Is it physically possible to enjoy the "bad" foods?
 

Okay, this is kind of a funny question. I'm 3.8 pounds from my goal weight, and I'll at least be maintaining while I figure out if I want to keep going or stay where I am.

I found an old thread on 3FC where people said maintenance was just like dieting for them, just with more calories. I LOVE that! I don't do well without a plan, and not knowing what maintenance would entail was really bothering me.

My question is concerned with the foods you may have limited or just plain not eaten while losing. For me, I still allow myself to eat in restaurants occasionally (usually once a week and I stick to one serving, no matter how many servings are on my plate). I just don't eat crappy pub food. If we want to go out, we go somewhere like PF Changs where I can actually eat a balanced meal without ruining my calories for the day. I still eat chocolate because I made this change for life and know I would not want a life without chocolate.

But I cut out the really bad-for-me foods (downtown nachos from my favorite restaurant, chips, etc.). Well, on Friday, I decided to indulge in ordering lunch with my coworkers. I know that it can be done while calorie-counting, and with my exercise, I usually still lose up to 2 pounds (or more - 2.6 this week) while eating out occasionally. So I ordered a plain hamburger from Ruby Tuesday, no sides. Just the hamburger. 981 calories and 900-something grams of sodium!

About have an hour after finishing said burger, I felt really ill. My back started sweating. I felt dizzy and lightheaded and got a migraine. Does anyone else think it was the burger? One of my friends blamed it on all the sodium in the burger.

Same thing happened when I had a mini pizza from the grocery store a couple of weeks ago. I felt like crap for the rest of the day (even though it fit in my calories).

So, now I'm worried. Because even though I've restricted myself from enjoying the really bad-for-me foods while losing weight, I hoped to enjoy them every once in a while during maintenance (especially my beloved downtown nachos). Now I'm worried that I will be physically unable to do so. Maybe my body is so used to healthy eating now that it rejects the awful stuff? No doubt, I'd rather be fit and healthy than go back to eating the disgusting foods I used to eat every day, but I kind of wanted the best of both worlds - downtown nachos a handful of times a year and my new body. Is this totally unattainable?

You know, as humans we are tempted to turn correlation into causation, which isn't always the case. Maybe it WAS the burger, or maybe you were just thinking about the stats of the burger and your mind was playing tricks on you. Or maybe it had nothing to do with the burger at all and you just had a little weird spell. Or maybe it was a little too undercooked and you were a little sick from that.

There could be a lot of things that caused that. 900 mg of sodium is a lot for one meal, but it's not more than you usually eat in a day, more than likely. The mind has so much control over the body. A lot of it is probably that you've been denying yourself stuff with those stats for so long you just couldn't stop thinking about it, even subconsciously, maybe. I'd give the downtown nachos a try- but maybe only half an order the first time!

Oh...I sure enjoy the junk when I'm eating, but like you, I suffer later. You would think after 2+ years of maintaince I would learn my lesson with "unhealthy" food, but for some reason I still indulge about once or twice a month, and every time I feel physically ill for a day or 2 after.

For example, every single time I over indulge in refined carbs, (sugar and/or white flour stuff) I burn up, (and I'm almost always cold usually). I get terrible night sweats, heart palpitations, and severe anexiety attacks. I also get headaches and gerd/heart burn symptoms. It is SO totally not worth it, but for some idiotic reason, I continue to test the waters. The nice thing though...it goes away after a day or 2, when back 190 pounds ago, it was an all day, everyday way of life. :(

I'd suspect that it was the bun, not the meat. If you look up Ruby's classic burger in their nutrition info, you find that the classic burger has 65 grams of carbohydrates. That is a lot for one meal.

My tastes have changed. I almost never order burgers out anymore. I can do them better and more to my liking at home. I do eat out at restaurants fairly regularly, but I mostly stay within my plan.

Right now I'm losing rather than maintaining, but if I go to Ruby Tuesday, I usually get the salmon, or shrimp, or tilapia, or a small steak, with two vegetables sides (no potatoes or pasta). Delicious, filling, and allowed on my plan.

