfast, you're actually fasting for 15 to 20 hours, so you're not producing the enzymes needed to metabolize fat to lose weight."


Read the article here.
Another good article.

Having never been a "breakfast person", I wasn't sure how I'd feel about filling my stomach first thing in the morning, but it has quickly become my favorite meal of the day. Here are some examples of food that I regularly eat for breakfast:

SCRAMBLED EGG WHITES AND SPINACH
2 Egg whites
1 Handful of spinach
Splash of unsweetened almond milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix and cook in a non-stick skillet so no oil is needed. If I'm feeling carb-weak, I'll pair it with a whole wheat and corn blend tortilla with salsa on the side. Feel free to add other veggies, too!

QUICK OATMEAL
1/2 c Rolled Oats
Enough water to just cover the oats in a microwave-safe bowl.
1/4 c Unsweetened almond milk
Honey or cinnamon or fruit
Zap oats and water for 60-90 seconds, add other ingredients and stir. So quick and so satisfying!

WHEY SMOOTHIE
1/2 c Unsweetened almond milk
1 Scoop chocolate whey protein
1/2 banana
1 c Ice
Blend until smooth and thoroughly enjoy. Tastes so amazing. As you can imagine, you can mix things up with vanilla whey and other fruit. 

Getting Started: Shock Week

When I was deliberating how to start this whole life-changing process, kind of like testing the water with my toes, I did my fair share of research. I'd never dieted, I'd never been great at keeping momentum over a long period of time, and my biggest problem was that I wasn't sure where to start.

But what a lot of different diet regimes have in common is something I've labeled, "shock week".  Once you've decided when you'll begin (and for me it's easier to start out at the first of the week), then you need to commit to following through for seven days. Short enough for our first commitment, but for the diet-beginner it will seem like a long time half-way into your first day when your cravings kick in. This means checking nutrutional labels, it means no more junk-food gorging, this means soda-prohibition, this means eating the healthiest you've ever eaten in your life. 

SHOCK WEEK:

Stay under 1000 calories each day, and under 10 grams of processed and natural sugar. Low fat, low carbs, low sodium, gluten-free if possible. Increase your water intake to 12 cups. 

(Remember, this is only recommended for the first week, after which you need to maintain a healthy calorie-intake for your size and weight. Use the calculator at everydayhealth.com to find out what yours is. Starting shock week is a promise that you will continue to improve eating habits from this point on. It is very unhealthy to shock diet for an extended period of time and then resume your old eating habits. That typically results in more weight gain. Shock week is meant to jump-start your routine and wean you off all those extra calories that your body does not need.) 

In short, you'll be eating things like egg whites, tuna, chicken or turkey breast, salad, oatmeal, vegetables and go very easy on the fruits just for this week. No frying allowed! You'll be snacking on things like raw almonds and air-popped popcorn and celery. Low-sugar yogurt and Quakes were a real treat for me on shock week. I'd count out ten mini rice cakes and make them last all day - so whenever a craving hit I'd eat one or two. Also, gum saved my life. 

Try to mind your calories as well as you can and keep your intake small and somewhat bland. Being the food lover that I am, and someone who seasons almost everything, that was the hardest part for me. But I made up for the cravings by using lemon pepper on my meats, honey or stevia and cinnamon in my oatmeal, banana peppers or vinegar on my salad, calorie/sugar-free sprinkled seasonings on my popcorn, and things like that. 

During shock week, not only is your mind starting to differentiate between hunger-eating and boredom/stress eating, but your stomach is being trained to want less food, and your palate is being trained not to crave unhealthy foods, particularly sweets, on a regular basis.

At the end of the week, feel proud! Even if you caved in here and there, feel proud - and make sure to reward yourself with a little something yummy. During the rest of your weight-loss dieting you will be able to eat more calories per day...but it's funny, you won't want to go back to gorging because at the end of the week you will feel different. Better. I know I did.

Keep powering through and keep a good attitude. Your hard work will payoff.    

