Welcome to week 6 of Slim & Sensible Support!
This week is all about carbohydrates!!
Are you a lover of carbs? Are some of your comfort foods pasta, potatoes or breads?
I can totally relate as my favorite carbs are french fries, pasta and breads. Although my homemade french fries are fabulously healthier and baked and better then buying them or going out to eat, but I still want more than an average portion. My pasta choices have changed to eating brown rice or whole wheat pasta as opposed to standard white flour pasta, but guess what? I still want more than a cups worth. I make healthy choices when purchasing breads only buying the whole wheat kind without sugars, but if I gave myself no limits I'd be choosing bread at every meal because it's just a comfort food for me. Can you relate?
I'm not boycotting carbohydrates here today. They are good for you and appropriate in a well balanced diet. I do boycott refined carbohydrates like white flour pasta, white bread and all sugary pastries and baked goods. They are a big waste of empty calories and make you crave all the more!
Here's a great Carbohydrate Chart of healthy foods rich in good carbs your body needs.
Today we won't be talking about simple and complex carbs [that will be for another post]. Learning what carbs effect your body negatively or what trigger a reaction of wanting more is what I felt was on my heart to share today with you.
During the time of my weight loss journey back in 2004 I had to limit certain carbohydrates because I knew they would just continue to be difficult for me. I would always crave more. So I eliminated them for a short period and then brought them back to see if I could handle a small portion. For some things it worked, for others I learned the hard way I still have to limit today.
Here's are the carbohydrates I have some trouble with even though I have healthified them.
- all potatoes as a french fry
- healthy muffins
- healthy breads
- homemade pizza
- brown rice
- whole wheat or brown rice pasta
Here are other carbohydrates I can enjoy without trouble of overeating:
- oatmeal
- quinoa
- barely
- millet
- fruits and vegetables
I don't know about you but I actually do better with limits. I have more discipline knowing how much I should have or need in my life to lose weight or maintain. I like to follow rules. I am a rule follower, always have been. So I follow 2 rules which has not only helped me lose the weight I needed to lose, but has helped me to keep the weight off..... give or take a few pounds. 🙂
Here are 2 simple rules I live by for carbohydrate happiness!
- No More than 2-3 carbs in any one day. ( Not including veggies and fruit)
- No more than 3 times a week from the difficult carb list.
So I encourage you to make a list of carbohydrates that are your triggers or are difficult to have an appropriate portion of and make a list of carbs that you have no trouble with. Try my simple rules for a week and let me know if it makes a difference for you over the next week.
This week I was reminded how much carbohydrates have had a hold on me, thus the topic was as much speaking to me as I was to you today. I'd rather have a bread for lunch than a salad, because it is often easier to make a sandwich then make a healthy salad, right? Right! I'm not saying a sandwich is bad for you, but for me I tend to just overdose on breads and honestly I really don't get filled up by a sandwich. Making food ahead has been a great help in making better choices.
Some of my make ahead recipes I love that provide a few days worth of healthy filling lunches:
- Quinoa Chicken Cherry Salad
- Toasted Barley Salad
- Quinoa Edamame Feta Salad
- Citrus Fennel Salad
- Lentil & Escarole Turkey Stew
- Crock Pot Chicken & Bean Stew
- Mango Quinoa Black Bean Salad
- Slow Cooker Four Bean Chili
- Quinoa Chickpea Salad with Avocado Dressing
Your turn!!
Can you relate to overdoing your carb intake? Do you need to limit carbs? How was your last week? Any progress to share?
Week 5: 3 Signs of Portion Distortion
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Andrea @Pencils and Pancakes
omg i am so addicted to carbs and crave them ALLLLL the time 🙁
Chris
I find that I don't feel well, I am instantly bloated with a red, tired and also bloated face when I eat carbs.
I've known this for sometime and have followed a few different paths. At one point, I was a raw foodist vegan (although it was short lived as I got pregnant shorty thereafter and well, cravings took over:) and as of the past 1.5 or so, I've went gluten-free.
