Wow, has it been 4 weeks already? I have a similar reputation with my family and friends...taking one bite out of something, leaving the rest; and especially having to be careful that I don't empty the entire serving dish of veggies when we're eating at a friend's. They know I eat lots of veggies, so they'll usually serve a veggie when I'm there; only the entire serving dish meant to be enough for everyone contains about the amount I'd eat by myself for 1 meal! At least the thought is there; they mean well :-)

Oh, contraceptive hormones, yes, that'll also make you need to stick to the veggies more and watch it with the carb. Good that you're trying to eliminate some plastics in your life. I've been doing that for years. It's a little more trouble or cost at times (like trying to find/buy travel mugs and Thermos containers that are stainless steel inside...I won't put hot food or drink into plastic containers) but worth the effort.

Welcome back!

And yes Bernie I've heard about chia seeds but am unable to find them in Finland :-( How do they taste? By the way, I just learned (by watching a cooking show called French Food at Home ;-)) that if you crack the apricot stone, there's an almond tasting "almond" inside :-O And you can eat it or use it for spicing. Gonna taste :-P INTERESTING.

Quick brief about the Wansink book, just "hint" wise how to eat mindlessly less. He calls them reengineering strategies:

-think 20% less: dish out less than you think you might want, you probably won't miss it (doesn't work with Zone really ;-) and the opposite: regarding veggies think 20% more
-use thin, high glasses
-use smaller plates
-see it before you eat it: preplate your food (as in EVERYTHING, the dessert as well)
-see it while you eat it ie. don't take the bones from the chicken wings away, or the wine glasses/bottles/corks, ribs etc.
-use smaller packages: if you want to buy big packs for cheaper repack them in smaller bags
-"make overeating a hassle, not a habit" ie. leave serving dishes in the kitchen, "de-convenience" tempting food, put them back and away from sight, preferrably in a not see trough cover or don't buy them (ehe ehe), put veggies/fruit or other healthy stuff out to pick it instead of cookies or candy and snack only at table and on a clean plate (I always eat straight out of packages! :-D Of course I also prepare the meals as well but I always nibble standing in front of the fridge or the cupboard.... Lovely ;-))

-rescript: eat when you're no more hungry, not until your full or the food ends or everybody else has finished, pace yourself with the slowest eater, start last etc.
-distract yourself before you snack (blah advice ;-))
-serve yourself before you start (ie. minimize the damage if you DO decide to snack by portioning it on a plate)
-don't deprive yourself: eat your favourite foods but in smaller doses
-rewire your comfort foods (like celebrate something with a slightly lighter version of your favorite treat or comf food etc.)
-beware of the health halo: people eating "low-fat" eat 21% more than those eating normal granola etc.
-think small or super-share

....and I could pick up a million things more but these for a start! ...although I think this is sort of a funny forum for these advices but on the oher hand, people who visit here are instrested in making good changes in their diet and maybe this suits quite many :-)

Hope it's interesting!

Phew. Now the poor dog ;-)

Motto: the best diet is the one that you don't know that you're on (by Wansink).

My goddess Sue your quick! :-D Nice to find a fellow nibbler slash veggie supersizer! Hail us! And I SO hear you on the veggie thing when visiting friends... Always end up eating all the salad... Like in France ;-) But I always made it as well so it was nobody else's prob and they had always some of it too :-)

Meri, I hear you on funny forum to post that in, but, not really. Yes, it's geared toward people supersize their life (and themselves with too much food,and probably not thrbest kind of food) but some of those are excellent suggestions for the Zone too. It's good to do things like distact when you don't really need to snack ("blah", lol!), put it all on your plate before you start eating, eat even when you're not hungry, etc.

Thanks for giving us the summary!

First, pardon for my numerous typos... That's what you get writing fast on a foreign language. :-)

Sue, well yes, I also think there are a lot of good ideas and that above all, it's good to question own habits sometimes and to see, how under influence we are even when we think we're not. The book shows that in a convincing way, even tho about 100% of people SAY that such trivial things as the size of a package or eating company's eating pace or music doesn't have an impact on them. Towards more conscious eating! Expose the marketers!

The book also has some note-worthy suggestions for companies to make people eat more healthy and less. Since, like Wansink emphasizes, it's not the companies that WANT people to be fat, they just want to sell a product. It's not in their interest to make people sick (or inflammated ;-)) or big or to eat too much.

One of the funniest thing was an anecdote of a guy that lost some serious weight by his own "method": he promised to himself, that every time he wanted to eat even if he wasn't hungry he had to SAY out loud (even if he was by himself I gather) "I'm not hungry but I'm gonna eat it anyway". This slogan has been very much used on our trip to France :-D ...and tho it sounds silly, it's makes the decision to snack more mindful if not prevents it.

