SuziJones
Thin Tastes Better ~ Step Five
Oct 02, 2010
Conquer Cravings:< "...no matter how powerful the pull, a craving is only a FEELING! It is not a command!" (p. 125)
My cravings DO feel like a subconcious command. Like an instinct even. I've been giving into them so long and have had them so long I eat without thinking, hence why I CAN'T have those junky carbs, white flour & sugar products in my home. They are just too tempting! No good!
** He gives some suggestions and help in how to help deal with cravings and how to not even let them have a chance. Many deal with social situations. I don't entertain a lot nor do I go out a lot. So many of them don't really effect me or help me.
Rule 1: Never Eat When You're Hungry!
<... if ou eat when you are hungry, you end up thinking with your taste buds. And when you don't think with your head, you eat impulsively, you eat too much, and you eat too quickly." (p.127)
This was me today! While getting food ready for the picnic I was grazing and nibbling and CONSTANTLY sampling things! Luckily it was for the most part healthy (veggies I was chopping for the tuna salad), but I did have about a 1/2 serving of potato chips and 2 hot tomalia candies! As soon as I saw the carbs and sugar content, I gave them to my son (who's candy it was) and told him he had til tonight to enjoy them and any left were going out in the BIG trash!!
Rule 2: Don't Be a Food Surveyor:
<"Humans are visual eaters." (p.128)
That's me! I spent six years in Japan using their molded food models to order. It's totally about the appeal to the eyes that makes my mouth water! Even more so then smell and smell is HUGE for me!
Rule 6: Don't Skip Meals ~ Have Snacks!
< "...never go too long without eating a meal, Ou can prevent cravings from developing simpl by making sure you don't go hungry." (p.129)
Now this differs slightly from "The Beck Diet Solution" The doc in that book suggested skipping a meal here and there and understanding that just because you feel like you have to eat, you really don't, and that the sensatoin and need to eat will pass. Just wait it out. Here the doctor is saying don't even go that route! Just eat healthy good food and keep your body and your mind in a place that YOU can control and influence those changes you want to make with much more ease if you are feeding yourself good healthy, wholesome, nutritionist food. Very interesting the two differing doctor's views. Since both are alike in so many ways. I do agree that skipping meals for me is bad. I do tend to then just give in and snack or eat whatever might be handy just so I get SOMETHING to eat! Im making a HUGE push to get my breakfast in as fast as I can in the morning after doing my deep breathing, since then I have only a few hours to wait before I have to eat gain. It's a time juggling game! hehe I mean I went from not worrying about when and how I ate, to now I have to schedual time to eat!! hehe When some times I just UGH! Wanna pull out my hair and stop eating!!! It's too much work! Not that I want to go back to eating crap! But at times it can be a pain to eat healthy when you need to and making sure you're getting all you need in to BE healthy. I know it's worth it long term. Being in a size 12 proves it!! WOOT!!
< "Many who have had long-term problems with flour products or sweets also find that if they siip a eal they don't get hungry for real food, but rather get 'cravey' for these flour and sugar products and snacks." (130)
Just defined me! That is absolutely my behavior. One I have been working on soo very hard by NOT having those tempting junk in my house! So far, I'm doing well against!! Not keeping it in the house is a HUGE plus!
Like today. We took the kids after the park and had icecreams at the ice cream parlor. We ate them there and wht we didn't eat, we tossed. I through away a WHOLE waffle cone and over 2/3 of my ice cream. I enjoyed the portion I ate and I did linger over it and savor it, and once I felt the fullness of my sleeve start, I tossed my so as not to keep eting and eating. My kids did the same. My younger two tossed theirs and my husband and 10 yyr old did eat theirs. Which I said nothing. It's their lives and bodies. Hopefull seeing that some of us did throw out the cones might stay with the 10 yr old and help him to understand, you eat til you are full and dont have to gorge yourself.
Rule 7: Have the RIght Food Available!