The point is, my tastes have changed, and things I used to think were wonderful just... aren't anymore.

Good luck!
Jay

It's these little splurges on foods we did not eat but decided to add back in maintenance that make us fall off the wagon all together. You cannot go back and eat the foods you gave up when you changed your lifestyle to lose weight. You eat the same as you did losing but a little more.

For the last 26 months I somehow, some way have found the strength to climb back on the wagon after a crap bender...but more and more I am coming (okay, HAVE come) to the conclusion that life just might be worth living without it. That wagon gets bigger and I get weaker every time I have to climb back on.

I have read it here at 3FC a hundred times, I hear it from people in real life all of the time...that a life without sugar/crap/junk is not worth living, and moderation is the key...blah, blah blah. I keep thinking that there MUST be something terribly wrong with me because I just can't seem to do it in moderation... I'm a freak, or weak, or did it all wrong because I CAN"T do the, (sugar/refine carb) moderation thing. I denied myself while losing, I can't sustain a diet free of garbage...But you know what? BS!!!. I'm not a loser because I can't do moderation. I'm a loser when I keep thinking I should be able to.

Sorry for the rant, but Right at this very moment I want something sweet and crappy for me, and I KNOW if I eat it, I won't stop until I feel like complete crap.

I think it's possible, but I also believe that indulging in high-glyceminc-carb, high-salt, high-fat processed foods is such a slippery slope it may not be worth it.

In college and graduate school pychology classes, we learned that some alcoholic treatment in both the past and present has focused on returning the alcoholic to social drinking. The success rates are significantly lower than the abstinence method, but aren't zero. Some problem drinkers can return to moderate use of alcohol - but most cannot.

I suspect the same is true of highly processed foods. The more a person includes in their diet, the harder it is to control the addictive nature of the foods (and the more physical harm it does the body).

You can try, but don't beat yourself up if you can't, or think that life will be empty without them. There's tons of wonderfully delicious food that is less "addictive" and less physically toxic.




I don't thin the body suddenly "rejects awful stuff" I think it always DID reject the awful stuff, we're just often too chronically sick to notice it. I know in my case, I was sick all the time, so I didn't realize just how sick I was, until I started feeling better.

I think that many of the illnesses of our modern world (that are even running rampant through even thin and healthy-looking people) are caused, in part by the foods that have become so common.

There are a lot of very sick people walking around, unaware that they're sick, because they look ok, and they've been sick so long, they've forgotten (or never knew) what feeling well feels like.

It's not just obese folk getting type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. It's extraordinarily common even in thin folks, and it's appearing at younger and younger ages.

I don't think it's a coincidence that it's correlated with the amount of processed foods, especially high-glycemic, high-carb foods in our diet - and the salt/fat/sugar or starch combination that David Kessler talks about in his book The End of Overeating (in which he points out that all people, and lab animals too have difficulty turning down such foods and avoiding overeating them. And the food/flavor combination is not just addictive, it's health-damaging).


Through low-carb dieting, I learned that I have an allergy or sensitivity to wheat and perhaps gluten. Before low-carb dieting, I thought some of my health problems were just unavoidable (or were due to the obesity).

When I went super-low carb, aside from othr health improvements one dramatic improvement was with my skin (which I'd had severe problems with, since puberty) cleared up. Not only did I stop getting seborrheic dermatitis but also the cyst and boil-like pimples, and the redness, bumps and spiderveins of rosacea were gone too. Even the scaley dry patches and the super oily pathces were gone too. I had beautiful skin.

I suspected the low-carb diet, and I also suspected the weight loss, and I even suspected coincidence (because of my education in research methods).

So I started experimenting by adding different carbs to see which ones aggravated my skin issues. I eventually (after maybe 8 months to a year of experimenting) learned that wheat was the biggest trigger, followed by other grains or large amounts of sugar and followed very distantly by large amounts of any carb (except veggies - I've never had a reaction from even insane amounts of non-starchy veggies).

