November 25, 2008 11:47 AM
Lisa Ryckman on 'food triggers' and healthy Thanksgiving food
Mark_Wolf Greetings, fellow Hoosier, from upstate Indiana where the sun has made an unscheduled appearance and warmed things up to a few degrees above freezing. And we're supposed to have a sunny Thanksgiving in the mid/upper 40s. Darned near tropical.
Lisa_Ryckman Ah, Indiana! How happy I am to be from there, and not actually there.
Lisa_Ryckman Actually, it's pretty darn gray here, too.
Mark_Wolf I was thinking this is the WORST week to be thinking about food triggers, then I decided it was probably the BEST. What are 'food triggers' anyway?
Lisa_Ryckman Food triggers are things that make you want to eat more, even if you're not particularly hungry. For my friend Ellen, it's coffee. I'm pretty much egged on by anything that goes crunch in the night....bags of almonds, buckets of popcorn, stuff like that.
Lisa_Ryckman Remember the Lay's ad campaign -- Betcha can't eat just one? Well, a lot of people have that problem with a lot of foods, potato chips being way up on that list.
Lisa_Ryckman It's often a combination of sugar and fat (think Ben & Jerry's of any type) or salt and fat (back to potato chips, peanuts, et al).
Mark_Wolf How does this interact with the brain?
Lisa_Ryckman There are various brain chemicals -- neurotransmitters -- that have a huge impact on apetite.
Lisa_Ryckman For example
Lisa_Ryckman If you cut calories, that can lower levels of serotonin, which can lead to depression and increased appetite to boost those levels up.
Lisa_Ryckman Gherlin is a naughty lil brain chemical that can cause you to inhale anything not tied down, and it is affected by a drop in blood sugart
Lisa_Ryckman A New York dietitian named Heather Bauer has created a diet around this concept.
Mark_Wolf So it's all helpless and hopeless. Pass the Twinkies.
Lisa_Ryckman Not so fast, MW -- Bauer says there are things that can be done.
Mark_Wolf I knew you'd slap my Twinkies-reaching hand.
Lisa_Ryckman First of all, she suggests eliminating "dry carbs," including bread, cake, cookies, bagels, white pasta, ice cream, candy and of course, Twinkies. Pretty much anything worth eating.
Lisa_Ryckman Then delay your "Juicy Carbs" -- whole grains and veggies -- until dinnertime. Eat more slowly -- you'll eat less.
Lisa_Ryckman Follow the 3/4ths rule -- just eat 75 percent of whatever's on your plate. Eat three real meals a day, with protein at each. Don't buy in bulk or keep stuff in your desk drawer.
Lisa_Ryckman Here's a good one -- try "phase eating." Phase eaters have the same thing for breakfast and/or lunch for weeks. Bauer says food variety can be too stimulating and cause unbidden food thoughts.
Mark_Wolf You wrote about some research on chocolate. What was that about?
Lisa_Ryckman This study basically asked 134 people to either talk about how much they like chocolate or try to suppress all choco-thoughts.
Lisa_Ryckman The women who tried not to think about chocolate ate 50 percent more than the choco-talkers when offered chocolate candy.
Lisa_Ryckman For the men, it made no difference whether they talked or didn't.
Mark_Wolf Research shows 1 in 35 women is a binge eater?
Lisa_Ryckman That figure comes from studies of eating disorders which showed that binge eating is the nation's most common one.
Lisa_Ryckman Bingers have eating episodes that are out of control: they eat until they're uncomfortable despite lack of hunger; they eat alone because they're embarrased and they eat quickly when they're bingeing.
Lisa_Ryckman Food triggers can cause people who aren't technically binge eaters to overeat, so identifying them is a good first step toward weight loss/control.
Lisa_Ryckman This is one of the reasons that food diaries are considered so helpful to weight loss. You keep track of what you eat, when you eat, and how you feel before and after eating. You can get a pretty good idea of what sets you off, if you aren't already acutely aware of it.
Mark_Wolf Generations of kids were raised with the admonition to clean their plates. Now that's not such a good idea?
Lisa_Ryckman Ah yes -- the Clean Plate Club. Bauer's diet -- it's called "The Wall Street Diet," btw -- focuses a lot on so-called Clean Plate Club eaters, or CPCs, as she calls them.
Lisa_Ryckman You can figure out whether you are a CPCer by answering some simple questions: do you generally eat everything on your plate? Pick off of others' plates? Eat fast? Sneak food? Find it hard to control night eating?
