On the Topic of Healthy Eating
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On the Topic of Healthy Eating
Good morning all.
I didn't want to hijack any of the threads on the topic of eating and this morning I made a realization I wanted to share.
My wife and I are currently in Colorado visiting her parents. I have been on kitchen duty most of the time which I do not mind at all though I would like to site see at some point but no worries.
My father in law took us (my wife, mother in-law and myself) out to breakfast this morning to a nice little cafe. The menu was well diverse but not big with the typical American cuisine with a twist.
I order the corned beef hash with came with corned beef on the right side of the plate, over easy eggs on the top of the pate and hash browns on the left side of the plate. Not a bad presentation but I have seen better (and worse). It came with toast but I opted out and went with fruit.
My father in-law ordered the same but with toast, no fruit. He and my mother in-law are very skinny and healthy. My wife and I are overweight but active and watching what we eat.
When our food comes out, my father in-law looks at me and says "wow, this is a real big plate of food". I looked at it and agreed (to just be nice) like it was on the small side for this sort of dish. So I slowly eat, looking around at how my in-laws eat and my father in-law left a big portion his plate and so did my mother in law. They were saying how full they were. So I left some on the plate too along with my wife.
We have talked in the past on this forum about eating and how the difference is between eating among larger people and skinnier people. Yes, I agree upfront, there is a lot of exceptions to the rule (like skinnier people eating a lot at each meal for example).
If it was just me, I would have finished my plate all up. I am pretty sure my wife would have too. This was a good learning experience I must say. Will it change my habits.... we will see.
But I do know my downfall.... its portions (working on it) and habits and sugar intake. They all do work together but can and need to be addressed individually.
When I cook at home, its easy to watch my portions. Not so much when eating out. Something I need to work on.
Habits: He11, I would have eaten everything on my plate and perhaps more. Need to address this.
Sugar intake: I think it needs to be cold turkey on this one. I just cannot seem to eat one of something sweet. This saddens me.
Anyway, that is what I was thinking about as my in-laws gabbed away with my wife.
I didn't want to hijack any of the threads on the topic of eating and this morning I made a realization I wanted to share.
My wife and I are currently in Colorado visiting her parents. I have been on kitchen duty most of the time which I do not mind at all though I would like to site see at some point but no worries.
My father in law took us (my wife, mother in-law and myself) out to breakfast this morning to a nice little cafe. The menu was well diverse but not big with the typical American cuisine with a twist.
I order the corned beef hash with came with corned beef on the right side of the plate, over easy eggs on the top of the pate and hash browns on the left side of the plate. Not a bad presentation but I have seen better (and worse). It came with toast but I opted out and went with fruit.
My father in-law ordered the same but with toast, no fruit. He and my mother in-law are very skinny and healthy. My wife and I are overweight but active and watching what we eat.
When our food comes out, my father in-law looks at me and says "wow, this is a real big plate of food". I looked at it and agreed (to just be nice) like it was on the small side for this sort of dish. So I slowly eat, looking around at how my in-laws eat and my father in-law left a big portion his plate and so did my mother in law. They were saying how full they were. So I left some on the plate too along with my wife.
We have talked in the past on this forum about eating and how the difference is between eating among larger people and skinnier people. Yes, I agree upfront, there is a lot of exceptions to the rule (like skinnier people eating a lot at each meal for example).
If it was just me, I would have finished my plate all up. I am pretty sure my wife would have too. This was a good learning experience I must say. Will it change my habits.... we will see.
But I do know my downfall.... its portions (working on it) and habits and sugar intake. They all do work together but can and need to be addressed individually.
When I cook at home, its easy to watch my portions. Not so much when eating out. Something I need to work on.
Habits: He11, I would have eaten everything on my plate and perhaps more. Need to address this.
Sugar intake: I think it needs to be cold turkey on this one. I just cannot seem to eat one of something sweet. This saddens me.
Anyway, that is what I was thinking about as my in-laws gabbed away with my wife.
#2
SuperGimp
I think i have to agree with what you said... 100%. I went out to dinner Friday night with some friends & my wife, and we all ordered the exact same thing - the special was yellowfin with a bit of pumpkin risotto & a couple other things. In typical fine dining style, it was NOT a lot of food and I ate 100% of everything on my plate. It was delicious! Our friends at about half theirs and took the rest home.
Portion control is 100% of my issue, along with a general love for rice, pasta & bread.
Portion control is 100% of my issue, along with a general love for rice, pasta & bread.
#3
Senior Member
We are tending to order the Junior Whopper rather than the Double Cheeseburger these days.
Actually, kid-sized servings are a great way to get over this issue, if the restaurant provides them. They might not be the best tasting crap there, but at least you're eating less of the crap than with adult sizes.
Also resisting the temptation to upsize is important. "Just the small" isn't really that difficult to say.
And water on the table is helpful, although I noticed that not a lot of sitdown restaurants in the US (and certainly almost none in Australia) provide it as a matter of course.