The more I read on the subject (books that argued that large amounts of digestible, non-fiber carbs such as grains and sugar have only been part of the human diet for less than 2% of our history on the planet). Honey and sweet fruits were available, but so rare as to constitute a very small part of the diet. And fruits (and vegetables for that matter) were much more fibrous and far less sweet than modern versions. For thousands of years, we've bred the fiber out of and sugar into our foods, to the point that 99% of our food stuffs bear little resemblence to their wild counterparts.

I know I'm starting to get all soap box and ranty about this, but I think we've been poisoning ourselves with yummy but nutritionally useless and often physically harmful foods. And we're raised on a diet so high in these foods, and these foods are so potentially addictive, that we wouldn't recognize moderation if it bit us on the butt. I think indulgence can become a slippery slope, because true moderation is very difficult with foods that are so super-addictive (after reading The End of Overeating, I can't help but see these foods as the edible version of crack or heroine or meth-amphetamine).

It's taken me 7 years to lose 94 lbs, because I have been so subbornly determined to eat my problem foods in moderation. I keep having to lower my definition of moderation to make progress, and I think I'm finally acknowledging that for many of these foods, there may be no moderation for me (or moderation may be twice a year).

Every food has to be judged by it's trigger potential, and it's consequences. If a food makes us physically ill, we have to ask ourselves is it really so delicious that I'm willing to make myself sick over it. Sometimes our answer will be yes.

I'm thankful that Ranier cherry season is only about a month long, because I can make myself very sick on Ranier cherries. It hasn't caused a weight issue, mostly because of the associated diarrhea (sorry for the graphic TMI), so I can binge to my heart's content every year and call it moderation, because I'm willing to put up with the unpleasant effects. However, if Ranier cherries became available (and affordable) all year-round, I probalby would have to give them up entirely because I cannot eat them in moderation, and becasue the physical side-effects aren't pleasant.

We have to judge all of our food this way. Are the negative consequences worth it? Especially for the foods for which the negative consequences seem to dissipate the more we eat them (but they don't really, we just get used to feeling crappier and forget what feeling good feels like - that's my theory anyway).

Ouch! I literally cringed when I read that and I think you're right. I lost weight on a low-fat diet, then transitioned to the South Beach Diet, which I continued to "clean up". The low-fat diet was very unhealthy (lots of pasta, risotto, jasmine rice and sugar with very limited fat). I didn't realise until I read the South Beach Diet book just how unhealthy it was, and that eating like that long-term can lead to diabetes. (My mother has Type 2 diabetes and has never been overweight.)

One thing I read on a South Beach board stopped me cold. If you feel an overwhelming need to go and lie down after dinner, it may be because your pancreas is working overtime to pump out insulin after a high GI meal. Mr RedPanda and I used to routinely have a nap (or more accurately, fall into a "carb coma") after a pasta or risotto dinner.

:faint:

Mr RedPanda recently said that, back when we were both obese and often ate at restaurants, he felt bloated and sick much of the time and didn't really enjoy being a bon vivant. I don't remember feeling like that, but I probably did. But I feel so much better now, and have so much more energy, I never want to abuse my body with poor food choices again.

That too. :)

Exactly! I can so relate!

One of the reasons I started grazing, rather than eating meals, is that I wanted to shrink my stomach. It worked (almost too well).

Now, I have to be extraordinarily careful not to overeat, or I'll feel deathly ill afterward - and I can't believe I did this to myself on an almost daily basis.

I used to love buffets, and I would always feel ill afterward, but I was used to it, so it didn't seem all that bad. Now that eating to the point of discomfort is exceedingly rare, it feels exponentially worse - even though I don't think it is. I think I'm just not used to feeling that yucky.

I do remember in the past, many times eating to the point that I wished I could throw up. I'd feel so violently ill that I would wish that if I couldn't throw up, that I would at least die and get it over with. And when I say many times, I mean at least once a week (and more during TOM).

"Why oh why, did I eat so much. How could I forget that this would happen," I would think.

