Are You Watching What You Eat but Still Overweight?
We probably know more about health and about what we should eat and not eat than any other generation. We have access to great food but it seems that the healthier we are eating the more obesity is becoming a serious problem.
I personally believe a good portion of the problem is portion (no pun intended) control. I won’t go into a lot of detail about portion control because I have touched on it so frequently in our e-books and in other articles about saving on food. but here are some other things to look for when feeding your family. Just because it looks and says it’s healthy doesn’t mean it is.
- Fruit smoothies have as many calories as a Big Mac and often as much sugar as 2 bags of M&M’s.
- Veggie chips have the same calories as regular chips.
- Organic cookies have the same amount of calories and sugar as regular cookies. Organic anything does not have less calories or sugar but many think it does. Some people even think organic means no calories. Being organic has nothing to do with calories or losing weight.
- Frozen yogurt has the same sugar and calories as regular ice cream and because it is frozen it has none of the active ingredients of regular yogurt.
- Stick to your ribs. We aren’t eating the kind of foods to stay with us either.I recently saw on TV where they were saying people really needed to get back to eating eggs and bacon for breakfast. They said they are finding people who do that weigh less. Why? Because when you eat one small container of yogurt for breakfast in 30 minutes or less you are hungry again and start nibbling on “healthy” things to fill you up. Once again adding more portions of “healthy” food to your diet then you should.
Of course the way you make the smoothies and the brands you buy can make a difference. I am just saying check into things. I have friends who buy frozen yogurt not because they love it but because they assume it has less calories than ice cream. So be careful and watch what you eat and also how much you eat. Just because it’s called healthy or organic doesn’t mean you have license to eat 10 times as much and it won’t hurt you.
Jill
photo by: ginnerobot
There are many people that think frozen yogurt has less calories than ice cream. That is funny in a way. People would learn a lot if they would just read the package food comes in. You will learn fast what food really contains instead of being fooled by the deceptive advertising. And portion control is on the package too.
I use to eat yogurt regularly, not realizing as a type 2 diabetic way to much SUGAR in it. I loved yogurt but no more.
I think you are absolutely right.Very well educated people who know better still end up over weight or with diadetes.We have a friend who’s career was a nutritionist and still ended up with diadetes.He said he knew what to eat, but just didn’t do it.Why? Why are we like this?Because eating right is a responsibility.So many of us want to escape responsibility.It also takes discipline to measure out the appropriate amounts of food.We need to excercise discipline & that is sometimes difficult to do.Especially if you use food to “reward” yourself.Here’s to discipline & portion control!:)
I totally agree! I have lost several pounds cutting down rather than changing what I eat. I find that I can cut back for longer periods than I can stick to a diet
And out there, in all parts of the country, are men and women with eating disorders. When “normal” eaters can cut back, go on diets, “eat just one”…compulsive eaters keep right on eating and feel shame and hopelessness. The only solution for me was a spiritual one, in a 12 Step program,
where I learned to eat proper portions but also how to rely on God to give me the strength and willingness to do something I could not do on my own. Compulsive eating was robbing me of my health and my sanity. Recovery comes one day at a time,now, thank you God.
Julie
Julie,
Congratulations on your weight loss! Would you mind sharing what Bible Study or program you used?
I remind myself all the time that portions today are inflated. I read that dinner plates are about 1 to 2 inches larger in diameter than dinner plates from the 1950s and 1960s. One of my daughters asked me yesterday if ice cream scoops from the ice cream parlor had gotten larger and I told her that the kids size of today is about what a normal adult ate 30-40 years ago.
When we eat out, we either split dinners, or my husband and I will halve what’s on our plates, when it is first served, move one half off to the side, and ask for a doggy bag right away. The uneaten half becomes the next night’s dinner.
Portion control when I first sit down is key for me. I tell myself, “it’s perfectly okay to have a brownie, just not the whole panful”. And then I move on to a different type of activity.
