Archive for the ‘General’ Category
NEWS FOR SANE EATING
Friday, May 6th, 2011 Every day, the media serves up something about food or diets or weight. Some of it can support our efforts to eat sanely, and some not so much. In either case, these items often spark my blogpost comments In the last two weeks I’ve culled quite a few of these flashes. I share them here in hopes that one or more might catch your interest, or spur you to make or keep wanted changes.
-research supports the idea that “stealth vegetables” can help you reduce your overall caloric intake while keeping you feeling fuller. The idea is to add pureed vegetables to meals like soup or casseroles, making them heartier, more filling, and more nutritious as they curb your appetite. This same body of research suggests that cayenne pepper might act as an appetite suppressant, particularly for people who don’t regularly eat spicy foods.
-the April 11, 2011 New York Times Magazine features a cover story about sugar as a toxin. I’m still hearing people talk about this one. Read it for a jolt—and possibly some aversion therapy if you’re trying to reduce your sugar intake. Generally speaking, reducing sugar can help you eat more sanely, whether you’ve got a lot of weight to lose or not. (more…)
BE KIND TO YOURSELF: It’s Better for Your Diet
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011How we beat ourselves up for that brownie or pizza slice! Once we’ve lost control or overdone it, forget about self-care and serenity. But research keeps confirming some ancient wisdom when it comes to eating better. Gentleness, being kind to oneself, paves a better path to success than self-flagellation.
One early (2007) study asked dieters to go easy on themselves in the face of eating proferred candy. Eaters first rated as “highly restrictive” ate less after hearing a self-compassion message than those who did not. Christopher Germer, Ph.D. mentions this study in The mindful path to self-compassion (2009). He explains, “When dieters’ heads are ‘not cluttered with unpleasant thoughts and feelings,’ they can focus on their dietary goals rather than trying to improve their mood by eating more food.” (more…)
EAT SANELY WORKBOOK NOW IN PAPERBACK!
Thursday, March 17th, 2011The EatSanely workbook course is now available in convenient paperback form!
EatSanely: Get Off the Diet Roller Coaster for Good is the first in a series of publications available from www.eatsanely.com It contains the step-by-step modules of the original EatSanely course. The workbook is meant to guide you through the process of beginning, and then keeping on, eating more sanely. With it you can target weight loss, weight maintenance, healthier eating and exercise habits. You can define a way of eating you’d like to stick with, then prepare to make the changes you’ll need. This comprehensive workbook will help you problem-solve, adjust the thinking and habits that might have blocked your way to success in the past.
Most of us have ideas about how we want to eat….but have trouble sticking to the path. The workbook materials will help you understand why this happens and how you can make changes that stick.
As with the original course format, you can still follow Eat Sanely as a self-help or coach-assisted course. As self-help, you complete the modules, or chapters, at your own pace. With coach assistance, you complete the modules over several weeks with intermittent phone coaching sessions. You can get information about how this process works by clicking on the tabs above.
I’m very happy to announce this publication—and I look forward to sharing information over the coming weeks about companion materials meant to help you on your path to better eating, health, and happiness.
Dr. Katz
THE FOREVER DIET (New Year’s Resolutions That Stick, Part 2)
Monday, January 24th, 2011As we near January’s end, some remain strong in their new diet resolutions, feeling pretty good about that. Some work away at that “one small change” or two. Others have forgotten how very much they wanted to change on January 1st. And still others suffer in frustration as they can’t seem to stick with a plan.
When diet resolutions sour this early, it usually points to a lack of preparation. Changing habits at any time of year calls for a thorough review of where you want to go, with anticipation of setbacks. If you always give up your diet when you get bored with your routine–or when you get too busy, or when your family wants pizza—why would this time be different?
Usually lacking, too, when efforts break down quickly, is a realistic idea of how change happens. Major changes require a lot of repetition and practice. They don’t happen perfectly all at once.
With weight loss, it’s particularly important to realistically prepare for the long run. On-again/off-again diets can lower metabolism and build discouragement: both of which lead to greater future weight gain. Better to get ready, then, and make changes that can last, than to jump in and out of diets, losing quickly, maybe, and then regaining at least as quickly again. Aiming for a total lifestyle change, rather than weight loss that won’t hold up, pays off in a body that stays lean. People often say they know this, but then another short-sighted diet seems just the thing.
How to make the lasting change really happen? I repeat here the basic framework for setting on the path to sane eating (look through the blog archive and the EatSanely.com “Resources” for more help along your way: (more…)
MORE ON SPEAKING UP, HOLIDAYS, AND FAMILIES
Friday, November 19th, 2010First, my blog on assertiveness caught the attention of thatsfit.ca, on aol. Find the interview at: http://www.thatsfit.ca/2010/11/16/lose-weight-assertiveness/
Nourishing your ability to speak up where needed, and to stay in shape through the holidays, leads us straight to talk of family visits. This is the subject of yesterday’s Thin From Within post at: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thin-within
Here’s to enjoying Thanksgiving, with sane eating more or less intact!
