Help to Stop Constant Food Cravings

Why is it so hard to stop eating the overly high-processed foods? I am talking about fast-foods, like burgers and cheese fries and chicken strips as well as refined carbohydrates such as most breads,(we love our bread products), pastries (think freshly baked cinammon rolls you can smell in the malls), sugary treats (almost everything Starbucks sells!) and chips...like nachos (excessively salty foods). To continue with Dr. David Kessler's explanations, here are some real scientific reasons for this. All these flavors hit full force. Health-sapping sugar, salt and fat, -plus additives such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, ratchet up taste far beyond what you'd find in nature. Texture can also tantalize. Processed foods are engineered for optimal "MOUTH FEEL", whether crunchy, creamy or gooey. These fun-to-eat qualities can quickly override your better judgment. Plus.....these foods are super easy to eat! No bones, no pits, no peels, just instant gratification. Do we stand a chance? Can we fight back? I think we can.

Here is one idea to try: preparing food in advance. We live in a fast-forward world. We prepare for work. We prepare our kids for school. These are not optional....we MUST be prepared with clean presentable clothes, homework done, cell phones charged, gas in car. The list goes on. We go grocery shopping, but are we just buying more fast foods? Preparing foods in advance takes time, but the payoff can be huge. Buying fresh chicken, fish, eggs and other lean proteins and cooking them ahead of time will mean that on busy week nights there are healthy options for quick 'heat and eat' meals. Buying fresh vegetables and cutting them up ahead of time makes having salads or steamed veggies or soups quickly available. I really don't like cutting up salad ingredients, but I do like eating salad and I would rather spend the time to cut everything up at once than doing it every night before dinner. Bake a whole chicken (or two). Grill fish. Cook hard-boiled eggs. Make meatloaf. Spaghetti. Lasagne.

Good luck. I know you can do it.

Super-Stimulating Foods

How to get your brain out of the binge mode. That's my question. Dr. David Kessler, former FDA commissioner says the real problem is that certain commercially made foods-the ones with tons of added sugar, salt, and fat-are so tasty and so stimulating that they actually overwhelm the brain's circuitry. When we eat them, the brain cranks out dopamine, a neurochemical associated with a reward that drives us to eat that food again....and again....and again. Eventually, just looking at the food can trigger a dopamine release. "We get stuck in a cycle," Dr. Kessler says. "We're constantly chasing that satisfaction." When we're eating a highly processed diet we might find it tough to stop. This helps explain why, when we know that eating healthy foods are better for us, we continue eating the crap that leads to increasing obesity and the health problems associated with it. It's somewhat reassuring to know there is a physiological reason behind the sometimes unexplainable binges.

He has some suggestions to thwart the constant cravings and I'll cover those in my next blog. Stay tuned.

Lap Band for Positive Change

Here we are; another year beginning. This can be the year where changes take place that can impact the rest of your life. The changes can be positive; such as weight loss that can reverse or reduce certain health issues like high blood pressure or diabetes. Positive changes that can enable you to interact more with family and friends. Positive changes that can make you feel much more active and vibrant and allow you to be the very best you can be. Or, the changes can be negative; such as weight gain and less activity due to that excess weight and the resultant increase in risk of health problems or possibly even worsening of existing conditions. Negative changes like more avoidance of social situations (that's not how you really want to live, is it?) as well as not achieving your full potential in life.

I believe there is something that can "tip the scales" (pun intended) in your favor in the weight loss battle and that is Lap-Band Surgery. There is no doubt that excess weight leads to health-related issues; (you may already have some of these conditions), but it is possible by losing weight, to make the positive changes happen this year. Once and for all, the medical conditions can resolve. We all want to be as healthy as possible, right? Once and for all, you can be active and keep up with your children (or grandchildren!). You owe it to yourself and your family to seek information about Lap-Band Surgery this year. It might be the positive change you have been waiting for.

Last Minute Tips to Avoid Christmas Overeating

1.        Talk. Talk with everyone in the room. (Preferrably not just about yourself; ask everyone what's new with them...you really do want to know, right?) When you are talking, you aren't eating, well, at least not politely!

2.      Keep it low carb. When the food is served, fill up on the best choices at the table. Turkey, ham, veggies, salad and do your best to either avoid altogether the starchy foods like breads and potatoes or at least only take small amounts. Once you have had the lean protein, you won't be able to just keep having more and more of the rest of the food on the table.

3.      Decide ahead of time what dessert you want. If there is a choice, pick it out and keep in mind that you will get to have dessert. This is a time of making choices, not eliminating all higher calorie foods. Granted, sugar intense foods will tend to leave you wanting more sweet foods, however if you restrict yourself completely, that's almost as bad. Smaller amounts of sweets can be incorporated into a low carb diet without disasterous results...but it's important to spread out the servings over at least a 12 hour period.



My house (just kiddin!)



I hope everyone enjoys their holidays and that we all remember what the season is truly about.