Making bad choices! HELP

 We are talking the "bad" carbs like bread rice and pasta! Mostly bread (for bead is my nemesis). I have whole wheat bread in my house because my kids like toast and sandwiches! 

 How much fiber is in that bread? Are you able to limit yourself to one serving at a time with no more than 2 servings of starch a day? Seriously, whole wheat / high fiber bread is a reasonable choice at your stage, so long as you do not overdo it. If you have pasta, do you use something like barilla? The higher the fiber content in your starches, the less likely you are to overeat them. And the kids will be better off too without all those refined carbs. 

If you are talking full sugar soda, then you are drinking liquid sabotage. Even if you are drinking diet, if you are having caffinated beverages you are likely dehydrating your system which can encourage you to overeat and set up cravings. 

Oops, my name is Teri, hello CoolBeans.  I was wondering how you go about determining the amount of fiber and/or the right kind of pasta and/or breads to eat?

I did have my pre-op classes to learn about portion control and things that trigger dumping syndrome, but the part about figuring out things from the label, sort of went right by me.  Do you have a 'system' that you use?  I would like to hear your input. 

Thank you and anyone else who has a tip.



Tee

 Here is a Quote from an article on WebMD on Healthy Cooking: 

A food label can say it's "a good source" of fiber if it contributes 10% of your daily value of fiber -- about 2.5 grams. The package can claims it's "rich in," "high in" or an "excellent source of" fiber, if the product provides 5 grams of fiber per serving. 

A Nutritionist I used to see years back suggested looking for a minimum of 3 grams of fiber per serving on any grain based carb. 

Barrilla Angel Hair Pasta has 4g of Fiber in a 56g serving. It also has 10g of protein. 
Triscuit crackers have 3g Fiber in a 28g serving. 

Personally, I would not recommend having large or frequent amounts of either of these things, but if you are going to have stuff like that in the house for the kids, seems like making the best choices possible will help keep things on track. 

I crave potato chip sandwiches! I am glad to hear all of this stuff about pasta because I am also a noodle freak!...

Tee

Why are you demonizing foods? That's part of your thinking problem. It's one of the reasons I hate OA, because it does this to people.

You're setting yourself up for failure with this kind of thinking. Making a huge deal out of a sensible portion of food is maladaptive at best. Don't tell me you "can't control it." That's sick thinking. You CAN make other choices. You CAN also have ONE SLICE of bread as part of a normal, healthy diet. Or a third or a half a cup of rice or pasta.

You are not doomed to eat something just because it's in the house. We tell ourselves this as part of our diet failures, but it's not about "addiction." It's about self induced starvation.

You had WLS to make changes. Well, time to make some more. Walk. away. from. the. bread. Literally. Leave the house. Do what you have to do. Or learn how to have a realistic portion of the stuff and THEN walk away. Whatever works.

It's a choice. You said it yourself. Make that choice, over and over and over again. There is no magic to this.

I have a thing for Reese's mini peanut butter cups. As in I can eat a whole pound in one sitting and it doesn't matter how sick I get. So I have to make the choice to WALK AWAY. Mr. EN loves them, so sometimes they're around. Meh. He has a right to his candy. Just because I am tempted to sit down and eat the whole damned bag doesn't negate that right. I might hand him the bag and tell him to keep them out of my sight, but I'm sure not going to blame him for having them in the house.

 

I too have been guilty of the sodas.  I have been having stomach pain and nausea, and the 'fizz' seems to help with that and it sort of 'numbs' when I drink it, where water just hits it and sometimes can make me sick.

I was going through a 24pk of water every three days up until recently.  It is very important to drink the water because it helps with 'anxious eating' and it helps keep fluid away.  For me, something about a warm drink helps to curb my 'munchies' or thirst. In the summer it is harder I certainly know that.

I have found that herbal tea can help with some of the need to drink something.  My doctor suggested peppermint tea and I drink that pretty often.  The peppermint helps with nausea and the chamomile is a 'calming' ingredient.  I can NOT have aspartame because of migraines and at one point it was triggering a 'seizure' like thing with me.  Luckily, I stopped the aspartame and in 3 weeks went from about 19-20 of those migraine/seizure episodes a day to absolutely zero!

Aspartame is something within itself, I don't know what but it definitely will mess a person up. 
For drinking your water, try the lemon and I have even tried orange in it.  It is an alternative to just plain water all of the time.  Don't always drink that type of water, switch it up to give some variety.

I am horrible on carbs because there are more 'bland' carbs to eat if you are nauseated.  I just have to learn when the stopping point is.  I don't know what works for everyone, but when I would plan my food out for the day or week, I would sort of have a meal with veggies and maybe some meats and then the healthiest diet choices.  I had to plan it out so I would literally buy the foods to eat and not really have the 'bad' stuff around.  As much as I hate being detail oriented, it helped to keep me in check. 

I am trying to get back on track again, and I know you can. Just hang in there.

Tee