Stop Emotional Eating Before It Starts

What is the single most common problem that people face when trying to diet or lose weight?  Will power?  Nah.  Temptation?  Sometimes.  Emotional Eating?  BINGO!  That is why is takes so much more than information and good intentions to be successful.  The ability to manage difficult situations and feelings effectively, without turning to food and eating, is a necessary foundation for a successful weight loss plan and healthy lifestyle.

 
Fortunately, there are many proactive steps that you can take to keep functioning on all your mental cylinders during tough times.  These range from basic relaxation techniques, to a reliable support network.  

Other options are also to: 

Keep a food journal, this helps you to identify your emotional eating triggers. 

Yoga helps to clear the mind and cultivate mental and emotional well being as well as being great at strengthening the core.

Developing good problem solving skills.

Turning to message boards or blogging community for help and support when you need it.  Offering to help others to get your mind off of your own troubles and to gain some perspective.

All of these things take time.  Some of us want this to happen overnight, right now, we want to see the end result.  What happens when we need something right now, to keep ourselves grounded, focused and able to make good decisions?   Sometimes we do not have time to take a walk, relax in a hot bath, or call a friend to talk things over.  

Well you can try these 3 steps, that only take 3 minutes:

Stay Grounded:  Emotional eating happens when you lose your connection to your grounded self.  Stress itself is not what makes you eat.  In fact,  stress is often a good thing and your grounded self knows this!  We need the physical stress of working out to keep our bodies in good shape,  just as we need the stress of intellectual and emotional challenges to keep our minds healthy.

A lot of times what leads to the emotional eating is getting caught up in a "mind storm" of worst-case scenario's, projections, misinterpretation's, and all the emotional over reactions that come with these thoughts.  The storm turns a manageable challenge into something that makes you feel helpless, overwhelmed or afraid.  This sends you to the refrigerator to find something to stuff those feelings.  When you are able to stay grounded during these times of stress, you really have many more options.


Take a few deep breaths ( count to 10). If the stress is related to someone, take a time out, agree to continue the conversation later.

Remind yourself where you are.  Take note of the colors and shapes of everything around you.

Note the physical sensations that you are experiencing.  Whether it is a sinking feeling, turmoil in your stomach, tension in your hands, restricted breathing, try to name the feelings that go with the sensation.  


The idea here to is stay in your body and in the moment - with what is real -  instead of going inside of your mind where all of those unreal scenario's are just waiting to spin out of control.

Reality Check: Once you are calm enough to start thinking productively, put all of those thoughts clammering around in your head through a reality check.

All or nothing thinking

Example: You go over your calorie limit or eat something on your “forbidden” list, and then decide to keep eating because you’ve already “blown it” for today. Reality: Weight loss is not a one-day event. If you stop overeating now, you’ll gain less and have less to re-lose later. That’s something to feel good about! 

Reading your own thoughts into someone else’s words

Example: Someone made a mildly critical or unsupportive remark to you, and you feel completely devastated. Reality: The more bothered you are by such remarks, the more likely it is that you are being overly critical of yourself. When you treat yourself with respect, what others say won’t matter nearly so much. 

Either-Or thinking

Example: You make a mistake or have a bad day and feel like a complete and hopeless failure. Reality: No one does well all the time. Mistakes are a necessary and valuable opportunity to learn—if you don’t waste them by getting down on yourself. 

Taking care of other people’s business
 

Example: Something is going badly for someone you care about, and you feel responsible, or pressured to fix it. Reality: People need to learn from their own problems. You aren’t doing anyone a favor by trying to fix things just to make yourself feel better.

 

Putting Things in Perspective: Most common problems that you face in everyday life are much easier to handle when you keep them in perspective and avoid making mountains out of molehills. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to make sure you aren’t in the mountain-making business: 

How big a deal is this, anyway? If I knew I was going to die in a week, would this be something I would want to spend this minute of my remaining time on? 

Will any bad things happen if I postpone thinking about this until I have more time to figure things out? 

Do I have all the information I need to decide how to respond to this? Do I really know what’s going on here, or am I making assumptions? Am I worrying about things that might not even happen? What do I need to check out before taking action? 

Is there anything I can do right now that will change or help this situation? 

