Just Downsize Your Plates, Your Stress & your FOOD

Is Stress causing you to be FAT? When you are feeling Stress- Do you Eat, Do you MOVE or are you consciously trying to redirect your thoughts? :

I hear it all the time..."I can't wait to have a drink to unwind"," I deserve this cookie because I had such a hard day." Do you ever really think about how long the alcohol or sugar may make you feel better? When you eat sugar, you may feel a temporary rush, but soon after you feel a more prominent crash. Maybe your mood has changed or you have an even stronger craving or you might feel shaky, and reach for some more sugar. Chances are that if you were to keep a journal with what you eat and what emotions you were feeling before and an hour after the food- you would begin to become AWARE of how your Food Choices really effect you. FOOD IS A DRUG! (LITERALLY)

Another option to deal with STRESS would be to get moving. Obviously that means some sort of exercise. Here's the important part: Exercise SHOULD MEAN DIFFERENT THINGS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE. What you do should depend on your PERSONAL STRESS LOAD. I have said this before STRESS IS NOT JUST EMOTIONAL STRESS. It also means how, what and when you eat, are you sick or run down?, do you have inner candida, is your body tired from not enough sleep, etc... Depending on where you are will dictate how you should move. BUT BELIEVE ME THE RIGHT MOVEMENT WILL ALLEVIATE YOUR STRESS AND ANXIOUS FEELINGS. Movement may be walking, running, weight work at the gym or it could be stretching, yoga, pilates or tai-chi. You can Work OUT but more people probably need to WORK IN.

Here are your tips of the Day :
DOWNSIZE your PLATES so they hold less food.
CHEW ALOT AND EAT SLOWLY. YOU WILL REALIZE YOUR FULL AND NOT OVEREAT.
Downsize the noise while you eat. Turn off the TV while you eat- you will eat less. If you eat out, have 1/2 your food wrapped to go before they bring it out to you.
Eat the portion sizes you had 20 years ago before the world supersized
Simplify your cooking at home and cook more meals
IT"S OK NOT TO FINISH EVERYTHING ON YOUR PLATE. No more Clean Plate Club

*Never tell yourself that a food is off limits- you'll only crave it more. Find a friend to share a cookie with or order 1 dessert for the table or split 1 Crumbs cupcake into 5 pieces.

If you must have a latte, switch the ingredients to get rid of the fattening dairy!
I have a decaf americano (espresso) with a few pumps of vanilla syrup and a drop of caramel. Americano is made with water and you still get the sweetness. Get it hot or iced! And it's also OK not to finish it. Learn to trust your body's cues to fullness.
You get the point.