Tag Archive | Food Addictions

Food Addictions and Additives

Mar18

They don’t make food like they used to. That’s because “they” didn’t make it. We did. Where were the food addictions when food came from a backyard garden or a local farm or meat locker?

Where did we turn when stress set in? There was a choice, and usually it was a physical activity like shooting hoops or taking a walk around the block.

No one went to their room and watched TV or turned up the music or video game. If that were to have happened, you’d get a different kind of exercise like running to escape a possible “whupping” as it was called in the old days.

No one thought of eating to combat stress.  What possible emotional relief could be gained from shoving a bunch of radishes or a couple of ears of corn in your face? Now, if there was ham in the smoke house, that was a different story.

The thing is, when we ate food when I was growing up, it was real food. And maybe that’s why we didn’t see so many food addictions and so much emotional eating. We had real stress but we also had real food.

Added sugars, fats, salt, corn syrup, and all kinds of dyes and preservatives change the nature of food. Those additives may have something to do with food addictions, just as additives in cigarettes have been proved to have addictive properties.

One of the best things a person can do to get off the treadmill of food addiction and emotional eating is to start cooking. Prepare meals that don’t come from a box, bag, or can. Use natural ingredients to concoct your own creative dinner.

In other words, know what is in the food you are eating. And what better way to know than to cook it yourself?

To some, that may sound drastic, and it does take a little more work, but it is definitely worth it. Make some homemade soup with a few chunks of lean beef, a couple of stalks of celery, a can of whole tomatoes–they tend to do well in soups–a couple of onions, a carrot or two chopped up to sweeten the pot, and one or two potatoes cut into chunks.

All you need to season soup is an herb salt like Herb-a-Mare, some fresh ground pepper, and a little Mrs. Dash seasoning. You can add a small amount of balsamic vinegar or wine to enhance the taste, if you like.

If you eat this healthy, delicious soup alternately with whatever else you eat, you will notice a difference in the way you feel.

So, today’s tip is know what’s in your food. Don’t allow someone else to make every food decision for you. When you eat only processed foods, candy, sweets, chips, and heat-and-eat meals, that’s what you’re doing.

Do what you can to cut down on the additives in your food. It may help you to get rid of your food addictions and it will certainly be better for your health.

Emotional Eating and Childhood Obesity

Mar13

I have begun to notice more often now how the habits of parents with food addictions and emotional eating problems pass their eating habits along to their children.

It isn’t just the number of obese children and the diseases like diabetes and other serious illnesses that should concern us.

Life can be so much more interesting, adventurous and just plain fun when we are healthy and fit. Here is a video that has important information about childhood obesity. I will be covering this subject often in upcoming blog posts.

Advice for Food Addicts: Spit It Out

Feb9

An elderly doctor gave me some advice years ago that I was reminded of today. He had retired from his medical practice of nearly half a century and had begun treating patients using nutritional therapies.

This was in the 70’s when nutritional medicine was a more secretive practice than it is today. On one of my evening visits to his Trenton, New Jersey office, Dr. Getlen diagnosed my hypoglycemia.

Until that time, other doctors had attributed my symptoms to a variety of things. Among their suggested diagnoses were newlywed shell shock and a possible brain tumor. I’m not kidding.

That same night I confided to Dr. Getlen that I ate uncontrollably whenever I felt nervous. We didn’t call it stress back then. We didn’t call ourselves emotional eaters or food addicts in those days either.

Whenever my blood sugar would drop, I would crave sweets. Once the addictive feelings began, I ate until the candy was gone. Food addiction creates more problems than just weight gain, and no one knows that better than me.

Today, I was watching a small child eat candy at the urging of her mother. “Try this one, Honey.” The child chewed the jellied candy vigorously and then spit it out. She did this repeatedly until the woman threatened to keep all the candy for herself. No comment on that one.

She asked the little girl why she kept spitting out the candy. The little girl replied very politely and matter-of-factly, “I already tasted it”.

Suddenly, Dr. Getlen’s words came back to me. He told me how to eat what I wanted without having to feel guilty about eating or worrying about gaining weight.

He told me that when I got the urge to overeat sweets to do it. He said to be sure to chew whatever I ate thoroughly and savor every bite.

Then, to my surprise and puzzlement, he told me not to swallow the food, but instead to spit it out. He said it was my mind that was in control and it was only interested in pleasing my taste buds.

He was right. I did it and it worked, especially with jelly beans. That little girl knew the secret and observing her, I was reminded of it.

It may sound like a terrible waste to spit out the food, and it would be rather disgusting if you did it at a restaurant.

The object of the exercise, however, is to satisfy your hunger without turning your body into a garbage dump. So, try it and see if it works for you too. But only at home.

P.S. It doesn’t work with ice cream.

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.