Struggling With Your Eating? Carrot Cake May Be The Answer.

I ate too much. I kid you not. Eight days filled with fried foods is weighing me down. And while I don’t celebrate Christmas, it happens to be my husband’s birthday. So I made the obligatory carrot cake with cream cheese frosting—his favorite—a total yum— and probably ate a bit more than was necessary. And that was after the Indian food we had out—shared lentil soup, appetizers—the works.

Having my jeans fit rather tightly can be challenging even if I needed to gain some weight—which I don’t. Somehow, there’s just no positive reinforcement in our culture for having your waist band cut into your flesh—even if it’s truly a sign of progress, of necessary weight gain for recovery. Growing out of your clothes (unless you’re an adolescent, entitling you to indulge in the newest fashions) yields little benefit in our society. But in my case, that’s beside the point. My personal goal is maintenance, within my normal and healthy weight.

Yes, even nutritionists can, and do, overeat at times. Of course I know better, yet I found myself grazing on salted, roasted cashews rather mindlessly while mixing up the carrot cake batter. And serving the cake from the table? Big mistake. It called to me, a mere arms-distance away. Those skinny, knife thin slivers don’t really count, do they?

What did I resolve when I woke up this morning? First, I wouldn’t dare consider weighing myself—no need to see what I already knew. I might have considered a bowl of bran flakes or oatmeal. But I really felt like having the freshly baked bread I made the night before. (I was rather productive on Christmas, wasn’t I?) 

Rather than have the cereal while yearning for the bread, I decided to have what I really wanted. And so I cut a thin slice of this rather dense, wholesome bread, chock full of oats and flax, figs and walnuts, seasoned with anise seed, and had a bowl of yogurt and fig jam to go with it. And, had my coffee, of course.

What I didn’t resolve was to make up for the extras consumed in the many days before. I did not resolve that I blew it, that I shouldn’t even bother, because it’s useless. Or, that the leftover carrot cake was to be trashed, so that I wouldn’t eat it again. I wouldn’t dream of such a thing (besides, my husband would probably fish it out of the trash barrel if I did). And if I did, it would only reinforce that cakes were something I wasn’t entitled to eat, so it was now or never when they were within my reach. This, of course, would only lead to overeating. I did, however, slice it up, wrapping each slice individually, and froze it.

I did not resolve to skip my usual workout, or my walks with Mica (you know who he is, by now, right?), because “why bother?” I love my treks through the woods by my home. It’s hard to know who gets more excited at the sight of a squirrel—me, or Mica.

Yes, it’s a process. We all need to remind ourselves of what is in place, rather than focusing on where we slipped. This morning’s Skype session with a client overseas addressed, in part, expectations. It came naturally to Anna to focus on the fact that her weight had not yet improved. But the positive changes she has been making were far less obvious to her, and certainly more difficult to measure. She needed to recall that having two chocolates, only two, was in fact, progress. Yes, there was a time, not too long ago, that she would have laughed when I suggested this was possible; chocolate was something to be avoided, when trying to manage weight, for fear that once she started she’d have no control over stopping.

Being able to distinguish her hunger—and her fullness—has also been a major recent achievement. Previously, without this awareness, she was left without the tools to self-regulate food intake. One night this week, she chose to have a snack, responding to this hunger, prior to dinner being ready. As a result, she was left with little hunger at mealtime. She gave herself permission to delay dinner—rather than eating it at the planned time—another step forward in listening to her body’s signals. She knew she could, and would, eat again later when she needed to. The fact is, as a result, she ended up being more in control of her eating, versus overeating.

But if the only goal is pounds lost, then she made no progress this past holiday week at all. Anna needed to revisit the house-building analogy, to shift her focus on what’s truly important at this stage of our work together. Building her foundation is a necessary first step to changing her relationship with food—and ultimately her weight.

As for me, I did have a lighter dinner this evening—a root vegetable soup, accompanied by the sliced homemade bread. And, I mindfully enjoyed every bite of the microwave-defrosted slice of carrot cake. 