Am I trying to control something I can't, like what other people think, say, or do? 

Have I really thought through this problem, and broken it down into manageable pieces I can handle one-at-a-time? 

Use this approach whenever your thoughts or situations begin to feel overwhelming, and you'll quickly find that the mountains that seem impossible at first can quickly morph into what they really are—manageable hills that you DO have the ability to climb. All it takes is three little minutes of your time. 

I am so trying to live by this, as emotional eating is what got me where I am today!

Happy Hump Day!

BOOBS Fun Facts 2011

1. How did you pick your blog name?  I did not get very creative here, just felt like this has been a journey for me!

1. When did you start blogging?       I just began blogging a month ago.  I am learning that I love it, and it has been very therapeutic for me in this process.  I look forward to writing and reading.  There are so many women here who know exactly how I am feeling.  That is so comforting.
2. Theme of blog (weight loss, family, circus clowns, sci-fi, erotica, fly fishing, doll collecting, star wars, etc)          My band is my "best friend" it felt natural to want to share this experience, but mostly it is for me, to be able to look back in a few years and see where I have come.
3. Did you go to BOOBs 2010?      I did not attend as I was not part of this  last year.
4. When were you banded?          November 9, 2007
5. How much have you lost?          46 pounds
6. What are you most looking forward to at BOOBs?        To meet some of the women whose blogs inspired me to begin my own, and to listen to how they became so successful at this.
7. What/who do you hope to find/see/accomplish at BOOBs 2011?           I hope to make some life long friends.  To learn some tips, and to share some fun, laughter, and just have an amazing time.
8. Children? Pets?           Adam (died in 1988 at 4 1/2 with cancer), Nichole my 31 year old daughter and best friend, Adam and Cole my grandsons, and Max my 18 month old Golden Retriever. Quinn and Tess are my 2 year old cats (they are sisters), and Bria my mom's new Yorkie.
9. Who is your roomie?           I am lucky to be rooming with Maria and Grace! I am so looking forward to meeting them both.
10. What day do you arrive?          I am coming in on Thursday morning
11. What airport/flight/time?       I will get to the city around 11am I am taking the train up.
12. What events are you signed up for?         I am going to the Drag Show and Jazzercise.
13. Hobbies?         I love to cook, read, BLOG, walking, playing with Max and my grandsons, shopping!
14. Career?         I work for OSF St. Francis Medical Center
15. Single? Married? In a relationship       I have been married for 32 years to Alan who is full time in the Air National Guard.
16. Your birthday month?        I was lucky to be born on Halloween, I am a real witch :) So watch out Maria and Grace!
17. What do you want other BOOBs to know about you?         I am very nervous about meeting everyone, worried about how I look, worried about how everyone will think about my banding nearly 4 years and only at 46 pounds, because I chose to go backwards instead of forwards.  I know this is ridiculous to have these worries, everyone has been so supportive, I just am nervous.  I am easy to get to know, I love to talk, and will talk your ear off.  I am loyal, so if we become friends you can lean on me, share with me, and trust that I will be there for you if needed.  I am in therapy and not afraid to admit it.  I had gotten into a depression with the weight gain and in April of this year began to see a therapist.  I struggle every day with the loss of my son, and I DO love to talk about him, so do not be afraid to with me.  I am so excited about this trip, and as it gets closer I am working hard to be at the lowest I can be.  It is a goal.  I am glad I have it to work towards.  I have a very stressful job, and I sit all day.  I work long hours like 12 hour days.  I do not get many vacations, since my daughter and grandsons live with us, it has been harder to just take time for me.  This trip is for me.  October 1st is Nichole's birthday and she is OK with me being in Chicago with you.  She is my workout buddy, and she has lost 15 pounds without a band. 

Baked Chicken with Garlic and Sun Dried Tomatoes

I simply love to cook there is no doubt about it.  I have not changed simply because I can no longer eat some of the comfort foods that I have prepared for so many years.

I have tried to alter some of those recipes to make them healthier alternatives.  I will share one of them today :

This recipe has over 20 cloves of garlic in it which become sweet and mild when roasted.  I think Garlic is my favorite spice by far!  I love it roasted and any other way as well.  

