So my weigh in last night was as expected--a gain of 1lb. I suppose it could have been worse--it is PMS week. And I feel a lot more bloated than 1lb.But on the plus side, I finally went food shopping last night.
I stocked up on lots of fruits and some veggies (the selection was miserable of good vegetables). I made sure I got plenty of stuff for lunch as well as some healthy snacks like pretzels, Fiber One bars & Jello (Fat Free, Sugar-Free) pudding (especially after seeing a couple of recipe ideas).A full fridge makes me happy--it's stressful having to try to make healthy food decisions if there aren't the options available, forcing me to spend more money buying a meal, or attempting to make a meal from unsatisfying foods and inevitably eating more.
My only disappointment was that I have been craving pizza and I was
determined to make a homemade pizza on a pre-made whole-wheat crust (I hear Boboli makes a good one) and loading it up with veggies & reduced fat cheese. However the supermarket didn't have any option to do that. The frozen pizzas were all pre-made and the store-brand pizza crust just turned me off. So now that I have all the ingredients BUT the crust, I'll try to visit another store this week & finally make my pizza.
Last night's meeting actually talked about cravings--what they mean, how to control them, etc. Of course it did nothing but make me hungry as people mentioned their cravings (chips, chocolate, bbq ribs...) and how they satisfy them either with the real thing or a substitute. But it did make me think about my own cravings. As I've said often, most of my cravings come when I'm bored--home in front of the TV and I feel like I need something to eat. It's then I usually crave some kind of crunchy food--whether salty like chips or sweet like cookies, I need something to crunch.I have never been one to deny a craving--I feel like if I'm craving it, my body needs it. Okay--so that involves a little rationalization because I'm sure my body doesn't need high-fructose corn syrup or deep fryed anything. But the basic texture and flavor of the foods-salty, crunchy, sugary, milky...I think those are things that the body is telling you it needs whether to combat a food deficiency or to handle an emotion. So I am usually the one giving into the craving, saying that I'll just cut back somewhere else. But of course I don't and I end up getting myself in trouble on the scale.
So what can I do? Our leader's answers were "Distract it, Fake it, Feed it, Dig Deeper, Get to the root of the emotion." I've definitely done the first three. Distracted it by doing something else, Faked it by substituting something that will have the same effect, and Fed it with a portion-controlled size of it. But I've never really digged deeper or asked myself why am I craving it and what does it mean? I guess it's a version of Distracting it, but will it help?
Anyway--this is a long post and I'm rambling so let me know your thoughts on cravings. What foods do you crave most often? When do you crave them? Do you feed them or do you do something else to help you stay on track?
Until next time
