Saturday, February 18, 2012

You Showed Me Yours So I'll Show You Mine

My ten vices are essentially the same as Everyday Superhero's, so instead of posting the same thing twice, I thought I would respond with my ways to combat these vices.

1. Candy

For me chocolate is a stronger temptation, but I do tend to eat a lot of Real Fruit Snacks too. Eating just one little piece is very hard to do. I have a hard time resisting Rocky Road Frozen Yogurt. It's much healthier than ice cream - but sadly still not very diet friendly.

The best strategy I have is don't keep it in the house! If you do, bury it deep in the back of the freezer, or high up on a shelf where you can't reach. Many times I would have eaten chocolate or candy if it was handy, but because I was too lazy to go downstairs or wait for it to thaw, I resisted!


2. Vodka

I actually don't have that much trouble avoiding drinking on a diet. Passing up dessert is much harder. I only really miss drinking in social situations or if there is something really tasty in the fridge.

When I feel pressured to have a drink at a dinner or party, I make myself something diet friendly and tasty to drink instead, like Cranberry Fun (sparkling water, a wedge of lime juice, and a splash of cranberry juice), or have a Fresca.

The lack of alcohol doesn't change much. Group think makes me act drunk around drunk people even when I'm sober anyway. 

3. Pasta

Mmm, restaurant macaroni and cheese, fettuccine Alfredo, and white cheddar PC mac & cheese! I don't think it's possible to have a diet friendly creamy sauce, but see my diet friendly pasta post in the recipes section to see what I eat when I crave pasta.






4. TV


I associate watching TV with eating and snacking. We eat every dinner in front of the TV, and I eat breakfast and lunch while reading. This means that any time I am watching TV or reading, I want to snack!

To deal, I distract myself. Doing my nails while watching TV is a good trick. Having a glass of lime bubbly water beside me helps to keep putting flavour in my mouth with no calories. When actually hungry, I try to have diet friendly snacks that take a longer time to eat, such as light popcorn, small apple slices, or carrots.

Any time you are watching TV, you could also be working out and watching TV instead. I have yet to be able to eat, work out, and watch TV at the same time ;)

5. Manners

This time of year I don't socialize a lot, so I don't run into having to refuse someone's hard work they put into dinner or dessert very often. Letting the host know ahead of time that I am on a diet helps. They usually try to make something diet friendly for me.

Eating half the meal and turning down dessert and drinks is the hardest the first time. Once I've established that get-togethers are not an excuse to cheat on the diet, it becomes easier and easier to say no. If it is a meeting at a bar or restaurant, I look up calories in their meals before I go (most chain restaurants post on their website). Sometimes I will simply turn down going out for drinks at bar altogether.

But honestly, sometimes it is a very special occasion (or expensive, tasty restaurant) and I cheat anyway. I try to make up for it by choosing either dessert or alcohol, not both, and making sure I worked out hard that day and had very diet friendly other meals.

6. Embarrassment

I also greatly dislike this confrontation.

When I have to have it and people say, "You don't need to diet," I respond with, "No, I don't need to go on a diet. I am a perfectly healthy weight. I want to go on a diet because...
a) my pants are getting tight and don't want to go up a size
b) I would be happier with my body if I reached my goal weight (which is still a healthy BMI). I would be more confident and feel better about myself instead of constantly wishing I had lost that last five pounds. I will finally feel good in a bikini!
c) I want to be at the bottom of my healthy weight range so that I can indulge in drinks and snacks at parties and not have to worry about gaining a pound."

If this doesn't work, and people say my ideal body image is unreasonable, I respond with, "Yes, a century ago I wouldn't think I needed to be thinner because society's image of beauty was different. I am a product of this society and I feel I need to be thinner to be more beautiful. But my goals are to eat healthy and be fit, so what's the harm?" When speaking to most women, I say, "You don't need to wear make-up to be more beautiful, but you do anyway, because of society's expectations. I wouldn't say to you, 'Why did you wear make-up to my house? You should take it off.' This is no different."

There is also the semi-harmless half-lie. Instead of saying, "No, I'm dieting," say, "No, I'm eating healthy right now and exercising to get fit." Say you are cutting out fat, dessert, and booze to be healthy and learn that you don't need these treats every day. (Ex. "I am doing a challenge, 100 days of healthy eating.") People will be much more receptive.

7. Sleep

Sleep actually helps me... If I sleep in, I don't eat breakfast, one less meal!

If I am hungry after dinner, this is the time that it is hardest not to snack. Going to bed hungry is hard. At the end of the day I have no resolve left and I am most likely to eat something unhealthy. If I am the second one to bed, I can sneak food without being accountable. Solution? When I get hungry at night I should go to bed! I can't tell I'm hungry when I'm sleeping!



8. The Pre-Dinner Hunger Attack

I solve this in a weird way. This is when I work out.

This is my hungriest time of day, so I have a pre-workout snack. I get really angry because dammit, that wasn't enough food, I can't even tell I ate anything! Gonna die of hunger, I swear!

But once I get my butt on the machine, getting hot and working out makes the hunger go away, plus drinking lots of water fills up my stomach. If I work out when I'm not hungry, I get a cramp and/or go too slow.

After the workout, it is dinner time! I'm STARVING but I get to eat a full meal and not feel guilty 'cause dude, I just worked out!

9. Mayonnaise

I do love mayo, but don't eat anything on a diet that needs it, so this is not a big temptation.


The bigger temptation is kid food. KD, PB&J sandwiches, hot dogs, crescent rolls, cheese, chicken fingers and fries, the list goes on! Sigh, there is nothing I can do but just not eat it and be sad :'(

10. Beverages with meals

I miss orange juice so much. And Five Alive! And pop (although it's too sugary for me now to really enjoy). I really miss hot chocolate and hot apple cider and vanilla lattes. Again, all I can really do is try to have healthy flavourful substitutes, like Cranberry Fun.






Well, those are my issues! How about the rest of you?









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