I'm happy with my no diet diet plan

Here and there, I catch a couple of minutes in the morning of Gillian McKeith's healthy lifestyle TV show You Are What You Eat. Each episode Gillian transforms the featured guests' diet from a diet rich in carbohydrates, fat and sugar to a diet jam packed with fruit, vegetables and other nutrient-rich foods. 


There is so much to marvel about this show: the massive display of a week's worth of beige food, poop floating through a tube during a colonic irrigation, blood tests, tongue and belly examinations and of course, the fascinating segment, the stool sample analysis. There are aspects of this show that I find insightful and a little frightful.


The extreme change in diet is the part of the show that causes concern for me. Prior to the show, the guests' diet is not normal. All guests eat massive amounts of junk and highly processed food devoid of vegetables and fruit and nutrients. Gillian's diet is packed with whole foods: fruits, vegetables, grains, beans and all foods are completely unprocessed.


My concern isn't about the food she is suggesting; in fact much of what she says about processed foods really speaks to me (but that is for another post). What I find problematic about Gillian's diet is it realistic for these people to keep it up? Are they happy with what they are doing?


Last week a guest expressed concern with the four hours of prepping and cooking food in the kitchen each day. And just as regular (or irregular) as the poop samples, there is the obligatory scene with the participant gagging on some of the unusual recipes, such as the unusual juice concoctions (parsley juice?) and whole grain dishes such as quinoa porridge.


Yoni Freedhof of weightymatters.ca routinely says in his blog that in order to make a lifelong change, you need a sustainable plan, a plan that you keep up forever; and you are happy with what you are doing. And I can tell you, I would not be happy spending four hours a day cooking and eating foods that are poles apart from my current menu is not a plan that I could or would maintain forever.


So, this makes me think. Am I happy with my weight loss plan? Can I keep this up forever?


Yes, I am happy with my plan and I do think that I can keep this up forever. Here are the top ten reasons why I think my no diet diet plan is a plan that I can keep up indefinitely:   


1. No food is off-limits, no amount too much.
2. No food journalling.
3. I understand and manage my cravings.
4. It works with my family life and career.
5. Walking to and from the Go Train adds up to 50 minutes of exercise each day without much effort.
6. Swimming with a team is more fun and interesting than swimming alone or going to the gym.
7. I'm eating like a normal person.
8. I'm not in a race to get to my goal weight.
9. I'm not accountable to anyone but myself.
10. I don't feel like I'm on a diet.


Sure, change is needed. But why does the change need to be so extreme? I feel that these people are being set up for disappointment. I'm sure some people manage to keep up Gillian's diet, but I wouldn't be surprised if most go back to their food comfort zone. I know I would.


Do you watch You Are What You Eat? If so, do you think you could eat Gillian's recommended diet for the rest of your life? Are you happy with your weight loss plan? 


Previous post: Dietary Assessment - who knew the stomach flu was going around edition

Salad vs. the McChicken combo

I’m at the end of the second week of eating salad and a small bun at lunchtime instead of a sandwich and coleslaw. It’s surprising how satisfying this new lunch choice is. Instead of traditional salad toppings such as carrots and celery, this salad includes baked chicken breast, sliced tomatoes, walnuts and sundried tomatoes (no oil) with Renee’s low fat poppy seed dressing on the side.

But, yesterday my lunchtime routine was disrupted. I booked an eye examination with the optometrist at 11 am at an office across the street from where I work. I haven’t had a check-up in a long time, so I thought I should go. The exam went well until it was time for the eye drops. Apparently I can add eyeballs to my list of body parts that make me queasy. Thankfully, I didn’t pass out, but I was nauseated for at least 15 minutes. While recovering, the optometrist saw other patients, and in the end, I returned to the office just before 1 pm, absolutely famished!

One of my no diet diet rules is to eat every three hours. Yesterday I had a light snack at 9:30 am, but I was unable to eat my lunch at 12:30. After returning from the exam, I reached for convenience food instead of assembling my salad. I gobbled down my bun quickly and met up with my friend and colleague as we had plans to go for a walk (I assumed the eye exam would take only a half hour).

I asked her if she had eaten anything for lunch; I told her I was famished, and I was no longer interested in my salad. We decided to go to a food court down the street and get something there. There were the usual fast food options: Subway, The Teriyaki Experience, a Greek joint, a Taco joint, an Italian joint and of course, McDonald’s. I was close to picking Subway, but we ended up at the golden arches.

It shouldn’t be surprising that I decided to order a McChicken combo instead of my usual order of a cheeseburger, small fries and a diet coke. I need more than a cheeseburger I rationalized.  I need more than a small fries. Need, need, need or is it want, want want?

You know what? I didn’t enjoy eating the McChicken sandwich. I admit, the fries were tasty, but after eating all those calories and all that fat, I wasn’t satisfied at all. What I needed, and actually craving was my walnut, tomato and chicken-topped salad with poppy seed dressing. So when I got back to the office (again) I assembled my salad; and finally I was satisfied.

