STAYING MOTIVATED TO LOSE WEIGHT: EATING WHILE COOKING AND EATING BECAUSE IT’S THERE
It’s really hard not to taste the foods we cook. Sometimes, in fact, it’s absolutely necessary. How else will we know if the seasoning is right, if the noodles are done, or the food is hot enough? But some cooks eat enough while standing over the pot to make up a whole meal! If this is your problem, try one of these strategies:
♦ Have a small snack (a piece of fruit or some cut-up vegetables) before you begin to cook so
you won’t be overly hungry.
♦ Never taste from the cooking spoon. (It’s unsanitary, anyway!) Instead, take a sample from
the pot with the cooking spoon and pour it into a small teaspoon. Taste from the teaspoon.
This extra step may be enough trouble to make you stop and think before you taste.
Eating because it’s there-You’ve probably heard the old joke about a guy who went on a diet. He explained, “It’s a seafood diet. I see food, I eat it!” To some extent, we’re all on the see-food diet; we’re programmed to be stimulated by the sight of food. That’s one of the things that kept us alive back in prehistoric times. Unfortunately, in this day and age we see food all the time. We’re bombarded with visual stimuli that encourage us to eat when we don’t need to, or even want to. Here are a few tips to help you cope with the visual cues:
♦ In addition to keeping your Chitosan bag with you at all times, put some low-calorie
munchies and healthy snacks such as carrot sticks and fresh fruit in the front of your
refrigerator.
♦ Use a small plate rather than a large one so that your portions will look big but won’t be
big. (I realize that this may seem hokey, but it works for two reasons: It really does make the
food you’re about to eat look more satisfying, and remember what you believe is half of what
is; and in addition, just the slightly unusual act of choosing a smaller plate will remind you
not to eat more than you want.)
♦ Serve food from the stove top, rather than in large bowls on the table (family style). That
way you won’t see the extra food while you’re eating. It also takes more effort to get up from
the table to get another serving.
♦ Bring healthy snacks (your Chitosan bag) to work and set them on your desk. After eating
these healthy foods, you won’t be so tempted to gobble high-calorie snacks.
♦ Only eat in certain designated rooms at home, for example, the kitchen and the dining
room. That way you reduce the number of places at home that you associate with eating.
After a while, eating will not be directly on your mind as you sit down in the den to watch
television.
♦ Keep high-calorie foods out of sight and out of mind.
♦ Better yet, bring only healthful, low-calorie food into the house. If you don’t buy fried pork
rinds or triple-chocolate tortes in the first place, they won’t be there to tempt you.
♦ Make main dishes in advance and freeze them in individual portions. Or, keep on hand a
supply of some of the excellent new, calorie-controlled frozen meals. Either way, you’ll have
the right meal size available when you come home hungry. Just pop it into the microwave!
But remember, don’t make the portions too small. If you are not satisfied with your single-
serve portion, you’ll probably just grab a second one. And if you’re like me, you’ll certainly
polish it off entirely. Instead of a portion of maybe a third more than your prepared meal
(which would have satisfied you nicely), you have now tricked yourself into eating twice as
much as you started out to consume.
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