And I’m feeling quite good.

PS: Here's the recipe some of you requested!

Joel's Birthday Carrot Cake

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsps baking soda

2 tsps cinnamon

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 

3 eggs

2 tsps vanilla extract

3 cups finely grated carrots

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut

3/4 cup drained crushed pineapple

(See Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
Line 2 round cake pans with wax paper, then grease or spray them. (a  13 X 9 inch pan works fine too, but doesn't look as awesome!)

Blend the dry ingredients in a mixer.

Add the next ingredients, through vanilla, beating thoroughly.

Then fold in remaining ingredients.

Pour batter evenly into the two pans.

Place in middle rack of oven.

Bake approximately 1 hour, or until the edges pull off the sides or a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cakes.

Let cake cool 10 minutes in the pans. Then flip them over onto plates or cake platter. They should fall from the pans with ease.

Peel off the wax paper and let cool an hour.

Cream Cheese Frosting

12 oz reduced fat cream cheese or Neufchatel (brick form), room temperature

4 Tbsps (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups confectionary sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsps milk

Blend it all until smooth, without lumps, and it's ready to use.

Frost one whole cake. Then drop the second cake onto the first and frost top and sides.

Sit down with a slice, and enjoy every bite. Remove the rest from the counter, by slicing and removing the pieces from view (freezing is ideal!)

Why Bother? Patient Lessons.

Tuesday With Marla

Gotta love her attitude!

Why bother? That’s what I thought. I worked hard on making changes, and in spite of my efforts, here’s the bland response I got from my doctor in this letter: “Your A1c is fine. Your lipids are high. LDL 105, HDL 46, Triglycerides 167. Stay on the statin. Continue to work on your diet and exercise.” If we hadn’t already discussed these results together, you and I, I would have just blown it, food wise.”

What’s this all about, you’re wondering? Let me fill you in. Marla has been working with me for about 8 months. She presented to me with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and obesity. And her A1c, the blood test that gives a picture of blood sugar control over a three-month period, was just about out of range when she first came to see me. But most distressing to her, was her relationship with food, her struggle with binge eating disorder. Her emotional triggers were real, and life continues to have its share of stressors.

So what happened to Marla?

Here’s the quick summary, based on the concrete facts, the numbers, first. Her A1c dropped into the normal range, several points below where it started. And several points, on the A1c scale, is a pretty huge change. Her ratio of total cholesterol to HDL—the good cholesterol—improved significantly; it is now well within the healthy range, below 4.3. And it started at 6.1. Her good cholesterol is higher than ever, about 40% higher, likely the result of the significant improvement in her activity level. Of course I shared this great news with her at our recent session, expressing how pleased I was that she achieved this dramatic improvement while simultaneously reducing her dose of statins, the cholesterol medication she had been on from the start.

And while her BMI remains high, she is down 43 pounds. And get this—her food record today revealed proudly inclusion of Pay Days, the mini Halloween sized candy bars she gets on sale after Halloween. One or two at snack were consumed when she needed to eat, when she got hungry. And she ate them for many days, I’ll add.

Why so proud to be consuming these chocolate peanut candy bars? I’ll tell you.

Keeping dessert in balance, Marla now can enjoy her favorites.
These, though, are mine-homemade French macarons.

Because, as Marla stated, “Just last year, I thought that once I started I couldn’t stop—because that was what would happen—in the past. I’d find a trail of Pay Day wrappers strewn about my apartment, unaware of just how many I had eaten throughout the evening. Now, I’m not in deprivation mode. And I can record (and acknowledge) that I ate them. And I can eat them in moderation, and enjoy every bite.”

But when Marla saw the doctor’s letter, she had to work hard to remind herself that she really had done well, regardless of how his summary distorted things. “Lipids are high”? They are not only significantly improved, but almost all the values are now in the normal range. “A1c is fine”? How about “Job well done! You are now in the normal range as a result of your hard work! ? Marla had gone from a fatalistic approach about her health—she shared that she never expected she might outlive her relatives, many of whom passed on in their 50s of heart disease. And when she first saw the doctor’s letter she assumed, once again, why bother? I guess I can’t change the situation. She assumed that genetics tell all—her high levels were just meant to be, and there was little she could do about them. But now she knows that is not so.

