MAD ABOUT LUCKY CHARMS & FROOT LOOPS?: How that helps sane eating
August 12th, 2010The following foods carry a “healthy” label from the manufacturers: Lucky Charms, Froot Loops, Cocoa Pebbles, McDonald’s Happy Meals, Burger King Kids Meals, certain frozen corn-dog-and-fries dinners, and…..you get the picture. As people push to get more fruits and vegetables onto their plates, food companies have added just enough of something—maybe increased whole wheat, for example–to justify the “healthy” claim. In part, the claim on the label attracts people to these foods, which aren’t really so healthy. Also, it allows the food companies to keep on advertising the foods to children—otherwise, new laws would try to stop them.
How can knowing this help you eat more sanely? Or lose weight? Several recent books and movies have drawn our attention to alarming food company practices (see below). These practices keep us eating foods that are fattening, possibly harmful to health, and definitely appetite-stimulating. That means they’re hard to not overeat. Once aware of this, we hope to start making better choices. We may consider how to minimize or avoid processed, sugar-added foods. By definition, though, this is easier said than done. If a food is indeed engineered to make you want more, then you’re probably going to have to struggle to eat less of it. Read the rest of this entry »
Emotional Overeating: Returning to those questions
August 6th, 2010Back in February and March, I blogged on topics related to emotional overeating, including the question of how addiction factors in. I share some further thoughts on this issue at “Thin From Within” this week. Read at http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thin-within.
“DIET GOT YOU IN A TIZZY”: Sane Eating Interview
August 4th, 2010EATING SANELY MEANS MOVING, TOO
July 28th, 2010Eating sanely is by definition about eating, right? Well, yes, though it is also about moving. We eat well, at least in part, to maintain good health and a satisfactory weight. And you’re not likely to achieve either without moving your body.
People exercise much less often now than in earlier eras—in fact, many of us now lead lives in which it would be completely possible to not exercise at all. Our bodies pay a steep price for not moving, though. In terms of weight, exercise doesn’t necessarily prevent weight gain or cause automatic losses. We have to eat right, too. But exercise builds muscle and supports healthy metabolism in ways that scientists continue to analyze.
We hear and read about exercise in the news pretty regularly these days. On June 4th I wrote “Stand Up to Keep Weight Down”, in response to findings about sitting vs. standing. For it turns out that even just standing beats staying seated on cardiac and other measures. Dr. Amos Oz puts his own spin on these studies in his latest O, the Oprah Magazine column (August 2010). And a recent Sunday New York Times Magazine item notes that even men who work out regularly show cardiac worsening if they sit a lot when during the rest of the week. Read the rest of this entry »
SUGAR: Eating Sanely with a Sweet Tooth (Part 2)
July 8th, 2010Sweets top the food pyramid—they sit on that tiny “eat sparingly” point. We know “eat sparingly” is easier said than done. Sugary foods fill way too much of the average person’s diet these days. It’s hidden in foods we buy, we love it, and it’s hard to stop after any amount that could be called “sparing”.
As promised in June 25’s blog, I continue here the discussion of how to stick to those small amounts. I started with a few ideas about buying less, switching to items containing less, and eliminating sugared beverages. Now we turn to the sweets we eat because we want to—whether that’s candy, cookies, pie, or cake. How do you start to say “No, thanks, I’ve had enough” after one piece?
It doesn’t make sense for anyone—skinny, fat, or in-between—to eat sugar in large quantities. So what’s reasonable for you? A small serving per day? Two per week? Three? This is what you can set as your “working to get to” goal. (What’s reasonable if you have a lot of weight to lose will be on the lower end–not only because of the calorie content, but also because of how the sweets may affect your metabolism.) Often people will target something like “one chocolate after dinner each night”, or “dessert on weekend nights”.
Aim for this goal amount. Know that as you begin, you’ll probably want more after you’ve had that amount. Think of how you’ll deal with the desire for more. I’ll describe a couple of possible strategies here. First, giving yourself a time limit before you head back to the cookie plate sometimes works. This kind of scenario might evolve like this: Read the rest of this entry »
STORIES OF STOPPING BINGING
July 1st, 2010“Can people stop binging after years?…” I share one of a series of success stories at the Psychology Today blog, “Thin From Within. Read more at http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thin-within. Sugar: Eating Sanely With a Sweet Tooth (Part 2) will appear in this Eat Sanely blog space next week. Have a happy and healthy July 4th!
