Marja's Rules No. 4: Avoiding "Trigger Foods"

I don't know if it's an actual term, but by "trigger foods" I mean the foods that trigger your appetite; the ones that unleash your own personal Food Monster. My trigger foods have high salt, fat, and sugar contents, and if you'd like to know why we all like fat, sugar, and salt and why it makes us eat more and more fat, sugar, and salt, I urge you to read David Kessler's The End of Overeating. I know I've mentioned it before, but it really is a worthwhile read. Many of us do the whole self-sabotage thing where we take one bite of something, think, 'Oh crap. I just took a bite of this. This is not good for me. It tastes good, but it's going to make me feel bad about myself... but I've already eaten some and I don't want to waste it so'... it's gone before you even know it, its taste lingers and turns sour as you realize you just ate two double-chocolate frosted cupcakes in a row and you're reaching for a third. BAD, BAD, BAD, my dears. Throw it in the trash after the first bite. 

If you're at a restaurant and you can't stop that darn Food Monster from finishing something on your plate (or your spouse's, or your kids') that you don't intend on taking home, and your server is too busy to take the plate (or thinks you're still working on it), it's a good idea (God bless the poor server/dishwasher) to destroy the leftover food. Try to be discreet for the sake of the other patrons and without wasting the restaurant's ketchup (it wasn't doing anything wrong!), but you could crumple that roll into a ball, douse those fries in your leftover water, etc. You don't want to eat it and you can't if you destroy it. Pretend like you're destroying your Food Monster, which actually, you are. See! It can be done.


I, my friends, go from being a demure young blonde to a voracious,fangèd, drooling, many-armed, covered in goo, baked-goods-seeking-creature-from-the-innermost-circle-of-Hell. It's definitely not pretty, and what's worse, the beautiful blonde trapped in this awful being is pounding, pounding pounding on its ugly chest from the inside, pleading the Food Monster to not eat that third pretzel roll (believe me, they taste as good as they sound)-- saying "We can be friends! I'll let you have a glass of wine if you don't eat any more! You can stop now! You can *sob sob* stop!!!"

One of the reasons I've been plateauing is I've allowed myself many of my trigger foods, and so my Food Monster (I should really name her!) creeps back into my life. When things got busy for both of us here at the restaurant, my husband and I opted for Subway sandwiches. It's great because it's fast and it's "healthy," never mind that I was off bread for a couple months, with the exception of the weekly breakfast we have with Eric's dad at a local diner. Well, I noticed the increase of Subway sandwiches coincided with my weight loss slumping and put a cabbash on it. 

But it was too late. I had reintroduced too many things, stuff I didn't even realize was triggering me to eat badly (or not eat well enough)! More caffeine than normal started bloating me, as did adding salt to my food; eating a whole PB &J when I used to eat half, even a serving of ice cream --an actual half cup, people-- , all of these things led me to my so-called plateau. I attributed this to my weight-loss journey coming to an end; I had a cold that lasted 2 weeks; my period makes me bloated; when you've got less moving around, you lose fewer calories... the excuses were almost endless. I keep a personal journal in which I document my weight each morning, and jot down a few feelings and observations and such. Lately, my entries were all about "staying positive," "trying," but I'm realizing now that that 1 pretzel roll a day can't happen. Maybe I can't have it more than once a month! You see, the longer you go on eating a diet that is good for you, is burned cleanly by your body, the less likely a slip-up will become a major set-back. In fact when I was eating almost perfectly- very little fat, usually in the form of olive oil or the traces of it in beans or very lean meat, when I splurged on a couple of cocktails or a half of a piece of pie, my body didn't even notice it. Like it was magic or something! 

Now I have the challenge of facing my trigger foods again and building up the courage to say, You won't make me happy, dear french fry, and what's more, I don't need you. I know I can do it, because I did it before. Yesterday was my first day of Meals Only, MAYBE 1 REASONABLE SNACK and you know what? I made it through. And boy was I hungry! Here is what I ate:

for breakfast:
- a serving (1/2 cup dry) of oatmeal with sliced banana and a serving (1 teaspoon!) of brown sugar
for lunch:
- 1 whole peanut butter and jelly sandwich on "wheat" bread with 1/2 an apple
desperate snack right after lunch:
- strawberry fruit strip (45 calories, so easily inhaled, but at least it was organic, and thankfully, the last one, because 50 calories should stretch a littttle further)
snack before dinner:
- salad (around 1.5 cups of lettuce) with cannelli beans, shredded carrot, shaved red onion, and pepperoncinis with fresh ground pepper and fresh-squeezed lemon juice
snack after salad snack:
- 3 cherry tomatoes
for dinner:
- 3 grilled shrimp (around 1oz. each) with green tabasco for dippin' and broccoli with lemon squeezed on it


And that was all I ate! I WAS SUFFERING! But you know what? I'll get used to it, and this time, I am going to stick with it. Why? Because I woke up -.6 pounds! Oh happy day! And how did I do it? By controlling myself. I can do it, you can do it, it's called caging the food monster, baby!!!!

