Day 44 Food For Thought: Rules For The Plan

Today I am ready for my plan. I know I have been making baby steps and wiser decisions, but I have not exactly made me a "diet." I hate that word. (I know this sounds funny because I happen to be a DIETitian.) I think this is because I have pre-school associations of "diet" with depriving one's self. I have refrained from using it up to this point. Really diet just indicates the way one eats. I am going to be using this word from now on because I will be referring to the diet of Skinny Me... my healthy way plan of eating. I am past heavy feelings in my mind. Before when I would put myself on a "diet" I would feel deprived. It was a struggle. My flesh would end up winning and I would gain weight. I am no longer in that state of mind. I am seeing myself more and more as Skinny Me. How does she eat? This is my diet.

Diets are usually associated with rules. Well, I have some rules for Fat Me.

1) If at anytime I start seeing my diet plan as laws I must abide by instead of the guidance it is, I will recover my sight and do whatever I have to do to get right-minded again even if that means quitting. Living is freedom is more important than results.

2) If physical results (or lack of them) affect the way I feel or how I accept myself, I will recover my sight before continuing my plan. I am not my weight. My worth is not based on the number on the scale.

3) I must always remember that this plan is not to help me "get" further down the path. That is to say this plan is not to improve myself. This is not a means to the end. This IS the end. Physical results will follow, but the guidelines are not the steps to bring it. It is not the road map to get me there. It is the destination. I must not focus on how "far" I have to go. I will see myself as there. This is the diet of Skinny Me. This plan is my diet....way of healthful eating....new habits.

There may be other "rules" on the way.

Now I will work on my PLAN!

Wins For Today:
I ate well within my needs. I made lots of good choices. I drank nothing but water all day. I was so hungry last night, but I did not eat anything before bed even though I must have opened the refrigerator door ten times, and stared in the pantry fifty times. There were just not any best choices, and I didn't feel like eating more cucumbers. I really tore them up today. I told myself, "If I don't want to eat cucumbers, I must not be that hungry." This is the deal. I had already eaten what I needed. I did not deprive myself of calories. I know I have a weakness at night. It was more than just sleepy hunger, but it is not wisdom to eat that late at night. Guess what? I survived.

Nutritional Nugget:
More on Food Labels...

Notice the categories in bold. Underneath those you will find a further breakdown of that category. These are not in bold and they are indented a little. All of these have an amount, but each is already included in the total amount of the main category. So for example, this label in bold says, "Total Fat 11g" Under it says, "Saturated Fat 1.5g" and "Trans Fat 0g." The grams from saturated and trans are already included in the total fat 11 grams. I know this seems like it is common sense, but I have had experience with many patients who think they have to add all the subcategories to the total.

Trans fats are required by law to be on the label because of their adverse health affects. There are loop holes that allow them to still say "0 grams" when really it contains less than 1 gram per serving. You can spot these trans fats in the ingredient list. It will say something like, "hydrogenated oil."