Assignments From Module 2

After reading  the Guidelines (especially the part about choosing foods with less than 5 grams of sugar and more than 2 grams of fiber), keep track of your foods on your Food Diary, craft and run through your Personalized Fuel Mix for one week, and begin to see how you can assimilate some changes very easily.  Mindfulness and keeping track are the keys here—we are building awareness and the puzzle pieces that bring results.  You are learning timeless tools to success.

Bonus Module

You also should have received my informative interview with Marti Wolfson, chef and culinary nutritionist. Learn her secrets and perhaps try to add some of her recipes into your repertoire.

Cravings: what are they?

Now we turn our attention to those triggers and habits that are responsible for past lackluster results, in addition to the discouragement and feelings of failure from emotional eating and cravings.

I am defining them as a yearning for a certain food based on what’s going on with your mind and body at that particular moment.

Let’s start to identify your triggers.

Trigger foods are generally those go-to habitual foods that you can’t just eat one of.  I like to call them your “gateway drugs”.  (Mine is chocolate.) Yours could be a crunchy, salty food, a sweet, creamy food, a spicy treat, something cold, something hot, or even a liquid (like Diet Coke, Coke, wine, etc)  Let’s think about yours now…

List yours here_________________, _______________, ____________________,___________.

Next, list where and when you usually think of these items, eat them, stash them --or others do. (ie, are they in your pantry, do you hide them, does someone else keep them in their desk drawer at work or do you, are they in a liquor cabinet or bar, in the freezer like ice cream, in a soda can in the refrigerator, in a bag on the kitchen counter like chips, and so  forth.  Be brutally honest here….

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Listen to the call.  Discern the difference between true hunger, desires, or cravings. One is a real need for fuel, one is a thought, and one is a feeling of how it would taste in your mouth. Did you get some ideas for alternative activities or distractions and make the sign for your refrigerator?

Audio

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Module 3 Notes

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What are your thoughts when you decided you wanted these foods?  Were you hungry, angry, lonely, tired, bored, stressed, sad, overwhelmed, or ______,_______.  Is eating an activity that fills a void? Is eating this food a comforting habit?  Does it sabotage your efforts to be healthy and successful with your eating plans? Is it causing frustration, self-anger, or shame or guilt? Again, be totally honest here to begin to make a transformation and change. What are your cravings saying to you about what you really need?  Does a certain smell fondly remind you of your childhood? Or, are you punishing someone (like a critical, strict parent) by having what you want when you want? Is this how you typically handle stress?

 Use my 4-letter PG-rated word to stop cravings in their tracks. Make the sign for your refrigerator –or your desk at work, or anywhere--as a reminder to stop and think before you eat. Ask yourself if you are … _________ ,_________ ,_________ , _________ . (write in the words here.) Each and every time.

***Here’s the message: what you are looking for or needing isn’t in the food! Please find it elsewhere. Becoming aware of your thoughts and actions is the road to freedom from cravings. I will help you.***

What to do instead:  Write in your options in the menu of activities in the handouts. (Did you seee how one of my clients made up hers?  Yours can be much simpler or your own creation. )  Keep this list handy with all of the “tools” and accessories you might need to make it happen (ie crossword puzzle requires pencil, glasses, glass of water, etc.)  The colorful chart is a good visual reminder to put on your refrigerator for quick inspiration.

Handling your emotions. Just because you are feeling like you want to eat, it doesn’t mean you have to eat, if you haven’t eaten in the past 2 hours.  Postponing your cravings for 5 then 10 then 15 minutes and getting busy with something else may be the ticket for you, or just telling your inner child that they may “have to wait to indulge that ‘I want it NOW’ demand.”.  You are a grown up now:)  You can still want something and do something else, by the way.  It’s NOT all or nothing. So you can say, “I’m feeling bored or lonely, but I can still feel that and do ______ (insert a nonfood action or thought.)  Easy?  And you don’t have to give up your feelings if you don’t want to.  Just the need to include eating in the process.  (Remember that food just sits there and doesn’t care how you are feeling —it’s the story you are putting into it that is fueling the craving…see your exercise about your family and your life patterns.)

Complete: Even though I am thinking and feeling _________ and ___________, I can move and do __________________________ even if it’s silly and unproductive. I am taking action!

Take focused action.  Now. Now that you have identified your feelings and emotions, or just know that you are feeling something, it’s time to take action.  Leave the kitchen or walk away from the person with the treats in the office. Physically removing yourself is a good first step. You may need to handle anger differently by communicating, deal with loneliness and isolation head on by planning new activities, get more sleep to think clearly, stay more even with moods and blood sugar, and find new ways to distress, handle boredom, or even just a transition from one activity to another. Or all of the above.

OK.  What’s your go-to action?  Busy your mind and body by selecting an activity from your list. Right away.

Important note:

You literally only have an instant to take this action before you go down that craving cycle road. Do you really want to go there?  I didn’t think so.  Leave and act!

(Each time is another opportunity to do that, and it gets easier and easier! Believe me and all my other successful clients.)

Complete: I will choose a quick, easy-to-do activity, like ________________,____________________,___________________,_____________.