Actually, kid-sized servings are a great way to get over this issue, if the restaurant provides them. They might not be the best tasting crap there, but at least you're eating less of the crap than with adult sizes.
Also resisting the temptation to upsize is important. "Just the small" isn't really that difficult to say.
And water on the table is helpful, although I noticed that not a lot of sitdown restaurants in the US (and certainly almost none in Australia) provide it as a matter of course.
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Chef, why don't you try "cold turkey" on the sweets. Give it two weeks and stick to it. See what happens, it's only two weeks.
Everyone is different, but I've found that the longer it has been since I've eaten sweets, the less I want them.
Everyone is different, but I've found that the longer it has been since I've eaten sweets, the less I want them.
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When I go out to eat, I am starting to put my fork down and contribute to the conversation. I didn't, do that before. When I place my order I get a to go box, and split up my food.
Karen
Karen
#6
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Last winter I posted about how eating is different for my friend and for me:
I am still in the same place. I still am hungry much of the time and rarely if ever feel full. This is a struggle for me. In the past few months I've put on close to 10 pounds. I've been stable for a month but would like to bring it down again. Today, with a touch of the flu, it feels tiresome.
I too have to stay away from the sweets. It is a freight train to fat.
People may differ in how they control what they eat. When I was fat I couldn't eat until satisfied and now I can't either because I just don't get good timely full signals and I am rarely if ever satisfied. I can eat so much that when I get up and walk around it is almost painful but still feel like I want more. For example, a few months ago I went out to eat with my best friend who never has been overweight. At the time we went out to eat we were the same weight. We ate the same meal. She talked about how bloated and full she felt after she ate it. I told her that I could have eaten the same meal twice and I did not feel the least bit full. I really put some thought into how I felt and that was how I felt.
I too have to stay away from the sweets. It is a freight train to fat.
#9
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Last winter I posted about how eating is different for my friend and for me:
I am still in the same place. I still am hungry much of the time and rarely if ever feel full. This is a struggle for me. In the past few months I've put on close to 10 pounds. I've been stable for a month but would like to bring it down again. Today, with a touch of the flu, it feels tiresome.
I too have to stay away from the sweets. It is a freight train to fat.
I am still in the same place. I still am hungry much of the time and rarely if ever feel full. This is a struggle for me. In the past few months I've put on close to 10 pounds. I've been stable for a month but would like to bring it down again. Today, with a touch of the flu, it feels tiresome.
I too have to stay away from the sweets. It is a freight train to fat.
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#11
SuperGimp
I think that goes part and parcel with poor portion control.... I've tried serving myself smaller portions and then stopping for 15 min. before going for seconds, which sometimes helps. Drinking loads of water sometimes helps. But you aren't alone...
#12
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Chef, provided that I do not have other temptations in the house, I do ok with fake sweeteners. Truvia seem to taste the best to me and it is stevia and erythritol, both plant based. I mix it with unsweetened cocoa powder for chocolate milk. It really helps satisfy my desire for sweet. And this tastes a lot better than premade chocolate milk.
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Tonights dinner was interesting. I made this:
Pan Seared Prawns Drizzled with an Herb Mango Sauce on a bed of Chipotle Orange and Roasted Vegetable Warm Cous Cous Salad
I watched everyone eat and they all cleaned their plate right up. I do wonder if it was because they did not want to leave any on their plate as sometimes it is seen as rude or if they were hungry.
Interesting.
Pan Seared Prawns Drizzled with an Herb Mango Sauce on a bed of Chipotle Orange and Roasted Vegetable Warm Cous Cous Salad
I watched everyone eat and they all cleaned their plate right up. I do wonder if it was because they did not want to leave any on their plate as sometimes it is seen as rude or if they were hungry.
Interesting.
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The following is a quote of mine from the "200 pound thread" that I posted in September
I can update and say I'm at 198 as of this evening. For the most part I eat the same food (minus snacky stuff like chips, donuts, candy bars, soda etc) I just eat a normal sized portion. I do not go back for seconds!! This is hard for me because my wife is an excellent cook. I used to clean up all the food that the kids didn't eat on the spot! We have found our food bill has dropped a little as well because there are left overs for next day's work lunches.
New weight 210 lbs as of yesterday. Which is down from 242 lbs on May 27th of this year. I have ridden 1042 miles since then. More than anything I have watched my portion control, and my habit of snacking on unhealthy crap such as chips, dip, donuts, etc. This has helped me to get to this point. I have a long ways to go as my goal is 170. I'm getting there slowly but surely. What has also helped me is my wife has started running and eating healthy as well. When I was plateaued at 219-220 for 3 weeks back in early July she encouraged me to continue what I was doing and the benefits would eventually show themselves. My BP has dropped from 140's/80's to to 110's/60's and resting HR from high 70's down to high 50's and 60's
If I can do it so can you!
If I can do it so can you!
