Entries Tagged 'trigger food' ↓
June 10th, 2008 — motivation, rewards, trigger food
One of the hardest parts of dealing with a diet is the feeling that you are depriving yourself. Everyone needs a boost and for many people, food is the natural reward. Whether this started in childhood or became an acquired habit later in life, you’ll need to find new ways to reward yourself and a new system to follow that will help you stay on your diet and still feel satisfied.
First, make a list of all your “cheat” foods, or the things you normally turn to when you’re feeling down or when you want to celebrate. Post this list in an easy to spot location so you can keep it on your mind. Keeping it right there will help you retrain your brain so that you’ll be aware of your danger zones and steer clear of them.
Next, you’ll need to set up a rewards system based on your diet and exercise plan. Our goal here is to replace the usual food rewards with something that is a lot less damaging to your figure. Take that list once again and write down a column that contains all of the things you enjoy doing. Whether it’s a bubble bath, a trip to a museum or a shopping spree, you’ll need to list everything.
Start by setting your first goal. It’s a good idea to make sure that it is achievable in a small amount of time so that you stay motivated. Whether it’s losing that first few pounds or lowering your blood pressure by a few points, keep the goal easy to reach. Now, pick one of the things that you enjoy doing and set it up as a reward.
It’s a good idea to make sure that it’s not an event that you generally do. This will help you keep the rewards special and make it more fun to reach them. Once you have your first few goals and their corresponding rewards outlined, you’re ready to start making progress.
Whenever you feel as though you’re ready to give into a food craving, look at that list again and see what you’ll get to do if you can hold on and keep on your diet. This can really help you retrain your brain and get rid of problem behavior that leads to the failures of so many diets.
By sticking with your diet and making sure that you reward yourself for your successes, you’ll be able to stay motivated for your diet. In addition, since you are replacing food rewards with other activities, you’re building a strong foundation for a new and healthier life. This means that long after your diet is done you’ll be able to keep that weight off.
Losing weight is difficult, but it is doesn’t have to be impossible. We all need rewards and sometimes it just feels better to pat yourself on the back. When you’re not using food, you’re setting up a whole new future for yourself and guaranteeing your success.
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June 4th, 2008 — blood sugar, detox, trigger food
One of the most talked about concepts in the diet world right now is the process of detoxing your body from certain foods. There is a lot of hype surrounding this technique, so let’s take a hard look at it to help you determine whether or not it’s right for you. Like any diet, there are some that simply aren’t suited for your personality, and there are those that are the perfect fit. Let’s see what detoxing really stacks up to.
First and foremost, the detox process is not an easy one. Some foods are very addicting and can be very much like a drug. You’ll also need to look at why you eat these “danger” foods. This will help you detox not only your body, but your mind as well. If you’re not addressing both problems, you’re doomed to fail. It’s just like battling a drug addiction. First, you have to acknowledge the problem, then you have to take the steps to overcome it.
If you’re not ready to take that step, then a diet detox most likely won’t work. You need to have your head in the right place so that you will be able to get through the first few days. It ‘s not easy to completely cut out your favorite foods from your life, especially if you’ve become dependent on them. If you’re not mentally ready, it will be all too easy to throw in the towel.
There are some cases where a diet detox can actually be harmful, or at the very least, very painful. If you eat a lot of sugar every day, your body is used to these levels. Suddenly remove all of that sugar and your system is going to go into meltdown. Your blood sugar levels will drop, you’ll feel cranky and you may even experience symptoms of hypoglycemia, or blood sugar that is too low. The same is true if you’re trying to detox from soda or even ice cream.
The whole point of a diet detox is to break the cycle of cravings. It is definitely not an easy way, but it can be effective. The best bet is to start with a secondary “danger” food. This gives you a chance to get a taste of success and will prepare you for handling the bigger craving. For example, if you are addicted to potato chips as well as ice cream, start with the potato chips. They’re a lot easier to give up and you’ll gain some confidence once you kick the habit. You can then move onto ice cream with a better outlook.
If you don’t have a lot of willpower, or you are not someone that does well on a deprivation diet, then a diet detox is probably not the answer. It can be very effective, but only if you want it to be. If cold turkey quitting is a problem for you, there are other methods of losing weight that are just as effective.
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May 29th, 2008 — Meals, healthy eating, trigger food
One of the main things that keeps people from trying low fat foods is the fact that a lot of them taste, well, pretty bad. It’s all too easy to brush it off as “rabbit food,” and convince yourself that you need real food. However, there are many low fat foods that are actually quite flavorful and there are methods that you can use that can enhance flavors without adding fat. Low fat food doesn’t have to taste awful and we’ll show you how you can actually start enjoying it with a few tips.
Let’s look at a popular low fat food, skim cottage cheese, that is high in protein and very helpful for anyone that is on a diet. If you’re used to eating regular cottage cheese, or none at all, the flavor in the skim or fat free variety can be a bit off. Try adding a little black pepper on top, or even some paprika. If you like it spicy, try adding a little shot of Tabasco sauce to it. Look for seasonings that are fat free and that will add to the flavor of your low fat cottage cheese.
