Tip: Bad Habits Make Dieting a Disaster

I've been browsing through other people's food diaries recently, and I'm astonished at what I've seen. Now, I know my daily diet isn't perfect. Every time I grab a protein bar, I know I'd be better off with a piece of fruit and cheese, or a yogurt, maybe a slice of deli meat or some vegetables. But sometimes we take shortcuts. Sometimes we have a craving that just needs to be satisfied. It's OK to take a shortcut every once in a while, and it's OK to satisfy a craving. But to do it every day? While trying to diet? It just don't work that way. Here are some examples of what I saw:

1. People starving themselves. If you only eat 400 calories a day, you'll quickly lose some weight, but your metabolism with slow down, and it takes a lot to speed it back up. Trust me on this one. I've made the same mistake. It sucks. Don't do it. I can't stress it enough. Your body goes into starvation mode. And it doesn't easily come out of starvation mode, particularly if you starve yourself for days, weeks or months on end. Ultimately, you'll probably end up fatter than when you began dieting.

2. Someone whose entire daily food intake consists of poor nutritional choices. I saw one woman whose breakfast was 8 saltines with margarine, and whose lunch was a cup of brown rice. At least it was brown rice, not white, but still! That's it. No other food. No protein. No fruits and vegetables. No dairy. Nothing except a bit of starchy carbs and an artificial fat! Your body needs food from all of the major food groups!

3. People who take a moderately healthy meal, then gorge themselves on it. I saw the diary of one person whose dinner included 3 cups of steamed vegetables, 9 ounces of skinless chicken breast, 1.5 cups of rice, 1.5 cups of fried chow mein noodles, plus some sauce. Let's count that up...it's at least 7 cups of food. Picture that. Seven cups. That's 1.5 quarts of food. Nearly half a gallon!

Tip: Does Eating Carbs Make You Crave Carbs?

Over the weekend, I had a few meals that didn't perfectly fit the 40-30-30 model. I was dining out and eating at a friend's house, so I wasn't in a position to be picky and make special requests. And I think that's OK. If a diet feels like a life sentence in prison, you're not going to stick to it. So it's OK to cheat every once in a while, as long as you still make good decisions while cheating. For example, just because you're eating a high-carb meal doesn't mean you have license to gorge yourself. Eat judiciously. If you're alreay breaking the rules, don't compound the problem by overeating.

I did OK. I weighed 132 this morning, which is exactly what I weighed last Friday morning, before I went off my diet a bit. But Monday, when I went back onto my diet, I found myself craving carbohydrates. I was yearning for a bag of chips, a handful of rice crackers, a piece of fudge. I wanted starchy food, and I wanted sugar!

But I resisted. Instead of breaking my diet for another day, I made a snack of grapes (sugary!) and steamed soybeans with sea salt (they taste a bit starchy, even if they aren't). In all honesty, I think the salt also helped curb my craving, because we eat a lot of starchy foods with a liberal dousing of salt (chips, baked potatoes, crackers, etc.). So even though I only used a little salt, I got a good taste of it.

Today, my carb craving seems to have been curbed. I'm feeling disciplined and ready to stick to my diet. (I'm traveling Thursday to Sunday, so I also know that I'll have the opportunity to cheat a bit while on the road.)

Tip: Read Those Labels!

My local grocery store was having a sale on energy bars last week, so I took the opportunity to stock up on them. A lot of energy bars sell for more than $1 each, so when I see them on sale for $1 apiece, or 2-for-1, I take advantage of it. Most grocery store chains seem to put at least one brand of energy bar on sale each week, so if you are a value shopper, you should take advantage of these sales.

I grabbed a handful of bars that I'd eaten in the past. ZonePerfect bars are almost a perfect 40-30-30 blend, and Balance Bars also stick to the 40-30-30 ratio. A couple weeks ago I bought a Balance Bare Bar, and enjoyed it, so I decided to sample another flavor this week. Silly me, I didn't look at the label, because I thought I knew what it would say. Nor did I look at the label of the Pria 100-calorie bars, because I thought I'd safely eaten those in the past.

Surprise, surprise, I reached in to grab the Balance Bare bar yesterday, and realized it isn't 40-30-30 at all! The bar has 42% carbs, 38% fat and only 25% protein. That's a bit more fat and too little protein for my tastes. The Pria bars fare even worse. So I'll be returning these.

