Rebel, rebel.....!

So often when I would go on a diet, I would make a list of what food I 'could' and 'could not' have.  

I would label certain foods as being 'bad' for me. 

The problem was, sooner or later, those "forbidden" foods would tempt me.  I'd start thinking about them all the time. 
The foods would CALL to me.  Whisper in the dark.  Tell me how wonderful they were and how great it would be just to have a 'little bit'.

Why?
BECAUSE they were 'bad'. 
And BECAUSE the rebel in me wanted to be 'bad', once in awhile.  Right?

And the more I told myself I couldn't eat those foods, the more I wanted them.

It's all a question of what you TELL yourself.

We are all rebels at heart, aren't we?  We love our freedom, and we want that right to choose.  So when we say that a whole bunch of foods are foods we CANNOT have, we are doomed to failure, because sooner or later we're going to want to have them, just for the EXPERIENCE of being 'bad'.

And that can lead straight to binge eating. 

And then you've got a setup where you are either very good....100% on your program, weighing and measuring everything, drinking your water, being 'perfect'......
OR
You're totally off the rails, eating everything that isn't nailed down, convinced you 'blew it already, might as well enjoy myself the rest of the day', and therefore you HAVE to have it TODAY, because 'after this I'm never going to eat this junk again'. (famous last words, right?)

All of which is a LIE, by the way.  That's your addiction talking.  It's Fat Brain, LYING to you once again.  There's no 'rule' that says you have to CONTINUE to overeat if you did ONE thing wrong today.  And there's no 'rule' that says you have to STUFF yourself once you've started because you'll 'never' have these foods again. 

That's all a LIE from your addicted voice, to get you to go back to doing what you USED to do, over and over again.

To NOT change. (Fat Brain HATES change).

Feast or famine.  Over and over and over again, while your weight yo-yos up and down the scale and your psyche takes a beating, because you're either being 'perfect' (and happy) or you're 'wrong' and 'bad' (and depressed). 

We literally BECOME manic-depressive. 
 
Sadly, there are even diet plans that ADVOCATE this type of thing. 

Scary but true!  This month's issue of SHAPE magazine has an entire article devoted to these kinds of plans! 

They talk about the "Every-Other Day" diet, the "Warrior Diet", the "Fast Diet', and the "Eat Stop Eat" diet.  These are new programs that people are going ape over. 

The idea is to FAST, for a whole day (sometimes 2 days, depending on the plan) and then eat whatever you want, as much as you want, for a set period of time.  And keep repeating this behavior until you reach your goal. 

Here's a quote:
"Science finds that mini-fasts can lead to weight loss, better energy, and even a longer life.  But are they safe?"

To their credit, they list the minuses with this type of eating, like the fact that if you exercise during the fasting period, you could get weak, light-headed, and even pass out....and that you may not be getting decent nutrition (duh!! you think?), and that it's hard to do this kind of thing because you have to plan, plan plan...after all, you can't go out to dinner with friends on a fasting day, can you? 

BUT they don't list the most dangerous part of all. 

And that is, what this type of plan does to your HEAD!  Especially if you're susceptible to binge-eating and may be a compulsive overeater and/or a food addict.  These types of plans simply REINFORCE the "feast or famine" mentality that we've already done, over and over again! 

Shame on Shape magazine for promoting plans that have this 'feast or famine' premise as their backbones....because these can lead to creating MORE binge-eaters out there.

This is the problem with severe diets, as well, in my opinion.  They set us UP to view a whole BUNCH of foods as 'bad' or 'wrong'.  Which again, simply reinforces the "I wanna" factor.  Sooner or later we 'wanna' be bad, right?  We want to have that forbidden fruit (there was a reason Adam grabbed that apple from Eve!)  So telling ourselves we 'can' and 'cannot' have certain foods can set our HEADS up for that binge mentality.

And then it becomes, eat healthy in front of friends and family and/or in public.....for a few days, maybe even Monday through Friday....
BUT.... then, nights, or weekends, or whenever we're alone or get angry or frustrated or depressed or bored or stressed or you-name-it....we EAT EAT EAT. 
We hide it, we sneak it, but we DO IT. 

And then we hate ourselves. 

And put ourselves right back on our 'diet plans' again.

Only to have the cycle repeat itself.  Over and over again, until the binges get more frequent and the healthy eating gets LESS frequent and the weight piles on and we spiral into DESPAIR.

Now I'm not saying that certain diet plans that advocate NOT eating junk foods are 'bad' or 'wrong'.  Far from it.  If you want to lose weight, the BEST way to do that is to stop eating junk, stop eating sugar, stop eating too much fat, and START eating healthy and moving your body regularly via some type of exercise. 

You eat QUALITY food, NUTRITIOUS food, because you want the most 'bang for your buck', nutritionally speaking.  You want to eat less calories but get MORE nutrition.

So plans that advocate healthy, moderate eating every single day, as opposed to 'one day on, one day off', or having 'cheat meals' or 'cheat days', are much better for you....physically and emotionally!....as a compulsive eater.  Plans that give you TOTAL nutrition.

But you have to do it in such a way that you STOP the feast or famine approach.

And when you're on a certain plan that tells you not to eat certain foods, it's
HOW YOU LOOK AT IT that makes all the difference in the world.