And I just made a good job by distracting myself yesterday evening when I'd prepare myself a little evening snack: I dropped the bowl! It crashed and all my little food went all over, the cleaning up nicely distracted me... ;-) But I really wanted to eat that so I made it again. Have to start accidentally throwing my chocolates around as well to make them uneatable O_O

(well now that I started there seems to be no end for me posting! :-D)

Thanks for the tips from the book! I have heard some of those before, tricks to keep you from overeating. And, I do think that some of them mesh with the Zone, like the one about eating the veggies, and the one about visualizing the entire meal--especially if you want to leave room for dessert, you would need to account for that while eating your meal.

Yes, most are probably familiar, but the book has a lot more to offer than these advice. The appendix has even more strategies for different types of "mindless eaters". So if these hints don't seem so interesting, I can assure you the book is so much more and worth reading! :-)

Meri. I like the one about pre-plate your food. Makes a world of difference, especially when you're doing the Zone!

And now, for my big qn...are you standing on you hands or also walking on you hands (photo)?

Sue, haha, I usually can't stick to the food I've pre-plated.... Bad, bad. :-) It's funny how it's easy to pick own vices out of all the mentioned ones in the book, and also to know which of them will never be a problem.

Regarding the handstanding, I can take a few steps usually but I'm certainly no monkey or a circus acrobat! Depends on the day, now I haven't been practising that in a loooong time so prolly couldn't take even one step. Not gonna try just now tho it's tempting... ;-)

No, don't! :-) I really mean it! Here's the short version of the story of what I did 2 yrs ago (summer of 2007). I suffered a sort of whiplash injury to my neck when doing a backbend. I had the strength to do the backbend fine, but in the middle of doing it I thought...hmm...I should be relaxing my head back more...and I did, and boom the whiplash. I was already too far bent back for it to be safe to suddenly relax my head from the upright position I was holding it in. (I'm 57 yrs old, BTW, so should have known better!) I had the immediate onset of motion sickness 24/7 and a balance problem. My balance is mostly normal now, but not the motion sickness. I still have nystagmus from the accident (eye beating; a quick beating of the eyes to one side; and in my case also up and down at times) and I still have some degree of ongoing motion sickness, which worst of all is interfering with my ability to drive any distance. I'm still getting treatment, and have to do daily PT for it. :-P

Moral of the story (or me anyway), don't be too tempted when it comes to acrobatic movements!

Meri, don't get me wrong, I think that the strategies are quite interesting! I do think this is a definite "read". Thanks for sharing about it!

Welcome back Meri!!! Glad you had a good time in France. GREAT new picture!!

Your 'mindless eating' summary is great, thanks for posting it for us.

Oh CC, I wasn't offended! :-) Just wanted to emphasize how worth reading it really was. I've forced my boyfriend to read it too and now he's a bit attached to it already... ;-) He listenes to billions of audio books but doesn't like to read real books that much, but this one he's working on 'cause I have it and there's no point of paying extra for an audio versio. Which reminds me! Wansink book EXISTS also in audio version. Could be good, even tho then you wouldn't have this hands-on material to grab on the sofa when you need the advice the most... ;-D

Sue, you've really had it all in your life! So empowering to see how you've managed to stay so positive and hopeful and calm. :-) Years of pt is hard work and requires a lot of patience which many don't possess... Know that from my work as a therapist. Even tho it's a bit different since we're acute hospital and the situations' are fresh but still. By the way, motivation is an interesting thing... I mean not just in rehabilitation but like in following a diet. Now I feel myself emerging into a deep philosophical mindset and I should be leaving to a seminar :-D But I'm so glad to hear you're better already and I DIDN'T try the handstand so my soul's saved for a little while longer ;-)

Jana, good to hear from you! How's life? And thanks, don't know how much you can see from the lil pic but it was a sunny day at the beach of one of my favourite islands. <3 How's the glute? I just came from a morning run first time in TWO weeks that is I could run! I'M BACK.

Hi Meri. The pic is fantastic...you look so strong! :-)

Life is good! Oldest DD left for her 2nd year of college earlier this week and the other kids go back to school on Tuesday so things will get back to a routine around here soon which will be nice! The glute is still healing if you can believe it. I really did a number on it! I took some time off completely from exercising and now I've been limiting myself to walking (no running) and have just put back in some simple body strength exercises (squats, pushups, abs) in the last week or so. I really miss the exercise that I used to do (running everyday, good strength training 3-4x per week) but its been so busy around here lately that even if I could do it I probably wouldn't have found the time. By the time I get back to it I will probably be starting from square one again!

Meri,
Ah, that is good! Sometimes things get lost in translation, and I just didn't want you to think that I wasn't taking it seriously.