Most bars have about about 100 or 200 calories. Here's a little cheat sheet showing the ideal nutritional breakdown that you're looking for (in bars or any other food):

100 calories: 10g carbs, 7-8g protein, 3-4g fat
200 calories: 20g carbs, 15g protein, 6-7g fat
300 calories: 30g carbs, 22-23g protein, 10g fat

Tip: Dating While Dieting

I'm a single woman, and go out on dates with some frequency. Since the typical date often includes a meal, or may just involve meeting for drinks, my dating has an effect on my dieting. Here are my tips for coping:

1. Don't mention diets on a first-date. I think 9 out of 10 people would say it's a turnoff.
2. Chill out! First dates are stressful enough without having to worry excessively about sticking to your diet.
3. Make smart choices when choosing your food and drink.
4. If you have an alcoholic beverage, opt for light beer, wine or a cocktail made with water or diet soda. Avoid drinks such as margaritas, which have a lot of added sugar, and other drinks with caloric mixers.
5. For your meal, opt for a lean source of protein (such as fish, pork or chicken without the skin), prepared without breading, and two low-glycemic vegetables, preferably steamed.
6. If in doubt, eat too few carbs, not too many.
7. Keep your hand out of the bread basket!
8. Have fun.

Tip: Restaurant Strategies

This weekend I expect to eat two or three meals at restaurants. I've been making good progress with my diet, so I don't want to break my diet. I need to come up with an eating strategy that will allow me to enjoy the food while still aiming for a meal made of 40% carb, 30% protein, 30% fat. Here's my strategy:

1. If the meal is likely to be forgetable, and no one will notice if you don't eat consider a preemptive strike and eat your meal before or after you go out. I'm attending a workshop on Saturday morning where breakfast will be served. I know from past experience that breakfast will be a buffet that guests are expected to partake in before the seminar begins. I'm happy with my usual breakfast--I know I'm not missing anything by skipping a hotel meal--so I'll eat breakfast at home before heading to the event. That's one more meal which is thoroughly within my control, giving me a little more flexibility for the other meal that I'll eat at restaurants this weekend.

2. For my restaurant meals, I'm looking for a low-fat protein-focused entree. In other words, I'm avoiding anything that centers around pasta, rice or other starches. I need to add two large servings of veggies, preferably steamed, that are low on the glycemic scale. I want to make sure I have some fat, so I'll get a salad with the dressing on the side (so I can control the amount of dressing I eat).

3. I'm going to check out the restaurant's menu before I go, so I can do some preemptive planning. It's never fun to spend 20 minutes staring at a menu, mentally calculating carbs and protein and fat counts. The restaurant I'm going to on Saturday has a soup made with cucumbers (low carb, low on the glycemic scale), avocado (a good fat) and trout (protein). I also see a salad with balsamic vinegar-olive oil vinagrette (low carb, low on the glycemic scale with a healthy fat). Plus, they have two fish dishes (good sources of lean protein). In fact, my biggest challenge will be finding some good sources of carbs. I see a lot of noodles, breads, and high-glycemic vegetables such as beets, corn and potatoes. Wait! There's a salad of watermelon (medium-level on the glycemic scale) and fennel (which I think is low) with a yogurt dressing. Bingo!

Tip: Drink 8 a Day

You may have noticed that I seldom, if ever, make any notation about drinks I've consumed in my daily diary. That's because my favorite non-alcoholic drinks are water and decaf green tea (hot or cold) without sweetener. These both have no calories and no caffeine, so they count toward the 8 glasses of water you're supposed to drink each day. I love water, so I drink a lot more than 8 glasses a day. (It's just past noon, and I've already had 6 or 7 glasses of water today.)

If you have a hard time consuming that much water, here's a tip. Find a 64 ounce bottle (2 quarts, or half a gallon), and fill it up with water each morning. Then, fill your water glass from that bottle throughout the day so you can track your water consumption.

Tip: Write It Down!

Want my best diet secret?

Write down everything that you eat, and also track your daily exercise. I also make a note of my weight each day.

There are a couple benefits to keeping a diet and exercise diary.

You can identify patterns and trends. Maybe you gain weight each time you eat a particular meal. Or maybe you had a particularly good diet week, and want to repeat it. You'll know what you did to make it happen.

You'll be more motivated to stick to your diet and workout regime. I love food, and often eat when I'm not hungry. If I'm not tracking my food intake, I'd have a list a mile long of each and every thing I snacked on when I got bored and walked through the kitchen. Having to commit it to paper is a good incentive not to snack. It also motivates you to keep up your good habits. Doesn't you get a good feeling each time you enter a workout into your diary? I do!

So write it down...today.