vegetables.... who knew
First of all, let me say Hi, I am new to your boards... I initially joined this site to get informed about WLS and somewhere on my journey found myself being successful with healthy eating. I have read several posts about people experiencing hunger and sugar cravings and wanted to share my epiphany with you.
I began at 294 pounds and a familiar face at most of the local drive thru's in town...today and 9 weeks later there are missing posters in the local McDonalds and I am experiencing something I have never been familiar with before. CONFIDENCE!
I started out by journaling my food intake, amount, times I ate, and what I felt like when I ate it and after I ate it (doctor recommended I do it). I also followed his recommendation of eating simple foods like lean beef, chicken, turkey, fresh fish, fresh/frozen vegetables, fresh/frozen fruit, and whole grains. He told me if you have to use a can opener, don't eat it. He wanted me to get used to eating whole foods. The key here is you know what is in it, no additives, sodium, hidden sugar and other chemicals you can't pronounce. I started cooking instead of driving to eat. Now I am a nurse so I work long hours and don't have a set or even a guaranteed lunch break, but I pack a bag each night before I go to bed, with morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack so that I at no particular time can say I am hungry and cannot run to get my apple or bag of cheerios to snack on while I do my charting. I leave myself no room for excuses.
I have become accountable. I learned that on the days I do not eat my veggies and fruit at snack and meal time that I am hungry and cannot get satisfied with what I am eating, and on those weeks I did this I gained weight...hmmm. Veggies keep you from being hungry? Who knew? I also had my journal to prove it...so I went back to eating my 5 a day and the next week I lost again.
This isn't for everyone, and I still have my cravings, but now I feed them what they really want. I indulge once in awhile, but I keep it in perspective. My body doesn't need mashed potatos, cookies, cake, candy, butter and other things, my mind does. My body craves simple nutrients and becomes satisfied when it gets them. It sends out hunger signals when we feed it something it doesn't need and that is when we begin that endless cycle of eating because we feel hungry when what we really need is a dose of healthy food.
I feel that I will be successful for the first time in my almost 40 years. I am listening to the signals my body is sending and responding, and getting good feedback. I have dropped a clothing size and am starting to feel good about myself because "I" am the one in control of what I eat and how I feel.
Thanks for having this forum :)
Kristi
I began at 294 pounds and a familiar face at most of the local drive thru's in town...today and 9 weeks later there are missing posters in the local McDonalds and I am experiencing something I have never been familiar with before. CONFIDENCE!
I started out by journaling my food intake, amount, times I ate, and what I felt like when I ate it and after I ate it (doctor recommended I do it). I also followed his recommendation of eating simple foods like lean beef, chicken, turkey, fresh fish, fresh/frozen vegetables, fresh/frozen fruit, and whole grains. He told me if you have to use a can opener, don't eat it. He wanted me to get used to eating whole foods. The key here is you know what is in it, no additives, sodium, hidden sugar and other chemicals you can't pronounce. I started cooking instead of driving to eat. Now I am a nurse so I work long hours and don't have a set or even a guaranteed lunch break, but I pack a bag each night before I go to bed, with morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack so that I at no particular time can say I am hungry and cannot run to get my apple or bag of cheerios to snack on while I do my charting. I leave myself no room for excuses.
I have become accountable. I learned that on the days I do not eat my veggies and fruit at snack and meal time that I am hungry and cannot get satisfied with what I am eating, and on those weeks I did this I gained weight...hmmm. Veggies keep you from being hungry? Who knew? I also had my journal to prove it...so I went back to eating my 5 a day and the next week I lost again.
This isn't for everyone, and I still have my cravings, but now I feed them what they really want. I indulge once in awhile, but I keep it in perspective. My body doesn't need mashed potatos, cookies, cake, candy, butter and other things, my mind does. My body craves simple nutrients and becomes satisfied when it gets them. It sends out hunger signals when we feed it something it doesn't need and that is when we begin that endless cycle of eating because we feel hungry when what we really need is a dose of healthy food.
