In my opinion, if you’re an emotional eater, then your emotional eating and sugar addiction go hand in hand. Sugar addiction exists because of the feeling that ingesting sugar gives you, and the amount that you ingest will increase each time you eat and don’t get the same kind of feeling you were hoping for. The chase of that high comes coupled with a slew of calories, which is why it can become a weight issue, as well. An emotional eater can also be an extremely active person and, therefore, not have any weight issues.

It wasn’t until I failed – several times – that I realized that I simply cannot eat processed foods. Call it – or me – whatever you will, I know my limitations… and they include products created by companies who have millions of dollars invested in creating formulas (because they aren’t recipes) that the public cannot resist. The best thing I could’ve done for myself, in this instance, was making myself aware of my limitations. This is one of them. They simply trigger a part of me that I have no desire to test to determine whether or not I’m truly beyond it.

That being said, when I saw that SparkPeople has an article about beating and defeating a sugar addiction, I was overjoyed. A lot of this outlines what I endured and how I overcame my own addiction, and I think I may even add to this later on in the future. It’s really a dope start.

From SparkPeople:

Week 1: Identify Sugar and Where It’s Hiding
The first step in conquering your sugar habit is to rid your pantry and refrigerator of added sugar. Some things (think ice cream, cookies and candy) are obvious, but most of us need to look closer at where the sugar in our diets is coming from. This will require a bit of label reading in the beginning, but after a while, it will become easier.

In order to cut back on hidden or added sugar, scan the ingredients list of a food label. If you see any of the following terms listed, then sugar has been added to the product in one form or another and it is best left on the shelf at the store—especially if that sugar shows up within the first five ingredients of any food product.

This first week is about awareness. Reading labels before you buy—or bite. How many of your favorite foods contain hidden sugars in the top of their ingredients lists?

Once you have identified the sources of sugar in your diet, clean out your kitchen. Throw out or donate all of the products that contain hidden or added sugars, including any juice, soda, candy, sweets and seemingly healthy snacks like granola bars, fruit and grain bars, instant oatmeal and sports drinks. This may sound drastic, but stay with me!

Remember, you don’t have to throw away everything that is sweet! Natural sugar, like the kind you find in whole fruit, contains vitamins, minerals and fiber, which are lost in the processing of juice. Milk contains naturally occurring sugars, but also provides calcium, vitamin D and protein. So unlike soda, fruit juices and other processed foods, whole fruit and dairy products provide us with essential vitamins and minerals that our bodies need. Be wary of certain fruit- or milk-based products that contain added sugars though: flavored milk, many yogurts, fruits canned or jellied in added sugar or syrups, and the like. Opt for unflavored skim or 1% milk, plain yogurt or Greek yogurt, and whole pieces of fruit. Remember, we are trying to cut out the 151 pounds a year of added sugar, not the naturally occurring sugar found in whole foods.

Week 2: Stock Your Sugar-Free Kitchen
In one week, you’ve probably found lots of sugar in your diet. Some of it may have been obvious, like those frozen waffles or lattes from the local coffee joint. But others might not have been so clear, as sugar tends to lurk in many “diet” foods and lower-fat foods, added by manufacturers to make their low-cal offerings taste better.

Now that you know what to look for (and avoid), it’s time to replace the products you tossed with sugar-free counterparts. For example, replace high-sugar cereals with a whole grain cereal that contains little to no added sugars. Sweeten it naturally with fresh berries or half of a diced banana. Instead of snacking on candy or cookies, reach for a handful of nuts or some raw veggies and hummus. Replace sweetened yogurt with Greek yogurt or plain yogurt. Look back at week one and the foods you used to eat that contained sugar. Can you find no-sugar oatmeal? A healthier snack than a sugar-sweetened smoothie (how about a whole piece of fruit)? A more filling afternoon treat than that sugary “protein bar” (such as peanut butter on whole-grain crackers)?

When choosing a refreshing beverage to quench your thirst, keep in mind that you want to eat your calories, not drink them. Choose ice cold water flavored with a squeeze of fresh lemon or an orange slice. Or flavor unsweetened iced tea with fresh mint, crushed raspberries, or a squeeze of citrus.

One tip to help you avoid added sugar at the supermarket is to shop the perimeter of the grocery store as much as possible. Think about the general layout of a grocery store: The outside is home to fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, dairy products, and whole grain breads and the inside aisles are stocked with cookies, chips, soda, fruit juice, cake mixes, and other processed foods. Spend most of your time on the outside and only go down the inner aisles for specific products, like whole-grain pasta.

Never shop on an empty stomach and always shop with a list. Shopping while hungry can lead you to adding all kinds of snacks and impulse buys to your cart. Meal planning can be a tricky task at first, but following a meal plan is an important part of breaking the sugar addiction. It will help to keep you on track and help prevent stopping for fast food when you don’t have a game plan for dinner. Spend a little time on Sunday afternoons jotting down some meal ideas for throughout the week. Make a list of the food items you will need to make the meals you wrote down and stick to it!

Week 3: Stop the Cravings
Now you really start to put your plan into action. You’ve identified the sources of added sugar in your diet and replaced those foods with healthier and more wholesome alternatives. Your kitchen is now set up for success!

This week’s focus should be on making a conscious effort to avoid sugary foods. When a craving strikes, try going for a walk or simply drinking a glass of water. Take a hot bath or get lost in a good book. Typically any craving will pass if you wait it out long enough. But it’s important to begin understanding the difference between true hunger and food cravings. If you are truly hungry, a handful of nuts or some raw veggies dipped in hummus will sound appetizing, so go ahead and eat one of your healthy snacks. But if you’re craving something sweet or a specific sugary food, use a distraction technique.

The first week of saying no to sugar will be the hardest, but the more diligently you stick to your plan, the better you’ll fare in the end. Even a tiny taste of sugar during this time period can lead to setbacks.

After a couple sugar-free weeks, your sugar threshold will start to decrease and you will find that you no longer crave sugar or sweets as you once did. As with any lifestyle change, the first couple of weeks are the hardest. Eventually, it will become habit to reach for a mint tea or piece of fruit instead of juice and candy.

Week 4: Game Plan for Life
Now that you have yanked that sweet tooth, it’s time to devise a plan to prevent a sugar relapse. Although sugar isn’t necessary for health and it’s perfectly fine if you want to continue avoiding it, it probably isn’t realistic for most people to avoid all forms of sugar forever.

So if you want to allow a little sweetness back into your life, that’s OK. Moderation is key. Don’t let sugar and sweets become a daily habit. Instead, consider them to be special occasion treats only. With your lowered threshold for sweetness, that shouldn’t be too hard. But if you begin to indulge too often or overindulge over a short period of time (such as a weeklong vacation), you could find yourself back in trouble with sugar all over again.

If you slip up, don’t beat yourself up over it. Accept your action and decide to make a better decision next time and move on. Continue to experiment with your new, healthy foods and recipes. You’d be surprised at how many ways you can make treats healthier and use far less sugar than a recipe suggests.

And remember: It generally takes about 3-4 weeks for a new behavior to become habit, the most important thing is to stick with it.

While there are a few parts of this that I don’t agree with – “moderation” being one of them, ignoring what makes people turn to sugar in the first place being another – there are large chunks of this that I believe parallel what I’ve experienced in my own journey. And while I, also, don’t think it’s only a “four week” affair, I think that taking a long, hard look at the steps it takes to defeat a sugar addiction can give many people the leg-up they require to be successful.

Thoughts?

The Four-Week Plan For Curbing Your Sugar Addiction is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. What Is Sugar Addiction?
2. Q&A Wednesday: Sugar, Food Addiction and Backsliding
3. Take The Quiz: Do You Have An Unhealthy Food Addiction?

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Post tags: clean eating, cravings, emotional eating, meal planning, processed foods, sugar addiction, sugar cravings

But what if you’re struggling with the idea of writing down everything you put in your mouth each day? What if you become depressed at the thought of facing what you’re really eating?

What makes food journaling so hard – especially if you’re an emotional eater – is the fact that you have to admit to yourself what you’re putting in your body, and question why you made the choices you made. If you ate a certain-yellow-sponge-cake-that-we-all-know-never-molds-or-disintegrates-because-theres-no-actual-food-in-it-for-it-to-ever-mold (read: twinkie) because you were stressed out, you’ll remember that and have to face it straight up. It’s hard. It’s tough. It’ll also cause you to consider not food journaling at all… in which case you wind up getting in your own way.

And getting in our own way is one of the biggest problems with weight loss, right? I mean, realistically speaking, we think “will power” and “self-control” are all soooooo easy that all we have to do is channel some mystical thing-we-never-had-before, and all will be well.

Well, let me tell you. “self-control” isn’t something you simply “haven’t tapped into yet.” If you’ve never been able to display it before, it’ll take some self-development and self-care to learn how to build it and use it… and the struggle with the food journal is how you can do it.