I feel 90% better when I eliminate all grains (including sadly, quinoa), but living in the alps with a meat & potatoes guy (in a meat and potatoes culture) makes it very hard.
Just living in Europe since 2003 has changed my eating & lifestyle habits (smaller fridge = more fresh food shopping), walking, public transport and most importantly my bike are our methods of transport and no processed foods. Those natural changes alone led me to loose the weight I could never lose in America. Then somewhere along the way, now and then, I watch my husband and toddler on carbs and I just cave. I think, well, everyone else is eating it (also at a party, etc...) it can't be all THAT bad. Then I wait for it and for the most part, the wait is not long. I feel instantly sick, bloated, generally unwell and the biggest thing I have noticed, heat intolerant. I mean, it can be the dead of winter here in Austria in the alps and I get so hot I open all the windows. Ugh. So, I am back to giving them up unless I feel I am in a position to handle the consequences. What that usually means it's a Friday night and even a gluten-free crust won't do, so I go for it and make/eat a pizza. Never fails, same story, same reaction and sometimes I even notice severe bloating in my fingers, arms and legs - edema. Strange.
So yeah, I get the cravings thing and the portion control, etc... Carbs are so freakin' delicious, but for some of us, evil. I really had no idea until I went off them just how crappy they make me feel, look, etc...
What a bummer.
Charlotte Moore
Good information. After I joined WW many years ago I became aware of all the carbs people eat. My mother owed a restaurant and I would cringe at the people's choices. Some would get corn, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and rolls. Some even got fried chicken and all starches. I would almost want to say something. HEHE!! I never did though.
However, as I lost my weight a few of the customers wanted the WW chicken I ate, so we fixed it for them.
Kat
I too have difficulty with some carbs. I like your 'rules' Brenda. I have to have rules for myself too. If I am on a lose-weight plan, I don't have any carbs (except in vegetables other than potato) after lunch, that way it will get a chance to be burnt up, rather than going into 'storage' as I sleep.
I reached my 'realistic' weight goal last week! Next goal is to get those last couple of kilos off slowly to reach my 'ideal' weight. Only problem is it all seems to be hanging around my baby belly, and isn't looking like budging! Thanks for the encouragement Brenda!
Brenda
That's something I haven't incorporated but I know it's a great idea. (eating no carbs after lunch). Thanks for sharing!
Gwen Belanger
Thanks for speaking about this. When we try to limit grains to ONCE PER DAY, we're the most fit, active, slender and happy we've ever been as a family. Doing more than that is a downward spiral. Those grains for us are sprouted ezekial breads, Oats or homemade oat bars, Whole grain spelt, Kamut or non GMO whole grain wheat. Your seratonin and dopamine levels NEED starch once a day to be balanced. Your mental health will suffer without some sort of POWER grain or starch once a day but anything more than that is a physical addiction, like drug. Your body doesn't need it and neither does your mind. We try to use Almond flour or Coconut flour in any other baked goods when possible. Now that I've learned so much I cringe that so many people trying to get fit live on processed starches. they're overfed, nutrient starved and they care more about the calories than the fact that they're using cancer causing fake foods. Natural foods fill us more, we eat less and they actually give us the vitamins and nutrients to process those foods rather than sending them directly to fat cells. I do want to be thin. I also want to avoid cancer. I have to admit that I look at most people's food plans and think, "wow, so addicted to starch and things that are the equivalent of plastic". I've lost 80 lbs. this year and my son lost 25 lbs. We're HEALTHIER than ever. Thanks for letting me put my two cents in!
Brenda
That's great Gwen, congrats on you and your sons weight loss! Thanks for sharing!
Aggie
This is me as well. I learned which carbs to avoid, but still hav difficulties w portions. I love your healthy approach to limits. Great post!
Brenda
I still have a portion issue with certain foods and must often avoid them, but these rules have really helped. It's just certain foods trigger that overeating response. Thanks for sharing!