And, that picture--well, I don't think you will find me doing those! But, I never could stand on my hands when I was younger, either. I could do cartwheels, though (not sure if I can do those anymore, either--and not trying them).

Hello "green" friends !!!

love to be reading here, just came in for a little while, but kept reading...I must go now. Happy to hear about your France vacations... Great !!! I am still stuck with this supplier with problems.. but enjoy the weekends instead...
I will look for that book next time I enter USA... for today.. I willl go and get strawberrys and greens ... for my blends....
Jana and Mery....lovely pictures you've posted.... happy to read you !!!!

see you next weekend.. best regards...enjoy the week

Mri: about the chia... I can buy it here very easy and un-expenssive.

SueK... Chia as a lot more than omega6... we are taking with measurement,
We are adding chia to hot-cake mix.. (and some oats too) and tasted delicios... add chia to lemonade.. and hibiscus water... also great. I am countin towards my numbers too (blocks)

anyone have hear about canary seed??

Best regards

Yes , but for the Zone, it's very important to avoid eating omega 6 fat.

<div class='NTForums_Quote'>Posted By Sue K on 09/05/2009 8:33 PM

Yes , but for the Zone, it's very important to avoid eating omega 6 fat.</div>

I hear you about the omega 6, but I don't quite agree with the avoidance of any food that has omega 6, at the expense of losing out on the other health benefits that the food may contain.

Hi Cran, I didn't say to avoid "any food" containing it. That wouldn't even make sense because most foods contains some (meats, veggies, nuts, etc). What does make sense is the basic Zone principle to avoid Omega 6 fats in your diet. This info is prominent in every Zone book. Dr. Sears has stressed the importance of this in many conversations with me.

Monounsaturated fats are what we shoud be adding to our Zone diets, not polyunsaturated fats. It's counterproductive to add seeds to your Zone diet that contain predominantly polyunsaturated fat. Most edible seeds, including chia seeds, are not Zone friendly and should be eaten infrequently on the Zone diet, if eaten at all. One ounce of chia seeds contains 8.6 grams of fat; 6.5 of those 8.6 grams of fat are polyunsaturated fat.

Well, I guess it would be difficult to avoid any food containing omega 6 foods, but my point is that one should not look at these foods as bad just because of a high level of omega 6 content. There are some very good nutritional aspects, as well.

<div class='NTForums_Quote'>Posted By Cranberrycat on 09/08/2009 8:59 AM

Well, I guess it would be difficult to avoid any food containing omega 6 foods, but my point is that one should not look at these foods as bad just because of a high level of omega 6 content. There are some very good nutritional aspects, as well. </div>

Hi Cran!

To infer that I suggested they were "bad" (since you quoted me when you addressed this issue to me) is really a stretch from what I actually wrote. For starters, I don't think of food as being bad. This is what you will find I stated, if you look back in this thread to my original mention of chia on 8-30: Bernie, careful with chia seeds because they contain omega 6 fat.

If you're referring to fiber and ALA as the good nutritional aspects found in chia, a person gets plenty of fiber from a well balanced Zone Diet, and all the Omega 3 they need, and in a much readily usable form than in chia, from fish oil concentrates. Thanks for the info, but I'll stick with Barry Sears’ recommendations on how to consume the types of fat in the Zone. It's worked very well for me and my whole family for the past 15 years.


Have a good day. :-)

<div class='NTForums_Quote'>Posted By Sue K on 09/08/2009 9:51 AM
Hi Cran!

To infer that I suggested they were "bad" (since you quoted me when you addressed this issue to me) is really a stretch from what I actually wrote. For starters, I don't think of food as being bad. This is what you will find I stated, if you look back in this thread to my original mention of chia on 8-30: Bernie, careful with chia seeds because they contain omega 6 fat.

</div>

sue,

I guess perhaps I am not following what you are inferring. If Omega 6 fats are not bad, then why can't we eat them?

Perhaps "bad" is a poor choice of words, but I would rather carry out a nice conversation rather than get into an argument over semantics.

Re

<div class='NTForums_Quote'>Posted By Cranberrycat on 09/08/2009 10:00 AM

...sue,

I guess perhaps I am not following what you are inferring. If Omega 6 fats are not bad, then why can't we eat them?...


</div>

Hi again Cran!

Why avoid Omega 6 fat in the Zone? Is this a test to keep me on my toes, lol? :-)

It's basic Zone knoweldge that omega 6 fat is a building block of bad eicosanoids. (In the event that you have never known this, please be so kind as to forgive my attempt at humor in the fist sentences of this reply.)

Have a good day!

sue! You really should give me more credit than that.

You inferred that I was labeling omega 6 fat as "bad". Well, if you don't see it as "bad", then what is it?

And, again, my prior post with the use of the word "bad" may have been a poor choice of words, but since I posted it, I will stick with it.