Your food diary can serve more than one purpose, if you learn to multi-task it properly. It can teach you what to expect from certain kinds of foods – vegetables are always low-calorie with lots of nutrients, pastries are always nutrient-free with little fiber, meat has no fiber… so pair it with lots of veggies, etc – and it can help you feel like you’re actually making progress as you convert into clean eating. Trust me, there’s no better feeling than flipping backwards in your clean eating diary and seeing the point where you stopped seeing “Doritos” as a snack and started seeing “apples.”

It may feel like an adventure in masochism to put yourself through the pain of food journaling, but there’s always a little growing pain that comes with mentally realizing that you need to change habits you’ve lived with for a while. It doesn’t have to be all struggle, though.

So, how can you take your food diary and turn it into a much more empowering experience? Below, I’ve got four tips to help you turn your food diary into less of a chore and more of what it is – a tool to embrace as a means of changing one’s life.

Plan your day’s intake in advance. A food diary usually helps one account for what they’ve already eaten during the day… but if you feel some lack of control in admitting that you’ve overindulged throughout the day, consider mapping out the day’s intake in advance and just following the script. Before you eat, pull out your “little pink book” and check your schedule for what you’ve got coming up. Order what’s “on the menu,” and feel a sense of satisfaction in sticking to your own personally-created plan. Instead of writing down what you’ve eaten, check off the things you’ve eaten that were written down and write anything extra underneath. Compare what you “thought” you’d want to eat with what you actually ate. Did you eat more than expected because you actually needed more, or because you had an “emotional eating” moment? Did you eat less than expected because “you forgot?” Use this as an opportunity to get to know yourself, your expectations and your preconceived notions about you and food.

…and let’s not forget: if you’re planning your meals a week in advance like I’ve recommended before with “The Clean Eating Chart,” this should feel much easier for you.

Do your journaling in the evening. That’s right – don’t fret about writing down what you’ve eaten as you’re eating it (I don’t know that I’d ever recommend that, to be honest.) Enjoy your day, then do your tally at home after dinner. Is this ideal? No, but remember – even a little count-keeping helps more than no count-keeping at all. Use this as a jumping-off point to help you commit to it. Approaching food journaling in a low-stress fashion may help you commit to it further.

Document not only the foods you’ve eaten, but the foods you’ve turned down. I caught this one on YumYucky a while back.

Reverse Food Journaling is logging the uneaten.

Take my greedy azz for example. I recently desired the tastiness of some Shrimp Alfredo at the restaurant. But at the last minute I traded in the Alfredo for a lighter sauce I asked the waiter to recommend.

So there you have it: Alfredo Sauce goes on the Reverse Food Journal for the sh!tty food I had the power to say “no” to.

When you purpose to reverse journal with foods that you turned down, like I did right here awhile back, you’ll be motivated to get things on the list. And when you gaze at this journal of crappy foods, you’ll actually pat yourself on the back real proud.

Be fancy! That’s right. Get yourself a nice account with SparkPeople, grab the LoseIt! iPhone app (or whatever you Blackberry/Droid/[insert fancy pants phone] users use), or get an attractive little moleskine to help you jot down your daily intake. Make your journaling experience an enjoyable one, and that starts with not having a drab and dull food diary. Seems like a small deal, but I’ve got to admit – I felt kind of like a big deal always jotting down notes in my black moleskine… all mysterious and important-looking.

(Not really.)

Honestly, if you’re calorie counting, you’re probably very familiar with these feelings of frustration. Using one of these methods above to try to put a new spin on food journaling and calorie counting is the best way to shake up your logging routine. Give it a try and see how it works out for you today!

What do you do to keep your food journaling experience pleasant?

More on calorie counting:

• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Basics
• Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself?
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success
• Understanding Calorie Counting: A Final Word

Food Diaries: A New Approach To Food Journaling is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. No Myths Here: Food Stamps, Food Deserts and Food Scarcity
2. Hierarchy of Food Needs: How Do You Get GOOD Food When There’s No Food?
3. Does Your State Allow Fast Food Purchases On Food Stamps?

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Post tags: calorie counting, food diary, food journal, food journaling, food logging, self-care, self-control, will power

I found an article – I’m not going to say where – that basically stated that it’s a “great idea to check your weight every morning on the scale.” Actually, it said this:

Step on the scale every morning. This will help you monitor even the smallest fluctuations in your weight. Another helpful strategy is trying on the same pair of jeans every morning. That way you can actually feel how your body changes on a day-to-day basis and when your jeans fit tighter than they should. Size can often be a more real measurement of fat than weight. Whatever you chose, keep tabs on your weight.

Someone hit the brakes.

Let me tell you a personal story.

In May of 2008, I finally became fed up and decided to sign up for the 24hr gym located nearby. Inside, I found a beautiful workout center, a gorgeous bathroom, and a scale. When I first stepped on that scale, I was emotional. Teary eyed. I felt like that scale was a negative correlation to my worth… the more I weigh, the less I am worth. No, it’s not true and no, no one would openly and outwardly say it but we ALL know that actions speak much louder than words on any given day. Standing on that scale was a reminder of how I had let myself go.

I immediately jumped off of it, rushed out of the bathroom wiping tears from my eyes (there weren’t really any there, but to make sure that the trainer didn’t see any signs of emotion) and grabbed my keys, vowing to be there that night. I WAS there that night, and sure enough… I jumped on that scale. I hit the gym 7 days a week, and every day… I hopped on that scale. I don’t know what I was expecting it to tell me, because I wasn’t eating a pound’s worth of calories in one day… so I certainly wasn’t going to lose a pound’s worth of calories in a day.

Between days, though, let me tell you – I got some of the CRAZIEST numbers for my weight ever! Some days, I’d gain 4lbs, other days I’d lose 3. I mistakenly thought it was because I was busting my tail at the gym, but it wasn’t. It had much more to do with the fact that I was eating like a pig, mistakenly thinking that when it came to calories, I was burning way more than I was taking in. Womp womp.

Your Weight Can Change Daily

Did you know that drinking two liters of water a day can add up to 4lbs to your weight on the scale? That’s not to say that you shouldn’t drink water, but it’s to say that every little thing that you bring in your system can alter your weight on the scale. Did you have a nice carb-heavy dinner, and very little fiber? In other words, did you have a day with food coming in, but no food going out? That’s going to affect your weight on the scale, too! In short, when you step on the scale, there’s no allowance for “what you might’ve eaten that day.” When you step up there, you’re weighing everything on you – your clothes, your shoes, the water you drank, the food you ate, that which has not yet passed through your system… everything. That changes throughout the day, let alone throughout the week. Sure, you can hit the potty before you step up there, but there are no guarantees.

There’s also another thing – you are (presumably) losing weight. You have a mental hurdle that you have to overcome that has nothing to do with numbers on a scale. Addressing obesity demands a lifestyle change that is MUCH more important than numbers on a scale. Hitting that scale every day and seeing progress for a few days (assumedly your body ridding itself of waste) only to potentially gain again or “plateau” (again, probably only your body no longer having huge clumps of waste to rid itself of) is going to be tough to endure for the health novice. Will you mentally understand that? Will your efforts be thwarted by a lack of progress on the scale?

Orrr….

Will you realize that you’re making lifestyle changes that will help you get fit and remain fit for the rest of your life?

The important thing, here, is to realize that weight that took you months, years, or a lifetime to accumulate won’t be gone in a week. Maybe you’ll be at a point – mentally – to be able to deal with seeing “no progress” stare you in the face repeatedly. For now, it shouldn’t be your priority. Your priority should be incorporating healthy behavior in your daily activity, because the weight will just fall off after that!

Now… after reading all of that and you still think you can handle hitting the scale every day and seeing the same number even though you’re putting in twice as much effort as before, then by all means, go for it. Take this post as a warning sign of what roadblocks you can expect to encounter, and know that you can always scrap the scale until you get in a regular routine. If not? Say Sayonara to the scale and get to work!

Refuse To Be A Slave To The Scale is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Photo Proof: The Stupid Scale Doesn’t Matter
2. Rapper, Fat Joe, Loses 100lbs: “Scale Couldn’t Even Measure My Weight”
3. On A Scale Of 1-10, How Much Does This Offend You?

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Post tags: motivation, scales, weight

I’m not gonna lie — I hate this time of year. Sure, I love the family gatherings, the reminiscing, and the making of new memories… but damn, can we do it without it surrounding food? It takes a giant pot luck holiday and the promise of a full tummy to bring everyone together? Cold game!

I know that’s pessimistic, but I’d much rather have the good times and skip the whole “Battle of Thanksgiving” between my will power and the candied yams, you feel me? Besides, since I don’t eat pork, and everything is cooked in pork or beef (I’m reminded of the Boondocks clip where Huey and Granddad argue about the “Pork Flavored Broccoli”), I’m often left eating lettuce and water while the person next to me enjoys their bacon flavored cornbread. Sigh.

