The Skinny Girls Club -- Tips And Tricks 3
Without Prejudice
The stick insect and the youngest of her 7 boys
I tried never to deny myself anything as I began to lose weight. You have to have something to look forward to or you would go mad. I did clean out my cupboards and fridge which for me was easy as I live on my own. But as Dr Phil says, will power is not enough you have to have back up. I work at home so for me temptation was always going to be there, right in front of me. And you will go to the fridge a squillion times a day, so for me I had to stock the fridge with healthy things.
I didn't have cheese until now, two years later as for me cheese is a big no no, it makes me hungry for more and is so high in fat. I allowed myself Parmesan on healthy pasta sauce that I made myself. Diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, some very lean ham, oregano and my treat of a sprinkle of Parmesan. Tomatoes I found I craved and cucumber, needing the satisfying crunch in my mouth. Food is not just about the satisfying fullness, we also eat with the eyes, so everything had to look appetising and fresh.
And I served everything on small plates so that it looked like I had a lot. Luckily I had learned at Camp Eden to make the most of vegetables, so two thirds of dinner comprised of vegetables and one third protein. Sometimes I only ate the delicious pasta sauce and not the carbs. For dessert it was to begin with no fat Greek Yoghurt and a little maple syrup and fresh fruit in season. I was also adjusting to a new bottom dental plate so dessert with fruit would take me ages to eat.
The other food that helped me with sugar cravings was, believe it or not, porridge. I was brought up on it being born in Scotland, and would make myself a bowlful with a bit of skim milk and sweetener. I shied away from full fat milk and used only light milk, full skim was a bit too thin for me. A lot of low fat foods contain a lot of sugar, so I religiously checked all labels of food before devouring. My rule of thumb was more than .10 of sugar was not for me. Some low fat yoghurt s were .26 in sugar, way too high for me.
I still had KFC if I craved it but once only, every 3 months or so. I missed hot chips but made my own wedges and had a little bit of chocolate every day. If I had no chocolate to hand I would eat a spoonful of chocolate powder drink like Quik or Milo. Just one spoonful was enough to satisfy my cravings. Otherwise every day I had a fun size choc bar at 4.30 when I sat down, finally,and watched the Bold and The Beautiful.
Takeaway food wasn't hard to give up I found. The people at Camp Eden lived the life they preached and had taught us to make our own takeaway fast foods like healthy Pizza or fish and chips, burgers and I followed them to the letter. But normal every day food was going to be my challenge, thinking about it, planning for it, buying for it. So my tips and tricks were to never shop when I was hungry. To take a list and stick to it. All the things that we are taught in Domestic Science at School.
Also having seen the food at Camp Eden helped as my eyes were still full of the pictures, of how the food should look and smell. That's a great help when you are trying to be inspired. Food no longer became a diet food as even the word diet conjures up deprivation. It became a healthy way of eating and when you substitute the word healthy for diet, deprivation ideas disappear.
I didn't tell many people what I was doing, after a while the evidence was there for them to see, anyway. If I was invited out for dinner I would eat and enjoy it but definitely take it very easy the next day. I have never been much of a drinker so alcohol was easy to give up, never missed it and I knew of old how high in calories it was.
Never been a drinker of soft drink either, so that was also not a problem to not have, occasionally I might buy a bottle of no sugar lemonade and enjoyed every mouthful. I still found ice cold water was my favourite drink or coffee. At Camp Eden there had been no coffee, which nearly made me give up, and big urns of fruit water. Triple filtered water with chunks of watermelon, pineapple, apple, mint, delicious.
I also found another tip was to have a Vitamin D tablet every day. I heard that you burn twice the calories daily having Vitamin D tabs and whether it's an old wives tale or linked to positive thinking with a placebo effect, I don't know, but it worked for me. I tried a few weeks with Vitamin D and a few without and of course found I lost more on the weeks I was taking it.
More to Come........
I tried never to deny myself anything as I began to lose weight. You have to have something to look forward to or you would go mad. I did clean out my cupboards and fridge which for me was easy as I live on my own. But as Dr Phil says, will power is not enough you have to have back up. I work at home so for me temptation was always going to be there, right in front of me. And you will go to the fridge a squillion times a day, so for me I had to stock the fridge with healthy things.
I didn't have cheese until now, two years later as for me cheese is a big no no, it makes me hungry for more and is so high in fat. I allowed myself Parmesan on healthy pasta sauce that I made myself. Diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, some very lean ham, oregano and my treat of a sprinkle of Parmesan. Tomatoes I found I craved and cucumber, needing the satisfying crunch in my mouth. Food is not just about the satisfying fullness, we also eat with the eyes, so everything had to look appetising and fresh.
And I served everything on small plates so that it looked like I had a lot. Luckily I had learned at Camp Eden to make the most of vegetables, so two thirds of dinner comprised of vegetables and one third protein. Sometimes I only ate the delicious pasta sauce and not the carbs. For dessert it was to begin with no fat Greek Yoghurt and a little maple syrup and fresh fruit in season. I was also adjusting to a new bottom dental plate so dessert with fruit would take me ages to eat.
The other food that helped me with sugar cravings was, believe it or not, porridge. I was brought up on it being born in Scotland, and would make myself a bowlful with a bit of skim milk and sweetener. I shied away from full fat milk and used only light milk, full skim was a bit too thin for me. A lot of low fat foods contain a lot of sugar, so I religiously checked all labels of food before devouring. My rule of thumb was more than .10 of sugar was not for me. Some low fat yoghurt s were .26 in sugar, way too high for me.
I still had KFC if I craved it but once only, every 3 months or so. I missed hot chips but made my own wedges and had a little bit of chocolate every day. If I had no chocolate to hand I would eat a spoonful of chocolate powder drink like Quik or Milo. Just one spoonful was enough to satisfy my cravings. Otherwise every day I had a fun size choc bar at 4.30 when I sat down, finally,and watched the Bold and The Beautiful.
Takeaway food wasn't hard to give up I found. The people at Camp Eden lived the life they preached and had taught us to make our own takeaway fast foods like healthy Pizza or fish and chips, burgers and I followed them to the letter. But normal every day food was going to be my challenge, thinking about it, planning for it, buying for it. So my tips and tricks were to never shop when I was hungry. To take a list and stick to it. All the things that we are taught in Domestic Science at School.
Also having seen the food at Camp Eden helped as my eyes were still full of the pictures, of how the food should look and smell. That's a great help when you are trying to be inspired. Food no longer became a diet food as even the word diet conjures up deprivation. It became a healthy way of eating and when you substitute the word healthy for diet, deprivation ideas disappear.
I didn't tell many people what I was doing, after a while the evidence was there for them to see, anyway. If I was invited out for dinner I would eat and enjoy it but definitely take it very easy the next day. I have never been much of a drinker so alcohol was easy to give up, never missed it and I knew of old how high in calories it was.
Never been a drinker of soft drink either, so that was also not a problem to not have, occasionally I might buy a bottle of no sugar lemonade and enjoyed every mouthful. I still found ice cold water was my favourite drink or coffee. At Camp Eden there had been no coffee, which nearly made me give up, and big urns of fruit water. Triple filtered water with chunks of watermelon, pineapple, apple, mint, delicious.
I also found another tip was to have a Vitamin D tablet every day. I heard that you burn twice the calories daily having Vitamin D tabs and whether it's an old wives tale or linked to positive thinking with a placebo effect, I don't know, but it worked for me. I tried a few weeks with Vitamin D and a few without and of course found I lost more on the weeks I was taking it.
More to Come........