   

Getting Started

Attitude: You want to be fit and healthy? Great! Only you can do this for yourself, no one will do it for you. So take a big breath, a shot of determination and jump on in. It may get harder at first, and cravings will most likely be fierce, but if you stick with it things will get easier. It will become second-nature, it might even become an obsession but as long as you're using all that motivation to better yourself, I say bring it on! And most of all, if you really want this - don't give up. So you messed up and ate like a pig this weekend; who cares? You know that's not how you want to roll any more and you can give it a better shot tomorrow. Have a good attitude about healthy eating and exercise, be open to change and don't be afraid to try something new. This is within your power to achieve, and with the right attitude I know you can do it!

Grocery List: It's a good idea to start here. On your next big grocery trip, take that list of things you need to get and strike out anything that's going to be a challenge for you. Also strike anything that can be substituted with a healthier alternative, such as: soda, white bread, fatty dairy milk, snacks, sweets, flour tortillas, processed foods, fruit juices, etc. Add things like unsweetened almond milk, whole wheat or whole grain bread, wheat or corn tortillas, oatmeal, lite salad dressing, dark greens, sweet potatoes, lemon pepper, chicken and fish, whey protein powder, flax, low-sugar yogurt, raw almonds, a scale, etc. Fill your home and pantry with healthy foods, and not only will your diet have more success, but the entire family will benefit from it.

Keep It Handy:  Say you had a bowl full of M&M's on the kitchen counter all day, chances are that by the end of the day they'd be gone. The same principle applies with healthy snacks. If you had a de-boned rotisserie chicken and celery sticks at-the-ready in your refrigerator, and being mindful that you want to change, chances are that you'd reach for something healthy and handy over a handful of chips or candy. Keep your healthy snacks ready-to-eat because when those cravings hit, I know, things get crazy. Instead of caving, try reaching for a handful of air-popped popcorn, a stick of sugar-free gum - and chase that snack down with a full 8 ounces of water! Keeping water handy not only increases you chances of getting that "8 cups per day" recommendation, but it tricks your stomach and decreases appetite.

Track It: I have had a lot of success tracking my calories online and I would highly recommend everydayhealth.com. There's not always time in a day to fill in all my foods and beverages ingested - but it's eye-opening and it keeps you mindful, both of what you eat and how fattening/healthy it is for you. If you're too busy to track your calories with a caloric calculator, at least start paying attention to calories, fat and (the biggie) sugar. Scribble notes about your eating patterns and how you're feeling - all this knowledge will only help you achieve your goals.

Be Healthy:  Because that's what it's all about, right? Sure, we all want to be skinny, but loss of longevity and health is no substitution for cheating your way to being thin. Eat healthy foods, eat when your hungry (not when your bored - which was a biggie for me) because hunger comes from your body's need for food! We all know what's good for our bodies and what's bad, so use your knowledge as a roadmap and try to stay on course. Make your muscles work, make your heart pound, sweat - feel alive. This is what your body was made for, so make dieting and fitness decisions based on what's best for you and don't get too extreme about it.

Treat Yourself: I would absolutely die if I could never have a slice of cheesecake again because I'm now a healthy-eater. Lol. It's okay to treat yourself, it's okay to cave in - even when dieting! While I don't believe in having a "free-day" each week like some regimes justify, but I think there's no harm in having a little of what you love if you really, really want it. Not every day and not in massive portions, of course, if you're trying to lose weight or trying to train your palate - but once in a while it's okay to give in to a craving. Don't beat yourself up, just take it for what it is - enjoy every moment of that small indulgence and then move forward.

Be Happy: Celebrate those small victories! Did you come in under your sugar and calorie limit? Awesome! Tell someone about it! Did you weigh-in .4 pounds less than yesterday? Sweet! That's a change for the better, even if it is small. It's proof that something's working, and it's motivating to no end! Be happy that you are taking control of your life, changing your habits and becoming a better you!

The Scoop on Sugar

Anyone who really knows me knows that I have a thing for sweets. My cravings are almost constant and I can put away sugar like it's going out of style. This is, most likely, due to the fact that I've always eaten whatever I want and through a lifetime of sugar-ignorance have actually trained my palate to not only want sugar - but to expect it. While working as a dental assistant not too long ago, I would actually have candy in my scrub pockets at all times so I could sneak a piece beneath my mask between glove-changes, and considering how wonderful sugar is for your teeth...lol...talk about ironic. 

But since I've had this epiphany on fitness and healthy-living, I've done my research on my biggest weakness and have come away pretty horrified about the insane amounts that I have ingested in the past. A few facts for you:

- On average, Americans consume around 110 grams of sugar a day. 

