Changing Your Eating Habits
We are bombarded with advertisements pushing delicious looking, fat filled, and obesity producing food in our faces every single day. We hear it on the radio; see it on TV and on billboards and even in newspapers. We go on a diet and try to totally turn our eating habits around. We go from eating hamburgers, French fries, pizza, hot dogs, and other junk to eating lettuce and drinking water. If we are really disciplined we make it a week or so. But like most people, we are back to our old habits within days. The change is just too drastic and makes it next to impossible for us to stick to our diets.
I have slowly improved my eating habits over the years. I have done this in a way that has been painless to me and has replaced bad diet choices with good eating habits. Of course, before any diet changes you should consult your physician. I was not in any immediate health danger and therefore did not need to immediately change my habits. What follows is not a "how to" article but more of an article on how I changed my eating habits over time.
There was a time in my life when I received my daily intake from fast food restaurants. I was in a sales position and on the road most of the time. I would have the burger, fries and coke combo from a different fast food joint every day. I was much younger then and blessed with a decent metabolism so I did not see much negative effect from all of the unhealthy eating. It was upon my taking a physical for another job that I discovered my cholesterol was not in a good range. I was way too young for something like this to happen and I knew that I must change my ways. I attempted to totally overhaul my eating habits in one day. I would do well for awhile and then go back to my old ways. I had made improvements but they were not ingrained good habits like I was hoping for.
Upon much reflection I decided to go a little easier on myself. I decided to start substituting food choices one by one until they became habit. My first substitution was with my beverage choice. Instead of having the cola I would order water. It was kind of a mental reward system for me. I would eat the burger and fries guilt free as long as I drank water instead of cola. I know that you are probably thinking "how can you eat a burger and fries guilt free?". I could do this guilt free because I knew that it was just a stage in my long term diet plan. I chose water as my first diet choice because it came easy for me. It required very little discipline on my part. After a month or so drinking water with a meal became second nature to me. It was no longer a sacrifice; it was a habit.
After that came the French fries. I substituted the French fries with a plain baked potato. Burger diet now consisted of a burger, plain baked potato and water. I actually started enjoying the baked potato rather quickly. They are much tastier than grease drowned fries. You can see where I am going with this. If you have been trying to lose weight for any time now, you know what a good food is and what a bad food is. You will know where and what to substitute. I continued these substitutions and still do to this day.
Now I am more aware of an unhealthy habit starting. I am very conscious of what I eat. Some of the great things about these diet choices are that they became habits; the desire for the unhealthy foods was replaced with a desire for healthy foods. Nowadays I rarely eat out. I have lost my taste for such foods.
Some of my diet substitutions:
Water for Cola, Baked potato for Fries, Whole Wheat for white bread, Soy Milk for cow’s milk, pretzels for chips, salads for desserts, Meal replacement shake for cereal, and the list goes on and on.
Habits are built by doing something over and over. I have read it takes around 30 days to establish a habit. Do not stop your substitutions with the foods you eat?.carry it over to other parts of your life. For example, substitute the elevator with the stairs, substitute the car with a bicycle, give up the evening news and replace it with a walk.
Yours in health,
Bill Herren
Discouragement comes when we feel overwhelmed and want results yesterday. Take your time, develop habits, and enjoy a leaner healthier body!
Bill Herren is the webmaster for weightloss-articles.com.
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Conventional Dieting Wisdom That Works for WLS Patients
In many cases conventional dieting wisdom simply doesn’t work for gastric bypass weight loss surgery patients. Surgery changes the rules. For example after gastric bypass patients will seldom eat leafy green salad and never in large quantity, it’s too difficult for the gastric bypass system to handle. So conventional diet wisdom seldom applies to the WLS community.
However, some rules can work in concert with the gastric bypass as patients adopt a healthier lifestyle and more rational respect for food.
Take a look at what Stephen P. Gullo, PhD, President of the Institute of Health and Weight Sciences in New York City and author of "Thin Tastes Better" has to say. I believe you’ll find the counsel he gives his patients works well for WLS patients:
1. Know your behaviors, not just your calories. If you find that you’re constantly regaining weight you’ve lost by abusing the same types of foods, either stop buying them or find replacements for them.
2. Remember that weight loss is about liberation, not deprivation. It’s about a change in perspective. Eat fewer calories and cut down on the amount of fat you eat in the spirit of liberating yourself from the discomfort of the pounds that you’ve been carrying instead of depriving yourself from certain foods.
3. Don’t forget that being thin is a life management skill. It’s normal to experience setbacks and periods of feeling defeated. But in the future, when you turn 40 or 50 or 60 at a healthy weight, it won’t be by accident, because aging well is not an accident. It’s the gift that those who care deeply give to themselves. It will be because you planned and honed your skills at weight management.
Thanks, Dr. Gullo, for your insight. Quoted from "Prevention’s Ultimate Guide to Women’s Health & Wellness" 2002, Rodale p. 94.
Kaye Bailey is a weight loss surgery success story having maintained her health and goal weight for 5+ years. An award winning journalist, she is the author and webmaster of livingafterwls.com and livingafterwls.blogspot.com
LivingAfterWLS is a no-nonsense resource for people Living After Weight Loss Surgery. Our community is growing in numbers even as we are shrinking in pounds. Together we support one another in this lifestyle, that it turns out, is NOT the easy way out.
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