Tag Archive | Fats

Fewer Additives Reduce Food Addictions

Dec16

You’ve probably heard that processed foods contain additives that are believed to have addictive properties. Both nutrition experts and scientists have expressed concern over this, giving food addicts one more thing to worry about.

One way to tackle the situation is to reduce additives in food. How can you control additives in food? Easy. Cook it yourself from scratch so you know exactly what’s in the food you’re eating.

There is plenty of time to prepare a meal for yourself or your family. The problem is that we’ve gotten lazy with so many modern conveniences and a home-cooked meal seems like too much work now.

Why cook when you can pick up something at Wal-Mart for a few bucks, pop it in the microwave, and then have time to talk on your cell phone for two hours?

Sorry if that sounds rough, but if you can remember how great a fresh, healthy meal tastes, you know I’m right.

It’s still a good idea to read labels, but you don’t have to give up the flavor of the foods you enjoy. Getting past your food addiction does require some lifestyle changes.  Make your food user-friendly so you can enjoy it more.

Let me share with you one of my secret formulas for creating healthy, great tasting food.  Vigo Balsalmic Vinegar. That’s it. Here’s how it works.

Meats are acid foods. Spaghetti sauce and anything with a tomato base is acidic. They’re not the only acid foods but let’s start with them because so many people eat them.

Acid-forming foods create mucus in the body and slime up your system. It sounds gross because it is. They form gas and cause bloating.

When you fry meats or fish in grease or oil, the fat changes composition at very high temperatures. Is it any wonder you have heartburn after you eat?

So here is how I use my secret remedy. When I cook spaghetti sauce, I add a quarter of a cup of balsamic vinegar to the sauce.

Instead of frying peppers, I bake them at 350 degrees soaked in balsamic vinegar.  Did you know that there is an acidic oil in peppers? I found out only recently from the Poison Control Center.

When you pour balsamic vinegar over peppers and pop them into the oven, they get a sweet taste as if they’ve been cooked in a sauce. You can eat every one of them without developing heartburn.

Baking chicken, pot roast, pork roast, or fish drenched in balsamic vinegar and adding Mrs. Dash or herb salt, fresh ground pepper or your favorite seasoning gives it that “special sauce” taste. Add some fresh lemon juice to the fish while it’s baking and the sauce it creates is incredible.

Marinate hamburgers in balsamic vinegar before grilling them and you can add mustard, catsup, and onions and enjoy them without gas or a bloated feeling.

Here’s the best part. Even though you are using the same base formula for these dishes, each of them will have its own unique taste. And because you are using your own healthful seasonings, you won’t have to worry about artificial ingredients, dyes, MSG and other additives.

It’s a win-win situation all around. Using balsamic vinegar in this way is a simple, inexpensive way to create delicious meals and start stepping back from your food addictions.

Food Addiction Alert: Fats Have a Face

Nov21

Don’t let the word “diet” mislead you when watching this YouTube video. For food addicts, emotional eaters, and anyone struggling to lose weight, the information about how to recognize fats is priceless.

Zoe Harcombe is an author, Nutritionist & Obesity Researcher, and founder of The Harcombe Diet. I am blown away by the brilliant analogy she uses to identify fats and distinguish them from carbohydrates.

The Holiday Diet

Nov17

I’m sure there must be a special holiday diet for food addicts and emotional eaters, or maybe for overeaters in general. There’s a diet for just about everything else.

It’s stressful to focus on losing a few pounds just because you know you will probably indulge in at least some overeating during the holidays. And what can stress lead to? Overeating, of course.

There are some simple things you can do to help your body survive the holiday food fare. Since many holiday foods are full of fats and sugar, not to mention all the additives and preservatives, try baking something from scratch.

It’s a daring venture but you’ll know exactly how much fat, sugar and salt are in the recipe. You get to choose the quality of the ingredients. Try raw sugar instead of the refined sugar in store bought cookies, candies, cakes and pastries.

One simple thing you can do that although you may not like to is to drink plenty of water.  Water flushes the fat out of the body and does a great job of it at that.

You can dance and other fun activities that burn sugar. If you can burn it off quickly, maybe it won’t end up as stored fat.

Does that mean you can give in to the whims of your food addiction or set aside the daily exercise regimen that keeps your emotional eating in check?

The obvious answer is no. There will be plenty of distractions as it is without adding some nutty new holiday diet to the list.

So instead of making a list of the things you want to avoid, make a shorter list of the things you can commit to during the holidays. Be sure “Have fun” is on the list somewhere.

By keeping your focus on what you can do rather than what you shouldn’t do, you can keep your stress levels in check and send your food addictions on their own holiday.

A Food Addict’s Halloween

Oct30

Halloween can be sheer hell for food addicts handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. Yeah, you’re supposed to hand it out, not turn out all your lights and sit there in the dark and eat it yourself.

Halloween is one of the few opportunities some of us get to interact with real people, and children at that. Few things are more entertaining than watching children enjoying themselves.

The smiles, the big eyes when they get to choose their favorite candy all by themselves, the shrieks when an older ghostly creature jumps out of the bushes and scares the crap out of them, and the sweet, distracted “thank you” at Mom and Dad’s urging. It’s just too cool.

True, all that candy can be tempting, but I have noticed that I don’t feel overly emotional or stressed out waiting for the trick-or-treaters, so I don’t have any addictive cravings. That doesn’t mean that I won’t eat candy corn or M&M Peanuts but I just don’t go nuts with the stuff.

I’ve had 4 bags of candy stashed in the corner in a tightly-tied plastic bag for three days and I haven’t been tempted once. It actually feels weird. And just try to journal your feelings when you don‘t crave the addictive food!

My food addiction plan is in place. I expect to eat some kind of candy, so I’ll keep a couple of fat blockers on hand, but my plan is what will save my bacon.

I plan to enjoy every single bite of Halloween candy I eat–every morsel. No negative self-talk about shoulda, coulda, woulda baloney. Of course, I will drink lots of water to help flush the fats from the Snickers, Tootsie Rolls, and Peanut M&M’s, should the kids leave any for me.

And my surefire backup is a group of teenagers who come by around 9:30 and are happy to see a smiling face after being run off by some of my neighbors who close up shop by 8:00 PM.

Not only do we have a nice conversation, but they know that Ms. Bernie will give them the rest whatever candy is left over at the end of the night, so they really look forward to that.

Little do they know that they are helping me more than I am helping them. I’ve learned that when all is said and done, people are the absolute best rescue remedy for any food addiction, any time. Count on it.