Changing Eating Habits!

There are three primary ways to change ones eating habits.

1. Cut Things Out. Cutting things out cold turkey is the hardest method of changing your eating habits. Some things are easier to cut than others. For me I found that cutting out soda was pretty easy. I drink water 99% of the time, do not drink coffee, alcohol, and barely drink tea. I occasionally drink diet soda, or specialty fruity drinks, but for the most part it is easy for me to choose water. The hardest thing for me to cut are sweets, I actually crave them. When I spend efforts trying to cut sweets from my diet I end up binge eating them.

2. Substitute Things. Another way to change ones eating habits is to simply replace items. Replacing items to me is the most effective way to make changes to my diet. I went from eating regular Yoplait yogurt to light Yoplait yogurt to Dannon Light and Fit Greek yogurt and the transition was not to bad. I also managed to actually switch from Haagan Dazs ice cream to Oikos Greek Frozen Yogurt. There are somethings that I have not managed to substitute. I tried to switch from fruity candy like Skittles to dried fruit and I felt that I liked the candy much better.

3. Moderate Things. When cutting things out or swapping them does not work you can always opt to eat less of something. With my skittles I started using a 1/4 cup measuring cup to portion out my candy.

When trying to change dietary habits I have found it helpful to play around with the three different methods of cutting things out, substituting things or having them in moderation. I am hoping that I will continue to build new healthy habits that will help me to better manage my eating for the long haul.

CLM

Hello July 2014!

Well I am back to eating meat, chicken, turkey and fish that is. It all came down to problems digesting soy and gluten. With me having to cut two major sources of food for me, I decided to add back the meat for my own sanity! I am feeling much better since I started eating the meat again.

I am currently tracking my calories again using myfitnesspal. I challenged myself to track from July - December just to see how I am doing. I have not really been putting pressure on myself, just being very observant of my habits. I notice that my basic meals minus junk food and binge eating always come well under 2000 calories a day, but when I factor in my nightly binges I eat like 3000 calories or more per day.

Seeing the raw numbers made me panic and I was going to break my cardinal rule of never cut out snacks and treats and try that thing I always fail at abstinence , but my mind just would not let me go there. I no I do have a problem, but going cold turkey is just not for me, it is just a nice fantasy I entertain when I feel like my eating is out of control.

I am going to try an experiment this month though. I am going to see if bulking up my dinner meals helps me with my after dinner noshing. I noticed that some times my evening meals are on the skimpy side like 300 calories. I am thinking by eating more food and bumping up that evening meal to a minimum of 500 calories I might be able to curb my evening urges.

I am also trying to be more kind to myself. I see that it is some times a struggle to be kind to myself and to respect that I am struggling in my wellness journey. The struggle is real and some times it is ugly and it is easy to beat myself up, I have to remember that I am trying.

I am thinking of adding in some tastier treats every once in a while instead of only eating very low calorie treats during my desert meal. I am thinking if I give myself the ice cream, and even cake every once in a while maybe this will stop me from going crazy and binge eating so much. I am trying to limit my treat meal to no more than 500 calories and for me that is a challenge all within itself.

Happy July!

CLM