So basically, if you want to lose weight, and keep it off, you have to be mindful of what you put in your body, and really, be mindful of what your eating habits are when you eat other things (which is easier said than done, I know). If you notice that you're starting to slip, look at what you're eating. Keeping a food journal is an awesome way to do this. In fact, when I started keeping a food journal, I was like, Screw this! I don't want to write down every little thing! So I stopped eating those little things. People act like they have no control over what they eat, and I know, it actually feels that way a lot of the time. But you do have control, and it's not going to kill you to change your eating habits and cage that darn food monster, it's going to make your life almost unbelievably better. Don't trust me, though! Pick up a book about it, do some research. By learning more, you're investing time (and maybe a few dollahs) in your health. By investing time, you're telling yourself, Yeah, I deserve this! And by telling yourself you deserve this, you're going to achieve your goals. Just be mindful, always. It will become second nature. If one bite is all it takes to unleash your Food Monster, then you're aware of the one most important thing- exactly how to stay in control.

Marja's Weight Loss Rules (No, She's Not A Doctor, But She's Free!), Continued

3. Processed food is a No-No

By the 1950s, the United States was no longer full of desperately struggling families; the war was over, men were coming home from overseas, moms were getting busier and busier, and food production was headed for massive change, namely: convenience. 

The TV dinner emerged in the early 50s, more and more canned foods were becoming available (including canned cheeseburgers, and let us not forget our beloved Spam), not to mention housewives were experimenting with some really bizarre foods; Jell-O with weenies! Ambrosia salad! An abundance of marshmallows where marshmallows do not belong! (At http://www.masterstech-home.com you could try "Lemonade Fried Chicken" or "Checkerboard Square Clam Crunch," which falls under the gag-inducing terror-category of "seafood cereals main dish"). Fast food joints were emerging and you and your family could order and eat right in your car! (Some places had big tubes that blew in air-conditioning, so even if the car you drove in didn't have a/c, you did at the drive-in! Note: I have seen footage of such a thing on The Food Network, but am having trouble finding evidence, let alone a picture. Believe me, folks!)

 Hey! Why not make a tuna casserole with a powdered-biscuit mix ring around it? 

It goes great with 6 vodka gimlets and a carton of Lucky Strikes!

So now processed food is everywhere. It's positively inescapable! Look at the box of saltine crackers in your pantry. Listed are 4 types of oil --canola, corn, palm, and soybean, respectively-- and that cracker hanging from your lip is made with "one or more" of them. (The oils are actually bought in bulk by companies and whichever is cheapest will be used without a need for change of packaging. Hence, the "one or more".) Enriched flour is listed first, and as good as it sounds for it to be enriched, it wouldn't need enrichin' if it weren't bleached. (And maybe soon we'll get into why us Americans need our flour, rice, etc. bleached into oblivion, stay tuned!) Not to mention, if the crackers in your pantry are from Wal-Mart, like mine are :(, the wheat used to make the flour is probably from heavily subsidized farmers who are forced to use pesticides and possibly genetically modified materials.

And god, think of Oreos! Or chips!  

Preservatives! Additives! Genetically modified lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!

These things are simply not meant to be put into your body. Your body does not like them. My point is, the ingredients are processed before your crackers are even made by big machines and people who probably aren't paid enough!


So don't do it. If if comes in a box, it's processed. If you must eat something in a box (because, let's face it, not all of us can only eat fresh fruit and vegetables, even though if we did all of our health problems would virtually disappear), make sure it's organic, or at the very, very least says "all-natural" on it somewhere. Read the ingredients and make sure you recognize them. It's as simple as taking control over what goes into your body, which not only shows your body love (sometimes I really have to say, "Hey Body! I love you! Look at this yummy salad that's gonna fill you up!") but it's also a political statement, and it probably sounds silly coming from someone who owns a restaurant (and unfortunately, it ain't one of them all-natural, heavily organic places), but we all need to take a stand to how food is being produced right now. (And believe me, I have many goals of not only changing the food and products being used in my restaurant, but in my community.) They'll listen, because they want to get our money somehow. And I know stuff that's organic tends to be more on the pricey side, but it's worth it. The more you buy it, the likelihood of it getting a little more affordable goes up, and with the USDA stamp on it, you can feel reasonably safe knowing the quality and standards of its production will stay the same (or hopefully get better). In all honesty, you should be spending most of your energy on yourself, making your life better, and that in turn will inspire and enrich the lives of people around you. And by that I mean (and I have to live up to this too), making a genuine effort to buy the best food you can for yourself and your family. It's the greatest investment you can make for your health, and being in good health will change every other aspect of your life for the better.