< "You cannot expect to succeed in controlling our weight if ou don't have the foods that will help you the most,. So make sure you stock yyour cabinet and refrigerators with the right fiiods. If ou don't hav the right foods around, you'll send up wearing the wrong ones!" (p130)
I'd rather wear an apple or grape then a donut or greasy bear claw! UGH!! Rather have a nice simple salad then noodles drenched in mayo in a macaronni salad! UGH Clean out those pantries and cupboards! Put the good healthy food tht is going to get you the life yoiu want. Make the change to healthy eating and exercise and you will be going to amazing places that yyou never dreamed of!
< "...it's not just hoping for a positive outcome, but picturig one that is brought about by your own efforts. (p.130)
WLS can work. It DOES work. The site is filled with success stories! The world of gastric medican is filled with success stories. What do those winners have in common? Their EFFORTS. They got out of th surgery what they put into it! I know I'm getting what I put into it! I walked over 2 miles today and the day before I did my deep breathing exercise. My yoga was postponed due to running errands, but I did get exercise in for the day and for my family! Which i of course one the most important issues on my list that the doctor suggested writing. Making a list of the top five greatest accomplishments you want from this experiance. Here are mine:
1~ Healthy, active, loving role model for my children
2~ Share several common interests with my husband
3~ Be as healthy as I can be through diet and exercise
4~ Make time for me daily to persue personal interests that I have
5~ To be the best person I can be. To love freely and have care and concern for my earthly brothers & sisters as Christ taught. Thats my highest goal. If you have true love in your heart, then there can not be hate or the will to want to harm another. I know a tad off topic, but we are here to change our lives. To change how we veiw ourselves that fit INTO those lives. So (for me) it's a spiritual joiurney as well as a healthy one. Which I think only makes since. On to another wonderful point by the doctor.
< "...most people fall prey to cravings right in their own homes, when they are feelihg stressed, sad, or just plain bored. ...comfort and privacy of your home is deceptivel easy to say "just this once" and go for a cookie, pretzel, or ice cream when a craving comes calling...best thing you can do is take a fifteen-minute cool-down." (p.132)
I know I had to clean out my home. I just went through it again! I had to take hard long looks at what was in my pantry for ME to eat instead of turning to crap! There wasn't much, but I think I can make do with wht I have until after Kaleb's party. the next advice is super good!
< "... to beat a craving is to divert it....take your focus off the craving for fifteen minutes or so, you'll often find that the craving is gone by the end of the cool down period." "Remember how long you've dreamd of being thin~what's the big deal riding out a few minutes?" (p.132)
Makes perfect sense! I feel that tightness iun my sleeve and doesn't matter what it is. I don't finish it. If someone else doesnt want to share, then the dog gets it or it gets tossed. Not going to be the human garbage can any longer!! NEVER AGAIN!!!
**Here he talks about what to do when faced with trigger foods and situations tht you lose your grip on your control and become weak:
Exit 1: The GarbagePail
< "If a partivcular food is calling to oyu, the first and est defense is to get rid of it"(p.133)
How much more simple can it be? This has become my stratagy. If It's there and I'm going to eat it, out of porpurtions, then that food needs to be removed. Nothing is worth the damn regain and back to poor health! I'm on the right track and NOTHING is going to stop me!! Not even my weak, junky eating habits! I'm getting my "No, thank yyou" skills bufffed up just as much as my body is getting in extreme shape!!
Exit 2: The 911 Friend
< "...you can't focus on food when you're on the phone with a pal." (p.133)
I tested this theory just this Friday while shopping! It was soo true. I wasn't thinking or obessing about the foods I needed to buy for todays pinic lunch and I totally just bought the items I needed! It was wonderful. When I hung up after speaking to my second friend I found that I had ordered a lunch that though not the healthiest, was by far better then the usual burger with bacon and cheese with large frie and jumbo reg. coke! And of course previously I could eat the whole damn thing. On this one I ate the fresh veggies and salsa and the beans then took bites of the burrito and picked most of the rice out eating the ground beef. Good choices and they work thankfully!
Exit 4: Nonfood rewards
< "...tak the time to list some of the things in your life that give you pleasure [other then food] and can be done in 15 minutes." (p.134)
Paint my toenails, do my hair, write a poem, look at art, listen to music, bubble baths & a good book!
Exit 5: Tend to Unfinished business
< "...the 15 minute cooldown is a perfect time to finally get around to some of those ['to do' list] projects." (p. 134)
monthy family email tht I have been putting off since Aug! Cleaning my panty and kitchen cabnits.