SELF-ESTEEM….AT ANY SIZE
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010I recently posed these questions on my Psychology Today blog: How Do You Like Yourself…When There’s So Much to Change? And, How Do You Change….When You Don’t Like Yourself? (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thin-within 10/8/10 and 10/22/10)
For all of us, perhaps, but especially for those trying to lose weight, these are crucial questions. Despite the growing number of Americans struggling with their size, we continue to think negatively of the overweight. It takes a lot of work to keep from internalizing these negative views—and few succeed.
Yet the very process of making major changes, such as those needed to lose weight for good, requires that we bring some self-confidence and care to the task. In other words, you’ll have an easier time sticking to new, at-first-uncomfortable routines when you’re feeling worthwhile and capable. And worthwhile and capable are surely not how the world works to make a heavy person feel.
So consider that balance between self-acceptance and the push for change. If there are things about your body or your eating habits that you don’t like, try to separate all that from your notion of who you are as a person. No one is perfect….and given your particular history and biology you’ve probably been doing your best until now. Despite what we might take from the media or from ill-informed others, “it’s not just you”. A lot of factors conspire to make overeating easy, and weight loss hard, in our current world.
Paradoxically, accepting all that may make it easier to start the tough job of change, and to succeed.
DIET BUDDIES: When Two is Best
Friday, October 15th, 2010Watching your weight, you rarely think that two is better than one. While one might be the better portion size, however, two can prevail when you’re thinking teamwork and support. Research indeed suggests that people do best losing and keeping weight off with the support of another person. I’ve written before about help in the quest for healthy weight (for starters, click on the “Coaching” tab above). I was recently asked specifically about how two friends can most effectively become “diet buddies” for each other.
A diet buddy team works together so that each can meet a similar goal. Maybe both want to get and stay on the South Beach diet. Or maybe each person has a specific weight target in mind. Maybe the two share a desire to overhaul their eating habits in small but consistent ways, or in broad sweeping strokes. Working together, the pair gains strength against cravings, fatigue, discouragement, or confusion. We’re less likely to mess up when we know someone else counts on us. We’re also more likely to do what’s good for us with the encouragement and problem-solving help of another. (more…)
SLOWING DOWN, SITTING, AND LOSING WEIGHT
Friday, October 1st, 2010Maybe you can’t lose weight without exercising, but sometimes slowing down, and even sitting, help more than you might think. Last week my Psychology Today (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thin-within) blog explored research on how the very presence of fast food in our world promotes bad choices. In fact, purposeful slowing down for reflection, stress management, or better self-care sometimes makes all the difference in achieving dietary changes. Here I’ll address a related phenomena—that is, the role of sitting in weight loss. (This article appeared in a slightly different form in the July 2008 Diet Coach’s Letter.)
*****************************************
We usually talk—a lot—about moving when we talk about staying fit. Sitting can actually help us, though, too, when we’re trying to improve our fitness, particularly our eating habits. How? To understand, we need to think about how habits change. In other words, how do we ditch habits we don’t like and build the ones we want?
Change usually does not happen instantly or all at once. And many people find changing how they eat hardest of all….some will say harder than quitting smoking or drinking, even. “At least with drinking, you don’t have to face it every day” is what I often hear. This is true— with food, you have to get used to eating less, or differently, while the same “triggers”, or eating cues, surround you. For some, a good deal of mental or emotional preparation must come first. (more…)
“DIET GOT YOU IN A TIZZY”: Sane Eating Interview
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010EMOTIONAL EATING Part 3: Soothing the Soul, Not Making Waves, and Other Uses of Overeating
Thursday, February 25th, 2010While it may be hard to stop, it’s usually not so hard to see “stress eating” in operation. A lot of emotional eating, though, hides in plain sight. You might not always see the connection between what you’re feeling and how you’re eating.
If you’re asking the question, “Why can’t I get myself to eat the way I want to?” , you can suspect emotional eating (though even this gets complicated these days, with foods “engineered” to make us want more). It starts so very easily: eating is one of our most fundamental human activities. We can’t live without it. We’re wired to like it very much, and to seek it out. We associate it with being cared for and comfortable. It doesn’t take much for food to start easing problems other than hunger.
Food is especially good at soothing and distracting us. It may distract us from bad feelings or critical thoughts about ourselves. It serves well, too, to quiet disturbing emotions that might feel dangerous to approach—doubts about a relationship, for instance, or anger at someone we love. Overeating can keep these kinds of feelings from surfacing—and save us from having to speak up or confront daunting situations. Also, overeating, and then worrying about it, can replace other kinds of worries, ones that might prove way more upsetting. Conversely, through overeating we can beat ourselves up when we feel guilty, mad at ourselves, or undeserving of good things. (more…)
-
Subscribe To Our RSS Feed
Categories
- "Thin From Within" (24)
- Addictions (11)
- Assertiveness (3)
- Eating at Work (2)
- Emotional Eating (25)
- exercise (4)
- Featured Article (3)
- General (31)
- Habit Changes (62)
- Healthy Foods (22)
- Holidays (9)
- Kids (3)
- marriage (3)
- relationships (12)
- Self-esteem (6)
- Weight Loss (72)
- weight loss surgery (2)
Archives
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- July 2009
Copyright © 2009. Eat Sanely. All Rights Reserved. Site Design By The Green Internet Group.