Having said that, I think it’s time I shared a few tips that I plan on using to make sure that I don’t leave Thanksgiving with about 5lbs of food stuck ON me, and 5lbs of booty that I didn’t plan for. ‘Cause seriously — while booty is nice, I’m going to flip out if I leave with more than I came with. Just being honest.

• Keep a glass of water on you at all times. Why? Firstly, water actually helps you fill up. Drinking water while you eat slows you down, and gives your body time to process the fact that food is being put into it. Since it takes your mind approximately 20 minutes to realize that your body is full, taking time to slow down and drink water (a vital part in weight loss, anyhow) will give your body time to realize what’s being put inside of it, and how much.
• Portions, portions, portions! I know that Aunt Pookie (hey, I love my Aunt Pookie) has the world’s best scalloped potatoes, and I know that you love ‘em and all, but commit yourself to portion sizes no larger than the palm of your hand.
• Put the satellite dish-sized plate down. I’m serious. You know y’all have those Thanksgiving-specific plates that are large enough to double as someone’s rims. Don’t do it to yourself. Stick to a regular sized plate, palm-sized portions, and allow yourself to try a bunch of different things… not simply overdoing it on the few things you love.
• Leave the obviously-store-bought-stuff… alone. I jokingly asked this question on twitter, but I’m serious. Those store-bought pies, those boxed mashed potato flakes, the scalloped potatoes that come from the Betty Crocker magic elixir? Leave it alone. Why? Foods that are processed are, well, processed – genetically engineered to be easier to chew, not leave food in your teeth, or “fill you up.” Unfortunately, it only turns back into the same powder it originated from, with all the calories and none of the “full” feeling… leaving you not only still hungry after all those calories, but on a carb high, at that. That wonderful “melt in your mouth” feeling that M&Ms has convinced us is a good thing? It might be wonderful for chocolate… really not ideal when it comes to actual food.
• Remember what the holiday is for. I know that’s a little pious, but just humor for me for a moment. If this is the one time that you get to see your younger nieces and nephews who are living out of state, and they’re forced to wait to be the last ones to eat (since they’re the youngest – you know how that goes), then stick behind and talk to them (while sipping your water) for a few moments. Play with the kids you don’t see as often as you like. Talk to your show-off cousin about his new car that he just bought, yet suspiciously has the “Avis” rental brochure still in the windshield. More talking, less eating. Entertain yourself!
• Lastly, and this is a big one: Don’t listen to anyone telling you what you do or don’t need to do for you. If someone at the table tells you, “So… you got all kinds of booty, now!” or “Why is your plate so light? Let me fix you another plate, girl, you’re too skinny!” or even (as happened to me a few years back) “Gosh, I remember when you were younger… and skinny!” be polite. Keep your composure. I’m telling you it’ll happen and you’re reading this going “Mmhmm, I can hear it now.” Don’t let it derail your holiday, piss you off, and send you running in there to those magic elixir mashed potatoes. Get your joy from the people who know how to act, don’t be afraid to be mocked for trying to focus on your health during the holidays, and for crying out loud… don’t stress out to the point where it makes you emotionally eat. If there’s ONE thing you don’t need this time of year, it’s to emotionally eat. Kid in a candy store syndrome, and whatnot.

If you should happen to let it slip that you’re watching your figure, don’t let anyone tell you “Come on, live a little” as a response. Don’t accept that. You’re surrounded by family you don’t see as often as you like. Use this time to “live” by enjoying their company, sharing stories of strength and love, and amaze yourself with how the kids have grown since last time. The last thing you should be “living” through and for on Thanksgiving… is food. To be a little corny (or a lot), the food is mainly a side dish. The family should be the main course.

Be happy, be healthy!

Surviving Thanksgiving 2011 is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Erika’s Thanksgiving Swindle
2. Q&A Wednesday: What Does A “Clean Thanksgiving” Look Like?
3. Weekend WTF Special Edition: Thanksgiving Tragedies

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On why interval training works:

HIIT taxes and maximizes both aerobic and anaerobic fitness, while cardio addresses aerobic only. Aerobic respiration requires oxygen to generate energy in the form of ATP, while anaerobic respiration does not. HIIT affects muscle tissue at the cellular level, actually changing mitochondrial activity in the muscles themselves. Studies indicate as little as 27 minutes of HIIT three times per week produces the same anaerobic and aerobic improvement as 60 minutes of steady state cardio five times per week.

Check out more at Greatist!

Looking for an app to help manage your interval training? Check out my post on timing intervals with RunKeeper.

Are you a pro at interval training? Share your experiences!

Infographic: The Complete Guide To Interval Training is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Study: Cardio Beats Resistance Training In Belly Fat Battle
2. Q&A Wednesday: Creating Your Weight Training Routine
3. Infographic: “The Childhood Obesity Epidemic”

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So… thanks to the lovely folks at Health Science for this infographic.

Looking for more info on sugar?

For clarification, at least many fruit juices – that are not from concentrate and actually come from fruit – can provide nutrients. Soft drinks cannot. It doesn’t change the fact that eating the fruit is a much better option than simply drinking its juices, though. Annnnnd…. cutting juices entirely is a key component of curbing any sugar addiction.

Thoughts?

Fruit Juices, Punches and Cocktails: Soda’s Evil Twin is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Q&A Wednesday: Should I Skip The Fruit?

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Speaking of making money for themselves, I loved the number of tiny boutiques – and tiny is not an understatement – and family shops I saw in Brooklyn. I didn’t recognize a single brand name or company name, simply because there wasn’t enough space for anybody’s big box store to come in and wipe out everyone else’s business. I also suspect there’s a commerce board working damned hard to keep it that way, too.

That’s a big part of why I’m a huge supporter of farmer’s markets. Not only do you get the home-grown fruits and veggies; not only do you get the grass-fed beef, cage-free eggs and organic milks; not only do you get the locally collected honey (a win for someone like me with atrocious allergies)? But you get this:

An abundance of families with their own product lines at the market! Making their own condiments using locally-raised fruits and veggies? I cannot tell you how much I love this! The direct opportunity to help support a local family and put some (extra?) cash in their pockets while still getting what I want? I’m in heaven.

Needless to say, on my vacay – since, as I’ve written before, I’m a weirdo who likes to peruse other cities’ groceries and farmer’s markets – I was dying to hit up the Union Square Green Market in Manhattan… and I could’ve melted in that bright, colorful batch of radishes. Beautiful stuff, here.

Don’t get me wrong. The farmer’s market in Indiana that I fell in love with was full of people with Belgian waffle makers and macerated strawberries, homemade pastries from my favorite pastry chef (who wound up teaching me a ton about baking), and jams! Jams, jams everywhere. It’s not that way at my farmer’s market in Miami, and it’s something I missed.

This is la vida locavore, or “the locavore life.” (This is also the name of a pretty awesome blog, by the way.) Being a locavore, quite simply, means doing what you can to eat foods that are grown as locally as possible. It’s not just for the environment, it’s for your health, as well. In Miami, you find lots of hot, sweet or spicy peppers for sale during certain parts of the year, usually when it’s the hottest. This isn’t a coincidence – if you’re a locavore and you find ways to fit those spicy peppers into your dishes, they help you handle the hot weather better over time. Local environments are best built to grow the things that the locals need to survive.

Doing what you can to purchase locally-grown foods is also better for your wallet. As I’ve written before:

Let’s say that you live in… some place that gets snow. Snowville, USA. Provided you don’t have some awesome locavore or CSA network that you’re affiliated with (more on those later), you’re probably getting your produce from a grocery. That grocery knows that its patrons complain when they can’t have their beloved strawberries in the winter, so what does the grocery store do? They call up their folks in Florida, and ask them to ship some strawberries up north!

Florida then puts on its cape and tights, and says “I’m on my way!” Before you know it, a giant truck is on it’s way from Florida to Snowville to make sure that this grocery store has its strawberries for their patrons to enjoy. Remember, we’re Capitalists – the grocery store doesn’t want you to go elsewhere to get your strawberries, because they know that out of convenience, you’ll just keep shopping at your strawberry place for everything else.

When you pay for strawberries out of season, you’re paying for labor – it takes effort to get strawberries from Florida to Snowville – as well as the fuel used to drive them to you. Yes, you’re paying for the gas. That cost has to be passed on to someone, and why not the customer who insists on having strawberries out of season?

Remember the great gas hike of 2008? Remember how the news kept saying that it affected food prices, but no one understood why? We were paying for the extra cost of the food being shipped to the store. The grocery store for darn sure wasn’t going to pay for that. Interestingly enough, those people who were buying their produce locally and in-season were relatively unaffected by the hike. They weren’t paying for produce shipped a thousand miles away from where it was grown… or the gas bill that comes with it.