Why bother?

Even if her levels hadn’t improved (which of course they had), was it really a “why bother” situation? Certainly not! She felt more in control of her food, was able to include whatever she liked now, in reasonable amounts, and was more fit than ever, with her increased activity. She felt physically better having lost weight, and mentally, was in a better place. And she was taking an active role in her health, rather than assume her fate was sealed because of genetics.

And then there was Sarah.

from the MOMA, NYC

Sarah, in her mid twenties, presented yet another “Why bother?” to me last week. (Was it a full moon, or just one of those weeks?) She has been working on recovery from anorexia and bulimia. Medically stable, she has been out of an eating disorder program for several months, since we began our work together.  And she’s doing quite well, I might add. There’s no crisis now, no flames to put out, no imminent need to push her self. Yet she still needs to continue her work to gain weight, to move into an appropriate weight range.

In our last session it struck me (us?)— getting healthier has its risks. It means she can’t blame any failures (such as not getting into grad school, or moving forward in a career, or in life) on her eating disorder. And recovery has another downside. When you peel away the eating disorder—the restrictive eating and thoughts or the binge eating—you are left having to feel. And quite frankly, feeling doesn’t always feel so great.

So why bother?

No, this is not me! But I did capture this amazing sight in Switzerland.

Because once you get to this better place with food and your health, and get support for managing those painful feelings, life is more fulfilling. You can rediscover your passions, and get more out of living. You can feel that what you do in the world makes a difference. And you can be more present to enjoy the people around you whom you care about.

Marla could have accepted her assumptions that there’s nothing she could do to change her course—but she didn’t. And the results, on all levels, speak to the benefit of her bothering.

In Sarah’s case, it’s possible that in spite of her eating disorder recovery, she may not get into the grad school of her choice. But without recovery, it is a guarantee for ultimate failure.

Life’s too short to not live it to the fullest. 

Beyond Calories. Learning To Embrace Food For Pleasure

From my seat in the kitchen I could only see his butt. But I could hear the probing of his snout, which piqued my curiosity. Then his head emerged, his eyes beaming at mine. After catching my glance he guided me with the movement of his head, pointing toward the 25-pound bag of kibble.

Waiting patiently for his favorite biscuits.

What could he want, I wondered. He has food in his bowl. He repeated this gesture talking to me without my comprehending. But then my husband got it (he speaks dog better than I do). He wants the fresh, new dog food, he realized. The  stuff in the bowl was from the end of the last large bag and it’s just not what he wants.

So my husband opened the new bag, a new variety in fact, replacing the previous batch. And he chowed down (my dog, I mean, not my husband).

Yes, even my dog Mica has absorbed the lessons living in this household. Maybe the quality of the older food was sub-par, or perhaps it was the allure of something new. But for some reason, he was triggered to sniff out something more desirable, and make his needs known to us.

Milanos, one of my favorite cookies.
But I prefer the mint variety to the orange!

There’s meeting your needs for fuel, the most basic in the hierarchy of eating needs. But then there’s eating to satisfy on other levels— to have what you really desire, to enjoy the flavor and textures of great tasting food, to avoid limiting food choices to shoulds.

Admittedly, it is challenging at first. 

It requires:

• Taking a leap of faith, a bit of risk taking. Ask yourself “What’s the worst thing that can really happen?” When you realize that the risk is quite miniscule, you’ll likely find it’s easier.
• Taking baby steps. Maybe a single component of the meal (or of your day) may change at first. It may be varying the portion of your dinner entrée or finally ordering a favorite sauce—perhaps on the side, to begin with.
• It may mean choosing to step out only with people who know and understand your struggle, who you know will be supportive.
• It involves asking for things the way you want them, when eating out. Trust me, you are not the first to assert yourself when dining out! And with the exception of buffets, the food isn’t prepared until you order. So no great hassle to accommodate you.
• It requires feeling entitled, deserving of the pleasure of eating. This allows you to find your voice to vocalize what you’d like and how you want it.

