artificial sweeteners... I'm glad I let go of them. The reasoning is it does stop me from eating a lot of stuff that may be low in sugar but still high in calories. Also I used to have some pretty bad cravings and I'm not sure if artificial sweeteners contributed, but since I've given up artificial sweeteners, the cravings aren't as bad.
I also rarely eat anything with sugar in it. I do eat a square of dark chocolate once in a while. It has sugar in it. I am ok with that.
On the flip side, I've realized I can let other things into my diet like potatoes. I used to restrict white carbs even potatoes but potatoes aren't processed so they are ok. I am also more free with eating fruit now than I have been in the past.
I've given up fast food, which I do not miss, but what I need to give up are burritos. I am maintaining now, because of my sucky diet choices. Exercise is keeping it balanced, but when I have a burrito (and I have had...5 this week!), I eat the whole thing, which includes a nutritionally poor flour tortilla, the cheese, and whatever else is in there. It would be far better to lose the tortilla and the cheese and have more portion control on the filling.
Those 100 calorie snack packs.I thought I could have one now and then as a special treat,but one turns to two,three and so on.Chocolate as well,since once I have a taste,I can't seem to get rid of that craving...whereas if I don't have any at all...there is no craving.
I include all foods in my diet or, should I say, the possibility of eating any and all foods. There are lots of foods I avoid or eat in moderation but the minute I decide that any food is completely "off limits," I set myself up for a binge. Restriction doesn't work for me.
Diet soda, I used to have 4-5 cans a day. Instead of water :-P I need to drink more water now, so I cut the soda out completely. I miss the caffeine sometimes, but it never really affected me that much physically, it was more of a mental thing.
I haven't really. There are some things I eat in very strict moderation, but nothing is completely banned. I did give up meat, but I didn't do it because I needed to do it to lose weight.
I'm the same way, but maybe for different reasons. I have stopped labeling food as categorically "bad" and "good". Even though there really are good vs. bad foods when we're trying to be our healthiest, like Glory mentioned. But, whenever I totally restrict or ban a food, I sooner or later (usually sooner) binge on it or something else because I want it so bad. So while tortilla chips and salsa are a "dangerous" food for me, as long as I know that I can go and measure out 1oz of chips and enjoy them, I'm ok. No chip binges in months now. And learning moderation at the same time. What a blessing!
I never cut something out as in "I'm never going to eat that again". However there are alot of things I don't eat now because I pass them up because of the calories. After awhile you forget about them.
I don't have anything that I forbid myself to eat. But some things I just keep out of the house on principle because if they're around, I am drawn to them.
squishy white bread, rolls, and hamburger buns...
I haven't bought white bread in years, but once in a while my husband buys the wrong thing, or someone comes over to grill and leaves a half-bag of hamburger/hotdog buns. White bread doesn't need butter -- I'll eat half a bag at a time without even thinking about it. It's a deep, old memory of comfort. Mom used to tell me about finding me in the front closet, hidden behind the coats, stuffing my face with bread. I don't remember so I must have been pretty young. But the smell of a closet also triggers some strange memories, too. *laughs* I think I hid in there to binge-eat a lot more than Mom ever caught me doing.
fruit pies and pot pies, especially two-crust
I am a pie crust fiend. I will pick bits of the crimped edges. I will eat my daughter and husband's crusts after they eat out "the good stuff". I rate pot pies on how good the crust is much more than on the stew inside. We got half a rhubarb-strawberry pie from the Amish market near our home one week and I enjoyed it a great deal. Next week, DH brought home a WHOLE pie as a "treat" for me, because I had enjoyed the first one so much. I had to thank him kindly but ask him please not to do that again. Half a pie is one thing. I can divide it in small slices and ration it out one a day for a week. A whole pie, however, disappears much sooner. I don't know what it is. *sighs* And when we went on vacation and found a Mennonite bakery that sold cherry and berry pies -- well, I bought two "for the whole family" and ended up eating half of one all by myself. I will bake sweet breads. I will bake cookies. I will bake brownies and cakes. But except for Thanksgiving, I do NOT bake pie. I might as well hang the unbaked pie crust on my hips, because that's where it will end up if I bake it.
So, those are two things that I KNOW are trigger foods for me. White bread I will have as dinner rolls at holidays, and pie I may allow myself to order for desert at a restaurant. But I really don't want them in my house.
I'm like Synger in that I don't have any "forbidden" foods, but some foods I can't keep around. Anything sugary or made with white flour is a big trigger for me, as is peanut butter. My DH has a jar of it on the top cupboard above the washer. It takes effort for me to get it so if I really want some, I will go to the effort, but mostly I don't bother.
I would also say that there isn't any food item that I would tell myself "no, you can't have that". What I've given up is really by choice. I've also given up fried foods, because of my gall bladder issue but I never really ate many fried foods in the first place. I have no real desire for sweets anymore so I can't say I've given them up conciously. Most stuff I used to eat, I gave up because I have no taste for it. I've even given up most meat! Not because of a concious choice, but I don't have too much of a desire to eat meat any more. The only noted item I gave up conciously was what I stated before (artificial sweeteners).
Midwife, I eat burritos occassionally as well from Baja Fresh. Now I know they aren't the best but I do cut it in half and only eat half. It is also my form of calorie cycling as during the week, my calories are pretty low and pretty much the same. If I have a half a burrito on the weekend, then I'm upping my calories slightly and doing a lazy form of calorie cycling
Nothing has been absolutely “banned” from my diet. I’ve been a vegetarian for 12 years so there’s no meat, but that wasn’t something I gave up to lose weight. I was never into a lot of the things that lots of people seem to have trouble with, like fast food and soda. I guess my just diet needed a nutritional fine tuning and portion control more than anything. I have drastically reduced the amount of dairy, eggs and processed food. And I very rarely eat out or order delivery/carry out. Eating restaurant rarely goes well for me, I might enjoy it while I’m eating it but I almost always overeat and feel like crap later. I feel loads lighter after making some changes and everything seems to run much more smoothly. If you know what I mean.