Buying in season means that the spring time brings you lots of lemons, spinach, turnips, strawberries, kale, lettuce, celery, peppers, peas and onions. The summer gives us artichokes, broccoli, cherries, peaches, sweet corn, cucumbers, honeydew melons, raspberries, tomatoes and watermelon. We can look forward to the fall for pears, plums, pumpkins, garlic, carrots, apples, squash and zucchini. The winter might not offer too much, but as for new veggies? I’ve grown to appreciate my collard greens, brussel sprouts, radishes and cabbage.

Excerpted from Saving Money On Groceries: Buy It In Season | A Black Girl’s Guide To Weight Loss

So, basically, being a locavore not only means you save money on groceries, but since less gas is being used to transport less vegetables across the country, you’re also sparing the environment.

Going to a farmer’s market and building a relationship with the person who makes your ketchup, grew your heirloom tomatoes (yes, that’s what the hell is in that picture) and watched over your lettuces also means they’re that much more likely to give you a better deal on what you’re getting. The number of times my favorite Miami vendor has thrown in “an extra bag or two” of fruit for Mini-me because she pointed to it and asked about it… let’s just say I’m glad my daughter is so inquisitive.

The opportunity to support someone’s financial independence, build a relationship with someone who is just as local-focused as I am as well as get some damned good fruits and veggies in the process? Sure, you might not have your winter strawberries, but that’s all the more reason to learn about how to make preserves, right? I wrote, last year, about my visit to an Indiana farmer’s market where I met a Black family – the only Black family there, really – selling barbecue and fries. Obviously, I couldn’t eat any, but I supported by buying their BBQ sauce. Any way I could support and still get something I wanted out of it, I’m down. Not because it’s my obligation, but because I cared.

Being a locavore isn’t an all-or-nothing venture. While hitting up that farmer’s market is a big part of it, there’s also a few other tips you can follow to be a friend to both your local economy and environment. From PBS:

Lobby your supermarket. Ask your supermarket manager where your meat, produce and dairy is coming from. Remember that market managers are trained to realize that for each person actually asking the question, several others want to know the same answer. Let the market managers know what’s important to you! Your show of interest is crucial to help the supermarket change its purchasing practices.

Choose 5 foods in your house that you can buy locally. Rather than trying to source everything locally all at once, try swapping out just 5 local foods. Fruits and vegetables that can be grown throughout the continental U.S. include apples, root vegetables, lettuce, herbs and greens. In most areas, it’s also possible to find meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and cheese—all grown, harvested and produced close to your home.

Find a local CSA and sign-up! Through a CSA—Community Supported Agriculture—program you invest in a local farm in exchange for a weekly box of assorted vegetables and other farm products. Most CSA programs provide a discount if you pre-pay for your share on a quarterly or yearly basis because a pre-payment allows the farm to use the cash in the springtime when money is needed for farm equipment or investment in the farm. CSA programs take the work out of buying local food, as the farmer does the worrying for you.

Find out what restaurants in your area support local farmers. You can do this by asking the restaurants about their ingredients directly, or by asking your favorite farmers what restaurant accounts they have. Frequent the businesses that support your farmers.

Buy from local vendors. Can’t find locally grown? How about locally produced? Many areas have locally produced jams, jellies and breads as well as locally roasted coffee and locally created confections. While these businesses may not always use strictly local ingredients in their products, by purchasing them you are supporting the local economy.

Ask about origins. Not locally grown? Then where is it from? Call the producer of your favorite foods to see where the ingredients are from. You’ll be amazed how many large processed food companies are unable to tell you where your food came from. By continuing to ask the questions we are sending a message to the companies that consumers want to know the origin of ingredients.

Now, I’m a hippie, so the locavore life was an easy sell for me. It’s not all-or-nothing, and every little purchase helps – and yes, that includes getting your cupcakes from one of those billion cupcakeries instead of a big box store. What about you? How do you “buy local?”

BGG2WL in NYC: Livin’ La Vida Locavore In Union Square is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

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2. BGG2WL In NYC: How Do You Eat While On Vacation?
3. BGG2WL In NYC: The Effects Of Gentrification On Food Availability

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CSAs, farmer's markets, farmers market, local harvest, locavore

1. You may have started off counting your calories, but became so disappointed and surprised that you gave up after a few days;
2. You may have said you don’t want or need to know your average daily calorie count, and decided not to participate;
3. You may have not only started your counting but kept up your counting and still are;
4. Or, you may have started off counting and became so disappointed that you immediately started changing your daily diet to try to meet your daily calorie and weight loss needs.

credit: cogdogblog

As long are you don’t fall under number two, I don’t care where, exactly you fall. The reality is that those numbers you collect – be it from two days or twelve – play a monumental part in our ability to maintain and lose weight.

I’ve written about the hard numbers before, but I’d like to get into a little bit more detail about it, today. If you’ve never read my post about the basics of calorie counting, you might want to check it out.

The facts stand as follows:

• Our bodies burn a set number of calories each day based on our height and weight.
• A body carrying more weight than average is going to require more food than average to maintain that weight.
• A body carrying more weight than average is going to require more food than average to gain weight on top of that weight.
• A body carrying less weight than average will require less food than average to maintain that weight.

To put this into action, let’s use a 27 year old female who weighs 170 at 5’8″ with a sedentary lifestyle as an example.

If we plug those numbers into one of my favorite calculators, it says that she burns approximately 2,173 calories per day. What this means, is that in order for her body to manage all of the functions it needs to handle, it will burn 2,173 calories. The body will pull those calories either from the food she eats, or the fat stores in the body.

In order for her to not gain or lose any weight over a one week time frame, she’d have to eat approximately 2,200 calories. That’s what you call a maintenance count.

In order for her to gain a pound in a week, she’d have to eat an extra 3,500 calories worth of food. (Remember, 1lb = 3,500 calories.) Aside from the weight of the actual food still in her system (that is, if she doesn’t go number two regularly), if she eats, on average, 500 calories over her maintenance count each day, she’ll gain a pound.

In order for her to lose a pound in a week, she’d have to cut 500 calories from her maintenance count. So, if she made sure her average daily calorie count never exceeded approximately 1,700 calories, she would lose a pound of weight (not including the weight of the actual food still in her body, because she should be going number two regularly.)

Note: If she wants to burn two pounds a week, she can step it up in the activity department and burn approximately 500 extra calories a day – either through running or swimming or even walking – and knock out another 3,500 calories in a week. But we’re not talking about exercise just yet – that’s for next week. So for this example, she’s not working out.

So we’ve covered the obvious basics, but here’s where we go wrong.

Say she works her tail off, and gets down to 148, but decides she wants to drop down to 140. Okay, now we’ve got a goal. This is great. She keeps up her same routine – eat healthy every day, weigh herself on Saturday – because obviously it’s working for her.

Except… it stops working for her.

All of a sudden, the weight loss slows down. It’s almost two weeks before she even sees a pound fade away. She starts getting discouraged, and starts to feel like she’s ready to give up.

This is where we go wrong.

When we lose 22lbs like this, we HAVE to go back to start. What did I say at the start?

To put this into action, let’s use a 27 year old female who weighs 170 at 5’8″ with a sedentary lifestyle as an example.

If we plug those numbers into one of my favorite calculators, it says that she burns approximately 2,173 calories per day.

A 20lb weight loss alters how many calories our bodies burn in a given day by over100 calories! A woman who is 5’8″, weighing in at now 148 pounds, doesn’t burn 2,173 calories each day – she burns 2,025! If she’s counting to make sure she eats 1,600 calories each day,that’s only a 425 calorie deficit! That’s not enough to burn a pound every 7 days, it’s enough to burn a pound every 9 days. Meaning there may only be two Saturdays in the month where she sees any progress on the scale, depending upon where those nine-day markers fall.

After each successful stride in your journey, you must reassess your metabolic rate, be it for an athlete or a couch potato. You have to know what your body is doing, and you have to remember that as your size changes, your capabilities change. Remember, being conscious is a MAJOR part of not only losing weight, but keeping it off. My favorite line is “If you never eat it, you don’t have to worry about burning it off.” But you have to know what you’re eating in order to know whether or not you should be eating it, right? That’s why I calorie count!

The Math Behind Weight Loss Plateaus is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

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2. How Much Is The Weight Loss Industry Worth?
3. The Biggest Loser & The Problem With Weight Loss Porn

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 26 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: calorie counting, clean eating, dieting, Healthy Eating, metabolism, nutrition, overeating, weight loss

Let’s be real. This thing gets tough. It’s hard to give up your favorite dishes when you find out they’ve got a million calories. It’s hard to give up your favorite drink when you realize each one takes up 1/6th of your caloric total for the day. It’s easy to say “To hell with this, I’m going to Burger King.” Trust me.. I know.

