Binge Control

All is not lost if you decide to indulge.  All you have to do is learn to freeze the moment.  Even if you don't stop eating, freezing the moment gives you a chance to control how much you eat.

• Instead of polishing off the entire cheesecake, cut a slice and eat it off a dessert plate.  Or, offer your dinner companions some of the Godzilla-sized portion of Fettuccini Alfredo that the restaurant just served you (Olive Garden=1220 calories, 75 g fat)(or ask the waiter for a take home box immediately and divvy it up before you begin eating).
• At the movie theater, you order your usual-size bag of buttered popcorn (you must have forgotten!).  Halfway through the previews, you realize that you've inhaled half of the popcorn unconsciously, and that you're stuffed.  Freeze the moment.  Normally, you'd finish the bag just because it's there.  Instead, stand up, walk to the back of the theater and throw away the remaining popcorn.  After the movie, ask yourself if you really missed it?
• At special dinners.  You're trying to be a gracious host to your mother-in-law on her birthday, so you set the tone by ordering an appetizer, salad, main course and dessert.  Halfway through the main course, you realize you're full.  Freeze the moment.  Rather than finish the meal, put your fork down, place your napkin on your plate and consciously push the plate away to distance yourself from the food.  Then ask the waiter to package the rest in a doggie bag.

The above tips are referenced from: 12 Simple Steps to Permanent Weight Loss, Prevention Magazine, by Rodale Inc., 1998

One last item.  As a society, our eating habits are comprised of many different facets.  This week I watched a segment on the Good Morning America show titled, "Junk Food as Addictive as Drugs," which shows the affect on our brain that certain foods create, similar to the affect of drugs like cocaine and heroine.  We need to understand that our bodies and brains have evolved over the ions to perpetuate the survival of the species: to look for, eat and crave foods high in fat, and calories to sustain our then active bodies.  Our ancestors did not have the bountiful selection we find today in our grocery stores. 

So, with this understanding, we need to use our modern knowledge to make the healthy choices we need now as we naturally move less and have an abundance of foods to eat.  It would be easy to say, "Well, my brain makes me want to eat it," as an excuse.  But it would be better if we just used the information to make better choices and to understand what is really going on in our brains.

Watch the Good Morning America segment, "Junk Food as Addictive as Drugs" click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS-tTaCQAio