Three Overeating Triggers

I read this article yesterday and felt that it had some good information for us. However, sometimes these types of articles make me feel like (and I could be wrong in this case) they were written by a person who had training and education in nutrition and weight control, but has never been overweight a day in their life! These triggers are definitely true and the suggestions are constructive, but there is much much more that goes into making a person overweight, that I think suggestions like this are chipping away at an iceberg with a kitchen sized icepick.

Overeating Triggers

by Karen Asp

from the CNN website

Emotions can drive you to overeat. So, too, can other triggers. Learn how to spot them, and you'll learn how to beat them.

Dim lighting: The dimmer the lighting, the higher the likelihood of overindulgence, says a study from of California at Irvine. Why? "Brighter lighting forces you to be more aware of what you're eating," says Joe Kasof, Ph.D., lead study author. Beat it by: Sitting outdoors or near windows, using brighter bulbs in your lamps, adding lighting to eating areas, or moving to a brighter room.

Distractions: In another study, when women who normally watched what they ate listened to a taped detective story, they consumed more calories. Researchers suspect the story interfered with the women's focus on keeping calories in check. Beat it by: Clearing all distractions; let the enjoyment of the meal provide your focus.

Low energy: "When your energy's low, you may look for food to pick you up," says Robert E. Thayer, Ph.D., professor of psychology at California State University at Long Beach. Unfortunately, most people reach for calorie-laden treats instead of an apple or banana. Beat it by: Identifying your low-energy times of day and substituting other activities for eating. Take a 10-minute walk or a water-cooler chat break.

Tomorrow I will begin to list some of the things that have helped me. Perhaps you will have more suggestions to add to the list. Let's support each other with ideas that come those of us who have 'been there and done that'.

Flylady

From time to time I plan to discuss websites that I find to be supportive of our need and desire to downsize our size. Some of these websites will be posted on my blog for your future reference.

www.flylady.com
is a wonderful website that is just fun. The Flylady, in a lighthearted, nonthreatening way, provides structure to the way we organize our daily lives. If you adopt even a few of her suggestions, you will have a cleaner house and more organized way of living. And you will do it in a way that, again, is just fun.
There is a section of this website devoted to "decluttering our bodies". Included here are tools that you may find useful. I encourage you to check it out!

Diabetes and Stomach Band Surgery

The report, which was about using stomach band surgery, often called lap band surgery, as a treatment for diabetes, got my attention. The results of a study done in Australia, showed that those who had lab band surgery had their Type 2 diabetes go into remission at a rate of 5 times more than those who treated their diabetes in traditional ways, i.e. diet, exercise, diabetes medication.
It was a small but definitive study, and its is getting quite a bit of attention in our national news. A manufacturer of lap bands funded the study, but had no input at all in how the study was conducted or its results.
There are many questions still to be asked and answered which will undoubtedly be the focus of future studies. For example, who would benefit the most from the surgery? How long will the lap band enable diabetes to remain in remission? Is the costs and risks of the surgery outweighed by the benefit of avoiding the health complications brought on by diabetes?

Yes, this report got my attention. However, it wasn't the study and its results alone that made me stop in my tracks. It was a comment made by the doctor presenting the information.
He said, "Diabetes is a very aggressive disease. It causes people to die at a much higher rate from heart related problems than the regular population." He continued on by discussing other serious aspects of the disease and the shortened life expectancy that diabetes brings.
That got my attention. Higher death rate. Shortened life expectancy. Aggressive disease.
I knew all of these things, but to hear them come so emphatically from this doctor's mouth brought it all to a new level of reality for me.
The other thing that got my attention was that diabetes can be cured or brought into remission for many of us simply by weight loss. In my mind that comment brought my weight loss, again, to a new level of necessity.
Another thing to win by losing. Lose weight---gain a longer life, and no diabetes complications because that disease is in remission!!!

What Are You Willing to Lose In Order to Win?

Hmmmmm. What? I know that when I lose pounds, I win many things such as a smaller body, better health, more self esteem and self confidence, and more energy. But there is more?
Yes. In order to 'win' at the 'losing weight' game, we must be willing to lose (give up) things that stand in the way of our victory.