To prepare yourself, take some time – in advance – to scope out some healthier alternatives to your daily intake. If you KNOW that driving past that Panera Bread is gonna make you stop in, find a different route to work. Do what you can to avoid temptation, and eventually the foods that you’re avoiding will not only lose their appeal, but they’ll become less “rewarding” to your body (meaning, you won’t get that “Mmmmmmmmmmmmm…” feeling), thus making you less likely to indulge in them.

I know some people carry a notebook or a diary all day and mark every little calorie written down… but let’s face it – that’s not a viable option for everyone. So let’s set up a sample scanario. You’ve set yourself a daily calorie level of 1400 calories. Make it easy on yourself. Break it down! 300 calories for breakfast, 400 calories for lunch, 700 calories for dinner! Ta-dow! Nothing to keep track of over the course of a day. No borrowing of calories from breakfast for lunch. Set yourself a strict goal, and each day try to get closer to maintaining it. You may not get it on point for the first few days, and that’s ok – habits developed over a lifetime won’t be erased overnight. If you’re used to getting/giving yourself what you want, it’s not going to be easy to change that. It’s ok to accept and embrace that.

When I first started calorie counting, I was cheating like nobody’s business! I have a recipe for homemade queso, right? Why was I eating it for breakfast – well over my calorie limit for that meal – and skipping lunch? I mean, my queso is deliciously healthy.. but an oversized pot of it? Naw, man! No good! Do you know how painful it is to overeat at breakfast, and not eat until dinner? Path of destruction, right? Losing the battle before I could even reach the field, right? Just awful! Don’t do it to yourself. Just… don’t.

Looking for other posts in the Understanding Calorie Counting series? Check the links below!

• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Basics
• Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself?
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success
• Understanding Calorie Counting: A Final Word

Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
2. Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
3. Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself?

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

Get BGG2WL delivered wirelessly to your Kindle! Click here for more info!

© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: calorie counting, overeating

Lucky me, I didn’t get it once. I got it at least once… a day.

While my time in Cleveland as a kid was spent in areas that could’ve seriously benefit from the privilege that the gentry (those who do the gentrifying) brings with it, my home in Indiana? Let’s just say that it’s highly unlikely that it’d ever need more money to come in. Needless to say, my experiences with gentrification are pretty non-existent.

But what is gentrification? It is, in a nutshell, when money (or perceived money, which is more important than the actual money, to me) moves in. I used to assume that it was about race, much like this guy:

“I used to think it was about race — when white people moved into a black neighborhood,” said lawyer Charles Wilson, 35, who lost to Marion Barry in the 2008 Ward 8 D.C. Council race. “Then, I looked up the word. It’s when a middle-class person moves into a poor neighborhood. And I realized: I am a gentrifier. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t like that word. It makes so many people uncomfortable.”

“Actually, I thought it was if you see a white guy in Anacostia, listening to an iPod, jogging or walking a dog!” joked Sariane Leigh, 33, who writes a blog called Anacostia Yogi, putting her hand on her hip and waving a sweet-potato fry for emphasis.

The friends fold into laughter. They agree not to use the G-word, at least for one night.

Gentrification is always a delicate topic, especially in a city where it usually has meant well-to-do whites buying up affordable houses in predominantly black neighborhoods. The trend is reflected in recent census figures that show that the District is no longer a majority-black city and by ever-whiter neighborhoods such as Shaw and H Street Northeast.

But black gentrification is increasingly redefining the G-word and changing the economics of places like Anacostia. [source]

Why am I bringing this up? After leaving Bar Sepia one night, we passed by one of the mister’s old standard bodegas (basically, a convenient store), but he did a double take… and eventually, a full stop.

“Wow, man,” was all I heard. “Gentrification is real.”

The bodega wasn’t simply a “bodega” anymore. It was, apparently, an organic produce store… with respectable prices. Hell, I can’t even get that.

Like race, money comes with its own assumptions. When money moves into a community, the police presence increases. Why? Because no one wants to bring their money into an environment where it’s bound to be stolen, and everyone knows that. When money moves into an area, businesses are quick to follow (specially if the promise of increased security is looming)… businesses providing services and products that the entrepreneurs believe would be profitable there. I mean, that’s basic capitalism. You go where the money can be found.

This has a strange effect on the availability – and quality – of food in an area. If increased presence of money means increased produce… then increased produce – by nature of trying to one-up their competitors – means increased presence of organics, which means increased presence of local produce… which eventually means decreased price. Competitors are constantly trying to one-up each other, and they do that by decreasing the price of the necessities while offering special and unique products at a premium.

This is a strange situation. Gentrification, that which has been cast off as such a dirty word (and has people, like the above, ashamed to no longer be poverty-status poor?), is actually making food cheaper. I mean, damn – never in my life have I seen an organic red pepper go for $0.99.

But is it always just the money, or was originally right? Is it who (rather, what race) is bringing the money? And furthermore, can the race element be overlooked if other “hipster/urban yuppie-ish” businesses are thriving in the area? (Let’s not play coy, here – as much as I love my yoga, seeing three yoga studios on the same block is the epitome of overkill.) A couple of weeks ago, I received the following comment from Dee, a Chicago reader:

I live in Chicago, which is a very segregated city. I do know that there are some great produce markets with good-quality, cheap produce in many of the predominantly Latin@ communities. I know that the food deserts in the city are all in predominantly African American communities — and that at least in Chicago, food access is correlated to race but not income (food deserts in poor, working class, and middle class communities.) (If you are really curious about food deserts in Chicago, there are good study reports here http://www.marigallagher.com/projects/ — I am a teacher and therefore I’m particular about language and citing my sources.)

…which takes you to this .pdf file, dated June 2011, that provides this not-so-awesome statistic for Chicago:

About 70% of the total Food Desert Population is African American. The remaining 30% is roughly an equal split of whites and Latinos.

There’s also a map in that .pdf and, if you know anything about Chicago and its “South Side,” well… let’s just say it’s easy to guess where those food deserts lie.

Now, I’m aware I went from New York City to Chicago in a matter of a few paragraphs, but it all – at least to me – ties into this:

It reminds me of the “bike to work” movement. That is also portrayed as white, but in my city more than half of the people on bike are not white. I was once talking to a white activist who was photographing “bike commuters” and had only pictures of white people with the occasional “black professional” I asked her why she didn’t photograph the delivery people, construction workers etc. … ie. the black and Hispanic and Asian people… and she mumbled something about trying to “improve the image of biking” then admitted that she didn’t really see them as part of the “green movement” since they “probably have no choice” –

I was so mad I wanted to quit working on the project she and I were collaborating on.

So, in the same way when people in a poor neighborhood grow food in their yards … it’s just being poor– but when white people do it they are saving the earth or something.

And YES black people on bikes and with gardens DO have an awareness of the environment. Surprisingly so! These values are in our communities and they are good values. My Grandmother was an organic gardener before it was “cool” –My mother believed in composting all waste and recycling whatever could be reused– it was a religious thing. God hates waste. [source]

Again, the focus on “choice,” something that – as we see often here on BGG2WL – not everyone is afforded. There’s also that class/race-defaulting thing going on here, too – if “poor people” (who are, assumedly, of color – and don’t we all assume poor people are people of color?) are just being poor by growing their own food (’cause, y’know, they can’t afford to pay all that money to eat garbage) and “white people” are assigned the noble position of “saving the Earth” by growing their own food… what are poor white people doing when they grow their own food? I mean, they’re poor, yes… but they’re not default poor, which is Black or “Brown.”

Excerpted from The Unbearable Whiteness of Eating: How The Food Culture War Affects Black America | A Black Girl’s Guide To Weight Loss

And, to me, this also very much ties into the original reason I began writing about food deserts in the first place, and that was a posting on The Root that proclaimed that Blacks have some form of hereditary slave palate that prevents them from even wanting fresh produce and quality meat, should they choose to eat it. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a ridiculous theory, but being ridiculous has never stopped a ton of people from believing it, before. It’s only a bigger deal here because that stereotype is affecting whether or not areas that need the healthier produce actually get them.

The article I quoted above speaks of Anacostia, a DC area said to be rife with “crime and violence, now offers yoga studios and chai lattes.” On that link you’ll find a map of businesses, libraries and hospitals in the Anacostia area, with one little organic grocery claiming to be “the first organic grocery store east of the river.” I can’t help but compare that to the area of Brooklyn I called home for a week or so, and the multiple organic spots we had access to within walking distance.

So, what do I get from all this? While gentrification plays a huge part in where businesses go, the money will have a hard time overshadowing the race if it is assumed that, simply because of your race, you won’t have an interest in what’s being offered. I don’t really know how to combat that.

While gentrification absolutely has its pitfalls – “Not everyone, of course, could stay. As neighborhoods gentrify, buildings are sold, landlords raise rents, and some people are forced out. In an ideal world, you wouldn’t have to wait for the dual bugaboos to arrive before you get a decent grocery store or adequate police patrols.” [source] – and its shortcomings, I’m inclined to presume that one of its most peculiar shortcomings is that even the Black members of The Gentry will struggle with overcoming the stereotypes of being “default poor.”