This is good. You know what, just because it’s healthy or organic,d oesn’t mean it’s good for you. I’ve lost over 80 pounds, and for me…it was realizing what foods were not good for my body and triggered me to gain weight or made me feel bad and elmininating those things. Once I did that, my weight started to improve and I felt better. love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather :)
Heather this is so true. I just went to the doctor yesterday because my body was short circuiting. I had started eating healthier and inhaling tons of fresh fruits and veggies, limiting my bread and pasta intake etc. and not only was I not loosing weight but was getting really sick. My doctor said stop eating so many fruits and veggies and then only a few cooked ones, limit your milk products and start adding more bread etc. to your diet. Oh what a relief. I thought there was something wrong with me because I was trying to do all the “healthy” eating “they” say you should do and I was getting sick.
Back to my portion controlled, balanced old fashion diet I go. Why I ever changed I don’t know. I’m the weight I should be for my age and pretty healthy except for my CFS but that has to do with a virus not what I eat so why did I mess with things. I know better then to listen to “them” all the time. Shame on me. So I loved your post.
Good for you, Heather! I lost 60 pounds 5 years ago with the help of Weight Watchers (and have kept it off with the help of their “lifetime” program). What I love about that program is that is has a team of registered dietitians overseeing the program and it is the most realistic program out there that I have found–they emphasize healthy eating but understand that eating some foods for enjoyment is just fine as long as you manage your portion sizes! There are so many fad diets out there that you need to be careful.
Jill, reading your post about feeling sick after eating more fruits and vegetables made me think. I just recently read that eating more fruits and vegetables is suppose to be healthier for people, especially raw foods, but I don’t necessarily know if I believe eating raw is better than cooked. They claim cooking destroys vitamins in vegetables and fruits. What do you think?
What that mostly means is when you cook veggies in liquids some of the vitamins is cooked out and into the water but if they are steamed or microwaved you don’t usually have that problem. The thing is many veggies actually have the levels of nutrients increased in them when cooked they are now saying and raw veggies aren’t as good for you. The only vitamin which decreases is C and the trade off of the other things is more important then losing the vitamin C. Plus cooked veggies are easier to digest and because they are soft easier to chew and many other things. Here is just one interesting http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=raw-veggies-are-healthier“>article I read on it that you might like to read and gives a little more detail.
Personally I think either way is fine and I think a little of both is good (that moderation thing again) but the cooked are easier on our systems. My problem is I don’t like the texture of most cooked veggies so end up eating more raw. Guess I will have to get over that. : )
Thanks Jill. I agree that some cooked and some raw vegetables is good. It’s interesting that some vegetables have their nutrients increased when cooked. Also, some vegetables just taste better cooked. I don’t think raw potatoes would taste too good for example.
I like raw apples and cooked apples too. Fruits are good both ways. Carrots are good raw and cooked too. Thanks for your help.
What it sounds like is that what the Bible had to say thousands of years ago still stands….moderation in all things. I think we can take any good thing too far and make it bad…moderation….a good thing.
Yes I eat good food and very rarely have junk, but still remain overweight….I know it must be my portion size and probably go on eating even when I am full if I am honest! Old habits die hard LOL
I have noticed that if I eat half of what I normally eat, I feel just as full. Someone once said that I should put out on my plate what I would consider a normal portion, then shove half of it over to the side of my plate and eat only half. I have to say that yes, I DID feel just as full as when I’d eaten the whole lot…..suppose I should make a habit of it. And my food bill would halve too!
Mari in England :)
You are so right Mari. Our food bills, money spent on cleaning products, school clothes, regular clothes, just everything would be way less if we didn’t “gorge” ourselves on all of these things all the time and I think we all have some area we need to work on. Most of us are not as honest as you to admit it. : )
Oh I definitely watch what I eat! I look at every bite as it is on its way to my mouth – LOL! On a more serious note, I use a 7″ luncheon plate instead of a 10″ dinner plate for my meals. For some reason the bigger plate needs to “look” full. The smaller plate works great for cutting back. Without so much room I am forced to take smaller portions. I got some of the smaller plates at Good-Will. So what if they do not match the rest of the dishes, you can’t see the design anyway when it is covered with food.
Our local nutrtionist has told us the active bacteria or cultures are the same frozen or not. Our oldest son eats frozen because he doesn’t like the texture of regular. He eats it for a stomach issue and it does help.