How To Get Back On Track After The Holiday Eating

Are you regretting what you had to eat yesterday for the holiday seasons. Where are you eating like it was your last holiday or maybe had that dish that you only get once a year. For some, it’s really hard to have those special days and balance them out while eating healthy. Sometimes we beat ourselves up mentally and berate ourselves knowing that we’ve done damage after knowing we had done so good for so long.  Shame and guilt shut you down and make you either want to avoid thinking about it or plunges you even deeper into emotional over eating.  Here’s how to move on and refocus on your healthy eating plan:

– Identify why you overdid it in the first place.  It could be that you wanted a little bit of everything or maybe you told yourself you won’t see this food again for another year. Or perhaps stressful family situations cause you to take comfort in second helpings. Use this experience as a learning opportunity. If you were eating moderately until your Aunt brought out the pecan pie after you already ate a slice of apple pie, walk yourself through the steps to figure out what you might do differently next time.  Perhaps you could ask how many pies there will be, figure out which you prefer and practice graciously declining the first pie while waiting patiently for the preferred want to come.

– Surround yourself with positive mantras. A healthy lifestyle is about “progress, not perfection”. When you’re facing eating challenges in the near future, tell yourself quotations such as “I can only control this minute, I can’t change the past or control  the future”. “I don’t like what I did, but I still like me” or one of my favorites is “Tomorrow is another day”.

– Comfort yourself without calories. Stressing about eating isn’t doing yourself any favors. Stress triggers production of the hormone cortisol, which in turn can make you crave sugary, fatty foods. Find cortisol-reducing activities, like drinking black tea, which can lead to as much as a 47% dip in your cortisol. Or try self massage, like placing a tennis ball under your foot and rolling it around to relieve achy feet. Three minutes of deep breathing can also help you to get and stay calm and centered or try gentle stretching, like yoga.

– Set attainable daily goals. Use process goals like a daily 15 minute walk versus an outcome goal such as losing 5 pounds. Process goals are ones you set every day that eventually lead to an outcome goal. Crossing out a simple process goal daily will help you feel accomplished and stay focus. Research has also shown but a brisk 15 minute walk may help reduce chocolate cravings and keep your mind off snacking.

– Be mindful of scale behaviors. Don’t hop on the scale daily and especially after a large meal or a big oops. You’ll only feel discouraged and disappointed which can also lead to binge eating behaviors. Obsessing about ups and downs on the scale can make or break your mood. 75% of people who lost weight and kept it off for at least a year weigh themselves weekly, so do it the same day of the week in the morning and record it so you can keep track of it.

Making healthy eating choices takes effort and it isn’t done casually. Adopting an all or nothing thinking is self destructive and that drains the energy you need to stay on track. You have to be good to yourself in order to succeed at weight loss, so practice self compassion often. I hope this helps you the next time you have an overindulgence. Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/sandivw

How To Stop Overeating

This is a tricky subject. Overeating can be very subjective. My overeating could be considered completely different than your overeating. Either way , it’s not good for ones body. The reason diets fail most of the time is because we self restrict too much and then it backfires on use sending us into this vicious cycle of overeating. I don’t know about you but if you tell me I can not have something then that is all the more I want it. That is all the more I will obsess about it until I finally break and overindulge in whatever it might be. I then feel ashamed and disappointed in myself for giving in when really I should of just not restricted my diet to begin with.

Much of overeating is caused from deprivation. If you dramatically reduce your caloric count, your body instantly perceives danger. Your body then goes into starvation mode which in turn slows down your metabolism. Inevitably when you stop dieting, you regain what you had lost plus some extra weight 😦

Nobody chooses to be overweight, instead we are biologically wired to crave sugary, processed foods and eat as much of them as possible. Society also plays a role in how we eat on a daily basis.  Here are some strategies to help you from overeating:

-Eat real, whole food. Avoid processed food and switch to eating more vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans, and grass-fed animal products.

-Always eat breakfast. Skipping breakfast means you will eventually feel famished which will lead to overeating and also eating food that is not good for you.

-Keep a journal. Write what your eating down or use an app on your phone, tablet or IPad. This will keep you accountable for what your eating and also you can plan ahead for the following day on what your meals will be to help with not overeating.

