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Something to chew on…battling the winter blahs

By on February 21, 2011 in Betsy, consistency/commitment, guest post, working out

Without further ado, please enjoy today’s guest post from our friend Betsy!

Do any of you find it difficult to remain dedicated to your exercise routine during the winter months? I sure do and I’m here today seeking your input on what you do to keep your mind in the game during these dreary, grey, cold winter months. I realize, in hindsight, that I should have appealed to all of you back in November for your thoughts on this topic so that I would BEGIN the winter with a game plan. I had such high aspirations that I would emerge from this winter stronger and leaner, but now I find myself reeling from weeks of missed workouts and in need of an intervention. Help!

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Something to Chew on…Time for Tough Love

By on February 4, 2011 in Betsy, consistency/commitment, eating, End of Overeating, food, goals, guest post, health, plan, Uncategorized

Without further ado, please enjoy today’s guest post from our friend Betsy!

I’ve tried being gentle and loving with myself when it comes to my weight loss and healthy-living efforts, but all that has gotten me is a warm-fuzzy feeling coupled with bouts of self-loathing and desperation, so the hell with that. I’m resorting to tough love. To help guide me on this never-before-traversed-tough-love path I’ve created and implemented a plan based on the advice outlined in the two books (Kessler and Beck) I discussed in my last post.

What are the goals of this plan?

  1. To eliminate the chaos that surrounds mealtimes.
  2. To break my desire for, and emotional dependence on hyperpalatable foods.
  3. To reframe my relationship with food: i.e. food is for fuel (family, friends and activity are for reward and comfort).

What is the plan? It’s pretty basic because if I set too many rules I tend to forget about them or lose track of them or mix them up and reverse them and return to my habitual eating. So “don’t eat after 8PM” becomes “eat with abandon after 8PM.” So my plan goes like this:

  1. ELIMINATE all sugar, white flours, pastas, junk food, cakes, chips, processed foods, and fast food.
  2. Set mealtimes in advance and eat ONLY at those times.
  3. Spend a few minutes each day creating the next day’s meal plan.
  4. Select a few meal options for each meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack) and eat them again and again and again.
  5. Complete Beck’s Success Skills (Stage 1) for seven consecutive days and then assess. (I need to assess today!)

I have to tell you that I am VERY proud of myself for including the word and action “ELIMINATE” in my plan because I usually lean towards the healthy living camp that frowns upon eliminating food types as it is said that can lead to a nasty mentality of deprivation thus leading to cravings and overindulgence. But alas, I’ve tried (and tried and tried and tried) to keep all foods fair game, in moderation, and that has not worked for me. At all. So in a moment of bravery and tough love, I have given up those foods that have comforted me for 30+ years. I have finally admitted to myself that reaching my goal (of being a fit, healthy person) will not be attained by consuming my trigger foods. It just isn’t gonna happen that way for me.

In preparation for launching my new plan I held a multi-day event called The Great Food Funerals of 2011. During this time I enjoyed my go-to comfort foods, thanked them for the years of support, told them I no longer needed them, and released them and asked them to release me. I realize this sounds ridiculous but I am one for grand gestures when it comes to life changing moments, and this farewell to my food faves deserved a proper send off.

It’s day eight since I implemented this plan and I’m finding Beck’s whole “NO CHOICE” approach a huge relief. The moment my mind starts going down that road of trying to justify giving into a food craving that isn’t in my day’s eating plan, I take a deep breath and say, “NO CHOICE.” And then there is a blissful silence. My mind doesn’t try to tell me I deserve it, or just this once won’t be a big deal, or that I should eat it because I want it and I’m an adult and get to make my own decisions so just go ahead and enjoy it. When I say, “NO CHOICE” all of that chatter evaporates. It’s so simplistic that I’m amazed it’s working for me.

I’m also amazed because I found this approach tedious and difficult just a few months ago. Obviously, I wasn’t ready to make these changes and so I resisted them with fervor akin to a televangelist. But today I’m ready because I am tired of expending all of my energy fighting with myself in a battle over food. It’s just so darn tedious to constantly be engaged in a battle of wills with myself. It’s also quite absurd and such a self-centered use of my precious life energy. So enough. Enough.