I haven't eaten like that in many years, and I've found that it's hard to remember exactly what what that felt like. The pain, the cold and hot sweats, the inability to stay awake, but also the inability to actually fall asleep. I know it was misery, but it was so frequent that the misery wasn't bad enough to discourage me from repeating it.

Every once in a while, I'll eat a little too much and get a glimpse of the old pain. It's never as severe (I haven't had to "lie down" after eating in a very long time), but even now it's uncomfortable enough that I'm amazed that I wasn't deterred by much worse.

I've learned even at a buffet to be extremely careful (the old me would have never believed that I could leave a buffet without filling at least two plates to overflowing - now I pretend that I'm my picky younger sister - I try to never let the different foods on my plate touch).

I can't believe that I ever found eating to the point of that kind of pain fun. And yet I still have a lot to learn, because eating Ranier cherries to the point of diarrhea isn't exactly the smartest decision either, and I suspect that one day that too will seem unbelievable (or so I hope).

Over the years, regardless of whether I was actively trying to lose or maintain, I've changed my tastes. I still like fattening foods, but my diet overall is filled with much healthier foods---salads, fruits, etc. Even when I was fat (okay--I'm still sort of fat), I ate good stuff---I just ate too much of it, and I ate fattening treats that I bought from Whole Foods (organic cherry pie, for example). However, over the years, I've changed my tastes so that it's a rare occasion that I eat a candy bar or just pig out on chips. I'm not saying it hasn't happened over the years, but it's happened MUCH less in the last ten years or so. I think my taste buds have become more refined.

I've also found that over the years, I'm getting better at moderation. I'm okay having a small piece of cake for dessert w/out going overboard----for MOST things. I still have some red light foods that I cannot keep in the house, and I'm still discovering what some of those are (e.g., I just put cashews in this category last week).

All of this is just to say that maybe what you can tolerate right now will not be the same as what you can tolerate long term as you move into maintenance. Maybe one day, you'll go to Ruby Tuesday, order that same burger, but be satisfied to eat just half of it.

Actually, I would place bets that you're the norm for people [including me] who have struggled with maintaining a healthy weight. There has to be a reason that so many people regain, and I'll bet one reason is that it is hard for someone like me (who has struggled most of my adult life with my weight) to eat favorite foods in moderation. I've gotten much better at it over the years, but I think I'll always be somewhat obsessive and hyper-aware of food. I'd say you're ahead of the game in that you've maintained for so long. I tip my hat to you (if I wore a hat :) ).

Exactly!

This conversation reminds me of an article I read only yesterday. (It's by Anna Stoessinger and was reprinted from the New York Times, in case anyone wants to look it up.)

The author describes her life as a full-on gourmande. Her life revolved around food, and she and her hubby planned their holidays around where to eat. Having done more than my share of fine dining in France and Italy, I could relate to the first part of the article. Then she writes about how she was diagnosed with stomach cancer when she was only 36, and had to have her large intestine and oesophagus removed.

In the three weeks leading up to the operation, she and her hubby planned an extended Last Supper during which they both ate their way along a route chosen to take in some of their favourite eateries, both fine dining and not-so-fine dining. When I read the detailed descriptions of what, and how much, she ate, I started to feel queasy. I just couldn't stomach that - sorry!

As I related to my hubby over dinner last night, if I were in that situation, I'd be freaking out and too upset to eat much. Instead of planning a food-fest, I'd be researching and planning what I could eat after the operation. He nodded, because he knows that's exactly how I'd react. Of course, I'd have a Last Supper during which I would no doubt drink too much and order the cheese plate, but there's no way I could eat vast quantities of super-rich and junk food non-stop for three weeks.

I'm really glad I read the article, because it brought home to me how much my attitude to food has changed.

Lori, this is the direction my thinking has been going. I'm a year behind you in this weight loss/maintenance journey. I had stopped eating candy years before I attempted the weight loss and it was the hardest thing I've ever done. Losing 100 was easier than going cold turkey on the candy habit so I'm afraid of acknowledging some other foods that should move into the never category.