I feel that I will be successful for the first time in my almost 40 years. I am listening to the signals my body is sending and responding, and getting good feedback. I have dropped a clothing size and am starting to feel good about myself because "I" am the one in control of what I eat and how I feel.
Thanks for having this forum :)
Kristi
Welcome to the non op board! I love your post and agree whole heartedly !! our bodies were designed to ingest whole dense nutrition!! good job for your Dr. realizing this and not trying to push some weight loss pill on you!! please keep us updated on your success, this is a great board to get encouragement from!! again welcome!
Michelle Hendrickson Holistic Health Coach http://www.gracioushealth.net
Awww Shucks Neecee , yep I decided to change my Avatar to a more current pic!
Michelle Hendrickson Holistic Health Coach http://www.gracioushealth.net
Welcome, Kristi! Now stick around here...WE are this forum, you, me, all of us'ns who deign to com eback!
I so agree with you: vegetables, particularly green ones are the shizzle to help heal a body from cravings and over-eating. This was a tip I got years ago when I researched how eating disorders were treated. It is truly magic.
I even make up a "green drink" when I know I am doing crappy about eating them!
My green drink "recipe":
buy all kind of greens: kale, turnip greens, chard, parsley, spinach, etc. Wash and freeze the big old leaves - in a plastic bag of course. After they get frozen, break off all the stems - keep the green leaf parts in a big zip lock.
These can be used as a drink when mixed with 1/2 c juice and or water. I have a high protein powder - lemonade flavor - that I add at times if this is a meal replace. Whir till all broken up - toss it back!
One can add other cutesy things like greek yogurt, frozen fresh fruit, but i don't need the calories - just the green effects!
The other way to use the frozen green leaves: saute with a bit of oil, add onion, stir an egg - a green omelet!
Or just add handfuls to canned soup to pump up the nutrition!
"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not." ~Mark Twain
You are so right. I started here too in an attempt to prepare myself for WLS and founf myself loosing and thought hey I think I am gonna sick with this. It has been about 4 months and I am down 37 pounds and really feel like I am going to make it for the first time too. This forum hels me a lot too...where else can you find friends who will hoot and holler when you loose 1 lbs ot even 4 ounces:-). I love it, they know what how things are and how hard some days can be and can encourgae us through the rough times.
Keep up the good work and I hope we can both share before and after pics soon.
Keep up the good work and I hope we can both share before and after pics soon.
“ Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get. ”
— Dave Gardner
I experience cravings too - but mine are compounded by the emotional disease of compulsive overeating, in which I use food to deal with unpleasant emotions. I belong to OA because of this, and I pray every day for self control in my eating, while doing my best to stick to healthier foods. I am not quite as "whole foods" as some of you (I make instant mashed potatoes once a week, and use canned vegetable soup, as well as some (not all the time) canned fruit. I see a therapist as well for my eating disorder issues, and she's recommended, for instance, making mashed potatoes from scratch, instead of using a mix - she says they taste better, and I know they do, but I work, and I just don't want the inconvenience of lots of cooking and cutting vegetables up and peeling them, as well. I am a "convenience" cook - I specialize in getting a meal with protein, veggies, fruit, and starch out in 1/2 hour to 45 minutes or less. I don't want to spend my evenings cooking and making up food for the next day - I want to relax and watch TV with my husband and enjoy his company - not cooking!
I suppose some of you might consider me lazy. I suppose in some ways, I am. I am a home health aide with two women clients, and I don't do alot of work each day for them, either. Emotionally, I cannot take alot of stress, which is why I am in this line of work. My therapist says I cannot take much stress when I considered going back to school to become a nurse. That job has alot more stress than a home health aide's job does, and alot more responsibility, and alot longer hours.
Anyway, I digress. I've had it suggested to me that I might have Celiac's Disease, or only be gluten intolerant. This means I'm not getting all the nutrients I take in, which most likely interferes with my weight loss and diminishes my energy level. I use a CPAP machine currently, because I have severe sleep apnea, as well from my morbid obesity (over 100 pounds overweight). So being heavy really diminishes my life.
