Bob's Healthy Book Review

If you have been to Hilton Head Health in the last few years, and sat in on my Portion Control class, you might remember that I often referred to a book entitled Mindless Eating. This book is incredibly relevant for those focused on weight loss, healthy living and developing a healthy diet plan. Brian Wansink, Ph.D. and the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab Director, wrote this must-read book based on hundreds of studies and experiments he conducted looking at what factors influence what and how much we eat. His research clearly shows how our environment strongly and unconsciously impacts our eating behavior. As a result of your visit to H3, I hope many of you have taken steps to create an environment that helps manage your portions more effectively, such as: getting smaller plates and glasses, keeping 'less healthy' treats out of sight and more healthy foods around.

Since then Wansink, dubbed the “Sherlock Holmes of food”, has continued his research and just released his new book entitled, Slim By Design. Wansink suggests that the most effective way to manage weight and maintain weight loss long-term isn’t to tell people what they should or shouldn’t do but to help them set up their living environment in a way that will help them lose weight naturally.  He not only shares new and surprising research, (who would guess that the color of the plate you use could influence how much you serve yourself by almost 20%) but provides specific recommendations as to how you can use that information in the areas where most of our food decisions are made: the home, restaurants, grocery stores, your work place, even your kids' schools.

I am looking forward to incorporating this new information into the Portion Control class here at H3, but why wait until you come back to get the benefit? Pick up the book and get started creating the environment that will help you become Slim By Design! Do you have a favorite weight loss or wellness related book?

Before Taking the First Bite…

We all know how difficult it is to fight intense cravings or to break old habits of mindless eating. So, when you’re in those moments, what do you do? What do you do to avoid taking the first compulsive bite?

Mantras always help me, but I have to say them out loud. If I say them in my head without giving them a voice, they aren’t quite as powerful. Here are a few pocket responses when you feel yourself wanting to impulsively eat.

• I am one bite away from a binge.


• My choice is between unhappy eating or doing without just one small compulsive bite.


• Each time I face a situation without compulsively eating it becomes easier to make that choice again in the future.


• This will not make the situation better. One bite will make it worse and can lead to a binge.


• Do I want to give up the joy and serenity I’ve experienced from overcoming my battle with food for this?


• I can remember the misery, shame and guilt I experienced when compulsively eating and I won’t go back there.


• I can experience the gratitude of trading just one small compulsive bite for the happiness that freedom from food obsession provides me.


• I value my body so I won’t give into my childish tantrum for unnecessary food.


• I am worth saying no to compulsive eating. I am worthy of happiness and freedom.

I’m serious about the pocket part. Put them on a card and carry them around in your pocket. You can pull out the card anytime you feel like compulsively or impulsively eating.

Coaching Corner: You Deserve a Break Today

I know. You had a hard day. You need a little pick-me-up. Yes, you “deserve” that bowl of ice cream, hunk of cheesecake, plate of nachos or whatever food conjures up comfort for you. Suddenly, your weight loss goal is out the window. You begin rationalizing: “I can skip lunch or exercise more tomorrow…” But when tomorrow comes, what are you left with? Usually guilt, shame, regret and maybe a few new fat cells.

Like many other people, I learned the culinary comfort/reward system as a child. My mother would pay me to eat my butterbeans—a penny per bean—and bribe me with dessert to clean my plate. I would stop crying for a cookie and go to church for the promise of a Dairy Queen ice cream afterward. I got the message: When I’m good, I get the goodies.

As a teen, I was further brainwashed by the McDonald’s slogan: “You Deserve a Break Today.” We all deserve a break, but can we get it at a drive through window? I don’t think so.

Potatos: The Cause of Gradual Weight Gain?

“It’s 80% food and 20% exercise”, sound familiar? If so, you probably heard it from H3’s fitness director, Adam Martin, as he explains the impact of caloric intake vs. caloric expenditure on weight management during the Planning Your H3 Fitness Experience seminar. A study by Harvard researchers, published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine, confirms what Adam has been saying for years.

 The researchers tracked the diet and exercise habits of 120,000 health care professionals for at least 12 years. On average the participants in the study gained almost a pound a year. While that may not sound like very much, after several years it starts to add up. Dr. Frank Hu, one of the researchers, said,

“There is no magic bullet for weight control, diet and exercise are important for preventing weight gain, but diet clearly plays a bigger role”.

From an Intern's Perspective: A message from Jeff as an Intern

Today, I thought it'd be fun to revisit a post from Jeff Ford from when he was an intern in the "From an Intern's Perspective" series. This post discusses eating from bordem and not from hunger, and how to distinguish between the two. I've found myself in this situation a few times...

 

Boredom strikes … What do you do? Quick! Think! … Are you tying up the tennis shoes to hit the streets for a thermal walk or are you reaching into the freezer for a delicious indulgence?