- The USDA recommends 20 grams per day for women.

Twenty! Do you know just how tiny that number is when it comes to daily eating habits? Just to give you a few numbers: 

- 39 g in one can of coke

- 26+ g in 8 oz of fruit juice

- 27 g in 1 strawberry yoplait

- 35+ g in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

See what I mean? One careless meal, snack or beverage and you've exceeded your recommended intake of sugar. So, why does sugar matter? How does it effect your body? The body metabolizes table-sugar in essentially five steps:

1. Sugar mixes with saliva in the mouth, partially breaking down. 

2. Sugar travels to the stomach. After about 15 minutes it moves to the small intestine at intervals and there it's processed with enzymes and divided into glucose and fructose.

3. The pancreas pumps insulin to manage the glucose and it enters the bloodstream about 30 minutes after you've ingested it. Fructose heads to the liver.

4. Insulin moves glucose into the cells throughout the body, giving a "sugar rush".
5. After about two hours, insulin and glucose levels dip, leaving you tired and hungry. Extra glucose is stored as fat.

Knowledge of how my body responds to sugar was enough to make me want to change, and there is hope for the sugar-addict-hopeless like myself because when you get right down to it, I am in charge of what I ingest. I have the final say, and with a little willpower and health-minded attitude, I can completely train my palate to crave less sugar. It's so possible, and easier than you may believe. Already, I crave less sweets - shoot! I crave less food in general because I've banished sugar-binging.  

And you know what? It's a good feeling.

More reading:
Healthy Answers - Sugar
Cut Out Sugar, Increase Weight Loss
Sugar and Weight Loss

Another One Down

My weigh-in this morning was missing something: another 1.4 pounds. 


I'm sort of amazed by this, seeing how I don't really sweat everyday. I drop and give a few rounds of calisthenics,sure, but I haven't SWEAT in about two weeks. So this is proof! Healthy, calorie-mindful eating works wonders! Now all I need to do is find the motivation to go jogging or visit the gym (which I very shamefully have an unused membership at) and those pounds will have no chance at all!

It's funny how much motivation and good attitude determine success with exercise, and I resolve to actually get a little of each by the end of the week! 

As for eating, I'm doing very well, having gone from cookie-monster cravings down to hardly any. Don't get me wrong, if I need a sweet or salty pick-me-up, I'll cave but just a tiny bit. Like this morning, I wanted Nacho Doritos - so I had two. Lol, and then 16 oz of water and stick of gum. I am less hungry with each day, and I'm starting to absolutely enjoy my diet food - which is so weird to me - but true. Here's to today, and keeping under my calorie limit!

 

FAVE DIET LUNCH:
1/2 Grilled lemon-pepper chicken breast
(I grill a family-size package of these and keep them in the fridge for easy-access)
1 C spinach/spring mix lettuce
grape tomatoes
banana peppers
almonds
2 T Newman's Own Lite Balsamic Vinaigrette  

GUILTY PLEASURE:
Few Nacho Doritos
Cayenne pepper drops
(Kind of like Tabasco. It makes them spicy and yummy, and cayenne is proven to decrease appetite)

FAVE GOOD-FOR-ME DRINK:
Home-brewed ICED green tea
(Between tea and water, I drank 12 cups!)  

Three

Three what, you ask? 
Three pounds shed. 


Three - in one hit-and-miss week. Imagine what I could do if I really applied myself! It seriously motivates me. I came in under my daily calories and carbs goal yesterday for the first time, without feeling starved and frustrated, and it feels amazing. Makes me want to try even harder today. 

FOR BUSY SCHEDULES:
Fit in ten minutes of calisthenics whenever you can! Drop and give ten honest minutes of sit-ups - push yourself and make it count! Do it as often as your schedule will allow. Yesterday I got three ten-minute segments of abs in and I feel accomplished and sore. It's the least I can do, really, but it helps me feel that at least I did something.

MY FAVE DIET BUDDIES:
Unsweetened almond milk. So good! 35 calories! ZIP sugar!
Mission corn and whole grain tortillas. Satisfying for carb cravings!  90 calories!

Today I will get some cardio!
And you know what? This is getting easier.