Exit 6: Listen to your recordings!
< "...the perfect antidote to any craving and the perfect compliment to almost any alternative activity."
read affirmation, watch insiprational slide show, record new motivation recordings
< "Although our inds ma change, our taste buds do not. But over time the pull of trigger foods diminishes, and it becomes easier and easier to turn aside when faced with them." (p.136)
I find this is where I am. I can take or leave those trigger foods of my past. It's not something that I HAVE to have to survive. Placing food in it's proper place is a HUGE help as well. Food is only fuel for my body. I want to give my body the BEST fuel I can so I have the best body possible.
< "...foods we perceive as enjoyable or rewarding actuall activate the same "reward pathways" in the brain that are triggered by certain drugs of abuse- like cocaine...you experience a "food flash"...[that] experience [is] a milder form of the drug cravings that afflict recovering addicts." (p.137)
I know that's true! I can obess and just hae no other thought but FOOD! I can literally start itching with the need! The compulsion is HUGE (at times) to just eat. Thankfully daily affirmations, an hour dog walk, 20 minutes of deep breathing, nearly an hour of yoga, then an hour or so of cleaning house and GUM (I know many surgeons warn against chewing gum, but I couldn't make it through those cravings if I didn't have it!) have been life savers when those compulsions and cravings hit! It so helps that I have a schedual as well that I stick to. I try my best to NOT waiver from it. If it's not on the schedual, well then it's NOT gonna happen! hehe
EXERCISE:
< "...for merely ten minutes at a stretch a few times a day is just as effective as the traditional thirty-minute routine." (p. 138)
I know doing short intense reps on machines and toning has been found to be HIGHLY effective. I have to say, I LOVE my hour long dog walk though. hehe It really does more then get in exercise, it's part of the next mentioned concept from the doctor.
Meditation:
< "Dr. Dean Ornish calls meditation "food for your soul. It satiates the hunger that is not satisfied by food alone. And when your soul is fed, you have less need to over eat." (p. 138)
I TOTALLY agree! I LOVE my daily yoga that ends with meditation. It's just a wonderful way to start the day, or end it! So relaxing and truly helps to focus and center your mind and get yourself focused on what is TRULY important and worthy of your time and thinking about.
Lighten Up:
"You can't laugh and eat at the same time. Humor kills food cravings." (p.138)
Grab a funny movie INSTEAD of a snack! Watch some stand up and get those muscles in the abs working with laughter!! Totally gonna have to have stir crazy and Bill Cosby stand up on my netflix instant watch! hehe
Reality Checks:
< "Stick a photo of yourself at your hightest weight on the refrigerator. A picture can ave a thousand calories."
"...over-weight individuals have heard stories of atherosclerosis, heart disease, diabetes etharg, and shortened life span. Take a few minutes a day and consider what might happen if your weight continues to increase or ask ourself, is it worth wearing a larger size [wearing a 2X or 3X??]? ou ma not experience a sudden miraculous conversion to the world of thin, but you may start feeling a little less seduced by some of those triggers." (p. 139)
So very true! Seeing where you have come from is totally gonna help to NOT go back there!
Putting it to Work:
< "...when a craving hits, you must stop and see the moment for what it is. It's just a moment, just a short period of time in your day, something you can deal with, but something you MUSt deal with right away."
"Second, get away from the food. Walk out of the kitchen, out of the living room, out of the office...take several long, deep breaths."
"...taking a quick glimpse at the photo of you at your hightest weight, if it's within view [can help as well] - start going down your list. Where are you, how much time do you have, and what things on the list can you do RIGHT NOW to occup your time for the next fifteen minutes or so?"
"Remember, this time is for ou, a special recuperative period that you should not feel guilty about taking." (p.143)
Suggestions that I'm putting into my life to help me! You can NEVER have too much help! hehe
Step six is about containment! I can't wait! Such a wonderful helpful book! Go me!! Go you!!! Thin people coming through!!
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About Me
Location
29.2
BMI
Surgery
02/09/2010
Surgery Date
Aug 24, 2009
Member Since