Lisa_Ryckman Are you a poor water drinker? Do you eat the whole bag when it comes to snacks? Are you buffet-challenged? Do you have triggers like sugar, salt, bread, nuts, chocolate or cheese?
Mark_Wolf Bauer says you shouldn't attack the bread basket with gusto when you eat out. Many restaurants have virtually turned bread into an appetizer with yummy flavored olive oil and a variety of good crusty bread.
Lisa_Ryckman That olive oil, while a so-called "good fat," generally contains far more calories than a pat of butter. People tend to think that because it's good for you, they can dip with impunity. But if you want to lose weight, every calorie counts.
Mark_Wolf And the bread sits there in the middle of the table, smelling great. Who can resist?
Lisa_Ryckman Do yourself a favor -- if bread is a trigger, ask them not to bring it.
dd joined.
Lisa_Ryckman I can't believe I said that. That's sacrilege in my family.
Lisa_Ryckman I've watched my mother eat the entire basket herself without even realizing she's doing it.
Lisa_Ryckman I can eat a whole plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies. And I definitely have a Twinkie trigger. What about you, MW?
Mark_Wolf Let's just say your mom would have a fight over the bread basket.
Mark_Wolf I think Bauer has a real point with fast eating. I'm guilty as charged and can make sparks fly from my knife and fork. I've heard dieticians/nutritionists say you should put your fork down between bites.
Lisa_Ryckman It takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that you're not hungry anymore. So eat slower, and you'll eat less.
Mark_Wolf My stomach is always on eastern time, my brain's on central.
dd wondering why gaining weight is so easy and losing weight is so hard.
Lisa_Ryckman Great question, dd.
Lisa_Ryckman I think these triggers and eating habits can have a lot to do with it.
Lisa_Ryckman It's difficult to change eating behavior, and that's what weight loss takes.
dd left.
Lisa_Ryckman I think there are also people who find losing weight pretty easy -- they just can't keep it off. They lose and regain the same 20 pounds over and over again.
Lisa_Ryckman I wrote about another diet a while back that is pretty easy to follow, because it's very simple.
Lisa_Ryckman You just eliminate all sugar and flour. That's it.
Lisa_Ryckman That eliminates the main sources of easy weight gain for most folks.
Mark_Wolf So you can have a cheeseburger if you use lettuce for a bun?
Lisa_Ryckman Yes.
Lisa_Ryckman That's sort of the beauty of it.
Lisa_Ryckman I've tried it, because I thought it would be healthier to cut back on sugar and processed food.
Lisa_Ryckman It's actually remarkably easy to follow. And I was surprised to find that my sugar cravings, which have been a driving force in my life, were effectively disabled.
Mark_Wolf Do you think the economic downturn is going to make it harder for people with weight problems? Cheaper food tends to be more fattening and people might eat more for comfort.
Lisa_Ryckman I get carbs from dairy, whole grains and fruit. I exercise a lot, so a low-carb diet won't keep my energy levels up, but I find I actually have more energy now by making sure my carbs are healthy ones.
Lisa_Ryckman I doubt I could get my mom to buy in, though.
Lisa_Ryckman It puts the ol bread basket off limits.
Lisa_Ryckman And you'd be surprised how many things have hidden flour and/or sugar in them. You've really got to read labels carefully.
Lisa_Ryckman I would say that cheaper food can be more fattening.
Lisa_Ryckman But you can also eat well cheaply. Milk and eggs, for example, are great buys -- lots of nutritional bang for the buck.
Lisa_Ryckman Plus canned food can be a very good deal, and you can find all kinds of things without sugar or salt these days.
Mark_Wolf Got any tips for making Thanksgiving less of a caloric disaster?
Lisa_Ryckman Absolutely. These come from my buddies at the American Dietetic Association:
Lisa_Ryckman Serve fresh veggies with a yogurt dip for an appetizer; use nonfat milk and egg subsitute in your punkin pie; make a lower-cal stuffing using whole-wheat bread, fat-free chicken broth, apples and cranberries.
Lisa_Ryckman Instead of turkey with skin, stuffing, broccoli with hollandaise sauce, cranberry relish, crescent rolls and pecan pie -- 1,140 cals and 50 grams of fat -- have skinless turky, wild rice pilaf, broccoli with lemon juice, a whole grain roll, and a slice of pumpkin pie -- 735 cals and 20 grams of fat.
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