Very true! What I try to weigh (pardon the pun) is the pleasure I get from eating yummy treats with the pleasure I get from feeling good and healthy in my skin. I know society values being slim (and I think it's actually the same for men) but I'm not sure I think about that as much as I think about how I feel about living in my body. Our soul and spirit are the most important things, but my body carts me around the planet, so I think a lot about how to find that balance between indulging in things that aren't the greatest for me nutritionally, like sugar--cake, chocolate and my personal achilles heel, donuts--and taking good care of the vehicle that houses "me." I think it's probably a myth that it isn't a struggle though. At least it is for me. What I want and what is good for me are often two different things! (Oh how I wish I thought kale was a treat!) Which is probably why it is so easy to yo-yo. If a person can find some way to balance those two opposing interests and be healthy without making herself crazy, I'm usually impressed!
Hermes Cafe Bon Temps~Good Times Cafe
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Very true! What I try to weigh (pardon the pun) is the pleasure I get from eating yummy treats with the pleasure I get from feeling good and healthy in my skin. I know society values being slim (and I think it's actually the same for men) but I'm not sure I think about that as much as I think about how I feel about living in my body. Our soul and spirit are the most important things, but my body carts me around the planet, so I think a lot about how to find that balance between indulging in things that aren't the greatest for me nutritionally, like sugar--cake, chocolate and my personal achilles heel, donuts--and taking good care of the vehicle that houses "me." I think it's probably a myth that it isn't a struggle though. At least it is for me. What I want and what is good for me are often two different things! (Oh how I wish I thought kale was a treat!) Which is probably why it is so easy to yo-yo. If a person can find some way to balance those two opposing interests and be healthy without making herself crazy, I'm usually impressed!
I must confess that I actually don't snack very much at all!very occasionally I would eat some dark chocolate bought by my SO. Once in a full moon I will eat some ice cream. I quite like dried mango but that's about it. I eat some fruits in the morning with breakfast and I don't snack on crisps or biscuits. I don't have a sweet tooth at all and my body just don't crave anything in-between meals. But I can't skip meal either. A lot of people at work say "oh, I am so busy so I skip lunch". I can't do that. I would be in a very bad mood if I did that. I think it's due to how I was brought up. I never really snacked when I was little. 3 proper meals a day and I am all set.
I do carb cycling (alternating higher and lower carb days) and when I am really paying attention and trying I find that I crave less sweets. When I fall off (like at holidays) I have to spend time resetting my body. It takes weeks to get your body "off" the need for sweets but I feel better when I do.
Totally get this. Like I said up above this, I find it easier to not "want" or "need" as many sweets when I have my body in the routine I set up. If I fall off, it takes weeks to retrain it out of me. I feel so much better (bodily) when I don't eat too many sweets/carbs, but getting myself back to that I often find hard to do.
My balance at the moment is I don't disallow anything. Every day if I want a cookie or maybe some popcorn or something, it has to balance out carb wise with something else. I don't make myself NOT have something, that only makes me want it more. So I have it, then adjust other items later in the day for balance. So maybe I have a cookie, and maybe for dinner I was going to do a sandwich, so I change it to something less carby, like fish....
This format works well if I can make myself write my carbs down every day and count them precisely. It's when I get lazy and only "estimate" things start to go bad....
These are fantastic! The pink "fruits" look so cute! It's interesting that it's St. John's Wort. Its extract is supposed to be a remedy for depression and anxiety. I think by just looking at them can sooth you, isn't it?
When I saw the name Hypericum, I realized, oh neat, St John's Wort, and immediately thought what you said!
They're so cheery, one would feel better just looking at them!
I am sure you must already know about complex carbs v.s. simple carbs and I really try to eat complex version whenever I can. I find it really makes me crave less for simple carbs. I still take simple carbs such as white rice or white pasta but I don't eat white bread or use sugar for example. I watched a BBC program where they measured how different pasta releases energy. They compared freshly cooked pasta, cooled down cooked pasta and re-heated pasta and they found that freshly cooked pasta released energy the fastest, therefore the most sugar like, while re-heated pasta the slowest, therefore the most complex carbs like. Very fascinating stuff!
I think it’s a process, and maybe reframing it at a game or an adventure, rather than a struggle helps. For me it’s about awareness and detachment. Paying attention, noticing to how I feel, and willingness to let go of non supportive patterns. I just don’t think Mother Nature lets us down! So the more one eats close to the way things grow, the less one craves the other things. The body just adjusts, and tastes change. But I do think it’s important to cut out artificial sweeteners. Grains, sweet fruits, and a bit of dark chocolate can fill the need for sweet once the body gets used to not having super sweet things. I just find most treats that I enjoyed in the past to be so knock-me-down sweet now, I really don’t like them anymore! So the path for me was continuing to favor foods I knew to be more supportive, and having less of the others. Over time I just wanted, and craved, more that are beneficial for me.
