Step Zero

Recently we took a poll on the Diet Survivors message board of folks who are learning to eat normally. We asked them what their very first step was. Here were the choices:

Legalize all foods first

Find my hunger and fullness signals first

Look at my irrational beliefs first

Legalize some foods first; I'll deal with the others later

Lose weight on a formal diet first, then switch to normal eating

Reject all weight loss goals first

Accept my body first, deferring weight loss until later

Cut my portions in half, then start looking for hunger and fullness

Put back the fat or carbs into my eating, and just try to eat smaller portions

Gastric bypass surgery, then learn normal eating

Accept my body and decide to ditch any weight loss goals at all

Read some books about non-dieting and normal eating first before changing anything

Lurk or post on this board first before changing anything

Learn to stop the binges first

Grieve the loss of your food-friend first

Reject non-dieting first, lose weight on a diet, then come back

View the poll results.

Eighty-two people answered the poll. The results were pretty even across the board, except that no one answered who had gastric bypass surgery.

This result makes sense when you consider that part of recovery is the discovery that when it comes to eating, just as with most things in life, we are all individuals.

But for some, there may even be a step zero. I'm not talking about the internal, attitude changes. That's for another blog entry, or perhaps for another book. What' I'm talking about is a balance of fats, carbs and protein, fruits and vegetables.

It seems that some folks eat lopsided meals, consisting of too much carbs and not enough protein, or too much protein and not enough carbs, or too much entree and not enough dessert. These imbalances may be a holdover from dieting days. Rapid satisfaction, though, comes from achieving a small satisfying balance. In other words, when we balance our meals, we are satisfied sooner during a meal.

Following is adapted from the June 2004 Diet Survivors newsletter:

Within the bounds of hunger and fullness, and within the bounds of taste, there are some good, sensible guidelines which your grandmother probably followed. Picture the old-style basic four food groups. We suggest updating the old four food groups to reflect the health and diet value of whole grains and healthy fats. The suggested technical change for this month is to think in terms of the basic food groups described below.

1. Dairy   This includes milk and cheese. If you eat soy products, you can think of them either in this group or in the meat group, since they are technically not dairy and are bean-based. But it doesn't much matter.
2. Meat and other protein sources   This includes all high-protein sources, such as nuts, seeds, beans, eggs. Vegetarians and vegans (vegetarians who don't eat dairy) can find plenty of protein sources that are not animal-based.
3. Fruits and vegetables   This includes fresh, canned, and frozen vegetables and fruits of all kinds. If you eat table sugar in your diet, you can think of sugar as belonging to this category, or to the category of breads and cereals. Fruit has a form of sugar in it, too.
4. Breads, cereals, and starches   This category includes all grains, such as hot and cold cereals, whole-grain breads, potatoes, and sweets. It is helpful to all of us as we age, whether we need to lose weight or not, to steer away from foods made with white flour, such as pasta and white bread. But more importantly, keep your portions small, as you are learning to do with all the other food groups as well. Sweet foods could be thought of as belonging to this category, since this is the carbohydrate group, and sugar is a simple carbohydrate. But it doesn't much matter.
5. Fats   You can think of fats as a fifth category. Fats house the flavor of foods, and offer appetite satisfaction. Have you ever tried a pancake with syrup but no butter, and then compared it to a pancake with syrup and butter? The butter intensifies the taste of the syrup, thus leading to earlier appetite satisfaction. In other words, you might be content with two pancakes instead of five.

Some fats are beneficial to your health. They include olive oil, the fats in fatty fishes (such as salmon), the fats in nuts such as (macadamia nuts), and the fats in fatty vegetables (such as avocados). Some other fats, such as canola oil, butter, coconut oil, vegetable oil, and some others, may prove to be less beneficial to your heart, but may not be harmful, either.

Another form of fats on which experts disagree are the trans-fatty acids found in meat. You can investigate this for yourself. Here is an interesting British Web site that takes issue with the evils of trans-fatty acids: naturally occurring trans-fats, and another interesting site about cholesterol: cholesterol skeptics.

Another form of fat is the partially hydrogenated fat contained within processed baked foods. Many margarines are made of partially hydrogenated fats. These fats, too, are trans-fatty acids, but may prove to be more harmful than the trans-fatty acids found in meats. They should probably be kept to a minimum until more studies are done.

Sample meals

Below are examples of normal, balanced portions. With the understanding that we are not recommending any particular plan, we also recognize that if you've been living a dieting life for a long time, it might be hard for you to translate this advice into sound, small, normal meals. Following are some examples of meals eaten by a woman who is 120 pounds, or will eventually slim down to 120 pounds as a result of eating this way. These examples may offer sample portion sizes, but it's important to find your own internal guidelines.

And when it comes to food choices, your meals could look very different. Eat only what you find delicious, and use your own judgment about portion sizes.

Breakfast samples

• a fried egg, one whole wheat waffle (with syrup and a perfect dot of butter on it), one big fat strawberry, and a cup of coffee with real half-and-half
• a bowl of instant oatmeal (made with two packages), two sausages, and a glass of whole milk with ice to make it cold
• a fast-food egg and muffin sandwich (Eating white bread once in a while won't hurt your weight control. Just be careful that for the rest of the day you stick to whole grains. Better yet, make your mcmuffin at home, with a whole-grain English muffin.)

Lunch samples

• a big bowl of salad with plenty of oil and vinegar (Add tomatoes, some avocado, shredded cheese, canned beans or nuts, and some crumbled whole grain crackers of your choice instead of croutons. The addition of the crackers adds a balance of carbohydrates to the salad, thus helping you reach "rapid satiety." After the meal, your body won't feel as if it's missing something. If you like something sweet in your salad, add raisins or some cut up fresh pears.)
• cheeseburger with ketchup or mayonnaise on one toasted slice of whole-grain bread, cut in half, with tomato and lettuce and plenty of cheese
• a deli cold cut sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, and real mayo or mustard on whole wheat bread (but not one of those giant heroes!)

Afternoon or after-dinner snack samples

If you start feeling weak before dinner, then have something small, or have something before going to bed.

• two slices of cheese
• two crackers with peanut butter on them
• a small bowl of whole-grain cereal with whole milk and some brown sugar added for perfect sweetness

Dinner samples

• two dinner sausages with plenty of fried peppers, a fistful of brown rice sauteed with onions and steamed green beans
• a fistful of salmon with broccoli and some whole grain buttered toast, or a small mound of wild rice
• a fistful of corned beef with two small potatoes and the liquid from the corned beef poured over the potatoes, sweetened applesauce, and steamed asparagus