Preparing for Battle Part Two: Situations and Solutions – Snack Attack

The gloves are off! The snack attack is going down. In the last two weeks I have lost 10 pounds primarily by changing what and how I snack. If you want to talk about motivation, seeing results has given me all the motivation I need.

Julia Cameron views the snack attack as kind of like a “B” movie. It waits until your weakest moment and “eats you alive” (pun intended). It sabotages your best intentions to get healthy. So what do I do about it? I prepare for battle – pre-made snacks that are healthy, stem my particular cravings and still taste good. See below for a few lifestyle snack changes I’ve made.

Snacks I used to Have:
Fruit (banana, grapes, orange or Gala apple) – every day

Tortilla chips and salsa

Handful of Triscuits with cheese (cheddar)

Pretzels

Granola bar

Snacks I Have Now:
Granny Smith apple – once or twice a week

Fresh green beans, broccoli or carrots with garlic hummus

Lettuce wraps (green leaf lettuce, deli meat and honey mustard)

½ cup of low fat cottage cheese or two low fat mozzarella cheese sticks

A few almonds or pistachios

My success at replacing my favorite snacks with healthier ones has helped me to feel energized for more healthy change. I feel better after I eat them (no tummy ache or food hangover) and now the new snacks are becoming my new craving!

I do still allow myself an old snack once a week or on the weekends, but the difference is now I balance it out by having a more healthful dinner later on AND I watch the serving size. I used to have a “handful” of Triscuits as a snack, but what I didn’t realize is that I was having 2 to 3 times the serving size. I really don’t need that much. I am just as satisfied with 6 Triscuits. I don’t need 15!

It all comes down to a principle that my mom taught me many years back. Whenever I would go try to sit down with a bag of chips, she would tell me to grab a handful and put the bag away. If I wanted more I could get up and get more. Usually after the first handful I would realize I was full and would never get back up to get that second handful. Snacking consciously is what she was trying to teach me. Thanks for that one, Mom! You were right!

Doing the Math Part Two- Situations and Solutions: Sensible Eating

I never thought that I would ever sit down and calculate the number of calories that I have eaten in a day. But Friday that is exactly what I found myself doing. As much as I believe in “balance” instead of “dieting” the harsh reality is that the way my “balance” tends to materialize is “eat whatever you want and work it off later.” A philosophy that’s not really working for me anymore. With working a full time job during the day then coming home and being a full time wife and mom every evening…let’s just say that my 5 day a week workouts have turned into two days a week. So I am doing the math, Less Activity + Eat Whatever You Want = Time to Watch the Diet if You Want to Continue Fitting into Your Clothes.

Getting my diet under control comes down to eating less flour, eating less sugary stuff and just plain eating less. It calls for healthy portion sizes, making sure that I am really hungry before I sit down to eat and stopping when I get full. But also something that I learned in my search for a good calorie calculator is that it is important to know how many calories in the day should be carbohydrates. For me it is 700-800 calories. So when I took a look at the snacks/meals that I have been choosing, I realized that they are usually high in sugar (even if it‘s natural sugar) and or carbs (even if it’s whole wheat). Let’s just face it, too many carbs = belly fat. Time to bring on the lean protein and green vegetables.

Julia’s Cameron’s take on all this comes down to something that she calls “Clean Eating.” She explains herself in her chapter entitled, “What is Sensible Eating Anyhow?”

The philosophy is as follows: “…sensible eating, nothing too radical, nothing too strict. You eat lean when you eat moderately. You do not weigh or measure food, but you do need to be conscious of portion sizes. Stop binging on the deadly whites – sugar, flour, starches…start drinking lots of water. You eat three meals a day and two snacks, all modest in calories but not punitively so.” The biggie she leaves for last. “Clean food is food as close to its natural state as possible…That means crisp fresh vegetables and fruits, low-fat dairy products, lean proteins and whole grains.”

So my resolve this week is to keep Julia's advice in mind by keeping my carbs in check, making my snacks more balanced and making the most of my workouts, even if there are only two of them.