Ingredients

1 lb chicken breasts, boneless, cut into 4 oz portions
1 oz vegetable or olive oil
20 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 medium yellow or white onion, cut in half root to tip then sliced thin
1/2 c sun dried tomatoes, chopped, (not packed in oil)
1/4 cup white wine
1/2-3/4 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon dried oregano
white pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Rinse the chicken under cold running water and pat dry. Crush two of the 20 garlic cloves.

Place an ovenproof skillet over moderate heat. Once warm add oil. Once oil is hot, add crushed garlic to pan then place chicken in the pan on top of the garlic. Toss in remaining garlic cloves.

Cook chicken for about 8 minutes or until it will release itself easily from the pan then flip to cook the other side. Continue to cook for 4 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the skillet. Set aside.

Place onions and tomatoes over the caramelized garlic. Allow the onions and tomatoes to sweat in the pan for 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat and add wine. With a spoon stir the pan to remove the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. This deglazing technique will remove the flavor stuck to the bottom of the pan and release it to the vegetables.

Add chicken back to the skillet. Add stock just until the liquid level reaches halfway up the sides of the chicken. Add oregano and pepper to taste. Cover with tight fitting lid and place in oven. Bake 30 minutes.
If you purchase stock it usually does not contain salt. Broth does contain salt. If you choose stock you may want to add 1/4 teaspoon of salt with the herbs and spices.

Wondra, a superfine flour, is a great pantry item. It is a sauce thickener. If you would prefer a sauce with the dish; remove the meat and vegetables from the skillet. Combine 1 tablespoon of Wondra with 2 tablespoons of water. Whisk mixture into skillet over heat. Whisk until sauce thickens.


Number of Servings: 4

                                        

Weekend from Hell? Felt like it

Remind me again why I am going to school, working a full time job, and making sure I get in my exercise and eat right, and keep my stress level down?

After getting a clean bill of health on Wednesday from the GI doctor that my ulcers had healed, I think I created two new ones over this past weekend.  You see my Coding class is a class straight from hell.  I decided to take it online.  I have done very well with my online courses this past year.  Even though, other students in my "in" class courses that had tried this particular class online, said "Don't Do It" !  I took it.

First week shortened by one day since school officially did not begin until Tuesday.  I have three classes this quarter and they are all online.  I think this will be great.  Until I get my assignments.  Coding has 7 chapters due by Monday 8:00am.  Plus a pretest, Plus a quiz over the chapters 1-7.  Including a 149 minute PowerPoint lecture.  I needed to remind myself what the hell I was trying to do to myself.

I had a going away party for a close friend from work, who lost her husband and is moving to Kansas City on Friday night.  So I hurried off to enjoy for two hours, then came home and sat down to tackle this enormous task.  I had been listening to the lecture all week, and taking notes whenever I could.  Even over lunch.  Needless to say, I was still doing homework come Sunday Morning, and I had finally had enough.  This class cannot work for me online.  I am so lost I cannot even begin to describe it.

I did take the quiz and got an 80% but I have been getting A's since I went back to school a year ago.  I am not going to settle.  I emailed my department head that I am dropping this class officially today!  I will take it in class in the Spring.

She sends back an email to me that says, " you know the homework will be the same in class as online".  Well perhaps it will be, but at least I will be in class where I can ask freaking questions, and have the support face to face of other students who feel this is an incredible amount to poor on someone who is working full time with 15 hours of OT a week.  LOL  Probably not!

Now I find myself questioning my major.  I had originally gone back to school to get my Certified Professional Coder credentials, and then have recently changed to RHIT or Registered Health Information Technology, as I want to get my Bachelors in Health Information Management.

I love school, but I am not going to stress myself back into no sleep, and not taking care of myself.  I refuse.  My band is more important to me than anything else and getting to my  goal than any class that I can take. I went down the path of forgetting why I got banded and regained nearly 50 pounds that I had lost.

I know how I deal with stress, I eat.  I must admit when I feel like I am losing control all  I want to eat is all of the things I know I shouldn't.  I have been doing so well, not letting that creep back in.

 

My scale is stuck, I know that it is merely temporary.  You all know how it feels though.  To want it to move, to know you are working out, and that your scale is not showing that.  I am frustrated.  I am trying to not let it get to me though.  But it is hard.

