Over the past several days I've become aware of several dangerous trends in my eating:
· I've neither planned nor tracked my meals & snacks
· Vegetables have gone missing from my plate
· I've gotten away from sitting down at the table to eat
· Fruit consumption is on the decline
· I'm snacking on greasy/salty things
· I've been going long on milk + anything that tastes good with it
The result: the scale is pointing out to me the error of my ways. Were I not in a public contest, I could slough it off and wait for the fix to happen. But I am in a public weight loss contest, so I'm putting the pressure on myself to fix this. And because I don't want this slip-up to happen again, I want to figure out why this is happening.
Meal planning/tracking
SYMPTOM: This week I've wanted to eat without the bother of measuring. Earlier this week I cleaned out some basement boxes, with the result that the kitchen table is covered in what I didn't throw out but didn't find a new home for. With the kitchen in disarray, weighing & measuring my food is more challenging. ANOTHER reason: sometimes I feel like measuring my food is a sign that I'm broken: normal people don't have to measure their food.
SOLUTION: Clean off the kitchen table properly. Find the right home for those things I want to keep. I promise myself I will clean the kitchen table today. OTHER solution: I am a little broken, but that's not the end of the world. I've identified part of me that needs extra help, and I am entitled to that help. Measuring food isn't what I'm proudest of, but it's nothing to be ashamed of. Even if I am ashamed of it. (I think I have to work on this piece….)
Missing vegetables
SYMPTOM: Not eating veggies. I'm bored with them. I'm tired of lettuce, I don't have tomatoes, and am sick of peeling carrots. About all I want are quick, easy pickles, but there's a ton of sodium there.
SOLUTION: Look for veggie-rich recipes. Buy some tomatoes. Add veggies here and there throughout the day. Prep a daily veggie tray. Make some veggie soup.
Eating on the move/eating salty greasy things
SYMPTOM: Eating at the kitchen sink; grabbing a pretzel or piece of my son's homemade fudge while passing through the kitchen. Essentially I'm eating like my 2-year-old: whatever, wherever.
SOLUTION: Remember what my WW leader Carole said about eating with dignity. I'm not an animal (or a 2-year-old). I deserve the chance to sit down at the table with a plate, flatware, beverage, and napkin while I think savor what I'm eating. Rather than instill bad habits, I need to teach my 2-year-old how to eat well.
Fruit on the decline
SYMPTOM: Thanks to some recent disgusting bananas, my fruit phobia is back. While in the rest of my life I like surprises, I don't like surprises in my fruit. Lately when I peel bananas, I've found several with something pink at the bottom end. It not moving, but it makes me think it's worms at one end moving up the banana. Ew! And what's with finding seeds in my seedless oranges? And mealy apples? I can only drive 40 minutes to fruit farms so often for good apples – mostly I have to rely on the local grocery store offerings: hard kiwi, unripe peaches, questionable blueberries, green bananas with something pink within.
SOLUTION: Tough one here. I love fruit, but want it to taste right. No local offerings. I'm stuck halfway between The West Side Market and east side fruit farms. The Euclid Farmer's Market doesn't open again for 2 months. I guess I can ask my friends whether/where they've been finding good fruit. I can also give up on fresh fruit and rely on frozen fruit with less texture and taste. Then if there's scary stuff within, at least I won't know about it. But that's no comfort. This is a tough one. Any ideas out there?
Milk & anything that goes with it
SYMPTOM: I love the dry, sweet vs. refreshing coolness pairing of cookies & milk, cereal & milk, granola bar & milk. For most of my life I'd far rather drink skim milk than anything else. And then to drink more of it, add a little simple carb snack. In February I bought a Brita filter to make tap water more palatable (yes, I can taste a difference). But water doesn't go with things as nicely as milk does.
SOLUTION: Remind myself that I don't need to drink my calories. Milk is getting me into trouble right now, so I need to turn to other dairy sources such as yogurt, cottage cheese, and cheese. It's not like I can never have milk again. Right now though I'm using it as an excuse to eat more/other than I want, so I need to step away from it till I'm in control again.
*deep breath* It's a new month. I could state here that "I'm going to track for this whole month," but I'm not going to fall into the perfection trap. But then what happens if I miss a day of tracking? Nope – I'm not falling for that again. Instead I'm going to work on fixing what I know is broken, one action at a time. I need to plan my meals, follow through with tracking, find a way to make veggies & fruit as reliably palatable as grains, use water for hydration, and slow down to dine rather than eat on the run.
Today's goals:
Plan next week's meals, with an eye towards produce
No drinking milk today
Eat all my meals & snacks at the table – and make my 2-year-old do the same
Clean the kitchen table!
~Karin
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