BGG2WL In NYC: The Effects Of Gentrification On Food Availability is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. The Side-Effects of Obesity: “Overweight Is The New Norm”
2. No Myths Here: Food Stamps, Food Deserts and Food Scarcity
3. BGG2WL In NYC: How Do You Eat While On Vacation?

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: anacostia, BGG2WL In NYC, brooklyn, capitalism, chicago, food availability, food desert, food deserts, gentrification

NASA Celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day

I know this is a pretty idealistic concept, and we all might like to give lip service to living eco-friendly lives… but who has time for all that? It’s hard enough for most-if-not-all of us to get this healthy eating thing down pat. Now, we’ve got to protect the Earth, too?

It doesn’t take much effort. In fact, being eco-friendly and clean eating go hand in hand and both can be managed by the busy lifestyler. Here are a few ways to live a little cleaner, a little greener, without costing you a ton of time each day.

"Processed cheese product"... in a jar. How.. innovative?

Ditching the Processed Products

Obviously, this is the largest factor in clean eating. Pardon me for getting a little preachy, but I see it like this – our connection to the Earth is symbiotic. We cultivate the Earth with our activity, and in return it promotes the growth of humanity. So… we have to be mindful of what we put out there. Ditching the boxed and canned foods, essentially, means less trash… going to less landfills… less air and land pollution.

But if I give up foods, how do I replace them?

Buy fresh veggies. Only buy what you believe you will cook that week. This way, you not only spend much less, but you don’t leave anything sitting and risk your food rotting. You can learn to cook the same veggie three different ways, and get more creative with your cooking style. You also don’t run into the problem of additional preservatives or salts used to preserve the shelf life of your food.

I buy things like onions and peppers knowing that I don’t want red peppers or onions every day… so I’ll take them, chop them up in the ways that I know I usually eat them, and freeze them that way. So I’ll have a bag of onions chopped in rings, a bag diced in squares and a bag cut in strips. I’ll have a bag of red peppers chopped in strips and another bag diced in chunks. I do the same with mushrooms, cucumbers, celery, carrots, spinach (the spinach I use to cook, not the ones I use for salad) and bean sprouts. I cannot tell you how much time this saves me, and it takes me a half hour. Tops.

My carrots, squash, broccoli and corn/okra/pepper blend, preparing for the freezer.

Buy frozen. Generic store-brand frozen veggies are a dollar a bag (rarely more than $2.50) and can last forever. Carrots, broccoli, string beans, onions, peppers, different veggie blends (I bought a 5lb bag of carrot/broccoli/cauliflower for $3… lasted forever) all at your fingertips, and only requiring a little steaming, baking, boiling or sauteeing.

I keep a combination of both in my fridge. I keep fresh broccoli in the fridge for salads, and frozen in the freezer for cooking.. and I never intermingle the two. I don’t cook with my fresh, and I don’t thaw my frozen for salads.

Try to find a local butcher. No plastic-wrapped chicken, no pre-packaged beef patties. You get an awesome guy (or girl) with a vast knowledge of meat, who can offer you suggestions and steps on how to prepare and preserve your meats. A wonderful butcher will never be reluctant to offer you suggestions. He wants your business.

Make your own junk food. That’s right – no matter how many green velvet cupcakes you make, I promise you the calorie count wouldn’t scrape the surface of what it is when you buy boxed cupcake mix. Seriously.

Practicing what I preach... there's my wild rice, right there!

Make your freezer your best friend. Things like wild rice, brown rice… stuff that takes forever to cook? I cook it all in one giant pot, divvy it up into individual servings, put them in ziploc bags (which I reuse), and freeze them. That way, I have my own microwaveable rice bags without all the extra salt and preservatives… and I’m saving money.

Get Your Sugar From The Earth

Meaning.. if you need sugar, go for a fruit - something that came directly from the Earth. Skip the soft drinks, fruit juices and candies. I write enough about this for folks to know how I feel about these, since all three contain high fructose corn syrup. Aside from the fact that the stuff expands your waistline like nobody’s business, it’s a direct factor in causing and inflaming type 2 diabetes. If you drink a soda, there is nothing in that but sugar, salt and carbonation. Fruits have vitamins, minerals – the stuff of life – and, well, sugar. You can’t eat fruits, in their sugary splendor, in abundance because those nutrients in them will fill you up faster than a coke can. You’re not taking in empty calories. Even though you should be moderate in your fruit consumption, you’d do better to have an orange than a coke.

It’s cheaper, too.

Drink water.

And no, I don’t mean Fiji, Aquafina, or whatever. Get yourself a nice, attractive reusable container to carry with you throughout the day, and keep refilling it. Skip the water bottles that go… in a landfill, buried where trees – or people – could live, instead. If you’re having a hard time with the taste of water, squeeze a lemon/lime/orange/strawberry or whatever in it. Freeze some grapes, use ‘em as ice cubes at home. Buy some frozen blueberries, use those. Slice up a cucumber, drop it in there. I mean, outside of being super cute and attractive looking at a table, the stuff actually adds a nice little refreshing taste to water.

Purchase a 2.5gal jug – if you must – from your local grocery. Way less plastic than the 24pk of bottles, much less trash than the regular gallon jugs, and can fit in your fridge and last a while. I drink a little over a gallon of water a day (which means yes, I don’t drink much else besides water and my evening tea) because it keeps my skin looking a lovely healthy shade of chocolatey brown.

Reduce Your Portion Sizes

Measuring cups may not be so necessary after all!

Slow down. This means that you can’t eat standing up anymore. No, you can’t eat out of the pan anymore. No, you can’t eat in front of the TV. No, you can’t sit all the food on the table and you just pass around the pans. Relax. Take the time to enjoy your dinner companions, be they friends, family, whomever. Don’t put food in between you. Leave the food in the kitchen. Eat slower. Talk to one another. You’ll find that you not only eat less and still feel full, but you will have actually enjoyed your time together at the table. That is what it means to enjoy food. Not the feeling you get from the food, but from the company you’ve kept while you ate.

Pack your lunch. Not only do you save money… not only do you create less waste… but you save calories as well. Buy yourself an attractive (I keep wanting to say cute, but I know several fellas who are taking the challenge, too) lunch pail and stock it with your favorite snacks. Your body will thank you for it.

These things all help you save time as well as money, and benefit the Earth. The goal is to reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible, and each of these tips gets us one step closer. It takes planning and preparation, but that’s why we’re discussing the challenge the week before we begin! Spend a little time today – Earth Day – and take at least one of these suggestions to heart. Every single step and every little effort counts. I promise!

Have any additional ideas? Let’s hear ‘em!

Fitting Clean Eating Into A Busy Life is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Q&A Wednesday: Is Clean Eating An Eating Disorder?
2. Q&A Wednesday Clean Eating Style
3. Now That I’m Clean Eating, What Can I Cook?

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: clean eating, earth day, ecofriendly, grocery shopping, high fructose corn syrup, portion control, processed foods, saving money, vegetables, water

, Black Girl’s Guide To Weight Loss will be explaining calorie counting, and ways to win the war. This is post 3 of the series – post 1, Defining The Basics of Calorie Counting, can be found here. Comments are always welcomed, and questions will always be answered to the best of my ability.

Keeping in mind those constants that I listed in the first installment, head over to this page and enter your information. It’ll tell you your estimated Body Mass Index (or BMI) – I know, cringeworthy, right? – as well as an estimated value for how many calories your body burns in a 24 hour time period. Then head over to this page, and do the same. Compare the two values for your daily calorie expenses, and take the lower of the values. Hold on to that number. Now, do a food journal for one day. Don’t try to eat “better” than you usually do.. just write down a day’s worth of what you’re eating. No calorie values yet.. just merely what you’re eating. During the next day (’cause doing it the same day just might depress you), sit down and google the caloric values of the foods you’re eating. Make sure you’re sitting in a leveled chair when you do… because you might just tip over.

Compare the number of calories your body burns in a 24 hour period to the amount of calories you took in during a 24 hour period. Think about the days you’ve eaten more than you did the day you wrote everything down. Think about the foods you might’ve intentionally left off the list as a means of cushioning your ego. Think about how often you eat more than what you wrote down. Is it pretty darn often? Think about the days where you eat nothing but fast food. Is your calorie count up near the 3,000s? Is it IN the 3,000s?

Setting the goal

Going back to that calorie count… take a look at that number you came up with. Weight loss is about creating a deficit – more calories burned than taken in. If you’re maintaining the weight you’ve put on, it’s because this deficit doesn’t exist. You’re either nor burning enough calories, or you’re eating too many calories. Having said that, if you create a deficit of 500 calories a day (meaning, if you eat 500 calories less than you “usually” do), you will lose 1lb a week. Create a deficit of 1000 calories a day, you will lose 2lbs (1000 calories multiplied by 7 days a week: 1000 x 7 = 7000 divided by 3500 calories in one pound equals 2lbs.) If you create a deficit of 1000 calories, and burn 500 a day walking/running, you will lose 3lbs per week (1500 x 7 divided by 3500). I’m suuure you get my drift, right? The better you plan, the better you prepare, the more likely you are to succeed.