This! I was sitting at my desk on Friday thinking Please just throw up, get this junk out of your body so you'll feel better. I've felt that way many times. My husband and I would plan trips to restaurants - Outback and Olive Garden specifically - knowing that we'd need to lay down in our food coma when we got back home. We would have to block out time for the restaurant AND the resulting miserable nap.

I'm also totally with you on the addictive foods research. My friend Amy and I were just talking a few weeks ago about how addictive fast food is, how if we've not had it for a while we don't miss it and/or get sick when we do eat it but if we eat it one time we want it more and more. So I've just accepted that I probably won't be going back to enjoying McDonald's, Wendy's, or Arby's "in moderation" because there is no such thing as moderation with those addictive foods. And it's no real loss because I can make those things - nuggets and baked french fries - at home should I ever want to. (Luckily, I haven't yet.)

There aren't even any foods at places like O'Charleys or Ruby Tuesday or Applebees that are tempting enough for me to work them into my calories. As another poster said, I can make a better burger that is more to my liking at home. But there are those rare local treasures - like the downtown nachos - that I would like to enjoy every once in a while. Luckily, they're not addictive for me. But it's like you said... I'm going to have to decide if enjoying them every once in a while is worth the pain of it.

Sorry for the rant, but Right at this very moment I want something sweet and crappy for me, and I KNOW if I eat it, I won't stop until I feel like complete crap.[/QUOTE]

3 words: Smart Ones Sundaes.

Yummy, chocolaty and portion controlled!

It's a little bit disheartening to see you still struggle so much because I think we all aim to BE you on here :) But also reassuring to know everyone faces the same struggle...

I agree with this to an extent but not entirely.

1) The calories I limited myself to while losing were such that I couldn't enjoy some foods or else I'd be halfway through my calories in one meal. In maintenance, I will be able to eat these foods because of the higher calorie allowance.

2) I'm not going to Ruby Tuesday (or other kind of blah chain restaurants) because I enjoy them or want to work them back into my routine. Our office orders lunch in every Friday from these types of restaurants, and I occasionally join them just because it enhances my office relationships with these people. (Though I don't really like them, I do recognize that I have to maintain friendly relationships if I want to further my career and have an okay experience with this company.) Also, I'm a student on a budget, and it's a free meal.

3) Agreeing with your view means that no one, no matter their relationship with food, can enjoy foods in moderation. And I don't believe that to be the case. There are some foods that I absolutely cannot have in the house without binging - namely, chili cheese Fritos or candy bars. However, I can eat those foods in single, individually sized portions without falling off the wagon.

Obviously, one solution is to just stop eating out with the work crew on Fridays. Even free lunch isn't worth the misery I felt on Friday. Or I could bring my own lunch and eat with them.

But I will be going back to eating out occasionally in maintenance, something that I rarely allowed while losing, because I will have more calories to play with and because I enjoy a few local dives.

My question wasn't so much, "Can I still maintain my weight and stay on the wagon by indulging infrequently?" (I already know this to be the case because I'm managed to lose weight while indulging infrequently.) Instead, it was, "Will I always become physically ill because I'm eating foods that are not as good for me as my usual salad?"

it's funny, I was just thinking about this tonight. I had a pretty busy day with lots of errand, lots of cleaning and lots of laundry. And I was sort of dreading having to fit in a work out. But then I ate some steak for supper - just steak tonight, no sides at all and boom! lots of energy and I went off and did a 30+ minute exercise video and worked up a good sweat and felt great. I'm tired now, but that's a well earned tiredness from a physically busy day, not a carb overload lethargy.