Nichole is doing fabulous she is down 15 pounds since the beginning of August.  She is NOT banded.  But she is logging her food and working out with me.  I am so proud of her.

Bria and Mom were over this weekend.  She is adjusting so well.  She is a totally different dog than when we got her two weeks ago.  I just love her to death.  I take her everywhere with us.  She is only 4 pounds so she fits easily in my purse!

I am looking forward to the week and a long weekend, and ZUMBA tonight!  I walked on the treadmill yesterday at the gym, and I tried the couch to 5k workout.  I was able to run for about 10 minutes total!  It is a start!  I am very very sore today.  All this fat bouncing is not easy  and it hurts the next day!

I am so excited about Chicago!  It is getting closer.

ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES

This recipe sings of the early fall and winter harvest!  I like to take advantage of the Farmers Market as much as I can when it is open.  You can buy whatever root vegetables that they have.  I like a little bite to the vegetables so I drizzle a small amount of balsamic vinegar over the vegetables while they are still hot.  This makes a great side dish and it is a wonderful way to get in your veggie servings for the day.

1 T olive oil 1 red onion, sliced 4 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half 2 carrots, peeled and diced 1 turnip, peeled and diced 1 yam or sweet potato, peeled and diced 2 parsnips, peeled and diced 

1 t dried rosemary 1 t dried thyme 1 pinch salt 1/2 t black pepper 1 T balsamic vinegar, optional

 

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a baking sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl; toss to combine. Place mixture on a sheet pan. Bake 30 minutes, turning vegetables every 10 minutes until vegetables are tender and slightly browned. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar before serving.
Makes 8 servings (1/2 cup).

 

I love to cook and I am always looking to find ways to add the most bang for my buck.  When you can only eat a small portion of food the more you can get in that small amount the better.

I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! 

The Clean Plate Club.......Are You A Card Carrying Member?

People are getting bigger, there is no doubt about it.  There is something that many people are not aware of either, our food is also getting bigger.   A LOT bigger.

Did you know that from 1977 to 1997 hamburgers expanded a whopping 23%,  soft drinks increased by 52%, snacks (chips, pretzels, crackers) grew by 60%.  We are now well on our way with a second generation of over eaters who cannot believe that a fast food soft drink used to be 10 ounces.  There is now a frozen food entre` that boasts a POUND of food in one portion.  As if eating that kind of a portion is of some sort of benefit.  Really?  Come one people where is the common sense that God gave us?

This has gotten so out of control and it is absurd!  

Well, no more we have to gain back our control over what goes on our plates.  We have learned as bandsters that tracking food is a great way to do just that.  To learn what a portion is for some of us is the "true eye opening" experience that we need.  Some of us were eating three to four times a serving of some of our favorite foods easily.  For some reason in today's society, "bigger is better".  This has definitely worked for the fast food industry.  They cator to inexpensive, fat laden, super-sized portions, and it has worked.  It has dramatically increased their bottom lines and OURS as well.

If you get into the habit of checking portion size, sometimes this is all it takes for most to lose weight.  That is right, did you hear me correctly, just by eating single servings of your favorite foods you can actually lose weight.  This is because we are so accustomed to the culinary pile of calories laid before us, that we cannot even comprehend what a REAL serving looks like.  Lets take a look:

One serving is 1 ounce = Small slice or 1/2 bagel or deck of cards

One Serving is = 1/2 cup cooked or Billiard Ball

One Serving is 1/2 cup

Dried Fruit one Serving is = 1/4 cup size of an egg

Fruit Juice one serving is 6 ounces

Raw Vegetables one serving is One Cup

Cooked Vegetables serving size is 1/2 cup

Meat one serving is 2-3 ounces the size of a deck of cards

Nuts or Seeds one serving is 2 TBS

Cheese serving is 1 ounce or 1 thin slice or size of two dice

Milk serving size is One Cup

 As you can see we have no idea what a true serving size should be as we have gotten used to being over fed everywhere in our lives.