What did I learn from this experience other than to ensure that I eat every three hours? Now that I’ve removed all the psychological roadblocks associated with salads and highly processed fast food, I know that a big leafy salad with interesting toppings is actually more satisfying than a McChicken combo.

Previous Post: Returning to the pool after 20 years

Switching to black forest ham is not much of a change

Last Sunday, my three year old son points at some low-fat bran muffins, “Mommy, can we get some of these?”

For some reason beyond me, I tell him we’ll come back to the bakery section. Obviously I didn’t want to make a decision. Perhaps I was hoping that he would forget about the muffins. Of course, he reminded me that I promised to return to the bakery. Unfortunately, the brownies, instead of the muffins, caught his eye.

Yes, I bought the brownies. It was a small package, and he easily forgets about treats in the house. I figured that it was an opportunity to practice having sweets (treats, restricted/ bad food) in the pantry.  

The brownies lasted in the house from lunch Sunday to Tuesday evening. My son had one brownie, my husband had two, and I had the other five.

At least the consumption was spread across a 72 hour time period.

What happened?

Almost a month before, I wrote how eating the same thing day after day triggers overeating. Unfortunately, I’m slow to change. At the time, I changed the deli meat of my lunchtime sandwich. Instead of eating a roasted turkey and havarti sandwich, I switched it up to a black forest ham and havarti sandwich. Daring eh? Not surprisingly, this deli meat swap was insufficient. 

Finally, I've completely changed my lunch. For the next while, I’m eating a salad comprised of spring mix lettuce, tomatoes, baked chicken breast, walnut pieces, pumpkin seeds, sun dried tomatoes (no oil), and minimal salad dressing at lunchtime along with a small roll, and fruit. And it was surprisingly tasty and filling. I imagine that the salad will lose its spark quicker than a sandwich, but perhaps when I recognize the signs, I’ll implement change faster and perhaps prevent another rapidly depleting brownie situation at the house.

Speaking of change, the amount of exercise is increasing tonight. I’ve been on the waiting list for the local masters swim club for a year now. I may have a spot, but the coach wants to see my swim tonight to see how fast I am. I haven’t trained consistently in the pool in years. I’m hoping I haven’t oversold her on my swimming ability. More importantly, I’m hoping that I can last the hour-long workout!


Previous Post: A post about "Maggie goes on a Diet" 

Weight Watchers is too restrictive

We met more than 11 years ago on the banks of the credit river at the Don Rowing Club. My friend has soft, curly, long, brown (occasionally blonde) hair, and a huge smile that shows off her high cheekbones.

We are both athletic in nature. We’d rather be training for a 5 or 10 K run or a rowing or dragon boating regatta than spending time on an elliptical machine in the gym. Over the years, we’ve laughed, cried and chatted about everything from boys and career plans to friends and family, to fitness and our mutual subject of obsession, weight.

Both of our waistlines have been expanding over the years. Up and down our weight has gone; through cycles of dieting and overeating; on or off Weight Watchers; training for an athletic event or lazing on the couch just talking about it. I’m a lot bigger than her (my weight gain exploded during my two pregnancies) but for both of us, traditional dieting had become increasingly difficult.

She was very interested when I talked to her about what I was learning about my eating issues in cognitive therapy. We talked about how restricting yourself on a diet damages the psychology of your eating; anxiety and how it triggers hunger; and how dieting, following the all or nothing rules, results in anxious and guilt-ridden feelings triggering binges and episodes of overeating. We talked how it made so much sense and she is one of my friends supporting my blog.

This spring, in a bid to lose weight again, she decided to register for the online Weight Watchers program. For a couple of months, she’s basically gained and lost the same 2 pounds. Finally, she talked to her therapist about it.

“Weight Watchers in too restrictive for you,” her therapist told her.

In order to change her relationship with food, she told her that she needs to want to make a change and she needs to believe in herself. Her therapist left her with a couple of to do’s: introduce off limit foods back into rotation (such as chips, chocolate and cookies) and develop self-trust by setting and completing daily tasks.

I asked her about what she meant about self-trust. Her therapist told her that she puts her trust into Weight Watchers rather than trusting herself to lose weight. I have to admit, that was a little a-ha moment for myself too, because even a year ago I would have told you that I absolutely, under no other circumstances, would I even attempt to lose weight without some sort of structured, traditional, weight loss program. There was no way I could lose weight without Weight Watchers. A year later, I’m doing it, I’m losing weight without Weight Watchers (albeit at a much slower pace) and the intense craving for junk food has decreased significantly.

So my dear friend, I think you are now well on your way to figuring out your own eating/food puzzle. I remember telling you that I sort of wished that I had lost weight on Weight Watchers and then figured out my eating issues with a cognitive therapist. But I think I would have run into the same dieting firewall as you. Dieting would be impossible, and like you, I would have gained and lost the same two pounds over and over again.