Denise Phares
I suppose some of you might consider me lazy. I suppose in some ways, I am. I am a home health aide with two women clients, and I don't do alot of work each day for them, either. Emotionally, I cannot take alot of stress, which is why I am in this line of work. My therapist says I cannot take much stress when I considered going back to school to become a nurse. That job has alot more stress than a home health aide's job does, and alot more responsibility, and alot longer hours.
Anyway, I digress. I've had it suggested to me that I might have Celiac's Disease, or only be gluten intolerant. This means I'm not getting all the nutrients I take in, which most likely interferes with my weight loss and diminishes my energy level. I use a CPAP machine currently, because I have severe sleep apnea, as well from my morbid obesity (over 100 pounds overweight). So being heavy really diminishes my life.
Denise Phares
(deactivated member)
on 4/9/09 10:28 am
on 4/9/09 10:28 am
You know I was surprised to learn that 100 calories of lettuce has about as much protein as 100 calories of steak - pretty shocking. I think that we keep hearing about all the protein in meats and forget that it's not only in meat.
We have now moved onto a completely whole foods diet after I read The China Study book by Colin Campbell. I even dragged out my ancient bread machine and made whole wheat bread for the first time in my life and I'm shocked -DH and I loved it. I've just ordered a new, smaller bread machine because it's only the two of us at home and my old machine has a lot of the Teflon coating missing so the bread sticks in the pan which is a nuisance. I've decided to invest some time and money into a new healthier lifestyle. I was shocked that the only ingredients I used was whole wheat flour, yeast, honey, molasses, salt and additional gluten - that's it. No weird chemicals, no high fructose corn syrup, no fattening oils etc. And we also haven't eaten out in a long time - I'm sure our local restaurants are wondering where did we go!
I know that we feel much better about what we are eating.
Skylar
We have now moved onto a completely whole foods diet after I read The China Study book by Colin Campbell. I even dragged out my ancient bread machine and made whole wheat bread for the first time in my life and I'm shocked -DH and I loved it. I've just ordered a new, smaller bread machine because it's only the two of us at home and my old machine has a lot of the Teflon coating missing so the bread sticks in the pan which is a nuisance. I've decided to invest some time and money into a new healthier lifestyle. I was shocked that the only ingredients I used was whole wheat flour, yeast, honey, molasses, salt and additional gluten - that's it. No weird chemicals, no high fructose corn syrup, no fattening oils etc. And we also haven't eaten out in a long time - I'm sure our local restaurants are wondering where did we go!
I know that we feel much better about what we are eating.
Skylar
(deactivated member)
on 4/12/09 1:43 pm - West Central FL☼RIDA , FL
on 4/12/09 1:43 pm - West Central FL☼RIDA , FL
I rely on lots of fresh veg and fruit. But I do best when I have plenty of fresh/raw veg and a moderate amount of fruit (2 servings, 3 at a max a few days a week).
When I sit down to a meal I eat 2/3 of my veg before starting on the protein, then go to work on the protein and finish up the veg. This helps me keep my protein portion to a normal size instead of stuffing myself.
I also eat only a small amount of carbs like potatoes, pasta, noodles, rice, etc....but I do eat oatmeal 6 days a week for breakfast and occasionally eat bulger wheat with dinner, otherwise I usually skip them at dinner time. When I do this I find I'm more successful.
Good luck with your weight loss journey.......
When I sit down to a meal I eat 2/3 of my veg before starting on the protein, then go to work on the protein and finish up the veg. This helps me keep my protein portion to a normal size instead of stuffing myself.
I also eat only a small amount of carbs like potatoes, pasta, noodles, rice, etc....but I do eat oatmeal 6 days a week for breakfast and occasionally eat bulger wheat with dinner, otherwise I usually skip them at dinner time. When I do this I find I'm more successful.
Good luck with your weight loss journey.......
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