SUGAR: Eating Sanely with a Sweet Tooth (Part 1)
June 25th, 2010Sugar can doom our weight loss or sane eating plans. Even as diet trends rapidly zig-zag and change, “avoid sugar” remains a constant. Our craving for sugar remains constant, too. And it continues to flavor more and more of our nation’s foods.
Why avoid sugar? Well, its “empty”, non-nutritious, calories leave us hungry and easily fatten us. It decays our teeth. It can interfere with mood and energy. Now, more and more evidence links sugar with inflammation, and inflammation with nearly any and every health problem. Yet who can stop eating it? Read the rest of this entry »
FOR BETTER OR WORSE: Marriage, Weight, and Sane Eating
June 18th, 2010People in relationships, and married people especially, gain much more weight over time than singles. The reasons for this are many and complicated. I’ve written about some of these issues during the past two weeks at my Psychology Today blog, “Thin From Within” (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thin-within). The other side of this phenomenon, though, paints a more positive picture for those with mates. And that is that people do tend to reach their goals more effectively with the support of others.
You can find more specifics about the benefits of having a helper on the Eat Sanely site (click on “Coaching”, above, and then on “Research Confirms Coaching Works”). In sum: the right kind of help and support can mean the difference between continued frustration in your diet efforts and success in changing habits for good.
How can a mate be an effective supporter? The answer to this question will vary from person to person. Discussing what would help you with Read the rest of this entry »
THIN FROM WITHIN
June 11th, 2010 This week I’m happy to introduce you to a new blog I’ve launched at Psychology Today. Called “Thin From Within”, it’s subtitled “how inner conflict keeps people stuck”: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thin-within
The Eat Sanely blog will continue to comment on relevant news, offer practical advice and strategies, and from time to time explore the emotional elements of eating. The new blog, on the other hand, will focus mainly on the inner emotional aspects of how we eat. This includes, too, how we manage to change or improve how we eat.
Most of us know how difficult it is to lose weight, to maintain a healthy weight and a healthy relationship with food. Regular readers know that I don’t automatically and always suspect emotional underpinnings to weight struggles. The foods overwhelming our senses today, loaded with sugar and salt and fat, help create these problems. So does the more sedentary lifestyle typical of our time, and the high stress levels many of us experience. However: it happens that even after we’ve learned what works, and even after we’ve acquired the right tools, we can find ourselves unable to follow through.
When that’s the case, it makes sense to check within. What I call “inner obstacles” in the Eat Sanely course can keep us from caring for ourselves as we wish. We know that stress and anxiety can make it difficult to eat well. Emotions that operate outside of our awareness—guilt is often such a culprit—can sabotage our efforts as well. And likewise, becoming conscious of, and dealing directly with, our emotions can free us.
So, I hope that “Thin From Within” will spark awareness, enable reflection, and support that freedom. I invite you to visit the site and comment where you wish!
STAND UP TO KEEP WEIGHT DOWN
June 4th, 2010“Sitting = Death”. This headline delivers a bit of a jolt. The story that it introduced, though, simply reported another study of what I called “incidental exercise” in the EatSanely workbook course. Others have used the term “non-exercise activity”. What these studies show is that heavy-duty exercise is not the only factor in the exercise-weight equation. The relationship between exercise and weight, in fact, proves much more complicated than previously thought. How much you move, day in and day out, even without planned “exercise”, affects your weight in significant ways.
One of first reports on non-exercise activity came from the Mayo Clinic in 2005, where studies found differences in how much individuals are inclined to move around. Not surprisingly, those who move around more tend to struggle less with weight. And it wasn’t just that heavy people found it harder to move because of their weight—it seemed more of built-in preference. People who don’t naturally feel as compelled to move, though, could learn to incorporate more of this “every day” kind of movement into their lives. Those who did reaped benefits. Read the rest of this entry »
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