For me there are many things I must lose (give up). As a compulsive overeater, there are foods that are 'slippery' for me. Foods that could cause me to 'slip' back into my old eating habits and gain back every pound I have lost and more.

I could list these foods for you, but I won't. There are too many of them. However, I will use one as an example. I love peanut butter. I don't just like it. I looooooove it. Peanut butter is good for you, right? Well, not in the amounts I like to eat. What is this eating only a tablespoon? I certainly can't do that. Not consistently anyway. No. No. I like, no, love to take a tablespoon, dip it in the peanut butter jar and load up that spoon with as much peanut butter as possible. Then I will sit and eat it from that spoon. See I told you I live peanut butter.
Eating that amount of peanut butter frequently is counterproductive to weight loss. Even if I ate properly for the entire day, except for the loaded spoonful of peanut butter, my weight loss will be much slower than it would be otherwise.

The truth here is that peanut butter is a dangerous food for me. I can not eat one 'measly' tiny spoonful. It is again one of those times when 'ONE is at the same time too much, yet not enough'.
In order to WIN at downsizing my size, I must be willing to LOSE (give up) permanently foods such as peanut butter that fit into the category of 'slippery foods' in my life.
What are you willing to LOSE in order to WIN???

"Miss Deborah, You are Losing Weight!"

Don't cha love it? Those words were music to my ears.

This past Wednesday I was at church, preparing to teach Children's Choir. As I walked down the hallway, one of the other workers who was following me, said those beautiful words, "Miss Deborah, You are are Losing Weight!"

My response was, "Thank you!!! There is more weight to go!" By losing weight, I have finally won the recognition of that loss by my friends and family. It feels so good! Those words make every time I turned down carbs and sugar totally worth it.

Remember: every 5 pounds you lose shows more than the 5 pounds before it!

Announcing a New Blog.....

Blogging has caught on in our family as the new hobby of choice. My husband has recently begun blogging. His blog is going to cover a variety of subjects. Because he is a Chaplain, he will be sharing his thoughts about faith in God and our relationship to Him. Because he knows more about various guns than anyone I have ever known, he will be sharing information and his opinion about firearms.

His blog address is myuniversalmusingsblog.blogspot.com

Take time to check out his blog and then share it with your family and friends.

Nutrisystem

Oh, yes, the commercials began increasing just after Christmas. You know. The ones about how much I have lost and how much you can lose. The ones about how easy it was for me and how easy it will be for you. Just call. Just log on.

I must insert a disclaimer here. I have not tried theses diets and indeed have not studied them. My opinions here are just that--opinions which really have no basis in fact. Keep that in mind as you read further.

Nutrisystem is a weight loss program in which you must eat their food. They send you your diet. As long as you eat just those things, then you will lose weight. I'm sure that is true. Most diets will work if you stick to them. You must play by the rules of the diet.

I am concerned about what happens after the weight is lost and you must return to eating 'pre-diet' food. Will you have sufficiently formed new eating habits with 'regular food', will you be able to make your own choices after so long of having them made for you, will you be able to maintain your new weight and down sized size? I am wondering........

For me, I think it is best to learn to healthy eating habits, and to gain strength from making good dietary decisions using food that I choose, prepare and eat, not what someone has chosen and prepared for me.

Illness and Blood Sugar

Rash, fever, headaches, cold symptoms, etc. I have had a virus the last few days and felt pretty bad. Today my fever is down, the rash is better, so I feel better! This morning I decided to check my blood sugar. I hadn't checked it in several days, because I had been to sick to care. Mistake.

My blood sugar this morning, before eating anything, was 160 which is very high for me. I was shocked. There was no telling how high my blood sugar had been the last few days. I will never know.

Because I am diabetic and because we have Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, I am part of a program called LifeMasters. On a regular basis a LifeMaster's nurse calls me and checks on how I am doing. They check on my medications, whether or not I have been sick, and they always ask about my blood sugar levels.

This morning just before I got out my glucose monitor, I remembered their comments about consistently checking my blood sugar, knowing for sure whether or not it was in the low, normal or high range.

Probably the infection of this illness had shot my blood sugar levels to the upper ranges of my glucose monitor the last few days. Again, I will never know. Lesson learned