Posts Tagged ‘cake’
Simple choices
Don’t take this image the wrong way. Muffin tops are beautiful. Heck, muffins themselves are beautiful. Every body is beautiful – exactly as it is right in this moment. You can be sure of that (and anyone who tells you different is full of crap).
But that being said, there are many of us who want to make healthy changes that can help us to not only feel better, but to also put on our clothes without having to hold our breath or offer up a prayer for strength (literally) when zipping up.
This can require making choices a little differently than we have in the past. Like choosing water over cake for example. Not always. But often. Changes like this remind us that cake is a treat (as opposed to an everyday requirement). We can’t say the same for water, which is absolutely necessary for our survival and for our transformation.
So without shaming yourself (which is never productive), ask yourself what you really want next time you’re tempted by something sweet (that might add a few too many calories or artificial ingredients to your daily intake). Maybe a glass of water and vigorous walk is what your body, mind and soul are really craving. If so, give your body that. And if you absolutely must have the cake (and I’ll admit there are times that’s true), then have a reasonable slice – and then have a glass of water and go for a vigorous walk. (See what I did there?)
It’s all about balance, moderation and your overall goals. And you, my amazing, beautiful friend, are worth it!
Rockstar Dieting Tip #4
As dieters (and/or maintain-ers), nothing can excite us and, at the same time, strike fear into every fibre of our being as dining out can. Thankfully, today’s Rockstar Dieting Tip offers a way to half your cake and eat it, too. (Read on!)
Rockstar Dieting Tip #4 — When Dining Out, Split Your Meal with Yourself
Here’s a little something I learned from one of my famous actress friends here in Los Angeles. When dining out at a restaurant, order what you want with reckless abandon. But — while placing your order, tell your server you want the food split in half — and that you want 1/2 of the meal put into a to-go container before it’s even delivered to the table. This way you’re enjoying your favorite foods at your favorite restaurants — but in more reasonable (and more diet- or weight maintenance-friendly) portions. In other words, you really can have your cake and eat it, too. Just make sure you half your cake (or whatever) before having it. Then take the extra portion home to share with a roommate, spouse or to even have yourself (at another appropriate mealtime).
This might seem like a simple thing to do. But it’s not necessarily easy. After all, when we sit down to dine at our favorite eateries, we sometimes want to enjoy the bigger portions. But we never enjoy the overstuffed, bloated feeling we have after the meal is consumed. And we never enjoy having to squeeze into our jeans the next day (or, worse yet, see a “gain” on the scale the next time we weigh ourselves).
That makes this a great tip for being moderate while enjoying different types of foods. (Not to mention this tip allows us to have a social life even while trying to just stop eating so much!)
As dieters, we too often get caught up in the “This is the last time I’ll ever eat this” syndrome (thanks to years of on-again and off-again dieting). This little restaurant trick stops that mentality in it’s tracks. We can have it — we can just choose to not have so much of it.
And don’t worry about what the server thinks. You can add a little something extra to the tip if he or she is nice about dividing your meal in half at the beginning of your dining experience. And you can take pride in knowing you’re doing the same thing some major actresses do to keep their camera-ready figures.
And why shouldn’t you do the same as them? You’re a supermodel, darn it. And if anyone questions that, you send them to me.
Photo Source: L’Espresso Food & Wine
Just desserts?
When was the last time being denied dessert really pissed you off?
For me it was probably just last night, after dinner. I rarely allow myself dessert. It’s just not part of my everyday eating plan. And yes, I do miss dessert when I don’t have it. But these days, dessert has become something that I save for special occasions. Of course, this doesn’t mean that I don’t want dessert. And it doesn’t mean I don’t crave it. It just means that I’ve gotten these desires under control. Think of it as ‘Mind over fatter,’ if you will.
But desserts and I certainly have done our time together. And it’s because of this ‘passion’ for all things sweet, that I find myself greatly amused with a recent news story about an angry restaurant customer in Amherst, New York.
According to recent reports, after a man didn’t get the dessert portion of his meal at Toni Pepperoni Restaurant, the man grew more and more upset – to the point of verbally assaulting workers, shoving items off of a counter, then even grabbing a broom and swinging it around in an aggressive fashion. I mean, clearly this is a guy who apparently gets really pissed off when he doesn’t get his dessert.
Haven’t seen the footage from the incident yet? Check it out for yourself:
Now, this might seem like ridiculous and over-the-top behavior to you. But to me? It’s like looking into mirror from my past. In other words, to say I was crazy about dessert would be a major understatement.
Back in the day, when I weighed in excess of 450 pounds, you can bet that I was having dessert with every meal except for breakfast (and sometimes I probably even had it with that meal, as well). As a binge eater, I taught myself that overeating needed to be followed up with something sweet (a vat of it, if at all possible). In fact, even when I was completely stuffed from overeating, I would still force feed myself something oo-ey and gooey – usually in the form of ice cream, so that I could get it down my throat, despite already being in pain from eating too much.
That was then. This is now.
Yet to this day, when I finish a meal, I feel a “hankering” for something sweet and gooey. This is when I have to remind myself that I prefer to be able to put on my “skinny clothes” without having to kneel down in prayer beforehand. You see, I don’t want getting my clothes on requiring a miracle – which, in the past, is just what getting dressed sometimes did require. Don’t forget that at my largest, I had a 60-inch waist belt that I was literally wearing out at the time.
These days, my desire for dessert passes after a few minutes and I’m left with a feeling of empowerment, having gone up against the ‘evil sweet empire’ and won. This triumph is nothing I take for granted. I know that going back “up” to 450+ pounds would be a real possibility if I were to ever let down my guard. It’s being constantly aware of this that has helped me keep the excess weight off for over a decade.
So I know dessert’s temptations are always lurking. And because of this, I build enjoying dessert into special occasions. Therefore I’ve committed to never saying “Never.” This is because I’ve learned that denial has always lead to bingeing in the past. Thus, knowing I can “Have it again when the time is right,” dessert is robbed of its evil powers and I am, at last, set free.
Can’t say as much for the man who went into attack mode after being denied dessert at Toni Pepperoni Restaurant. Watching the footage from his outburst, I can cringe, I can gasp, I can even be slightly amused. But at the same time? I can relate. It reminds me a mental state I’ve been in – not to mention a mental state I never want to experience again.
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