When my mother comes to visit from out of state we often dine out for a dinner. Time after time, this is how it goes:

Me: “So what do you feel like eating tonight?”

Mom: “Oh, anything. I don’t care. Whatever you guys feel like. I’ll do anything”

Me: “Really? Anything? You’d be equally happy with Thai food as with Indian? Seafood or salad would satisfy as well as steak and fries? Gooey cheesy Mexican will work for you as easily as sushi and miso soup?”

No, it’s not easy being my mom. I long to hear a passion for food, an interest in truly enjoying a meal, not simply a need to ingest food and limit her calories until she’s full. Like you, I need to be patient.

You'll rest better once you start enjoying what you eat.

At this point, perhaps you’ve progressed to listening to your hunger and honoring it, to noting your fullness, and trusting there will always be a chance to eat again—when you should need to. Now consider this next level, beyond simply meeting your needs for fuel. Challenge yourself to step out of your safe place, slowly moving to truly enjoy what you eat. And release yourself of the guilt of not following rigid diet rules, set either by others or by your irrational self.

Because life is too short to diet.

Tweet This, Not That.

Time For Some BIG Changes In Our Approach to Managing Our Eating

I used to warn patients “be careful where you get your information”.  There’s plenty of myth-information around, and the last thing you need is to fill your thoughts with more useless, conflicting ideas. Too much information makes us like deer in headlights. And it’s worsened by unrealistic, idealistic, and at times, downright false and unsubstantiated messages from tweets and the media. 

Love the message.
Love their sweet potato tortilla chips too.

Now I’m finding that even credentialed professionals, yes, registered dietitians included, appear to be putting out the most triggering messages. Sure, they tell you to include more fruits and vegetables, and be sure to have a snack before heading out—hard to complain about those tweets encouraging healthy intake.

But there is a constant subtext to the messages that concerns me. They tend to follow a format of “I’m having rice cakes and seaweed for lunch. What are YOU eating? I ran 35 miles in 15 mins. What are YOU doing for exercise? And in the process of giving perhaps well-intentioned nutrition and fitness messages, in my view, they’re potentially doing more damage than good. If I’m feeling triggered, I can only guess what my readers and patients are feeling.

Here’s a list of some recent tweets:

--Ran 6.2 miles in 54 mins. Felt good, wish I did better.

--Just finished 11,000 steps to start the week. What r u doing?

--Popover at dinner was a must : (

--Cravings can hit hard, but if you distract yourself they often pass.

--Kiddie size (soft serve). Always a good choice.

And this is just a taste of what’s out there.

Maybe it’s just me, but here’s what I read between the lines, from these and other daily tweets:

There are good choices, and there are bad choices. Healthy foods are good ones and  sweets are to be avoided. Why the “  : (    “ ?   about a popover for goodness sake? Can we not include popovers as part of our healthy diet? Why is it framed as a personal failing?

Homemade pizza--white flour crust, real cheese. And, yes, there were
fresh vegetables at this meal as well.

Exercise is good. But the amount I’m (and she) is doing is never enough.

Deny your body’s signals regarding pain (still run through it), and regarding hunger (avoid it and maybe it will pass).

One size fits all for portions, regardless of individual need. If I'm very hungry, or am striving to maintain energy balance, why would I always choose the kiddie size?

We should be striving to eat to meet an ideal—whole grain, high fiber, “clean” eating. It appears to be a fatal flaw to include any saturated fat, never mind something fried or made with (OMG) white flour!

And because the messages are so limited in length, the fuller context gets lost. I’d like to believe that if given more than 140 characters these well-educated nutrition professionals would be able to communicate a much more sensible message than what comes across. And did I mention the actual unsubstantiated “facts” which are really just conjecture getting tweeted? False reports of metabolic rate changes and difficulty handling fats, unsupported by research, should not be tweeted and retweeted, becoming urban legend.

