Wednesday, June 28, 2006 

10 Ways to Control Your Cravings


( Taken from an article in Reader's Digest!)

You can lose weight by overcoming your cravings. Here are the latest tricks of the trade from the researchers and experts.

Avoid your Triggers! "You crave what you eat, so if you switch what you're eating, you can weaken your old craving and strenghten your new ones, " says Marcia Pelchar, PhD of the Monell Center. This can happen pretty fast. For 5 days , her study volunteers drank bland dietary-supplement beverages. During that time, they craved fewer of their trigger foods. By the end of the study, the volunteers actally wanted the supplements instead. The first few days are always the hardest and probably can't completely eliminate your old cravings. But the longer you avoid your trigger foods, the less likely you will be to want them. In fact, you'll probably begin to crave the foods you eat, a real bonus if you've switched to fresh fruit.

Destroy Temptaion!
If you succumbed to a craving and bought a box of cookies or some other trigger food and start to feel bad while eating it, destroy it. "Don't just throw it away: run water over it, ruin it. You'll feel a sense of accomplishment that you've licked your binge. Don't think about the money you're wasting. If the cookies don't go in the garbage, they're going straight to your hips!

Go Nuts! Drink two glasses of water and eat an ounce of nuts ( 6 walnuts, 12 almonds, or 20 peanuts). Within 20 minutes this can extinguish your craving and dampen your appetite by changing your body chemistry.

Jolt yourself with java. Try sippping a skim latte instead of reaching for a candy bar. The caffeine it contains won't necessarily satisfy your cravings, but it can save you the calories by quenching your appetite. The warm richness and ritual can distract you also.

Let it go. Since stress is a huge trigger for cravings, leaning to deal with it could possibly save you hundreds of calories a day. This will take some practice. You can try deep breathing or visualizing a serene scene on your own, or you can speed things up by buying one of the many CD's that teach progressive muscle relaxation.

Take a power nap. Cravings sneak up when we're tired. Focus on the fatique: Shut the door, close your eyes, re-energize.

Get minty fresh. Brush your teeth; gargle with mouthwash. "Whe you have a fresh clean mouth, you don't want to mess it up."

Distract yourself. If only ice cream will do, it's a craving, not hunger. "cravings typically last 10 minutes," Recognize that and divert your mind: Call someone, listen to music, run an errand, meditate or exercise.

Indulge yourself-within limits. Once in a while it is ok to go ahead and have that ice cream. But a small cone, not a pint. Try 100-calorie snack packs. The trick is to buy only one pack at a time so you won't be tempted to reach for more. And since even 100 extra calories can sabotage weight loss if you indulge daily, strike a gargain with yourself to work off the excess calories. A brisk 15 minute walk will burn 100 calories.

Plan or avoid. Vary your usual routine to avoid passing the bakery or pizzeria. If you know you'll be facing irresistible birthday cake, allocate enough calories to fit it into your diet.

 

Live life with intention

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 

What's wrong with this picture?


This was us a year ago. Our daughter Becky had a reception in Saskatoon June 18, 2005. We went to meet our new son-in-law Jerry and his family. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago.

This year (for the past 5 days) we've had Becky home with us for a brief visit. She won't be able to come at Christmas so she was able to cash in some frequent flier miles and come home.

It was so much fun to have her here. We shopped, and went to all her favorite places. We watched girly movies and the cooking channel and tried to get 6 months of talking in.

This afternoon I have to take her to Richmond and watch her fly off to a loving hubby and her "other life". We are so thankful for Jerry and know she has found her soul mate in him. It gives us peace of mind knowing she is not alone and so far away.

If I hate anything it would be the distance and expense that keeps us from seeing all of our children as much as we would like. Maybe it's a blessing, in that, our times together are sweet and cherished.

A year has gone by and I'm no further on my weight loss journey now than I was then. Time to do some serious soul searching and figure out what's wrong with this picture.

Reasons for losing weight:
1. Improved health
2. Improved quality of life
3. Increased mobility
4. More energy
5. Being able to fit into chairs with side arms
6. Cuter clothes
7. Better self esteem
8. Able to get health insurance
9. Decreased stress on joints
10. Able to travel

Reasons for not losing weight:
1. I'm lazy and do not want to put in the time it will take or the obcession with food.
2. I'm an emotional eater and "need my comfort foods."
3. I have never really faced "What's eating me".
4. I don't like to exercise.
5. I have failed so many times before, I question if it's worth the effort.
6. It is an emotional issue with me.
7. It's comfortable and I know the ground rules.
8. Food has become a friend and a crutch.
9. I'd have to come up with some other means of coping.
10. What if I fail again? If you don't try, you can't possibly fail.