Now, let’s move onto low fat cereal. In some cases, it may be better to call it low fat cardboard. The same is true with low fat chips. They really can taste a little flat and pretty unappetizing. If you’re eating low fat cereal and barely choking it down, try adding a little Splenda to it. This is a great calorie free sweetener that can really help and it doesn’t affect your blood sugar as opposed to Nutrasweet or saccharin. You can also try using vanilla flavored soy milk instead of regular milk. You’ll be getting the benefits of soy protein and the vanilla flavor helps mask the tastelessness of the cereal. For fat free chips, try dipping them in fat free salsa. Once again, you’re tricking your tastebuds and it really does work.
Salsa is a great additive for a lot of foods that can spice things up without adding any fat. Use it on lean chicken to make it less boring, or add it to some celery for an extra kick. Anytime you would normally use high fat dip, replace it will fat free salsa. This gives you that feeling of being able to enjoy dipping foods without the guilt.
The main key is retraining your palette. Let’s face it, high fat foods taste pretty good and that’s why they are so hard to quit. However, here’s an experiment you can try. Eat low fat foods for one month and then allow yourself a small sample of the foods you used to enjoy. Chances are, that high fat food is going to taste pretty awful. You’ll be able to literally taste the oil and it may even make you a bit nauseous. The human palette is highly trainable and if you can convince it that low fat tastes better, you’ll never be in danger of falling off the wagon again.
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May 22nd, 2008 — healthy eating, motivation, trigger food
Starting a diet can be a momentous event and most of us going into it with the best intentions. We want to lose weight and we want to look and feel better, at least for the first few days. Three days in however, and you may be ready to completely chuck your diet so that you can go back to eating real food again.
There are a few keys that will help you avoid cheating on your diet. You can employ any number of them to assist, but remember, even if you do end up cheating a little, it’s not the end of the world. Call it a day and start your diet again. It’s only a problem if you give up and lose focus. Let’s go over a few of these keys that will help you avoid cheating.
1. Don’t start a deprivation diet.
Strict diets usually get fast results initially, but these are usually wiped out if you cave to intense cravings. If you know that you have a hard time giving up your favorite foods, don’t doom yourself to failure by starting a deprivation diet. Instead, find ways to simply eat less of these foods. You won’t end up feeling as though your cravings are controlling your life.
2. Allow yourself a little wiggle room.
You’ll need to have pretty good discipline for this to work, but your diet will be much more successful if you allow yourself a little freedom here or there. If you simply must have ice cream, than allow yourself to have one small portion every few days. Just make sure you can keep it to that portion or you will have sabotaged yourself.
3. Set up rewards.
One of the best ways to avoid cheating on your diet is to set up a rewards system with your goals. Just make sure that the rewards are not food related. For example, once you reach your first five pounds lost, go get a manicure, or do something that you really enjoy. This helps keep you motivated, even when the going is tough. It gives you something else to focus on and makes it easier to stay focused.
4. Stop kicking yourself.
You can preprogram yourself to fail if you believe that you cannot do something. Instead of saying that you can never stick to a diet and always end up cheating, tell yourself that you can do this. When the going gets tough, keep repeating “I can do this.” If you do it often enough, you’ll start to believe it and you’ll be able to make it a reality.
5. Avoid known problem areas.
If you have a hard time sticking to your diet when you go out with friends, it’s time to evaluate your activities. Stay away from restaurants where you know it’s going to be tough to stay on your diet. Give up going to the bar every week. You’ll be able to see results in less time and you’ll be able to avoid the traps that always derail you.
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May 14th, 2008 — exercise, goals, healthy eating, motivation, trigger food
How many times have you gone on a diet, only to gain back the weight, plus a little dividend? For many people, dieting is a vicious cycle full of ups and downs, and plenty of discouragement. If you want to keep your weight off permanently, you are going to need to implement a few techniques. For most of us, staying at a healthy weight requires a lot of dedication and hard work, but it will pay off in a longer life span, less sickness and simply feeling better. Let’s look at a few of the ways that you can keep your weight off permanently.
1. Change your lifestyle -
If you want to keep your weight off successfully, more times than not this means changing your entire lifestyle. It’s not easy, but it is worth it. You don’t have to become entirely preoccupied with your weight, that’s not healthy. But you will need to keep focused on eating right, getting enough exercise and avoiding trigger foods that you know will put you back on that wrong path again. It’s fine to cheat now and again, but you can’t let it become a regular event. Allow yourself a nice dinner out every few weeks, but don’t fall back into your old habits.
2. Replace bad foods with better foods -
There are some foods that you may never be able to enjoy in large quantities again. There are also other foods that simply may be too dangerous for you to eat ever again. These are known as trigger foods, like we mentioned above. These are the foods that start you on that downward spiral that can be nearly impossible to overcome. If you simply cannot eat one piece of chocolate cake, it’s better to avoid eating it at all than risk falling back into your old habits.
Replace that cake with something that still satisfies your sweet tooth and chocolate craving but doesn’t trigger that old behavior. This works for any food, not just cake, that you simply cannot control your reaction to. It’s not easy and it’s more than a little sad. But, you can look at this way. Which would you rather have - a few bites of cake or a longer life that you can enjoy? A little extreme yes, but sometimes you need to get tough with yourself.
3. Treat every day as a brand new challenge -
If you’ve fallen off the wagon, don’t let that cycle continue. Every day is a brand new day where you’re going to have that chance to succeed at your healthy lifestyle. We all fall down every now again, but not all of us can get back up. Stop that cycle of falling and staying down, and start realizing that you are on a lifelong path towards getting healthy. It’s ok to take a break for a few days, but don’t let those days stretch into week, months and years. Get back in that saddle!
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