It’s not much better than weight loss ads touting dramatic weight loss in insignificant periods of time. Patients often refer to these when stating their unrealistic weight loss goals, only to have me ground them in reality.  They need to be reminded to read the small print, which states something like “results not representative of what any typical human being should expect to see in her/his lifetime”, or something to that effect. You get the gist.

Yes, there's a place for (really delicious) chocolates,
 regardless of your weight.

In other words, you may think yourself into doing poorly; your expectation, albeit unrealistic, is unmet, triggering disappointment, a feeling of hopelessness, and inadequacy, leading to what I call the what the heck effect, continuing the downward spiral.

The continued slip further worsens your sense of hopelessness, and contributes to the inertia to find your resolve again.  It’s remedied using CBT—Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, where thoughts, feelings and behaviors are all connected, and the pattern can be broken.

About Jane

Jane gained about 100 pounds the previous nine years. (Yes, there are meant to be two zeros after the “1”). Admittedly 100 pounds during that time span is rapid weight change. And Jane wasn’t underweight or recovering from anorexia. She was a chronic dieter who struggled with compulsive overeating, with stress eating, and with hopelessness about her climbing weight. She feared the gain was due to her medication, necessary for managing her other health conditions.

But Jane turned things around. Even while continuing on the meds she began to lose weight through our work together. Over the past 5 months she has lost 26.5 pounds. She is eating normal foods, without rigid rules. She is learning to taste her food and to thoroughly enjoy what she eats. And most importantly, she is feeling better—emotionally and physically. The spiraling panic about the direction her body was heading has subsided and her thoughts about food and eating are no longer all consuming (pun intended). From my perspective, this is not good enough.

No, not the amount of weight change, nor the changes in eating behaviors—those are fabulous shifts. What I’m concerned about is Jane’s perspective.

“I know I’m losing, it’s just not coming off fast enough”. 

These are Jane’s words. They give insight whether you, too, are overweight, or you are underweight and working on gaining to a healthy place, or trying to learn to have balance in your eating and your life.

This post applies to all. Jane’s words have less to do with weight loss than with unrealistic expectations and how we respond to them. It has to do with perspective.

Instead of appreciating her progress to date, Jane was focusing on not being good enough. It’s a familiar problem, our not feeling thin enough, smart enough, pretty enough, adequate enough—the list is endless. As a side note, there’s a great book by Sheila Reindl entitled Sensing the Self with a chapter entitled Sensing Enoughness, (if I remember correctly)—a well worth read. This psychologist interviewed 13 bulimic women in Massachusetts, (several of whom were patients of mine, I was told) who recovered. Yes, they recovered. And through her interviews she identifies common features contributing to maintenance of their eating disorders and to their recovery.

Why we never feel adequate enough is better tackled by Sheila and the many psycho- therapists out there. But among the things I hear frequently is a distorted sense of what is realistic. Viewing weight loss ads with their before and after images, and hearing tweets presenting a simple, black and white view of foods, contributes to the problem.

In fairness, there are plenty of valuable tweets out there. Most notable today was retweeted by Doc Samantha from the Dalai Lama:

“If we find we cannot help others, the least we can do is to desist from harming them.”

It’s my hope that this post will inspire readers to set more realistic and achievable goals, and to think before they tweet.

Fat Free-dom. Fats Don’t Make You Fat!

And other lessons from the new 2011 Dietary Guidelines

Who knows what to believe any more. One day, you’re told to lower your intake of fats, all fats, and another you are told to increase omega 3 fats, because they’re healthy. Margarines—the spread of choice? Perhaps in my parents’ generation, but not these days. Now they are equated with poison in our bloodstream, full of trans fats, those plastic-like substances worse than saturated fats. Fatty fish are fine, but fatty meats are not. Nuts? Peanut butter? Avocado? Good for us? Or fattening?

