The End Of Overeating - My Plan of Action

David Kessler wrote The end of overeating because he could accomplish many things in his life like attending Harvard Medical School and University of Chicago Law School at the same time. But if you put a plate of chocolate chip cookies in front of him he couldn't cope. I am the same way (not the medical and law school, the cookies).

He states that the problem foods are sugar, salt and fat. I'd figured out the sugar and fat and flour(which turns into sugar) but I hadn't really thought of the salt. Although I have always been careful to remember to add salt to my oatmeal, cookies and did binge recently on brownies sprinkled with french sea salt.

He feels that if you get all of this out of your diet, you can retrain yourself and your brain and could eventually introduce them back into your diet. I agree with the first part but strongly disagree with the second. When I was first married nearly 18 years ago, I never ate fruit. Everyday my new husband cut up fruit and put it into a bowl of yogurt. Everyday I choked it down until I discovered blending it and drinking it was a more palatable solution. 18 years later I still make these for myself and my husband. My point is is that I trained myself to eat fruit in the mornings and now I have to have it. We can untrain ourselves to crave unhealthy foods.

Kessler suggests that you create rules that make choices easy. For example: He never eats french fries. Therefore when faced with a plate of fries, it is a non-issue.

My Rules:

1. I don't eat anything made from white flour
2. I don't eat anything made from white sugar
3. I don't eat savory snack foods; ie crackers, chips, pretzels, popcorn
4. I don't eat fried foods
5. The only alcohol I drink is red wine

This leaves all other foods open. There is no deliberating, no guilt.

Support:
He suggests you have support when doing this. My husband follows the same rules and I blog.

Recognize Your Triggers:

I eat when I am stressed.
I eat when I am premenstrual and possibly menstrual
I eat because I like reliability - I know carby foods will taste delicious and make me feel satisfied. Everytime.

Portion Size:
I noticed that when I had eaten healthy for 50 days I felt good but did not lose any weight. Mr. Kessler suggests that we examine our portion size. I am cutting my portions by a third and trying to stretch the time in between meals or snacks. I am always putting something in my mouth whether it is a handful of pistachios or a cup of tea. Portion size is the only explanation I had for the lack of weight loss while eating really healthy, not drinking and exercising.

There is much more to the book and it is worth reading.