-Exercise. Aim for 30 min of exercise every day. This will help you lose weight, maintain weight loss and control your appetite so you don’t overeat.

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HOW TO START ON YOUR JOURNEY TO GOOD HEALTH

• Where do you start on your journey to get healthy?
• Can you afford to eat healthy?
• Do you get stuck in fad diets?

You finally made the decision to get healthy. But where do you start? There is so much information out there – eat sugar, don’t eat sugar; eat carbs, don’t eat carbs. What should you believe? Fad diets fail. They give you quick results,  but are hard, if not impossible to maintain. These ‘lose weight fast’ diets don’t give you the essential vitamins and minerals that you need.

Take pride in yourself and your nutrition, and enjoy eating right. It is more expensive to buy healthy, natural food, but by doing so you might eat less. Yes, processed and refined foods are inexpensive and convenient, but they come with a higher price than you think. I encourage you to move the grocery bill up on your financial priority list. Optimal nutrition is essential for healthy function with age, and you can’t put a price tag on that.

There are so many difficulties with regard to good nutrition in our society. Nearly every social gathering involves food, often it’s not the kind that helps keep you lean. Try these basic nutrition to help you take those first steps toward a healthier, happier way of living. Start here. Start today.

1: Avoid Overeating

Focus on finding a balance of hunger and fullness as you eat. Stop eating when you are no longer hungry, not just when you are full. Remember all the times you ate until you were uncomfortable. How did that make you feel? You probably felt guilty, and certainly had some degree of abdominal discomfort. Be mindful that every time you eat those extra bites, they are not going to make you feel better. They will probably make you feel worse

2: Think Like a Caveman

 Food is energy for your body. Nothing more, nothing less. Think about your food before you eat: “Why am I eating this?” “Do I really need this?” This will help you focus on eating enough to keep you moving, and choosing foods that will give you prolonged energy.  Remember, sugar is one of the worst things for your body. It provides instant glucose to your system resulting in immediate energy. A short time afterward, the glucose is gone and your body is back to craving cheap sources of energy, like more sugar. The end result is insulin release in response to that meal promoting fatigue and brain fogginess

3: Eat Naturally

Focus on things that come from the earth, not a factory. The best advice is, when shopping at the grocery store, stay along the outside walls where you find fruits, vegetables, beans and lean sources of meat. All of these occur naturally. This helps keep those processed foods and sugar-packed snacks, all of which will kill your metabolism, out of the cart. Also, leave the white potatoes behind. This vegetable contains an awful lot of starch that your body converts to sugar almost immediately with little work.

4: Join the Organic Movement

Buy organic whenever possible. If you can’t afford or find organic foods, no problem. Just wash your fruits and vegetables very well. Go to foodnews.org and find out which produce contains the most pesticides and make yourself an organic produce priority list. Only buy organic of those in the dirty dozen (peaches top this list) and accept conventional of those in the cleanest dozen, such as onions. If you can’t get fresh produce, frozen is the next best thing. Avoid canned and packaged fruits and vegetables as the preservatives are usually going to work against you.

 5: No Chemical Toxins

Avoid artificial sweeteners (especially Splenda). These are most often consumed in Crystal Light, diet sodas and “sugar-free” products. Think of them as toxins (because they are) that slow down your body’s metabolism. Drink plenty of water.

6: Control Your Portion Size

Use small coffee mugs to eat your cereal in the morning. Get rid of all the large plates and cups in your house and only eat with the smaller or children’s sizes. Eat slowly, being certain to chew your food thoroughly before swallowing. Try to eat slower than the slowest eater at the table. If you go to a restaurant, split a meal with your partner, or once your portion is delivered, cut it in half and have the waiter box up half of the dish for another meal.

 7: Take Your Time

Good nutrition is a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t make the mistake of trying to change everything overnight. It took your entire life to adopt your current nutrition habits, expect it to take some time to change them. After two weeks of a consistent change, you have made it a habit. Pick two or three of these tips to start. Each week review how you have done and evaluate the areas that need improvement. During this review, plan on making an additional change to your nutrition.