Archive | January 2011

Pucker Foods for Food Addicts

Jan31

Are you ready to pucker up and kiss some of that emotional overeating, food addiction fat good-bye? Well, these two foods will definitely help you in that department. And they’re good for you, but you probably don’t want to hear that.

Food addicts and over-eaters of all kinds often don’t care if a food is good for you or not–at least not in the addiction state. We just eat whatever is there, as long as it’s very salty or very sweet or very something to match the intense emotions we feel when we eat helplessly.

But hey, we have our sane moments when our emotions are okay. It is in those moments that we have the opportunity to do things that support our body’s needs. It’s a chance you don’t want to pass up.

Lemons and vinegar are two really effective fat-burners and here’s why. They help you get your body out of its acid state  into alkalinity.  That’s when healing takes place. You can’t heal anything in an acid state. When you’re dealing with too many plumped up fat cells, your body is under duress, and it needs to heal.

I have two lemon trees in my back yard. This year, I’m really making the most of them. Lemons are great. I use half a fresh lemon in a glass of iced tea a few times a day. I drink a lot of iced tea. And I use the pink stuff. I confess.

You can squeeze one or two lemons over chicken or fish before you put it in the oven or on the grill. You can also just use a slice of lemon in water if you’re not nuts about the blank flavor of water. It does make a difference in the taste. And your body will thank you for it.

Another great food is vinegar. My favorite is balsamic vinegar. I put it on fish when I bake it and use it in stews and baked beans, as well. Vinegar also takes the acid out of things.

If you use balsamic vinegar on meat and fish when you’re baking it, or even in a pot roast or chili, you will find that you won’t have gas or get heartburn.

There’s no need to stuff yourself with good food. It  defeats the purpose of eating angry panic foods to stuff down your feelings like we do when we are stressed and uncomfortable.

Good food is a treat. And while you may add one of these two liquids for damage control, you’ll love what it does for your food and your body.

If you like baked fish, like New England Scrod or Alaskan Salmon as I do, squeeze a generous amount of fresh lemon juice and balsamic vinegar over your fish before you put it in to bake. You will be amazed at the incredible sauce the combination makes. Of course, it makes any fish taste fabulous.

The combination also works well on sweet red and orange  peppers. Bake the pepper strips until they look like they’ve been fried.

No fat and so delicious, you can eat them as a snack if you bake them long enough. Pay attention to the aroma so you’ll know when to take them out. Imagine eating something that tastes as good as potato chips and doesn’t give you heartburn or gas.

I hope you’ll give it a try. Sometimes little changes in our daily meals can make all the difference in the world.

New Thinking for Food Addicts

Jan5

One of the best ways to get past an over-dependency on food is to start thinking about it in a new way. There is a process to achieving any goal.

First, you think it. Then you learn it. And finally, you do it.

Inner speech is very important in the “Think it” stage. What we tell ourselves inside is more than likely to occur in our outside life, since we tend to attract that which we focus on.

For someone who is trying to lose weight and fighting a food addiction at the same time, there is a war of words going on inside your head. That makes it pretty hard to get the right message to your heart.

Without that message of self-love and support, you’re pretty much doomed to failure. You may not want to hear it, but that’s the way it usually works out.

So, here’s my two cents about how you think of yourself when you have some weight to lose and you’re struggling with a food addiction or if you tend to use food as a coping mechanism when you get stressed out emotionally as I do.

I don’t want to feel good about being fat. I know all about self-esteem. I teach workshops on it. Most people look at me and have no earthly idea of how my extra 30 pounds affect my life.

What I want is to be healthy and fit, because when I am, I feel good about everything. And I don’t have to lose all the weight I need to in order to get into the size I want to feel that way.

I’ve already started feeling like it now that I’ve  resumed my daily walks. I walk at a comfortable pace, breathing in for four steps and out for two steps. Sometimes I use the treadmill–same breathing pattern though.

That easy walking has already burned off 6 of  the 10 pounds of fat  I gained over the holidays. Boy that food was good, and I really enjoyed it. I’m not sorry I ate it, but now it’s time to get back on track.

In my opinion, it’s okay to eat holiday foods that you don’t eat all year round, as long as you don’t bring them home with you. I especially love the cookies and fudge.

I eat junk food more carefully when I eat out. But it would be unwise for me to keep addictive foods in my house because when I experience panic stress, I’d devour them.

At home, I prefer to eat healthier foods. They just make me feel better than foods that make me bloated and uncomfortable.  I have to admit that  I like the lighter feeling better.

I have come to realize that I may never lose all 30 of the pounds I’d like to shed, or maybe I will. What I do know for certain is that I can keep within 20 pounds of my ideal weight while I’m moving in that direction. And for me, for now, that’s acceptable.

In my next blog, I’ll talk about the “Learn it” phase.