As for the original question, the plan I am on has a process to get you to the point where you eat a "normal" diet most days (but very strict one day a week forever, once you are in maintenance). And I'm still a long way away but already put a lot of time into thinking what exactly does normal mean? Clearly, it's not eating the way I ate to weigh 260+ lbs!!! So yeah, I do think that we all may have to end up redefining normal and figuring out exactly what it means. And whether that includes "downtown nachos" - well, I think you will have to experiment to find out. It may be that a small amount, occasionally, does work for you. It may be that you feel like crap afterwards and decide that it's just not worth it. Or even that you feel like crap but you love them so much it's worth once every few months. :devil:

If eating that carp makes you sit at your desk thinking "Please just throw up", I'd suggest bringing your own lunch. If anyone questions you, you could just say that the food doesn't agree with you - it's non-judgmental (they may even feel sorry for you) and it's the truth.

When my coworkers suggest going to a particular eatery and I know the food will disagree with me, I just say that the food there disagrees with me. No-one has ever queried me, and some people even look a bit relieved!

I posted this on another thread, but it seems apt here. I went on a business trip where all meals were restaurant meals and involved a business group, and they were paid for by the company. Most people in the group were "normal" sized people. I observed that these people ate until they felt satisfied and then left the rest. Just left it! Didn't get a take-home box. Some of them left more than half. This reminded me that we are not obliged to eat everything that is set in front of us, regardless of how it was when we were children.

The second thing I have learned is that a lot of chain restaurants do have good choices on the menu--you just have to look for them. The good choices are almost never any kind of burger. They are things like grilled chicken breast, grilled fish, grilled steak, some kinds of salad with these meats (as long as dressing is on the side).

I get nutrition info online about the restaurants I go to frequently and pick out choices ahead of time, so that I am pretty sure about what I'm going to order. And I never get cheese on anything, or order entrees with cream or cheese sauces, or that have mounds of pasta. Also, I skip the bread basket or the biscuits or cheese rolls. I don't miss them!

I guess my point is that it's not all or nothing as far as whether one can order restaurant food while staying on plan.

Jay

I think this is yet another case of different strokes for different folks. Some people feel ill after eating rich food. Some people don't. I am one of those people who can eat the unhealthiest thing you can imagine and feel totally fine afterwards. That doesn't mean I SHOULD do that, but you get my point.

IMO, if it makes you ill, don't eat it. If you feel fine after eating it, then it's a matter of philosophy about whether you should indulge occasionally or not. There is no one philosophy or technique which applies to all maintainers!

I'm going to say no- now that I'm used to eating very healthy, clean foods- I cannot enjoy crap. I mean, I can have a few chips and be fine, but anytime I have had some nasty pizza- like Dominoes for example- I pay for it for days.

So I just don't eat that stuff. The good taste isn't worth the feeling like crap. And I'm utterly fine with that. The way I feel is so much more important than eating crappy pizza. I enjoy many healthy foods that do not cause negative side effects. I will stick with those.

Thanks, Jessica! You're right. I just have to take the plunge and actually try the nachos again to know if they'll make me ill like that burger or not. If they don't, I am a-okay with the occasional indulgence!

Thanks for the comment! I agree completely that, if it makes me feel like crap, I want no part of it. I'm done with the crappy pizza and with the random meal out at Ruby Tuesday. Feeling like roadkill the entire day (especially a Friday evening!) was so not worth the taste. I could have made better at home and not felt bad.

It's funny because, really thinking about it, I don't crave those foods like I used to. I will occasionally eat a good pizza. (I've shared one with a friend since embarking on this lifestyle change in July. It was delicious.) But... As much as I love downtown nachos, when I think about it objectively and remember how disgusting I would feel after forcing myself to finish the entire plate... It's not half as tempting. I'm not saying I'll never eat them again or at least try, but at least in this moment, I'd rather have something healthy that has no chance of messing with my body.

I use that memory of feeling disgusting to avoid eating certain foods. I haven't eaten ice-cream for maybe six years. The last time I ate it, I had decided to "reward" myself after a long hike (come to think of it, that may have also been the last time I used food as a reward for exercise). All that fat and sugar hitting my stomach at once made me feel quite off. The ice-cream was stale, which didn't help either. Just the memory of how disappointing it was, and how yucky it made me feel, was enough to make me swear off ice-cream for life!

