Treat Day

Today I decided to celebrate as it's been 12 weeks since I ate sugar/refined foods.  I didn't forbid these foods, telling myself I could have this if I wanted it, as long as it was within Dr. Fuhrman's guidelines (less than 5% of total calories, he says 10% but I don't think he's talking about the really bad stuff).  But I was curious to see if I could go completely without it to test out the idea that it takes 12 weeks to break an addiction.   So am I addicted to these foods still?  Not physically, and the desire for them is definitely down.  I think not making them forbidden makes them less desirable too.  And the knowledge that I will feel like crap afterwards seals it pretty well.  All I really miss is being like everyone else, not feeling like a weirdo and enjoying the same food as everyone else.  But that applies to all food our society eats, not anything in particular.  It's not the food I desire, it's the community.   What I miss is mostly fictional, made up in my mind since I can come up with a counter-argument to all of these things (since when do I mind being seen as a weirdo?  I can still be in community while eating my own food)--and this is what led me to wonder if it's mostly an addiction and just rationalizing wanting these foods.  I think there might be something to it because my desire is less after 12 weeks.    well enough rambling about that.

I didn't really want to celebrate by eating the sugar/refined foods.  so I celebrated with some of my favorites.  Here were the ingredients:

That's essene (aka manna) bread, banana, raw pecan/cashew butter, frozen sweet cherries.

First we have my version of peanut butter and jelly; that is, essence bread topped with the nut butter, and frozen sweet cherries (thawed in microwave along):

Then we have ice cream and cake:

i.e., manna bread topped with ice cream (cherries, banana, and a generous serving of nut butter--very good!).

and one of my all time favorites:

plain old banana and nut butter.   Yum!   okay, that was enough treats for a while.  It was good but I'm looking forward to eating some carrots and salads again tomorrow.  oh, I guess that's a good thing!

Some interesting posts

I ran across some interesting articles and emails this week:

• PEERtrainer did a survey of dieters from 2011, comparing strategies of those who lost weight and those who didn't.   The ones who lost weight changed their eating habits, and eliminated a lot of junk food: "They did not cite "moderation" as the key to their success in 2011."  The ones who didn't lose weight were asked what their plans were for 2012.  The vast majority of people said, "eat less and exercise more."   A take-away message from the article:  "So if you are one of those people who are thinking just in terms of exercising more and eating less, we'd really encourage you to look at the habits of the 2011 losers. That means get in the mindset of changing what you eat, and focusing less on exercise as the main path to weight loss."  PEERtrainer supports a diet very much like Dr. Fuhrman's.  Even if you don't adopt it fully, it can help you lose weight.
• Another post from PEERtrainer referred to an article Dr. Oz wrote in the January issue of Oprah magazine.  He said that people who track what they eat lose twice as much weight as those who don't.  That's significant.   This is a controversial topic, and isn't recommended for or by everyone, but it appears to work for some people!
• If you have food addictions or eating disorders or disordered eating, or perhaps just sense that you have an unhealthy relation to food and want to improve it,  this free set of 9 interviews might be of interest to you from Tara Warner, called "Getting over ED".  I heard about this from the Fuhrman forums---Dr. Fuhrman is one of the interviews.  I admire her for doing such a great job with these interviews and making them free.  Sure she is probably hoping to get some new business from this, and I hope she does.