Be honest with yourself

I’ve read several books about scientific studies in relation to obesity and they tend to say, in short: “In efforts to attempt to track the eating habits of overweight and obese individuals, we gave them a journal to document their daily intake of food. Considering the number of methods used to monitor intake, it was easy to determine that overweight people were more likely to lie about not only what they’d eaten, but how much of it they’d eaten.”

I don’t mention that as a put down – I mention that because I know I did it, and didn’t even know it. It’s another method of consciousness. It’s also another reason to make SURE you’re being honest with yourself. It’s vital to know what you’re putting in your body, so that you know what kind of dragon you need to slay. Lying to yourself might save your ego, but it does nothing for the rest of you, especially your weight.

It’s ok to admit you have very little control over your eating habits – it’s ok to admit that your discipline might be lacking. There is an industry that makes billions off of your inability to control yourself, and they have millions invested in ensuring that you never get it. It’s ok to admit that this beast is on your back. This, here, will help you gain control… and it starts with being honest with yourself.

Looking for other posts in the Understanding Calorie Counting series? Check the links below!

• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Basics
• Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself?
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success
• Understanding Calorie Counting: A Final Word

Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
2. Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success
3. Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself?

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

Get BGG2WL delivered wirelessly to your Kindle! Click here for more info!

© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: calorie counting, overeating

That leads me to my next part of the series, and that’s how to eat when on vacation.

In my mind, vacation should be a time where you’re able to enjoy the different flavorings and offerings around you. If you’re simply vacationing back home with your family? It’s an opportunity to grab a nice home cooked meal from someone who loves you. If you’re in a new city? Oh, it’s time to go exploring. Yes, yes it is.

Two awesome turkey burgers from Bareburger, an organic burger joint in Brooklyn, NY.

Now, as a person who rarely – and I mean rarely – dines out at restaurants, it was quite the change to dine out every single night for dinner, sometimes twice a night, because we’d be meeting up with other friends. I loved being able to dine at a restaurant and not be able to say “I could’ve cooked that better myself and saved my money!” Finding little hidden spots all over NYC – literally all over NYC… and I’ve got the legs and worn down high heels to prove it – that were actually inspiring enough for me to scribble down what I ate and snap photos, because I wanted to try the dishes at home.

So how do you balance when you’re out? How do you ensure that you can enjoy the good stuff, while not overdoing it? Here are my tips:

Be a food snob. I’m serious. Set standards… and abide by them. I hate to say something so cliche, but the vacation dining experience is precious and shouldn’t be wasted on crappy food, or food from restaurants that you can find at home. Nothing is more frustrating than walking down Ocean Drive in South Beach and seeing a certain super-franchise restaurant be completely full, while much better quality restaurants sit virtually empty. Don’t be afraid to try something new. Avocado stuffed with crab and shrimp? Go for it. Korean-fried chicken (which I spent days trying to figure out the “secret”?) Try it. Heaven forbid you fall in love with it!

Prioritize one meal for the day, and let that be the only meal where you “dive in nose first.” For me, dinner was the end all, be all. An apple around breakfast time, a sandwich a little later and half the menu for dinner. I’m kidding… sort of.

The Creme Brulee trio, from Alta Restaurant in Greenwich Village, NY.

Raw foods are your friend. For something quick, light and able to be eaten on the go, raw food is absolutely your best bet. I won’t even harp on the fiber, energy and nutritive benefits that come from raw foods (I’m a big raw foodie, so I couldn’t help but mention them, though.) If you’re always on the move, grab a couple pears or peaches and head out the door.

Eat only when you’re hungry. Spend that precious time enjoying yourself, not trying to get in “six small meals a day” every day. It’s one thing to cling to that lifestyle at home, but on vacation you’ve got plenty of things to do… don’t waste that time trying to stick to an old regimen in a new environment. And when you do eat, don’t overdo it. Dine on dishes that are flavorful, so that it takes you some time to enjoy what it has to offer… and allows you the time to fill up without simply stuffing yourself.

If you’re in a situation where you’re dealing with someone’s home cooking (and the quality of the ingredients is in question), eat before you eat. You might decide that you’ve “got it like that” where you can turn down anything that doesn’t meet your standards, which is the ideal, but not everyone is that far along in their journey. I’m serious – if you know that you’re at Mama’s house, and she’s gonna fry up some chicken just the way you love (loved?) it, complete with flours and strange frankenstein-ish oils, then creep to the store and grab a small bowl of pre-cut and pre-chopped pineapple or watermelon and eat those before dinner. You might lose your appetite entirely, or you may very well decide to taste those familiar tastes and see if they have the same effect on you as they did before.

The funny thing about these tips is that, really, you can – and should – live this way at home. The reason so many of us don’t has more to do with converting out of our previously unhealthy lifestyles, and the habits we’re battling and learning to compromise with. You never know – you very well might be able to use your vacation to jump start a few changes at home!

What did I leave out? How do you eat healthily while on vacation?

BGG2WL In NYC: How Do You Eat While On Vacation? is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

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1. BGG2WL In NYC: How Do You Remain Active While On Vacation?
2. Fit Chick Watch: Rihanna On Vacation (#RihannaAppreciationDay)
3. BGG2WL In NYC: The Effects Of Gentrification On Food Availability

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: BGG2WL In NYC, Healthy Eating, lifestyle, vacation

I bought myself an iTouch. Just… because. I figured if I was going to throw myself into disappointment again, I’d at least do it with a new toy. Sure enough, I got hooked. Music? AND videos? AND apps? Wait… what are apps? After a little snooping around, I find out that I can keep up with news, play games, and do actual important stuff with these things. Neato.

So, I go lookin’, and lookin’, and lookin’… and I find an app called Lose It! that basically operates as a food journal. I once purchased a little black notebook where I’d write down everything I ate, but it quickly lost steam for me. LoseIt!, for some reason, was easier for me.

Using LoseIt!, I was able to input what I weighed at the start, what my goal weight was, and when I wanted to reach it. I added the foods I ate during the day – as honest as I could – and I added the amount of water and other drinks I drank.

When I tell you this was the most powerful thing I could’ve done for myself… believe it!

Now, mind you. I’m not necessarily advocating you go out and get the LoseIt! app (although, as of this writing, it is free and anyone who has an iTouch or iPhone really should look into it) because not everyone has or uses the iPhone/iTouch. The downside to the app, for me, is that it doesn’t allow you to input the time at which you ate. The LoseIt! app also, supposedly, mines data from our inputs as well, and some people might not be thrilled with that. (Yes, I AM usually the conspiracy theorist here, but the benefit outweighed the data collecting, to me.)

What I AM advocating, is the use of a food diary. My food diary showed me exactly where my problems were. I was eating too much of… well, everything. I had no portion control. I was partaking in a giant amount of fat and sugar. My carb meters were off the charts. I simply wasn’t doing what I knew in my heart I needed to do. Taking in over 2100 calories a day wasn’t going to help me lose weight. In fact, the only reason I didn’t gain astronomical amounts of weight was because of the 7-10 hours a week I was spending in the gym. After 6 months and only losing 20 lbs, something needed to really change.

The first two weeks of using my food diary were painful. I was able to track my carb, fat, sodium, fiber, protein, cholesterol and caloric intake. I spent lots of time researching what I was putting in my body in terms of fast food and restaurants, and the nutritional values for those meals. Seeing the numbers in front of me was painful. Painful! I used to LOVE tearing into a Checkers/Rally’s Fried Chicken Sandwich with large fries and a banana shake… until I started looking for their nutritional information.

That’s when it started hitting me like a ton of bricks:

An order of large fries from Checkers? 590 Calories, 38g of fat (20g of saturated fat, 2g of trans fat), 40mg of cholesterol, 1410mg of sodium, 7g of protein, 57g of carbohydrates.

The chicken sandwich? 740 calories, 41g of fat (13g saturated), 70mg of cholesterol, 2190mg sodium, 60g of carbohydrates (13g sugars), and 34g of protein.

And lastly, but certainly not least? The banana shake: 650 calories, 18g of fat (14g saturated), 75mg of cholesterol, 300mg sodium, 105g of carbohydrates (81g sugars), and 16g of protein.

What was I doing to myself? Don’t you know, I had to break out a calculator to tabulate how much I was putting into my body in ONE MEAL? 1,980 calories – almost the value of what’s recommended to take in over the course of one day. 3900mg of sodium. 222g of carbohydrates, about 40% of it being sugar. Seriously… what was I doing to myself? And why did it take me actually writing it down and committing myself to researching it for me to truly see it? Why didn’t I KNOW what I was doing to myself? (That’s another post entirely, but we won’t talk about that today.)