Do you ever feel obligated to finish everything on your plate?  Do you hear your mother's voice in the background saying finish that plate of food?  Then you may very well belong to the "clean your plate" Club.  Trust me, it has many. many, many members.   Formed with good intentions this concept can cause more harm than good.  Especially in this day an age of absurd portion size.  The American Cancer Society found that 67% of Americans eat everything on their plates, regardless of size or hunger.  The problem with that is most plates hold three times the serving of the main course.  That is correct 3 times the serving size.


There is good news in all of this however, here are some simple things you can do to help:

• Use smaller plates and bowels. There is a proven link between portion size and perceived hunger or appetite.
• Order an appetizer as the entree.  Remember to stay away from fried foods though.
• Order from the lunch menu at dinner time.
• Ask your server to wrap up half of your dinner before it is brought out to take home.
• Be sure to carefully examine meat, because even a small or petite fillet is around 8 ounces normally.
• Pay attention to eating only, no eating and watching TV or reading or other things.  We always lose track of what we eat when we do.
• Learn to read food labels, but be careful here as well.  Serving sizes can be misleading for example ( a can of soda is two servings not one).

 One last tip when you begin to cut down your portion size, you may feel hungry in the beginning.  To curb this hunger try to:
                  Drink more Water
                  Eat fiber loaded foods
                  Eat Low Calorie Foods first
                  Eat slower, put fork down between bites 

All of these things can help to assist in the process of losing our weight.  Sometimes we just need to be reminded of these things.  I know for me, it is always a good thing to remember what Portion Size means for me a bandster.

I was told never to eat above 4-6 ounces at a meal!

Hump Day and another EGD.......doesn't everyone need this?

On June 28th  I had a colonoscopy, cause that is what your Dr. gives you as a coming of age present when ya turn 50.  I also had an endoscopy at the same time.  Let me explain.  As I have previously said I will be turning 50 on Halloween.  Yeah me!  I had been doing poorly with my band for quite awhile.  I had mastered eating around it. 

While back on the fat laden diet that I had been able to slide through my band, I began to have some serious symptoms.  I was having a nagging pain at the top of my stomach.  I was having this pain regularly and it go so bad, it felt like a hot poker inside of me.  I did not notice it got worse when I ate, I noticed it was worse when I did not.  Now mind you, I had so much stress going on around this time in my life.  Work, school, my grandsons, other stuff I will not go into, personal stuff.  I was in lots of pain and I knew I should see the Dr.   My irritable bowel syndrome was back with full force as well.  I had completely rid myself of these symptoms after my banding.  uggggh can you say "stupid".  I know, I hate that word too.  But really Kristin, you know better was all I could say to myself.  I have to admit the IBS controlled much of my adult life, and the banding had cured this for me.  I was thrilled about it beyond belief.  Yet, here I was back with it controlling me once again.

In April I went to my Dr., she sent me to the GI Dr, she was worried as to what may be going on.  Well he said "It is time for a look see"!  Oh, now I made fun of Alan when he had to have his 5 years ago.  I mean I teased him and everything.  I want you all to know I stand behind the importance of a colonoscopy.  It has saved hundreds of thousands of lives, with early detection of colon cancers, that would have otherwise gone undetected.  Even though I intellectually get this, I was not prepared for my own.  LOL  


I had the test, they found two polyps in my colon and removed them.  They found three ulcers from the endoscopy.  One in my esophagus, and two in my stomach.  I was mad at myself because I knew that going back to my "old habits" had caused this.  They did a biopsy of my stomach to determine if I had Hpylori the bacteria that can be responsible for ulcers.  I did not.  Nope, my ulcers were more than likely caused by me.  The fatty foods that I had chose to shove back in my mouth.  Because they tasted good, they comforted me, they made me FAT!  He told me that I would need to go on a very bland diet, and take some really strong meds.  He prescribed Aciphex, and trust me this is an expensive damn drug.  Twice a day dosage is $489 a month.  

So going back to that diet had caused these painful ulcers.  I had been so tired.  I now knew why, I came home from work and would literally just go to bed.  I was eating an enormous amount of food for a bandster.  I was also eating a Whopping amount of FAT!  You see, high fat diets cause our bodies to produce much more stomach acid, to try to deal with all the fat!  Also, I no longer had my gallbladder, so my body cannot process a lot of fat anyway.  I also had began to take NSAIDS again, you know, Ibuprofen, Advil, Naprycin the stuff we as bandsters should never take.  Because they can eat holes through our pouches.  I actually have a medical ID bracelet that states I have a gastric band and no blind NG tubes, or NSAIDS.  But my weight gain had caused pain all over my body again and I ignored the warnings I had been taught about NSAIDS.