I wanted to lose weight QUICKLY so I chose the Medifast plan, which yes, eliminates whole food groups (like fruit) and 'bans' junk food and sugar and all that not-so-good stuff for you, food-wise.  But it REPLACES those foods with EXCELLENT nutrition, in an easy-to-eat (even FUN to eat) form, such as cereal or pretzels or even pudding or brownies...but these are NUTRITIOUS brownies, with a balanced amount of PROTEIN (when have you ever had a brownie with lots of good protein in it and little to no sugar?), carbs and 'good' fats to keep you going with GREAT nutrition. 

And the key with Medifast is, there is a "Transition" segment after you reach your goal weight.  This is the most important part of the program, in my view, and unfortunately the one too many people skip!  It's where you ADD BACK the 'forbidden' food groups, in small doses, over time.  Little by little.  Baby steps. 

But you NEVER add back the junk.  (hopefully).  You learn how to eat healthy FOREVER.

And THAT's the best kind of 'diet' program, in my view. 

It leads to what you want ultimately, which is to eat a healthy, MODERATE diet every single day.  There are NO 'cheat days' or 'cheat meals' on my plan.  There is only healthy eating. 

But during the weight-loss phase of Medifast, and YES, even during Transition and Maintenance, tthere are foods on the "don't" list. 
I don't eat them. 

But the emphasis isn't on "CAN'T".  The emphasis is on "WON'T"!  

And there's a HUGE difference.

If I tell myself I "can't" have a certain food, that elevates its importance and makes it forbidden fruit and suddenly it becomes irresistible.

But if I tell myself I can, but "won't"....that's totally different.  I CAN have anything I want!  No one's going to stop me, right?  I CAN have food.  Sure I can!  All I want! 

But I CHOOSE -not- to.  Because I know better, from experience, what happens when I eat that food.  It's going to make me hungry (i.e., high sugar content) and/or it's going to cause my body to manufacture millions of tiny little fat cells that I don't want, and/or it's going to cause me to gain weight and feel bloated and unhappy. 

Moreover, the food doesn't contain enough good nutrition to warrant the calories. 

So it comes down to, do I eat the nectarine, or the cookie?  Right? 

If I eat the nectarine, I have lots of enjoyment, PLUS lots of good nutrition, without a lot of calories.

If I eat the cookie, I'll have a few brief seconds of enjoyment, very little nutrition, and a lot of calories for the size (and PS I'm NOT going to stop at 'one' cookie.  But I will, in all probability, stop at ONE nectarine.  And that's also key!)

Here's the thing, too.  The low-calorie foods?  The unprocessed, right-from-the-good-earth foods like healthy fruits and veggies, lean proteins and dairy and whole grains, are usually nutrition-dense while being quantity-rich.

In other words, we get MORE FOOD on our plates when we eat healthy, for the same amount of calories, than when we don't eat healthy.

One slice of pizza has around 200-300 calories (depending on the size of the slice and the type of pie, i.e., 'sicilian' or 'chicago' pizza has more calories because the crust is thicker, and/or if you add things like pepperoni or extra cheese, obviously the calorie count is going to be higher). 
Compare that to one piece of salmon fillet (they even sell frozen salmon fillets in individual portions) which = 125 calories, PLUS a whole CUPful of green beans for 40 calories, PLUS a large lettuce salad WITH light dressing for about 60 calories.  Total = 225 calories.

You've got a whole plateful of good, nutritious food for LESS calories than one measly slice of pizza. 

The rebel in me doesn't even miss the pizza when I've got a whole plate of food to enjoy, and I KNOW I'm getting good nutrition, to boot. 

Sure, once in awhile we all want to let go and eat something junky, just for the hell of it.  The problem is, with compulsive overeaters like me, is we can't STOP once we've started.  We get into a binge instead.  Because the 'you're being bad' mantra is playing in our heads, over and over and over again, with every bite we take.  PLUS we're awakening the sugar-monster in our heads, the one that causes us to want MORE MORE MORE. 

Better to simply MAKE A CHOICE to say NO. 

It's not a 'have to', it's a 'want to'.

I always have to smile a little bit when I'm visiting my parents, and my mother offers me something not healthy to eat, and then she'll stop and say, "Wait a minute, you can't have this, can you?"

The truth is, YES I CAN have it.  But I CHOOSE not to. 
That's kind of hard for her to understand, because she's a normal eater.  And as such, she doesn't see the problem.  Yes, she's knows the food is unhealthy, but she can eat just a small piece of it, enjoy it, and forget about it. 
I can't.

And that is the difference between a normal eater and a food addict/compulsive overeater.

I (finally!) see myself for what I am.  I'm a food addict and compulsive overeater, and I also have binge eating disorder.  It doesn't make me a 'bad' person, it just makes me a person with a problem;  a handicap, if you will, when it comes to food.  I like to think of it as an allergy.  I'm 'allergic' to sludge. (sludge = junk food, sugary desserts, fat-laden meals, etc.)

That's all.  It's something I have learned to live with.  It's not the end of the world.  It's not a death sentence.  It doesn't make me worth 'less' as a human being.  It just means I have to control what I eat.  That's all. 

I have to CHOOSE not to eat certain foods. 
But the foods themselves aren't 'bad', and NO ONE is forcing me not to eat them. 

It's a CHOICE!

Keep on keepin' on!

Linda
angiecat6@comcast.net