Marja's Weight Loss Rules (No, She's Not A Doctor, But She's Free!)

Marja's Weight Loss Rules

The thing about being an addict is that you don't push yourself when you're an addict. You feel sorry for yourself, because you think everyone else has it easy, and poor you, you just can't help eating this or drinking that and the cycle never ends. Well, I'm here to tell you that all of us, addicts or not, crave discipline. Discipline is especially key for me in my weight-loss journey because not only does it help me lose poundage, but by keeping myself in check, I cannot numb myself out. My mind and my body are friends, and they might not trust each other, but they have to. Here are the basic rules I've composed to lose weight; these suckers have helped me say "GOOD RIDDANCE" to the vanished 46.8lbs:

1. Water. Water, water, water. Water is awesome because it has no calories, and over half your body is made up of it! I like to drink about a gallon a day; it keeps me hydrated when I exercise, and if I'm hungry and I know I shouldn't be, or if I feel like my idle hands will fill themselves with the homemade pretzel rolls I bake from scratch at my restaurant, I slam some water. Adding fresh citrus is a bonus, because it helps curb my appetite, though it does contain simple carbs, loads of vitamin C, folate, which is essential for new cell production and growth; potassium, which we all know helps keep our bodies in balance; and phytochemicals, which may help protect against various chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease.

Hey! According the the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' a 1998 study of citrus benefits claims that citrus not only has been fighting scurvy for hundreds of years, "Citrus fruits are nutrient-dense foods that can be good sources of carbohydrates, including dietary fiber, and many vitamins and minerals. Citrus fruits are equally valuable among populations who need to overcome and prevent micro-nutrient deficiencies as well as those concerned with problems of over-nutrition, obesity and diet-related chronic diseases. For example, citrus is an ideal component of low-fat, sodium-restricted diets." Problems of over-nutrition?! Obesity?! Diet-related chronic diseases?! Lemon and lime have never looked so powerful! Moving on.

2. Portion. Here in America, our portions are RIDICULOUS! Like, laughable. According to the USDA's site, USDA's www.choosemyplate.gov:

 

5 and a half ounces of protein?! I serve a ribeye in my restaurant that's a whopping full pound of marbled, juicy dead cow! And my extras are less than 260 calories? But my soda is around 140 calories, and I drink 3 of 'em! Not to mention the ranch dressing I eat with my French fries has 15 and a half grams of fat and 148 calories per 2 tablespoon serving (and really, who can eat only 2 tablespoons of ranch dressing?!)

Okay, I don't eat french fries anymore (unless I sneak one from the hubby), and I certainly don't eat ranch dressing anymore, but when I did, I certainly didn't eat them in portion control sizes. We Americans have a particular attitude about food, and it's "It has to be entertaining, it has to satisfy me, and no holds barred, I want it to taste great." (I found David Kessler's The End of Overeating. to be extremely helpful when I started my journey. I highly recommend it to anyone curious about our endless fascinations and cravings for high-calorie and high-fat food, even though we know they cause poor health.)

When I first started to really eat healthy (like, every meal of every day for like, more than one day), I was amazed at how full I could be off of a huge plate of veggies, and still feel pretty energetic. It's crazy how we've trained ourselves to finish off 2 servings of fries (the second one eaten after we're full already, of course) and when faced with the same volume of salad, most of us would only suffer through half and claim we're full.

Forks Over Knives, a 2011 documentary, put it in a way that I've never seen it; here's a no-nonsense way to see:

Those dots in the picture are receptors in our stomach that tell our brain when we're full. The food will reach those receptors, which tell the stomach when to stretch and such, and we eventually will stop eating. Well, 500 calories of vegetables will fill the entire stomach. 500 calories of fat with fill the stomach only about a quarter of the way, if even that, and since the receptors at the top of our stomach are not reached by the volume in the stomach, we will continue to eat, literally packing our stomachs with calories upon calories, trying to fill ourselves up. Oye vey! No wonder it's so hard to cage the food monster!


more rules coming up NEXT: 3. Processed food is a No-No, and 4. Avoiding "Trigger Foods"