 |
| Exposition Park, Rose Garden with photo bomb |
Summer Shorts 2014 #1- Food Photos as a Trigger for Eating
(no actual food photos, a few food names below... pass if it's a trigger....you can thank me later... ;) )
I'm fresh back from vacation with a ton of topics swirling around in my head. I'm going to try a new series "Summer Shorts 2014". Short, to the point, what works for me now.
Topic #1 Food Photos are a Trigger for me for emotional/binge eating.
Photos of my former binge foods can really start my slippery slope thinking. I have to be careful
1.Social media streams I view
2.What blogs I subscribe and place in my reader
3. What magazines I read or even pick up to glance through.
4. What TV shows I watch.
To get my binge/emotional eating under control, I HAD to address this topic. Sometimes a blogger will post a food photo and I can breeze right through it. Sometimes a weight loss or weight maintenance blogger will post many photos of cookies, the dessert or tee-hee-hee the indulgence/cheat/sweet because one will not hurt me (YES!! One hurts me and knocks me out of food sobriety- I'm THAT person!) that they had on vacation, or some other baked cake/frosting delight that is "clean". Paleo, non-Paleo... who cares. It can and will trigger me.
Now that means that I (aka- what's working for me)
1.Get my head on straight and get back off the slippery slope.
2. Unsubscribe from a single or whole feed on Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
2.5 Set my preferences so those photos don't appear.
3. Re focus my efforts on non-food projects, thoughts, etc
It does NOT mean I (aka- what did not work for me in the past)
1. Troll Pinterest or blogs for ingredients that are "on my food Template" to make compliant treats.
2. Subscribe to food based blogs unless the treat recipes are less than 1-2% of the plan.
2.5 Randomly follow Instagramers, etc
3. Spend huge amounts of time researching "lite" recipes for baking. I stopped baking all but for roasting meat and veggies.
If I've unfollowed anyone over the last 6 months, it's me. I've got to put my food sobriety and my wellness first. It's so not personal about the blogger themselves. One or two photos and I'm fine. More and I have to do what's right for me. They are free to bake up a storm and do whatever. I have to be real about me, my plan, what works, and baked goods don't work. Food sobriety comes first.
I feel better recovered.
How about you? Are there feeds that you once read that you had to unsubscribe from due to food photos or other triggers?
Photos don't tempt me but do bother me!! I get annoyed when I see trigger foods on so called "healthy" blogs or facebook streams. I do tend to then delete that feed. I've minimised completely what I read and watch - made life more simple which is a good thing :)
ReplyDeleteSimple IS great, Lynda! I like it when the blog author walks the blog talk. :)
DeleteNuts..can and have triggered binging for me. They trigger something in my head and it's not pleasant, it's that robotic, anxious, unsatiable binge discomfort/mindset. Perhaps it's the popping of small pieces of food in my mouth in a robotic but soothing way, blanking out almost. Instant fat gain from them, I assure you, not water, my fat cells expand with nuts. I have decided to completely abstain - this is what has worked for me with every problem food as there is no internal struggle in my mind if I know I absolutely cannot have that. Trouble is and I agree with Lynda time after time I get tweets, news feeds about the health benefits of nuts and that beast in my head starts to stir and justify.
ReplyDeleteRoast chicken seems to be another problematic food but protein is at least self-limiting
Jasmine... nuts were my last binge food. Fortunately, they were also a migraine trigger so even though I still miss them, I'm not too tempted. I agree, I see nuts in my twitter feed being touted as "healthy". I know they are, for many. Just not me.
DeleteI stopped buying the roasted chicken at Costco. Uncontrollable cravings to EAT A LOT of it. I found out later there's questionable spices (MSG look a like) and possibly sugar (going under a sugar like name) injected as spices or flavoring. Explains why when I roast my own chicken at home, with my own seasonings, I'm fine.
Obviously, I TOTALLY get this. I have never and doubt I ever will...subscribe or even read any of the mirage of paleo/primal cookbooks because of their preponderance of desserts. I don't care if it's 'healthy' 'grains' (almond or coconut flour)...I am breaking a lifetime of desserts. Unless it's fresh fruit, I won't eat it as a dessert except in EXTREMELY rare occasions. Anything else; dangerous. Might work for some, but certainly not for me.
ReplyDeleteGwen, I have to be super careful about Paleo cookbooks and pinterest feeds. Several authors focus on meat and veg mainly. Others are all about baked goods. The addiction specialist at PaleoFx reminded us- "Be really, really honest" when referring to Paleo cookies and desserts. I know it works for some, even for my daughter, but not for me.
DeleteI apologize, had something up in June and another one in July, talking about buying things where it is single serving for extended family (so I do not eat it, they eat one serving and it is gone).
ReplyDeleteBacon talk is the one that is currently driving me nuts. And fried food. As in, I don't eat grain, but fry me up some fat . . .
Many on no grain or low carb diets do eat high fat. The low-fat diet advice was wrong and led to a diabetes epidemic. If you've seen Cereal Killers he lost weight and greatly improved his health on a low csrb high fat diet.
DeleteI am taking about people eating bacon like they used to eat bread, compulsive issue, switching from one addiction to another without addressing addiction.
DeleteAlso, people who proudly proclaim no grain but are mowing down the French fries. . .
DeleteVickie- I get it. I rarely eat pork ( my body doesn't always react well) and it's usually doused in conventional salt which makes me feel terrible. Plus it's processed (highly) and the pastured stuff will break my food budget in a second. Add it that I like it crispy ( I know the crispy part can be higher on the carcinogenic scale). Well, it's just a food I don't eat often. Some on vacation, maybe I'll buy some nice pastured bacon 2X per year at the farmers market.
DeleteAnd I do think eating bacon can replace one compulsion for another. Just like switching off sweets and salty snacks can lead to binge drinking, shopping or exercise.
Boy I hear you ... I had subscribed to a lot of low carb recipe sites to get ideas ... often they can be adapted to suit Dr Poon's diet and I love new ideas. But more often lately I see nothing but dessert recipes! I don't even look anymore, I just skip that post altogether. They may be low-carb and sometimes even legal on my plan, but I don't choose to eat those things anymore. Besides, what are the odds I would eat one serving rather than half the pan? Nope ... I'm starting to unsubscribe as well. I am trying to learn to eat healthy, not find legal ways to eat cakes and cookies!
ReplyDeleteI hear you Anna! I had high hopes of being able to eat Medifast brownies as a 10% off Paleo food when I first transitioned to Weight Maintenance. It didn't trigger me, was nice and cakey, chocolately, etc. In reality it was still processed, had dairy, had sugar substitutes, etc. I had to eventually let them go. Now, in reality, my only allowable dessert is a very small amount of 85% chocolate, very little real sugar and mostly chocolate and the fat from chocolate. Sometimes fruit.
DeleteIt's good that you are finding the new way! It will take you far.
Eat healthy our bodies and us deserve no less.
ReplyDeleteI do love looking at recipe sites and sharing ideas, just ignore those that will not work for me....sorry no big deal, although I now others may not agree..........
All the best Jan
Jan, I can see how it doesn't effect many people. I think the part of my brain that makes me a super good photographer also makes me super sensitive to the dessert photos. I'll take the good photography and just limit myself on the photos of Paleo cookeis. I'm good with that gift. :) I know that the blog pages with the Paleo treats probably get more hits than other pages for the authors. I get it. MOST of my traffic on my blog is from my early Medifast recipes. My hope is that some of the readers stop and say a while... :) Thanks for stopping by, as always.
Delete