If these questions have overwhelmed you, like most of the public trying to make sense of the ever-changing nutrition guidance, read on.

Like carbs, fats have developed a bad rep. Partly, for good reason, I might add. Compared to protein and carbohydrate, they have more than twice as many calories per unit. Yes, 9 calories per gram versus 4 calories per gram. And over the years, in an effort to lower high cholesterol and heart disease risk, nutrition messages became inaccurately oversimplified. Saturated fats remain linked with high cholesterol and heart disease risk. But in our effort to reduce the saturated fats, somehow the “saturated” got dropped, and the message became “eat a low fat diet”. 

Well guess what? That message backfired. Even with a reduction in saturated fats, heart disease levels remained high. The problem was that we were substituting fats, all fats, with carbohydrate, with high intakes of refined carbohydrate. Remember the post Why Carbs Got a Bad Rep? http://dropitandeat.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-carbs-got-bad-rep-and-what-you-can.html As you may recall, when people started banning fats, they were eating large quantities of carbohydrate from all sources. This diet led to higher levels of triglycerides, another risk factor for heart disease.

Feeling like you can’t win? There is a solution.

The message needs to change from eat low fat, to eat less saturated fat. And, we need to increase the non-saturated fats we’ve omitted from our diets for the past years. Our current approach isn’t working—not for heart disease prevention, and not even for weight management.

Yes, you heard me. A low fat diet doesn’t improve your weight, compared with a higher fat diet with the same amount of calories.

The 2011 Dietary Guidelines For Americans

Why should I now trust this source of nutrition information when I have been wronged before?

First some background info. These guidelines come from the top nutrition experts in the US who form committees every five or so years to update us on the facts. They are not paid by food companies, so no need for that paranoia. Any personal interests must be disclosed, to prevent bias in their conclusions. They do a complete review of the research, eliminating the studies that are poorly done or not statistically valuable. Each group of experts tackles a specific nutrition area, such as fats, to address a range of questions related to the type and amount, as it impacts our health. Weight and heart disease are among the topics explored.

Then they analyze the results of the combined studies, the most up to date information available, and present us with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. So yes, they are quite trustworthy.

And what do these results about fats say?

The full report can be found at http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/PolicyDoc/Chapter3.pdf, but here’s a summary with quotes from the report:

Eating fat doesn’t make you fat

“Strong evidence shows that there is no optimal proportion of macronutrients (protein, fat, carboydrate) that can facilitate weight loss or assist with maintaining weight loss." It all comes down to the total calories. "In adults, moderate evidence suggests that diets that are less than 45 percent of total calories as carbohydrate or more than 35 percent of total calories as protein are generally no more effective than other calorie-controlled diets for long-term weight loss and weight maintenance.”

Fats should not just be tolerated, but included for health!

“Fats supply calories and essential fatty acids, and help in the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Acceptable ranges for total fat intake for children and adults allow for a total fat intake up to 35-40% in children (depending on age) and up to 35% for adults.

These ranges are associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, while providing for adequate intake of essential nutrients. Total fat intake should fall within these ranges.”

Increase the typically low intakes of healthy mono and unsaturated fats in your diet!

“The types of fatty acids consumed are more important in influencing the risk of cardiovascular disease than is the total amount of fat in the diet.

Consume less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fatty acids by replacing them with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Keep trans fatty acid consumption as low as possible, especially by limiting foods that contain synthetic sources of trans fats, such as partially hydrogenated oils, and by limiting other solid fats.”

Translating it into foods

“Animal fats tend to have a higher proportion of saturated fatty acids (seafood being the major exception), and plant foods tend to have a higher proportion of monounsaturated and/or polyunsaturated fatty acids (coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and palm oil being the exceptions).

Most fats with a high percentage of saturated or trans fatty acids are solid at room temperature and are referred to as “solid fats,” while those with more unsaturated fatty acids are usually liquid at room temperature and are referred to as “oils.” Solid fats are found in most animal foods but also can be made from vegetable oils through the process of hydrogenation....”