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Something to Chew on…I’m not a weak-minded fatty!

By on January 20, 2011 in Betsy, eating, End of Overeating, food, guest post

Please enjoy this guest post from our friend Betsy!

So I’ve been doing all sorts of reading and thinking and journaling and planning about food and weight loss, and food and healthy living, and food and me, and me and food and well, food. Like many of you I’ve used food to soothe my battered ego, comfort my lonely-bored-happy-sad-stressed-out self, and as a celebration enjoyed with family and friends. And not surprisingly, I don’t know when to stop. Eating, that is.

Thus I have spent my adult life trying to be more mindful, get to the roots of my habitual “reach for the bread/cake/chips” response to anything happening in my life, and, well, basically try to stop shoving gobs of food into my cake hole.

With all of this reading and thinking about food I recently purchased “The End of Overeating” by David A. Kessler and must say I have experienced the long-awaited for paradigm shift where food is concerned. Reading Kessler’s book has helped me discover that I don’t lack willpower (well, okay with some things I definitely lack willpower or gumption or commitment but not when it comes to food) rather I am a victim of crafty food scientists.

While that may be overstating it a bit, what I’ve learned about food and the brain and our bodies’ reactions to certain food/chemical combinations has opened my eyes to a new vision regarding food: The processed stuff isn’t good for me and the more of the junk I eat the more of it my brain will demand.

If you haven’t read the book that statement may not make too much sense so allow me to give you a brief (and simplistic) synopsis:

From the book’s Foreword, “Kessler theorizes that after having been exposed to hyperstimulating foods, some individuals develop what is known as conditioned hypereating.” Kessler goes into detail about how foods, specifically combinations of fat, sugar and salt, trigger responses in our brains much like those that occur when taking certain drugs or after exercising (the brain releases dopamine and/or endorphins) and the mind likes the release of those brain chemicals very, very much (they make us feel good) and so the brain encourages us to eat more of the food that created that pleasure. And as we keep feeding our brains the food that caused the release of those feel-good chemicals we quickly establish pathways in the brain that reinforce this continued behavior. “When it comes to food, we are, in essence, following an eating script that has been written into the circuits of our brains.” (Page 62.)

For example, I’ve had a lousy day at work so on the way home I buy a slice of white frosted yellow cake. When I get home I sit down with this yummy slice of cake and joyfully devour it to “calm me down” and “cheer me up” after said lousy day. My brain likes this sugar-fat laden food and releases those feel-good chemicals in my brain. Next time I’ve had a lousy day and want to “unwind” my brain says, “Hey, try that cake thing again that really worked the last time,” and I obligingly go for the cake. And now I’ve started to create those pathways in my brain that will drive me towards cake when I want to escape my lousy day.

Kessler goes into much greater detail than I have here but let’s suffice it to say the U.S. food industry has figured this out and spends millions (if not billions) of dollars creating foods loaded with fat, sugar and salt as these three ingredients, and better yet these three ingredients in combination, elicit the strongest responses from the brain which drives us to eat more and more and more.

So when I say I’ve had this paradigm shift regarding my views on food, what I’ve experienced is that I now see how these yummy sweet, chewy, soft, salty, crunchy foods are engineered that way to keep me eating and eating and eating. “When we understand our brains’ response to food, and how it drives our lack of control, we can change our approach to eating.” (Page XII.)

I realize this probably doesn’t put me in the best light: that I need to learn the U.S. food industry is purposely trying to get me to eat their crap before I’ll be more inclined to choose healthier foods but that’s what happened. Now just so you don’t think I’m completely out of touch or stupid, I do know, and have known for many years, that processed foods suck and contain zero nutritional value. However, I’ve felt addicted to them. Unable to stop eating them despite the gazillion times I’ve berated myself into a lonely corner chanting, “You weak-minded fatty!”