Complete: When I have more time, I will choose another activity that takes a little more time like _____________________, ________________________, ________________.

Eliminate the trigger foods: put them up high away from eye level, even better, throw them out. Know that you can always buy them if you must have those foods, ( buy it, have a bite,  and throw the rest out. ) Carefully craft your plan for eliminating these triggers from your diet if you can (or do it with planned moderation, like one bite of chocolate per day for me).  Out of sight, out of mind.

No more winging it!  Routines rock. Almost every eating plan has been sabotaged by poor planning. Getting into a regular meal schedule using the Personalized Fuel Mix to chart healthy food you like and the food diary to see when and what you are actually eating are an important part of getting a good routine in place. For instance, could you be overeating because you skipped a meal or waited more than 3 hours and were too hungry

to make careful choices using accurate portions?  Or did you make choices based on the fact that there wasn’t anything healthy to order, grab, or eat?  We will discuss this situation in a later module, but know that taking good food with you is important.

Look through the Eating Guidelines from Module 2 once again and choose snacks to take with you or put in your desk drawer or car (ie nuts, water, cheese stick, protein bar with less than 5 grams of sugar, fruit, etc.  ).  Think of your own that are healthy, nonsugary, and have fiber.

Complete: I choose to keep these snacks with me ____________, ________________, __________, ___________, __________.

Sloooww dooowwn.  That’s right.  Stop rushing around for a minute, power down the electronics (if you can), and pay attention to what you are thinking, reaching for (or wanting to), and feeling.  It may be uncomfortable and lead to a little uneasiness at first while you become more familiar with this type of inquiry, but that means you’re on the right track.  Try to stay with the process and figure out what’s really going on.  It’s worth the effort, trust me.  You’ve been under the spell of old thinking that’s keeping you prisoner for way too long, and now you can stop and revaluate.  You can do this. By the way, slow down your eating speed as well.  Most people “inhale” their food and eat way too much before they feel full and don’t even really taste their food. Take one bite at a time. Ready to slow down…..

Try my “apple test”. Think of a healthy food that you generally enjoy eating. (For me, this is an apple).   If you are thinking you are hungry, remember this food and have it handy. If you are truly hungry, the apple will appeal to you, and you’ll be content to eat it.  If you are not really hungry and eating “just because”, then this food will most likely not appeal to you, and you’ll turn to another option that might sabotage your weightloss goals.

That darn cycle: Not the monthly one—the daily one concerning your eating. You may feel comforted or happy for a minute with giving into a craving, but that satisfaction will quickly and surely fade-- until the next time.  It is a merry-go-round of emotional eating and yo-yo dieting, up and down, from craving to craving, then to a backlash restriction of all foods (“that’s it, I’m disgusted and I’m going on a real diet this time.”), then to feeling deprived, then to giving in to cravings (“OK, just this once…not), then to the guilt and frustration (“I am a failure, stupid, fat”...fill in the appropriate adjective), and the cycle begins again.

Ready to get off?  That’s what this Module 3 is all about!

Are you ready to get away from this cycle and eat from your Personalized Fuel Mix from Module 2? Go back and see that you’ve included a protein, healthy fat, and hopefully a fruit or vegetable with each of the 3 meals.  Are your 2 snacks small and healthy?

What happens if a craving hits and you can’t distract yourself?  If you haven’t eaten in 3 hours, you might be hungry, which is a lesson in better planning.  Getting too hungry will backfire, make it more difficult to manage your eating, and send you into making less than optimal choices. Always do the best you can, knowing that life won’t end, and no small children will be harmed.  It’s valuable information for you on why, how, and what you are thinking, doing, and could do next time. Just do one craving at a time without fear of failure in the past and future.  Each is a separate event and will require you (at the beginning) to think it through until it’s on auto pilot (and that will happen.)

How will you know you’re on the right track? Many or all of your cravings begin to diminish in frequency and intensity and fall away, especially if you are eating a healthy diet that satisfies you, and you are feeling that you are being successful in finally managing your feelings and substituting another action, even if you are still feeling the feeling. It gets easier and easier, especially as you wean yourself off of sugary foods. You’re building your resiliency muscles. Could this be a good time to start an easy food-based detox?  If you’re ready, let me know, and we’ll do it together.

What could your cravings be telling you about what nutrients your body needs?

My friend Ruth posted a revealing chart, and I want you to have it asap. Interesting that your cravings could be a code for something else that could be missing in your diet! See it in your handouts.

Get support. What you can bring to our private 1-on-1call to help? or to our group call to help you ?

Post to the new Facebook Group to get additional support from the group and from me!

Rememeber: cravings, like any habit, can take a little time. 

Be patient with yourself and keep trying and know that they are just ways for you to get information about yourself and what you are truly wanting and needing.

Your commitment:

Write down at least one intention that you will try to achieve for Module 3…

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How will you know when you’ve achieved it/them? (list at least one result you’ll notice)

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You can do this one step at a time!

You are capable of success, and you deserve it!

Get healthier, trimmer, and radiant…and stay that way. Yes, you can.

Stay with me and we'll proceed to Module 4 next week...