Include oils such as canola, olive, walnut, sunflower, safflower and corn. Choose lean meats, but include fatty fish, whose fat is not saturated. Choose foods that are full flavored, to allow for more modest portions, for the sake of energy balance and weight management. Nuts and nut butters, avocado, and oils are healthy, but should be eaten mindfully to control portions and total calories.

My personal favorites

I love walnut oil (http://dropitandeat.blogspot.com/2010/08/food-finds-roasted-walnut-oil.html) and have recently needed to work more hours to support my truffle oil habit. Absolutely divine! I love good cheese, the full fat types, but yes, they are high in saturated fat. So I grate them, cheeses like Asiago and Manchego, rather than add thick slabs onto my entrées. I choose strong cheeses, and dark chocolate, because a little goes a long way to satisfy. As a result I could keep my saturated fat intake in range, without compromising on flavor. And trust me, I never feel deprived.

If you are still overwhelmed by the idea of adding fats to your diet, start slowly. Add a small amount of nuts or a tasty oil just to test it out. When you see that your worst fears don’t come true, you’ll start to trust these guidelines. Because even though the word is the same, fats don’t make you fat!

Recovering from Holiday Slips: Practical Strategies for Moving On.

Garrison confections: Impossible to resist! Central Falls, RI

Last Sunday after a lovely afternoon out, I returned home to find an entire box of expensive artisan chocolates devoured. Well, almost the whole box. He left the apricot-filled piece after biting into it and deciding it wasn’t worth eating. Eleven of the twelve chocolates, gone.

Binging is totally out of character for him, although, like me, he’s always been fond of chocolate. He’s always been a grazer, eating when he’s hungry, and stopping when he’d had just enough. He always knew he could eat anytime.

I was angry and upset. He would never eat this way in front of me. I’m certain. No, he had to sneak those chocolates. Did he think I wouldn’t permit it? Did he even think about it at all?

After some time, my initial shock passed. And with some insights from my husband, it all made sense. I realized he must have been starving. He’s never been one to take his own food, to fend for himself. No, not him. So when our return Sunday was a bit delayed, I’m sure he was feeling it. Those chocolates were the easiest and quickest thing to grab.

Besides, if I was intending to give that box as a gift, I shouldn’t have tempted him by displaying it on the kitchen counter. I’m sure the trigger of smelling these freshly made delights was just too tempting.

He knew I was upset. But given the circumstances, I bet he’d do it all over again.

Yes, Mica, my dog ate an entire box of chocolates. And there’s a lot we humans can learn from this situation, particularly in this holiday season. With less structure to our days, and more exposure to challenging eating situations, consider these tips during the holiday season:

• Try to prevent your self from feeling too vulnerable. No matter what you know about healthy eating behaviors, they will be impossible to adhere to if you are starving. You’ll be looking to meet some basic needs, like raising a low blood sugar, and raising it quickly. You’ll eat fast and mindlessly. So prevention is key.

• Plug in some stress management strategies. Check out Nourishing the Soul for some guidance and great resources. Be sure to view and fantasize about being in the lovely photos!

• Cut yourself some slack. Don’t beat your self up for having a slip. But don’t ignore it either. Try to understand it, to learn from it, in order to prevent it from happening again. Did you go too long without eating? Was the visual stimulus, seeing the yummy stuff on the counter too suggestive and tempting? Yelling at my dog, after the fact, would have been meaningless for him. Yelling at your self after overeating is similarly useless. So have some compassion. And rethink your old patterns of reacting.

• Remember that normal people (and dogs) eat foods that look, smell and ultimately taste good, when available and visible on the kitchen counter. Yes, even if you weren’t depriving yourself. So take control of your environment. Take foods out of eye’s view. Wrap them up and store them in the freezer, to have when you are ready to eat them mindfully.

• Tomorrow is another day, even if it isn’t a Monday or January 1^st. And if you say “I’ll wait until Monday to address my eating”, ask yourself if you are truly ready for change.