Here I’ve been thinking for 30 years that I’m a spineless, weak-minded, lacking-in-willpower, fat loser who just can’t say no to certain foods, when in fact my need for comfort coupled with crafty food scientists sent me down a path of overeating. This realization brings me an Everest amount of relief. Why am I relieved? Because now I know where I need to focus my energies. I don’t need to expend my energy on beating myself into eating submission. Rather, I need to break the habit. I need to ditch the processed stuff not just for the sake of my health and my waistline but also for the sake of my brain. I must bust the I-feel-bored-so-I’ll-eat-junk-food cycle.

How shall I bust the cycle? By eliminating all overly processed foods from my diet and establishing new habits for comfort and reward. Kessler outlines strategies in the final chapters of his book and my darling friend Val (aka SeattleRunnerGirl) gifted me “The Complete Beck Diet for Life” book so between these two books I’ve got the tools needed to make this paradigm shift a reality.

I am feeling confident that I can shed my eating-for-comfort cycle and establish new ways to relax and reward myself thanks to this new information. And I am further bolstered by my horoscope (courtesy of Free Will Astrology) for the coming week:

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In the early 20th century, many women at the beach covered most of their bodies with swimsuits made of wool. If they went in the water, they’d emerge about 20 pounds heavier. Swimming was a challenge. Your current psychic state has resemblances to what you’d feel like if you were wearing drenched woolen underwear and a drenched woolen clown suit and a drenched woolen robe. My advice? Take it off; take it all off. The astrological omens are clear: Whatever your reasons were for being in this get-up in the first place are no longer valid.

So now I’m off on The Great Nix-the-Processed-Foods-from-My-Diet Experiment of 2011. Wish me luck and stay tuned! Got any tips you wanna share with me? Have you read Kessler’s “The End of Overeating” or Beck’s “The Complete Beck Diet for Life”?

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Something to Chew on…Healthy Living is more than a diet and an exercise plan

By on January 5, 2011 in Betsy, emotional stuff, guest post, health

Without further ado, please enjoy today’s guest post from our friend Betsy!

It’s official. It is January 5th and ten days ago I reached Resolution Overload. Now that’s a pretty easy place for me to reach because I loathe Best of lists and Best of TV shows and Year in Review articles and news stories and Top 50 lists. I also quite despise New Year’s Resolutions and I go out of my way to NOT contemplate my life or my past actions at this time of year. But I tend to be contrary so this should not come as a shock to anyone.

But just because I don’t spend this time of the year assessing what I did or didn’t do during the previous 12 months and thinking what will be in the coming ones, doesn’t mean that I’m not striving to live a healthy life, or that I don’t have New Year’s rituals. I am and I do. While most people are drafting their list of resolutions, I’m preparing my home and mind for the New Year by purging the junk and unused stuff from the drawers, cupboards, closets and cubbies of my home all the while repeating this: “I’m cleaning out the closets of my mind.”

Yeah. That’s right. I clean out my closets, cupboards and drawers annually. But it gets worse: some years I’ve been known to do this every six months. I’m a bit of a neat freak and down on clutter, so when the drawers of my home are stuffed full and the cupboards are unorganized my mind gets muddled and I find it challenging to get stuff done and focus my energies outward.

You can always tell when I’m stressed out or not processing my emotions because I physically manifest that stuff by letting the house get messy. And that only serves to bring me further down and seek further hiding from my feelings by taking shelter amidst the piles of magazines, mail, receipts, laundry, and cluttered drawers.

So purging the house of clutter, and repeating my mantra, is my healthy living New Year’s ritual for tossing out the old and making way for the new, both physically and emotionally. I find comfort in sorting through the utensil drawer and getting the numerous spatulas, eggbeaters and cheese graters neatly reordered. And I know for a fact that I breathe more easily once I’ve purged the only-worn-once-in-the-past-year clothes from my drawers and closets. If I haven’t worn it, into the donation pile it goes.

This annual purge leads to discoveries. Like just the other day as I was stuffing clean towels into the linen closet and they were toppling out onto my head, I discovered that we have 17 sets of bath towels. That’s 17 body towels, hand towels and washcloths for two people. Huh. That struck me as a bit excessive so I selected a few sets to donate, stacked up the older ones to move to the garage for car washing, and the really old, ratty car wash towels were relegated to the status of “rag.”

