I had 2 yesterday and 2 today for morning tea. Thank goodness they're all gone now. Yesterday they were all I could think about. Things have been pretty stressful around here lately, so I think we all felt like we needed a 'treat'. (Still having trouble getting away from thinking of food like that.) Food is just about the only thing you can do for yourself when you're stuck here at work and having to sit at your desk and write a document on an important topic by such-a-such time. In that immediate moment, you can't go and get a massage or buy yourself a new necklace or even go for a walk in the park. But you can get a Tim Tam from the fridge and stuff your face with it. :) Not beating myself up about it though - I only had 2 when I could have grabbed more.
Was reading more of that Weight Loss book again last night. He says there are 3 factors that cause overeating - Deprivation, Starvation and Justification. Eliminate those and you won't overeat. It makes a lot of sense. The body is set up to take in as much energy as possible, and conserve it when it gets it. This is nothing I didn't know. But he did quote some studies which I didn't know about before. That's why he says you should never tell yourself that you can't eat certain foods. Same as the nutritionist I saw last year. She kept telling me to ask myself - "I can have it if I want it, but do I really want it?" Course, that didn't really work, cos the answer was always, "yes, I want it!"
He also talked about the principle of 'Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince and Dinner like a Pauper', which he calls "energy mismatch". Again, not a new concept, but one that makes sense. Why do we eat all the calore-rich foods at night when we're just going to be lying there all night not burning them off? It's better to eat more in the morning and less at night.
Course, if you take that point of view, you could then argue that it's better to exercise late in the afternoon or at night. And no-one does, they all say it's better to exercise in the morning!
He also mentions Low GI foods briefly. There's plenty of info about why they're good for you elsewhere, so I'm kind of glad he doesn't go into an exhaustive explanation.
I have to say, I'm a little disturbed about some of the language he uses. He takes care to point out that food is not 'bad' or 'good', it's just food. But then he starts to use terms like "sacrifice foods" and even "suicide foods". He starts out saying that we can eat whenever we want, but then a bit further in says that jam and doughnuts in particular are "sacrifice foods" that we shouldn't eat very often. He starts out saying that exercise has nothing to do with losing weight, but then says that incidental exercise is very important if we are to lose weight. I always find diet books are full of contradictions like this, and it drives me nuts!
No wonder people get frustrated and confused, and want to throw in the towel before long. I'll read a bit more tonight and report back again tomorrow. :)
Greens: 65%