Daisy Dilemma: Now what?

Mood: Sad

Friday, June 16, 2006 

The Search for Significance

Human beings develop elaborate defense mechanisms to block pain and gain significance. We supress emotions; we are compulsive perfectionists; we drive ourselves to succeed, or withdraw and become passive; we attack people who hurt us; we punish ourselves when we fail; we try to say clever things to be accepted; we help pepole so that we will be appreciated; and we say and do countless other things.

It is difficult — if not impossible — to turn on the light of objectivity by ourselves. We need guidance from the Holy Spirit, as well as the honesty, love, and encouragement of at least one other person who’s willing to help us. Even then, we may become depressed as we begin to discover the effects of our wounds. All of us bear the effects of our own sinful nature and the imperfections of others.

Whether your hurts are deep or relatively mild, it is wise to be honest about them in the context of affirming relationships so that healing can begin.

From The Search for Significance by Robert S. McGee

Tuesday, June 13, 2006 

The Shape of Things!


Well, after "making my mother proud" by eating all my favorites this weekend....Round is definitely the shape of things here.

My Mom made all my favorites including two of my favorite desserts as well as grilling marinatied steaks .

I tried to resign from the clean plate club but she always asks anxiously, ......"Do they taste alright? I worked all day on getting it just right!"

Ah, yes, guilt, the gift that keeps on giving.

Oh well, Monday's are always "do over days" around here. Why should today be any different? Pass the salad please!

Friday, June 09, 2006 

On my weigh home.....

I'm going home this week-end to visit my mom. My mom is a wonderful cook and hostess. She called me last week to see when we were coming so she could start cooking. I begged and pleaded with her not to make all my favorites since I'm trying to eat sensibly.

"Sure thing baby girl" she replied laughing. I know that laugh.....that laugh says, " if I make it you will eat it!"

My mom see me as "her fat little baby".

Daisy Dilemma: How do you enjoy your mom's gift of love without over-doing it?

Mood: apprehensive

 

Ain't it the truth?

Sunday, June 04, 2006 

Tis the season for weddings.....

Yesterday was a busy day for us. We finished off a shipping container with over 1100 items packed very tigthly. It's like doing a 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzel.

We finished by noon and then went to a wedding that evening.

My dear friend and neighbor asks us to take pictures at her daughter's outdoor wedding. We were glad to help them out especially since my friend is usually the photographer and consequently is never in the photos.

My Mr. Wonderful, is an excellent photographer but he definitely needs a producer. I'm the one who assembles the people in different groupings, herds them to the right spot, and suggests different poses. I'm sure there were over 200 photos that we took at the wedding. Digital camera's are wonderful inventions.

Oh yeah, the food was great....ate too much but felt ok as we have really been pushing the envelope physically recently. We'll see what the scale says.

Friday, June 02, 2006 

Weigh In

Two Left, Two Right.....pant, pant.

Ah....Exercise! Definitely not a missing element in my life.

Lost 2 pounds this week and I'm happy about it!

2 Down......many more to go, but it's a start!

Daisy Dilema: Get up and get moving!

Mood: hopeful after a long dry spell.

Thursday, June 01, 2006 

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!


Quote of the Day: "Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid it will never begin. (Grace Hansen)

Busy day today and the last two days. We are doing two containers for Haiti.

Tuesday: We filled the file drawers with items and had to do an extensive inventory of everything.

Wednesday: We filled the first container. It has hot, it was hard but we did have some really good helpers and we were finished and had the container pulled by 4 P.M.

Thursday: We started the second container. It was harder as we didn't have as much help and the guys were already tired from the day before. We were doing pretty well till My Mr. Wonderful cut his thumb down to the vein and had to be taken for stitches.

Fortunately the clinic down the street was able to do the stitches so we didn't have to go to the ER. We were in and out in less than an hour. The bad news is that it cost us 300 dollars and we have no insurance.

I asked the doctor specifically if he could continue working on the container and he said, "In front of Mr. Wonderful, absolutely not!!! " We went home and tied a plastic bag around his hand and bandage so he could take a showe.

So it's been a tiring and expensive day. I got more exercise than I planned on as we needed to move items into the contain. Tomorrow looks like more of the same except for Mr. Wonderful.

Whew, what a day!

Daisy Dilema: Looking for the positive spin on a very long day.

Mood: Very tired

About me

  • I'm Lazy Daisy
  • From Elizabethton, TN, United States
  • I am a married, empty Nester, missionary, living on the hillside of Tennessee, with lots of homespun humor and hopefully some insights!
  • My profile
  • Email me
  • My Flickr photos
  • Lazy Daisy Log


  • Links


    eXTReMe Tracker
    Powered by Blogger
    and Blogger Templates