Binge Eating Treatment

Today I ate healthy up until about an hour ago at 8:30 PM. Then, unfortunately, I binged on several servings of greasy, artificially flavored potato chips. What can I learn from this binge "episode" tonight?

1) Surround yourself with healthy foods. At home I have my juicer, my blender and several healthy food options. Conversely, tonight I was in an environment that was full of lots of unhealthy foods and very few healthy options, which made "caving in" easier.

2) Prepare in advance. One way of changing the unhealthy outcome of tonight would be to prepare in advance. I had intended to stop at a health food store today, but ran out of time. This simple preparation would have undoubtedly helped me eat healthier tonight.

3) Find some healthy foods to eat first. Tonight I could have eaten a few vegetables in the refrigerator before eating the potato chips. This will have left less room in my stomach for the unhealthy foods that I binged on.

4) Surround yourself with encouraging people. In a healthy eating meetup group I go to, people share tips and encouragement on staying healthy that I find helpful. It helps me to not feel so alone when trying to eat healthy, while realizing that I am also not alone on the occasions when I binge.

5) Set realistic goals. One of my main goals in healthy eating is to eat whole, fresh (raw) foods until dinner, and then continue from there. For me, this goal more realistic than expecting to never eating unhealthy again.

6) Forgive yourself. Health is about enjoying life more, not beating yourself up when you fail. Also, tomorrow is a new day, and I hope to start it off with a big glass of green juice. ;-)

Healthy Holiday Eating

I write this post now guilty of unhealthy holiday eating. "You've gotta let your hair down sometimes," is a common reason given for holiday overeating. Yet between Christmas, New Years, Easter, Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day, Valentines Day, birthdays, sports games, graduations, etc, there is always a reason to party. In other words, I feel like we let our hair down a little too much. I don't want to be satisfied with a status-quo that has 2/3 of American adults overweight (Link) and over half of us on chronic prescription medications (Link). Also, unhealthy eating has been linked with increased risk of depression (Link). Below are a few tips to avoid the often present temptations of holiday overeating.

1) Eat beforehand if possible. Being surrounded by unhealthy foods on an empty stomach is usually not a good idea for those of us trying to remain healthy during the holiday season.

2) Eat healthy party foods first. Most holiday parties offer some healthy foods to enjoy. Focus on salads, vegetables, fruits or nuts first. You may find that these healthier options are filling enough. And even if they are not, they will leave less room in your stomach for unhealthy foods, which means fewer belly pounds to work off the following week.

3) Postpone eating until later if necessary. At holiday parties, we are all bound to eat foods we would not normally eat. Yet we all have our limits. For example, if the only food options available are chips, cookies, pop and beer, learning to say "no thanks" might be the best option. It is better to go hungry for an hour or two than eat foods that sap us of our energy, strength or vitality.

4) Forgive yourself. Expecting perfection is neither realistic nor helpful. I believe there is a time for occasionally "coloring outside the lines." The problem is when we form unhealthy food addictions or engage in binge eating. Still, we can not effect the past, only the future. Enjoying the journey is just as important as reaching the destination!