We’ve all been there – victims of eating when were not hungry, so how can we avoid this appetite ambush? Underneath are 3 of the most common surefire signals to help you recognize when your head is doing the eating and not your stomach.

Sudden: Emotional eating (a.k.a. Head Hunger) always comes on suddenly. One second you’re watching your favorite television show and the next you’re craving something sweet. It’s really a spur of the moment kind of feeling that can be sparked or paired with any emotion.

 

Specific: According to psychologists, emotional eating cravings are usually very specific. People seem to desire that one particular comfort food and won’t be satisfied with just any type of chow, especially not fruits and vegetables.

 

Shameful: If you happened to eat by listening to the head, then there will usually be feelings of guilt and you’ll promise to make up for the eating in some other way. Feelings of guilt should never be left behind after a meal (we eat to live right?). So if you are bumming out and saying to yourself “Oh, I’ll skip a meal tomorrow to make up for it,” your hunger was certainly not physical.



Now that you know how to distinguish between emotional hunger and physical hunger, you may be thinking how can I not only recognize these signals, but overcome them.  The biggest thing for me personally is not keeping these so called “trigger or comfort foods” in the house.  Consequently, I do not keep ice cream in the apartment because I have realized that this is a food I can’t control. 

The good thing is I am not alone, ice cream happens to be the number one comfort food for Americans.  To put it simply, I like to think of the phrase “out of sight, out of stomach.”  By not making the frozen treat readily available and having viable substitutes, I am more apt to reach for an apple or a yogurt when I need a pick me up.

Here at Hilton Head Health, Dr. Beth Leermakers, our Wellness Counselor provides noteworthy lectures on Stress Eating and Overcoming Emotional Eating, which give our Guests a larger scope on this topic. Moreover, the H3 program has been proud to host specialty weeks featuring Johanna Smith-Ellis, a certified psychologist, whose experience has led her to be very knowledgeable on the subject. Since you may have missed them on your last visit, or have not yet stayed at H3, below is a quick glimpse to what I’ve picked up in lectures on how to evade emotional eating.

¨       Write down your trigger foods 

¨       Create a list of alternatives (Use the alphabet!)

¨       Find a comfort food that’s healthy  

¨       Go for a signature H3 thermal walk!   

¨       Call a friend or take a nap

¨       Check out some resources on emotional eating (*)

 

There are a few tricks that work for most people, but strive to find what is ideal for you personally. Remember, we all over eat sometimes and there is no reason to feel guilty about it! I am by no means an expert, thus I’ll leave you with a few resources to peruse at your leisure.

Nevertheless, keep in mind the 3 S’s to recognize head hunger, and think of this quote when the appetite ambush arises:

“If hunger is not the problem, then eating is not the solution.”
~ Anonymous

 

Check it out:

WebMD; http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/emotional-eating-feeding-your-feelings

Mayo Clinic; http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/MH00025

Stop, Sit, Eat

 

 

Have you ever eaten an entire meal yet felt as if you didn’t even eat? Your mouth wanted more, your stomach wanted more…wait a minute, DID you actually scarf down a meal or not?

 

Perhaps you were eating while driving. Perhaps you were standing at the kitchen counter.  Perhaps you were eating out of the refrigerator.  Perhaps you were watching TV. Perhaps you were at your work desk.  Perhaps you were….

 

Perhaps that’s why you didn’t feel satisfied!  Eating a meal that leaves you full and content does not only mean eating healthy and nutritious food. Equally as important is the act of eating mindfully.

 

What is mindful eating?

 

Mindful eating means being fully present in the moment—seeing, smelling, feeling and tasting the food you are eating. In addition, it involves appreciating the way your food looks and feels—the colors and textures, as well as taking note of your body’s reaction to the foods such as your hunger levels and mood.

 

Key components of mindful eating:

1)    Sitting down at a table to eat

2)    Eating without distractions i.e. TV, computer, newspaper

3)    Eating in a neutral environment—a location that does not conjure up negative emotions or stress

 

Eating mindfully allows you to feel fuller while eating less. One contributing factor to this is the natural tendency to spend more time eating at each meal. Thus your stomach has adequate time to send the necessary signals to your brain alerting it that it is no longer hungry.  You will also find that your body is better able to digest the food consumed.  

 

Strategies to slow down eating:

1)    Use your non-dominant hand

2)    Drink water in between bites

3)    Observe, smell, and feel your food

4)    Think about the love that went into preparing the food

 

Life seems to be getting more and more hectic every day.  Fewer families are sitting down together at the dinner table to eat a home-cooked meal.  Don’t let that be your family.  Set aside 15-30 min. to sit down and enjoy your meal.  If you are by yourself, sit outside or by the window and simply enjoy the beautiful sights and sounds of nature.  You may think that there isn’t enough time in the day to set aside for dinnertime, but surely you have 15-30 minutes. Treat yourself and your family as well as you would if you had a guest over for dinner.