So I committed, right there that day, on that table.  I recommitted to my band.  To myself.  To the vow that I had taken when I agreed to begin this journey.  I would turn this train around.   And as you know I had my second fill in my band on July 5th.  


I have followed my band diet, and I have been careful to limit spicy foods, and fat.  I began logging my food again.  I love sparkpeople.com to do this.  It so keeps me honest.  


Well today I had the repeat endoscopy to see if the Ulcers had healed or were healing.  Three weeks ago I was still having some pain.  I was so nervous this morning.  Alan went with me.  I told them about being awake for the last one.  They assured me it would not happen this time.  They were right, the fentanyl and versed and benadryl knocked me out.  I was thankful for that.  When I woke he smiled at me, and said wonderful words to me.  Kristin, the ulcers are all gone, and everything looks really good in there.  He told me that my band was also tight, and that was a good thing.

So I got great news today.  I am happy that my bad habits did not destroy my band.  The risks I took going back to those eating habits were not very smart on my part.  I know there are people here who have lost their bands due to erosion and slipping and all those things.  I made a promise to do everything according to the LapBand book from here on out.  I will not let my "best friend" my band down again.  I am in this for the long haul.


I slept all afternoon, it was refreshing.  I am off to ZUMBA!!

Tuesday Afternoon - - Do you know where your CARBS are?

There are so many fad diets, I have tried so many of them I lost track over the years, but you probably know some of them. I thought we should take a look at some that make that list:  Eat subway lose weight, Atkins, Low Carb, No Carb; watermelon, grapefruit juice, cabbage soup, tuna diet, scared heart, acai berry, zone diet, Beverly Hills diet, apple cider vinegar diet; well you are getting the picture there are literaly hundreds of them out there.

 The sad part of this is people will try anything because we become so desperate to lose our fat.  When a diet fires off promises of one losing an immense amount of weight, in a short span of time, this is a red flag.   These diets "may" indeed allow you to shed quite a bit of weight rather quickly for some.  However, you will gain it back and usually more.  These diets do not last.  Some of them are even extremely harmful to our bodies.  When we try to diet by starvation; in other words limiting our calories so strictly our bodies are smart machines.  They fire down the furnance and shut down the metabolism and shed pounds slower.  This makes weight loss harder.  When we deprive our bodies of nutrients and vitamins we only cause the well oiled machine that our body is to malfunction.

The old saying of "dieting doesn't work" is very true.  One reason I chose my BAND was so I could kick dieting to the curb forever.  I never again want to say I am going on a diet.  I never again want someone to ask me what diet I am trying or using.  This is a lifestyle.  This is my new way of life.  I now eat to live, rather than live to eat!

I love when people ask me questions about my band.  I am ready to talk about it to them. So where are your carbs today?  Too low, too high?  Just right?   Carbs are important, very important for our brains.  Without them, we become sluggish and foggy thinkers.  So make sure you are eating your carbs.  Moderation is the key.  There are good carbs and some not so good.  Just be mindful of the choices you make.  


We are in control.  We say what does or does not go into our mouths.  We pick and choose the foods that we consume.  So our bands are not cures.  The band is simply a tool to help you achieve your weight loss and ultimately maintain it by eating less food.

If you continue to dine on ice cream and cake and cookies, and pasta and sauces and heavy calorie laden foods that will slide right through the band, trust me, you will not be successful.  I did this!  I gained back 50 pounds of my initial weight loss doing just that.


Why did I do that?  I suppose there were many reasons, or excuses that I use.  I just know that it will happen, it can happen,  and it did happen to me and I will never again fall victim to it.  I have learned the valuable lesson about food and how my body reacts to it.  I know my triggers, and I now use exercise rather than food when I feel stress coming on.

You may say well are you perfect?  I am laughing out loud here, Hell No I am not, I do eat things that are not always the best choice, I just do it rarely.  If you want to see the scale move you have to do YOUR PART!

When you take control there is no looking back!