Eat every three hours

I mentioned in an earlier post that in 2001, I attempted to resolve the psychological reasons for my binge eating. I participated in a support group that followed Geneen Roth’s seven guidelines for intuitive eating: eat when you are hungry, eat sitting down in a calm environment, eat what your body wants, eat until you are satisfied, eat in full view of others, eat with enjoyment and eat without distractions.

At the time, I worked out at the gym before going to work and decided to buy a sesame bagel with peanut butter at the Bagel Stop for breakfast. The bagel was big, not massive, but a good size bagel. (Let me tell you, bagels are not a great choice to practice intuitive eating.) I waited, and waited and waited for hunger. I wanted a break from work the tension from not eating was becoming intolerable.

Finally, the hunger came at 2 pm. But, hold on; I can’t eat yet. I have to wait for my body queues to tell me what to eat. No food, no break in six hours. No wonder I convinced myself that my body wanted chocolate for lunch.

In 2010, my therapist observed: “I noticed that you overeat if you don’t eat for long periods of time.”

We reviewed my food journal and sure enough, a pattern became clear. Not eating for an extended period of time would trigger a binge. Typically, this occurred while running errands with the kids. Since it takes so much time to get a baby and a toddler in the car, I would leave the house shortly before lunch time.

As time passed, my hunger and anxiety level would grow. My son asks, “Mommy, can we buy mini-cupcakes?”

Hubby and my son were lucky to eat three or four; I would eat the rest by the morning.

To overcome this, she advised me to eat every three hours. It works well. When I’m at the office, I know when it’s approaching ten o’clock; the need for food rises. But I don’t get alarmed now. I know that I’m approaching the three hour mark and I need to eat my snack. After that, I’m fine until lunch.

Now that I think about it, this is another no diet dieting rule. Please click here for the updated rules..

In regard to intuitive eating, obviously eating a bagel for breakfast was a bad choice. Not eating for six hours caused stress and anxiety that I can still remember ten years later.

How do I lose weight & eat what ever I want?

Eat whatever you want. Eat whatever I want. Eat whatever I want?

How on earth will I ever take off this weight? I’ll always want to eat three bowls of granola for breakfast.

Then something happened in November. Instead of choosing granola for breakfast, I decided to have a bowl of Wheetabix. Wow - didn’t see that coming. Once I let go of what I could eat and couldn’t eat, the cravings for unhealthy foods declined.

“I’m ready to choose healthier foods,” I said to my therapist in January after two months of feeling liberated from the cravings, the confusion, and the struggle. “Great!” she answered enthusiastically. She must have known that I would eventually come to this conclusion.

I was surprised by her reply. I thought that in order to keep cravings and food obsession to a minimum that I would need to eat all the junk food in binge quantities that I desired. This, of course, would mean that I would always be overweight.

When I asked her how I actually lose weight, she said that many of her clients lose weight naturally since they eat smaller quantities and choose better foods. So from January until May, I started making healthier choices. But, from my clothes (and later confirmed when I actually weighed myself in March) I could tell that my weight was fluctuating, but not really go down (or up).

It took me eight months of thinking to figure it out.

Before therapy, I believed that in order to lose weight, I must be on a structured diet with strict rules and guidelines. I must count every calorie or point, meticulously plan every spoonful of food that went into my mouth and write everything down in order to control my eating. But I knew that this approach didn’t work (weight loss was never permanent) and is a big reason why food and weight is such an issue for me now.

I need to diet without a diet.

However, it’s not a diet. It’s a concept, a philosophy: eat healthy and if possible in smaller quantities. Vague, I know. Like something a doctor or a well-intended friend would say. It may not be a quick way to lose weight, but I think this is the only way to stay sane. And with 110 pounds to lose, I have to be in it for the long run.

MB, a like-minded blogger posted on her blog this morning her reasons for joining an online Slimmer this Summer challenge. One of the coordinating bloggers was curious as to why MB (as a no rule dieter) would choose to join a weight loss challenge with a set of rules. Her response sums up how I’m feeling right now about a structured diet.

After a few weeks of actively attempting to lose weight and reading MB’s posting, I realize that there are some rules that I’m following:

- No food journaling

- Flexible meal planning is helpful; meticulous meal planning is not

- Drink water as much as possible

- No food is considered off-limits, no quantity is too much

- Eat three balanced meals a day with reasonable portion sizes

- Eat three healthy snacks in between meals

- Eat every three hours

- Indulge in the occasional unhealthier food choice

- Choose the healthier food option as much as possible

- Choose smaller portions when possible

- Tackle cravings using the distract and delay technique

- Sign up for, train and complete 5K run

- Blog as much as possible

In any case, with or without Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig, you have to do what works for you.