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This thread is very appropriate for this time of year, especially with us being attacked from two directions: 1.) The availability of food and the overabundance of sweets, and 2.) Social pressures. Have you noticed that we always do our socializing with family around meals? I feel comparatively out of control right now. I haven't gained weight, but both my wife and I have not lost any weight since Thanksgiving. Both of us feel really bad that we stopped losing weight, but we talked about it earlier tonight and agreed to relax for now, and just enjoy the season and the family and then continue our weight loss starting January. After all, even though we struggled a bit during the holidays, we lost a combined 90 or so pounds during 2012 so there's no reason to condemn ourselves. But one tactic we want to start utilizing is to start having family events around activities other than meals, although that may be difficult because that is so ingrained.
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This thread is very appropriate for this time of year, especially with us being attacked from two directions: 1.) The availability of food and the overabundance of sweets, and 2.) Social pressures. Have you noticed that we always do our socializing with family around meals? I feel comparatively out of control right now. I haven't gained weight, but both my wife and I have not lost any weight since Thanksgiving. Both of us feel really bad that we stopped losing weight, but we talked about it earlier tonight and agreed to relax for now, and just enjoy the season and the family and then continue our weight loss starting January. After all, even though we struggled a bit during the holidays, we lost a combined 90 or so pounds during 2012 so there's no reason to condemn ourselves. But one tactic we want to start utilizing is to start having family events around activities other than meals, although that may be difficult because that is so ingrained.
I tell you, if/when you add traveling into the mix, it is a real pain in the @ss. I am glad to be out in CO with family but I would rather be home so I can ride my bike some at least.
#17
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Tonights dinner was interesting. I made this:
Pan Seared Prawns Drizzled with an Herb Mango Sauce on a bed of Chipotle Orange and Roasted Vegetable Warm Cous Cous Salad
I watched everyone eat and they all cleaned their plate right up. I do wonder if it was because they did not want to leave any on their plate as sometimes it is seen as rude or if they were hungry.
Interesting.
Pan Seared Prawns Drizzled with an Herb Mango Sauce on a bed of Chipotle Orange and Roasted Vegetable Warm Cous Cous Salad
I watched everyone eat and they all cleaned their plate right up. I do wonder if it was because they did not want to leave any on their plate as sometimes it is seen as rude or if they were hungry.
Interesting.
That said, the plate you use is large so it may make the portions look small. I've gone to using smaller plates.
Last edited by goldfinch; 12-24-12 at 08:36 AM.
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I avoid my mother-in-law at all costs. she's insulting even when she thinks she's paying me a compliment.
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Doing the vegan thing for the last month has helped somewhat with this for me. when you are seriously limited on what you can eat, its much more difficult to just find food. when I am on the road, I eat at 5-6 am and rarely find time to eat again until 1 or later, then I get some kind of dinner at 6 and call it a day. At first I was way hungry with that long between meals. I would still get a smaller portion and simply go hungry in between, What I found is that over two weeks, my need for quantity seemed to diminish and I got full off less.
According to my scale, over the month I have been doing this, I havent really gone up or down by more than a few pounds, but my fat percentage has dropped significantly. I am not sure thats possible, but the darn scale that I have been using a year, sure says so, and says it for weeks at a time...(usually fat percentage is all over the place in a week)
.
I "think" the only reason I didnt lose more weight is I ate a lot of rice, quinoa, beans, etc along with limited veggies. I think if I had done more veggies, and less starch, I would have done better. Anyway, all I mean is it doesnt take but so long to get use to smaller portions and the hunger goes away.
According to my scale, over the month I have been doing this, I havent really gone up or down by more than a few pounds, but my fat percentage has dropped significantly. I am not sure thats possible, but the darn scale that I have been using a year, sure says so, and says it for weeks at a time...(usually fat percentage is all over the place in a week)
.
I "think" the only reason I didnt lose more weight is I ate a lot of rice, quinoa, beans, etc along with limited veggies. I think if I had done more veggies, and less starch, I would have done better. Anyway, all I mean is it doesnt take but so long to get use to smaller portions and the hunger goes away.
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Hey Chef,
It seems we suffer from the same problem,portion size and sweets..
I wish i had a real solution that was easy,i can do good for a short time but them i just resort back to old habits,its so very frustrating..
I love reading your post..
It seems we suffer from the same problem,portion size and sweets..
I wish i had a real solution that was easy,i can do good for a short time but them i just resort back to old habits,its so very frustrating..
I love reading your post..
#25
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I now I need to deal with the emotional part and the psychological part of why I eat what I eat and why I want to grab certain things and such. Just not 100% sure how to go about that. I feel if I can crack that open, it may help out.
It is so instinctive to grab sweet things. My mother in law made money sweet bread.... you know the type that has the caramel and nuts on the bottom.... mmmmm. What the he11.... I ate a few pieces. Why did I do that? I did it without even thinking and went back for more. Why? GRRRRRRRRRRR