:no:

I wish unhealthy foods always made me sick, then it would be easy to know what to stay away from.

I may always have had blood sugar problems, because even as a child, I couldn't eat much sugar on an empty stomach. Sometimes after church, my family would stop on the way home to get donuts, and everyone would get to pick two. I would get usually get what they called french-style donuts because they were the only ones that didn't make me very sick (they're a very airy, deep-fried donut with a very thin glaze, so they had fewer calories and more fat so the proportion of sugar to fat was lower). Or I'd save mine to eat later in the day and would have something else for breakfast.

I also couldn't eat pancakes or waffles for breakfast either, because of the sugar.

As my health issues developed, my sensitivity to unhealthy foods increased. If I had only felt as sick as I do now on unhealthy foods when I was 10 years old, I never would have become super morbidly obese.


We'd all be able to recognize unhealthy foods if they always made us sick. I can only hope that as I lose weight I don't become less sensitive, because I think it will make it too easy to overindulge. Nothing reinforces "moderation" like the negative consequences of eating yourself sick.

Absolutely. I have definitely gone over my calorie allotment, but usually maybe an extra snack, or a little more of whatever my dinner is. I have always been exactly like my mom - foods with a lot of oil or sugar will put us in the bathroom for the entire day and often the next day (TMI).
I always called it a sensitive stomach, but I almost feel blessed to not have been able to eat fried foods or ice cream for almost all of my late teen to adult life. It made those foods so much less attractive.

This has always worked best for me. My friends and I go out to eat pretty often and although sometimes I'll give in and go for a burger, a lot of the times, I can feel satisfied with a salad or a healthier option. The latter usually works better if I've figured out what I'm going to order in advance- I'm weaker when I'm sitting in the restaurant when the menu is in front of me.
But I'll be honest, junk food doesn't make me sick in the way that you guys are talking about. I just don't feel the need to gorge on things like chips and candy anymore. I'll eat them once in a while and I'll be fine (I literally am on my third oreo right now lol). If I feel sick or upset, it's either because I
1) Overate
2) Am feeling extremely guilty
But I'd rather just eat healthy. I'd rather make a salad or eat whole grain bread or smaller portion of ethnic food that my mom makes.
There are three things that I have found to be lifesavers though: pistachios, fruit and tea. Pistachios are the healthiest nut and they help you stay full (plus they're tricky buggers to eat because you have to deshell them which takes some time), fruit is basically like candy to me now (watermelons, grapes, strawberries... mmm time to ditch these oreos and hit up some cherries) and tea (it's an instant hunger/craving killer).

Oh yeah, I love my fancy tea! I have different kinds at work, a glass immersion teapot, and fine bone china. Mid-afternoon, I like to brew some Vanilla Chai, or Chocolate Chai. Both are sweet and scented with spices like cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. A real pick-me-up and no milk required.

:cool:

Even salads in restaurants are ridiculously high calorie, unless we're talking a small side salad with none of the meat toppings. I can eat a salad (with cheese, thankyouverymuch!) at home for 335 calories. So, I try to just avoid restaurants if at all possible. Also, because I'm used to eating the worse option at a restaurant (I've only been working on this lifestyle change since July.) it's hard to choose a healthy one. And skipping the cheddar biscuits at a place like Red Lobster? Forget about it. I know it sounds awful, but I do much better with the "out of sight, out of mind" philosophy. The only restaurant I've been able to do well in is PF Changs, and that's because I do well at portioning out the plate and their side - instead of buttery rolls or biscuits - is rice, which is only 190 calories per bowl.

If I had that kind of will power (GOOD FOR YOU!), I could go to a restaurant and just avoid the bread plate. But I know that bread is a weakness for me, so I choose to avoid it for now.

I think most chain restaurant choices stink, regardless of the calorie content. High fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, added sugar in everything... blech. I prefer to avoid if at all possible. I can cook better food for less money. It tastes better, is better for you, etc. I don't think of that as "Good Food" or a "treat" anymore. More like a punishment, lol!