I love to use Hypericum in arrangements. I had no idea it was St. John's wort. The things we learn on tPF! So, what part do people take as a supplement, the berry part or the leaf part?
Theoretically, I don't disallow anything. But on a practical level, I don't eat desserts unless it is something totally spectacular. It has to be really worth it, because I know I will pay for the indulgence. I'd love to be able to be moderate about sugar, but if I start eating it, it seems to work like a drug in my system, and it is excruciatingly hard to put on the brakes. Amazing. And the crazy thing is that no amount would satisfy me. I would eat nothing but junk all day long if I let myself get started. I'm not like a normal person that can eat a piece of cake and then quit. I could very easily eat the whole cake (if it was good)--and want to. You'd give me a piece of cake and I would be thinking, boy, I'd really like more cake!
I can eat a square or two of dark chocolate, like the little Ghirardelli squares, and I'm fine, but milk chocolate sends me on a binge and it's hard to break out. Then like you, it takes a few days to detox and start eating like a sane person again. Popcorn doesn't seem to do that to me, but I have to watch it with bread and white rice too. I think it's very cool that QE2 can eat one slice of cake every day. The only way I could do that is if I lived in a castle and my suite was a mile from the kitchen. Then I'd just order the servants to only bring me one piece no matter how much I beg!
I must confess that I actually don't snack very much at all!
That's really good that you don't skip meals. I should set an alarm on my phone so I remember to go eat.
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I've had a kale salad locally that was quite sweet -- had cranberries and maybe candied walnuts. I'm sure about the cranberries.
I have not had a donut or a piece of pie since I don't remember. Has probably been over a year. I do have a piece of cake more than I should, 3 times/week . . I should have been the queen. She's so thin, she can eat 80 cake slices a day and biscuits and high tea.
I have never eaten a whole cake or wanted to. The most I overate was a whole container of honey-roasted almonds (some nut or other). I felt rather nauseous afterwards and haven't touched honey-roasted anything since 5 years ago when that happened.
You guys are so disciplined, it takes my breath away! Do you guys eat diet drinks, sodas, or anything else like that?Theoretically, I don't disallow anything. But on a practical level, I don't eat desserts unless it is something totally spectacular. It has to be really worth it, because I know I will pay for the indulgence. I'd love to be able to be moderate about sugar, but if I start eating it, it seems to work like a drug in my system, and it is excruciatingly hard to put on the brakes. Amazing. And the crazy thing is that no amount would satisfy me. I would eat nothing but junk all day long if I let myself get started. I'm not like a normal person that can eat a piece of cake and then quit. I could very easily eat the whole cake (if it was good)--and want to. You'd give me a piece of cake and I would be thinking, boy, I'd really like more cake!
I can eat a square or two of dark chocolate, like the little Ghirardelli squares, and I'm fine, but milk chocolate sends me on a binge and it's hard to break out. Then like you, it takes a few days to detox and start eating like a sane person again. Popcorn doesn't seem to do that to me, but I have to watch it with bread and white rice too. I think it's very cool that QE2 can eat one slice of cake every day. The only way I could do that is if I lived in a castle and my suite was a mile from the kitchen. Then I'd just order the servants to only bring me one piece no matter how much I beg!
That's really good that you don't skip meals. I should set an alarm on my phone so I remember to go eat.
Are you sure you don't want a donut instead? Sugar is very calming. I know.
I must pre-fix this that I have a rather delicate stomach. So I don't normally drink carbonated drinks because they make me feel very bloated. I do drink some during hot days but almost nothing when it's cooler. Greasy or very sugary food gives me stomach aches so I avoid them as well. e.g. I haven't had a doughnut for about say 10 years because I am sure last time I had it it gave me stomach ache. I am also mildly lactose intolerant so I try to avoid dairy as much as I can. We have this ice cream made of soya milk so I am glad to take some during hot days. If we are dining out, I would most likely sharing some desert with my SO. That's about it.
So to me, it's not really about discipline but rather a survival instinct.
The Dilettante chocolate company in Seattle recently closed their Broadway cafe after 40 years
but their famous bittersweet chocolate sauce is called Ephemere, and their Ephemere port milkshakes were to die for. So you could have all three at once!(You can still buy their chocolates in Seattle or on-line, and they apparently have a cafe chain now, but their original location was... Seattle in my heart. Wonderful desserts, terrible service, and unexpectedly tasty borscht and all.)
No not really. Brownies are (or should be) a bit chewier. They have a denser consistency, typically.