The Groups: What I Learned: Pt. 4

Food & Nutrition: Where to begin…?

Let’s start with an observation about what the ‘food piece’ is not:

• It’s not a diet in the sense of depriving yourself; yes, you’re ‘eating less’ because portion control is important, and yes, there’s stuff you really want to avoid (like soda and French fries) but after your transition, you may actually find yourself adjusting to the healthy stuff and eating “less” quite nicely
• You don’t count calories (well, you can if you want to)
• You don’t exclude all carbs, or all protein or fats
• You don’t buy specially prepared foods from a ‘weight-loss’ vendor

It is a shift to nutritionally ‘dense’ foods from the stuff we have been consuming all our lives. As was the case with the ‘Exercise and Activity’ components (see my prior posts "The Groups: What I Learned: Pts. 1,2 and 3") there is science behind the changes you need to make. I recommend you check out this piece from Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s PBS presentation, “3 Steps to Incredible Health” here, but to summarize, the way I understand it is that at the cellular level, our bodies expect a regular supply of what’s known as ‘micro-nutrients’ that are crucial for our health. When we are prompted to eat, unfortunately, the message doesn’t specify just what is needed. So, if we eat any old crap, our bodies will, figuratively, throw a tantrum if it doesn’t get what it needs: 1^st we feel this uncomfortable craving and are prompted to eat to make that feeling go away. Then, after a couple of hours, the “feed me” mantra will continue and the cycle will be repeated. That’s one way we become obese. By the way, the “feed me” mantra is known as ‘toxic hunger’ – not the real kind; if the body gets what it needs, we just don’t feel hunger – until meal time or when we haven’t eaten when we normally do.

So, how do we make the changes we need? A good place to start is by reducing both the total amount as well as portion size we consume. We – or at least most of us in this country – are blessed to be surrounded by abundance. But that doesn’t mean we need to eat it all! Consider the following:

• Limit the piece of steak, fish or chicken you eat to something approximating the size of your clenched fist; if you’re in a restaurant, take the balance home.
• Eat lots of fruits and veggies
• Skip dessert (unless it’s fresh fruit) and “pass” on alcoholic beverages (at least in the beginning) and sodas and other sugared drinks altogether. If you are a regular soda drinker you will likely need to identify a healthier substitute
• Close your kitchen after 8pm – no snacks!