This excess of towels got me thinking about how many duplicates I have tucked away in my emotional self-sabotage toolkit. How many ways of talking myself down do I have at my disposal? How many thoughts of my not being worthy are lurking in my mind ready to leap to the forefront of my consciousness the moment I’m feeling good about myself? How many ways to stop myself from trying something new are stashed away in my devious mind ready to unleash them when I say yes to FitHub’s camping invitation?

Yeah, there are way too many of them to count and that depressed me and since I don’t like being depressed I turned that around and asked myself, “How many duplicates do I have tucked away in my emotional self-care toolkit?” An extended silence followed but as I continued sitting there amongst the piles of towels I began to hear a quiet, tentative voice repeating, “I am worth the effort! Go me! I am a strong, beautiful woman! I am healthy and happy!” And the more I paid attention to this small voice, the louder it grew and the stronger and more assured of myself I felt.

Naturally, this led me to another thought: I am what I focus on. Hardly a revelation but it is one I repeatedly forget. I get back what I put out. If I dwell on the fat, lazy me I will remain fat and lazy. If I focus on the chocolate, I will eat the chocolate. Whereas if I focus on the strong, determined me – I will be strong and determined. If I focus on the carrots – I will crave the carrots. (Who am I kidding? I’ll still crave the chocolate but I’ll eat the carrots instead.)

So you see all of this cleaning and organizing of stuff, also serves to clean and organize my mind and spirit. And without this cleaning and organizing of stuff and mind and spirit I would find it more difficult to focus on my other healthy living habits like eating balanced meals, exercising, choosing activities that make me move my body, and making time for myself. So for me healthy living is more than an exercise plan and diet, and this annual purging serves to maintain a level of sanity in my home so the remainder of the year I can focus on my body and mind. Now it’s time for me to put away the towels and tackle the kitchen cupboards. I wonder what I will discover?

How about you? Is your self-sabotage toolkit better stocked than your self-care toolkit? If so, what will you do to turn that around? Do you think healthy living is just about exercise and diet, or does it extend into all aspects of your life?

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Something to Chew on…My mind has a mind of its own

By on December 20, 2010 in Betsy, eating, emotional stuff, food, guest post

Without further ado, please enjoy today’s guest post from our friend Betsy!

I have been sick this week with a head cold that has reduced me to a lump of stuffy-headed, snot-nosed, sit-on-her-bum Queen of Laziness who is incapable of stringing more than two sentences together. So this blog entry may a bit, um, well, a bit short.

But prior to this week of cold-induced slovenliness I was thinking a great deal about the way my mind tries to keep me from my goals. This line of thinking was sparked by recent entries on blogs. Like Sean’s pre-Thanksgiving post when he announced he’d reached his goal of losing 275 pounds and started referring back to his older entries where he established the Calorie Bank and Trust. And Tara’s post describing how she’s exploring intuitive eating. And Sue’s post where she recapped the battle she had with her mind to complete a half marathon in Las Vegas. And Val’s post when she shared her current challenges about rediscovering her Happy.

And what I am now convinced of after days of observation and reflection is that my mind has a mind of its own. For example, when I’m sitting in my office having just eaten a healthy, balanced lunch and my body feels all satisfied, that bugger-of-a-mind of mine starts envisioning cake with frosting, pizza, milkshakes, grilled cheeses, cheese and crackers, and telling me that a quick jaunt to the local grocery store or fast food joint would be super satisfying. Yep my dastardly mind kicks into overdrive and deliberately works against my body to tempt me into eating WHEN I’M NOT HUNGRY. And that really ticks me off.

Far from a new discovery about myself, this nevertheless requires constant work on my part to retrain my brain. So instead of reaching for food every time my mind thinks of a morsel it would find satisfying, I am taking a deep breath, a swig of water, and asking: Did I just eat? Am I really hungry or am I thirsty, bored, tired, bored, happy, bored?

I am simply unable to expound on this any further because I’m finding it a tad bit difficult to concentrate what with my head feeling like it’s in a vise grip and snot running out of my nose. But know that I am thinking of these things and I’d love to hear from you.

Are you also in possession of a mind with a mind of its own? Any tips you can offer me on mastering my mind to benefit my health?

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