(and other actual food)
You’re overweight to the point of discomfort and/or disease. So was I (over 300 pounds by age 23). You have dieted by limiting portions, counting calories, or both. So did I. When you finally gave into your craving for more, you lost control and re-gained whatever weight you had lost and then some. So did I. You feel like losing excess, unhealthy stores of fat in a healthy way and keeping it off long-term is one of the biggest and most difficult challenges in your life. You sometimes feel like the food is running the show. I’m with you, Baby. Luckily for us both, there’s a solution 1.
In order for many obese folks to have a chance at reaching and maintaining a healthy weight and freedom from compulsive overeating, we need to disarm our biological cravings for the foods that make and keep us fat. Only then are we capable of turning our attention to the habits, circumstances and mental gymnastics that contribute to our weight problem. We do this first by abstaining from the foods that, for so many of us, trigger addictive behaviors, the same foods that trigger the release of insulin into the bloodstream. On a biochemical level, insulin = craving. To this end, we free ourselves of foods that contain:
- Grain, especially wheat, including pasta and cereal
- Sugar, including fruit, honey, and maple syrup
- Various and sundry simple starches, including rice, all varieties of potatoes, and popcorn
“But, Master, I’ve been eating wheat since I was a boy.”
Even if looking better is your primary motivation, this plan makes people healthy and bodies happy. The body undergoes a radical house-cleaning, reparation, and rebuilding when it’s fed…wait for it…actual food. So we bid farewell to faux-foods and imitation anything.
Au revoir:
- Frankenfood, including anything concocted in a factory, and almost anything you buy in a box or bag
- Substitutions, doppelgangers or stunt doubles, including artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors and anything else artificial (though you may still devour your partner, even if parts of them are fabricated, embellished or synthetic)
The final nutritional excisions were the hardest to arrive at because their insidiousness was less glaring. After much trial and error, after watching countless clients struggle, or not, to lose excess fat, I recommend abstaining from:
- Nuts, including seeds, and all nut butters
- Beans, dried or otherwise, and peanuts (yeah, weird, they’re legumes)
- Alcohol, including homespun cold remedies involving whisky and good wine
First, nuts: Nuts and nut butters trigger addictive patterns in in many food addicts. I’ll wax poetic with some theories why my post about nuts (heh). Also, nuts contain a tremendous lot of fat. In order to burn the fat we’ve overstored, we are well advised to not eat them. Beans have a low protein/carbohydrate ratio (essentially a satiety/craving ratio), so they’re out. Alcohol, even just a touch during a meal, inspires bad decisions regardless of good intentions. Out.
Dig in, Grasshopper.
So what’s in?:
- Meat, any and all un-or minimally-processed meat, including eggs, BACON, and (especially) fish
Meat is the foundation of every meal. It provides satiety without inspiring craving in 99% of food addicts and non-addicts alike. It can provide a boatload of protein without a ton of unnecessary energy. Meat, Baby. Meat.
Num num num num num….
Finally, to provide the full spectrum of remaining micronutrients, vitamins, minerals, fiber and beneficial fats:
- Vegetables, the greater the variety, the better
- Oils, the good ones, herbs and spices
- Milk, whole, 1-2% or skim, as you see fit, and cheese as a condiment, assuming it doesn’t trigger addictive behavior
G’head. Have a cow. And milk.
There is the nutritional blueprint I followed as I renovated my body and built a healthier life. If you’re obese and identify as one who has addictive behaviors around food, I strongly recommend mapping our your own blueprint based on what’s true for you, and then following it to the letter.
Notes:
- Here’s where I state for the record that there are no guarantees in this life, most especially around addiction and weight loss. This program has been most effective over the longest term for the greatest number of people. It has resulted in reports from clients of elevated moods, deeper feelings of peace, increased energy, clearer skin, sounder sleep, higher mental clarity, better decision-making and hotter sex (which is to say, more sex, which is to say, in some cases, any sex at all). Will it work for everyone? If adopted in full and without reservation, probably. ↩
I just found your blog and what a saving grace.
I do have to ask though, what about vegetarians? I don’t eat meat, and thus am not able to follow this wholeheartedly. Also, fruit does not trigger an addictive response from me, and never has. Do I have to phase it out, even with it’s health benefits and that fact that it’s a decent size of my diet?
Thank you.
Vegetarians can still eat foods to which they healthily relate, and to good ends. My plan certainly doesn’t work for everyone. No food is BAD or GOOD inherently. If fruit is something you can take or leave, and you don’t suspect it’s hindering your body finding it’s healthiest, happiest weight, there’s no reason to stop eating it.
However, there’s nothing available in fruit that isn’t more available in veggies, and with more fiber and less unnecessary sugar – so there’s no reason to continue eating it if you’re doing so for the nutritional benefit.
Thanks for the feedback!
I’ve spent the last 45 minutes reading blog after blog. Twin sisters of different mothers. To say that I relate would be an understatement of huge proportions. Here’s my first question: Is this Paleo? If somebody like me is seeking structure and ideas for eating clean/whole and doesn’t know where to start, I’m wondering if there’s a blueprint to use as a way to get off the blocks. Thanks for this blog. I’m eager to keep reading and learning.
Paleo is great, certainly a healthier option than the modern standard American diet, but no, I’m not Paleo. I eat dairy, limit nuts and beans, rarely eat fruit because it’s sweet and sweet and me don’t dance well together. I encourage everyone to eat the foods to which they healthily relate. Often, they’re the same as me in this regard. However, I have many clients for whom fruit does not trigger binges, folks who don’t eat meat, etc.
There’s no one right way to eat, but there is one right way to feel in relation to food. I like to help people find that happy, nutritious, healthy place.
I’m only a few pages in, but this makes PERFECT sense. And your personal testimony is so very relatable. Eureka moment for me!
Hey Doll, I absolutely love your blog and can relate SO much. I am 320 pounds and have never been under 210 as an adult. I am successful in everything else I set my mind to, including obtaining multiple degrees, owning a beautiful home, having a job I love, etc., but I can’t manage to lose 20 pounds, much less 160.
Having said that, I’ve tried low carb/paleo/primal, and I can make it maybe two days before I give up and eat ALL THE CARBS. How the hell do you overcome the food cravings?
Also, his strict are you with “no sugar?” Do you shun salad dressings with a gram of sugar? I imagine half your life is salads.
Thank you so much for all of your writings. I’m going to read everything right now.
The cravings subside for the vast majority of folks who abstain from them. To that end, yeah, I recommend staying away from anything with sugar in it if sweetness is a trigger for you.
Be mindful of how you want, experience and process sugar. See if this isn’t true for you, too.
I’m like Heather and can so relate! I have multiple degrees, etc. and am very successful and excellent at my work. I accomplish anything I put my mind to, EXCEPT losing that weight! I have lost and gained, gained more and hate how fat I am and the way I feel and look. Ugh. So happy I found this blog! I do love love love meat, eggs and dairy, so that seems to be a plus on this way of life.
Were you ever in Food Addicts in Recovery? This 12-Step program started in Boston so i thought you may have heard of it. Congratulations on your overcoming many obstacles, habits and behaviors in life.
I imagine this includes couscous, bulgur and barley but what about quinoa?
I don’t stay away from quinoa, but only because it’s not specifically triggering for me. Then again, I don’t like it that much either, which helps. I suggest tuning in to how your brain and body respond to every specific food, and then keeping or cutting it out accordingly.