Slowly, I began to wean myself off of things that were doing me in. I no longer ate fast food. Sure enough, I lost almost 8 lbs immediately. Strange, huh?

A food diary highlights the weaknesses in your diet. It shows you patterns in your eating habits that you might not’ve noticed. Do you eat a lot of fried foods? How about a lot of bread? Do you have one heck-uv-a-sweet tooth? Maybe you eat a lot of foods that require TONS of seasoning? Variety, literally, is the spice of life.. and a food diary is the best way to show you where you could inject a little bit of just that – variety.

Make it a healthy day!

Considered Keeping a Food Diary? is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Weekend WTF: Have You Considered Trying The Poop Burger?
2. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Eating Disorders When Dieting Wasn’t Enuf
3. Food Diaries: A New Approach To Food Journaling

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: black girls guide to weight loss, Fast Food, overeating, restaurants

For our first series ever, Black Girl’s Guide To Weight Loss will be explaining calorie counting, and ways to win the war. This is post 2 of the series – post 1, Defining The Basics of Calorie Counting, can be found here. Comments are always welcomed, and questions will always be answered to the best of my ability.

Calorie counting is comprised of two elements:

• A) Gauging approximately how many calories you burn in a given day, and
• B) Setting a total calorie maximum for how many calories you will take in during a 24 hour time frame.

This is a very controlled method for managing caloric input – not eating anything unless you know how many calories it will add to your daily total. That means… if you’re planning to visit a restaurant? You’d better google those nutritional values for their dishes, and pick a dish that will keep you under your caloric intake.

Conscious eating, and the power of “No”

This also requires a LOT of consciousness. It forces you to consider the things you eat every day – every… day – without thinking. Do you leave the house in search of the nearest Starbucks to get your morning Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino? Well, if you’re calorie counting, you’d have to consider that your morning drink (not even food!) costs you 750 calories, 120grams of sugars, and 15grams of fat. Say you don’t hit Starbucks in the morning. Instead, you give yourself an extra 20 minutes and hit up McDonalds for a Deluxe Breakfast. Calorie counting? You’d need to know – in advance – that this entire meal just cost you 1,370 calories, 161grams of carbohydrates, and 64.5grams of fat (consider that, on average, MY fat intake value for a person 6′ fall at ~200lbs is no more than 80grams… that’d leave me 15.5 grams to enjoy the rest of the day!) without even mentioning the 2,335mg of sodium. McDonalds’ would’ve screwed up your whole calorie day! You would’ve been inhaling kool-aid packets all day for sustenance!

Calorie counting requires a LOT of what I refer to when I say conscious consumerism. It means taking 10 seconds to think about what you’re preparing to do before you do it. Did a co-worker come over to your desk and ask you to dip out with her and dine at Macaroni Grill after work? Is your favorite dish the Parmesan Crusted Sole? Well how, exactly, does 2,190 calories, 141grams of fat, and 145grams of carbohydrates fit into your total caloric intake? Do you think you can go without ordering your favorite dish out of habit? You spot that the Pollo Magro is only 320 calories.. could you commit yourself to ordering that instead? Can you be honest with yourself and say “No” if you really can’t do it? Do you have the wherewithal to tell your co-worker “No” if you know the temptation is too great?

Trust me, it takes about ten seconds to run this scenario through your mind one good time, if you’re being honest with yourself. And I’ll admit it – in the beginning of MY experience with calorie counting, I had to learn the QUICK way how to simply say “No.” It might even make you feel like you’re talking to yourself… and then you might feel awkward because you actually respond, but it’s for the better. That “No” is important, because it is FAR easier than “Let me get an Egg McMuffin (300 calories, 12g fat, 30g carbohydrates – less fat than that Starbucks drink that I mentioned up there) instead of that big giant dish of pancakes… mmm, with that syrup… oh, and that hash brown? Hmm…” Please believe, in 2 seconds flat, it turns into “Actually, let me just get the Deluxe Breakfast instead.” You must be at the ready. No auto-pilot. You must always be conscious.

Calorie counting requires that you take a long…hard…look at the foods you’re eating at home. Lots of microwaveables? Calorie counting demands that you take a hard look at each item. Could you make this better at home? If not – and that’s OK if you can’t – would you be better off with another dish, instead? Look long and hard and the caloric values on that nutrition label. Does it say 1 serving is equal to 400 calories? If so, does it say that there are actually TWO servings in the entire dish? You know, the dish packaged like it’s made for only one person? You have to be conscious!

Looking for other posts in the Understanding Calorie Counting series? Check the links below!

• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Basics
• Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself?
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success
• Understanding Calorie Counting: A Final Word

Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
2. Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success
3. Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself?

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

Get BGG2WL delivered wirelessly to your Kindle! Click here for more info!

© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: calorie counting, overeating

But how can we enjoy the holiday without screwing with our goals? Never fear, I’ve got my personal guide to successfully sailing through the cookouts and parade food without the struggle, the guilt, and the heartburn. (Let’s not act like Cousin Pooh’s pot o’spaghetti with the cheap tomato sauce doesn’t come complete with it’s own salt mine and chest pain. Yuck.)

1. Keep a glass of water on you at all times. Why? Firstly, water actually helps you fill up. Drinking water while you eat slows you down, and gives your body time to process the fact that food is being put into it. Since it takes your mind approximately 20 minutes to realize that your body is full, taking time to slow down and drink water (a vital part in weight loss, anyhow) will give your body time to realize what’s being put inside of it, and how much.
2. Portions, portions, portions! I know that Aunt Pookie (hey, I love my Aunt Pookie) has the world’s best scalloped potatoes, and I know that you love ‘em and all, but commit yourself to portion sizes no larger than the palm of your hand.
3. Put the satellite dish-sized plate down. I’m serious. You know y’all have those Thanksgiving-specific plates that are large enough to double as someone’s rims. Don’t do it to yourself. Stick to a regular sized plate, palm-sized portions, and allow yourself to try a bunch of different things… not simply overdoing it on the few things you love.
4. Leave the obviously-store-bought-stuff… alone. I jokingly asked this question on twitter, but I’m serious. Those store-bought pies, those boxed mashed potato flakes, the scalloped potatoes that come from the Betty Crocker magic elixir? Leave it alone. Why? Foods that are processed are, well, processed – genetically engineered to be easier to chew, not leave food in your teeth, or “fill you up.” Unfortunately, it only turns back into the same powder it originated from, with all the calories and none of the “full” feeling… leaving you not only still hungry after all those calories, but on a carb high, at that. That wonderful “melt in your mouth” feeling that M&Ms has convinced us is a good thing? It might be wonderful for chocolate… really not ideal when it comes to actual food.
5. Remember what the holiday is for. I know that’s a little pious, but just humor for me for a moment. If this is the one time that you get to see your younger nieces and nephews who are living out of state, and they’re forced to wait to be the last ones to eat (since they’re the youngest – you know how that goes), then stick behind and talk to them (while sipping your water) for a few moments. Play with the kids you don’t see as often as you like. Talk to your show-off cousin about his new car that he just bought, yet suspiciously has the “Avis” rental brochure still in the windshield. More talking, less eating. Entertain yourself!
6. Lastly, and this is a big one: Don’t listen to anyone telling you what you do or don’t need to do for you. If someone at the table tells you, “So… you got all kinds of booty, now!” or “Why is your plate so light? Let me fix you another plate, girl, you’re too skinny!” or even (as happened to me a few years back) “Gosh, I remember when you were younger… and skinny!” be polite. Keep your composure. I’m telling you it’ll happen and you’re reading this going “Mmhmm, I can hear it now.” Don’t let it derail your holiday, piss you off, and send you running in there to those magic elixir mashed potatoes. Get your joy from the people who know how to act, don’t be afraid to be mocked for trying to focus on your health during the holidays, and for crying out loud… don’t stress out to the point where it makes you emotionally eat. If there’s ONE thing you don’t need this time of year, it’s to emotionally eat. Kid in a candy store syndrome, and whatnot.
7. If you should happen to let it slip that you’re watching your figure, don’t let anyone tell you “Come on, live a little” as a response. Don’t accept that. You’re surrounded by family you don’t see as often as you like. Use this time to “live” by enjoying their company, sharing stories of strength and love, and amaze yourself with how the kids have grown since last time. The last thing you should be “living” through and for on Thanksgiving… is food. To be a little corny (or a lot), the food is mainly a side dish. The family should be the main course.

I’m going to add another component to this. Make all your choices clean ones, and that’s your best bet against overeating, binging, caving into emotional eating aaaaaaaand it will help you save the world. Maybe not so much the saving the world part, but everything else, for sure. If you strive to keep your choices clean ones, you’ll have nothing to feel guilty about. That’s the best way to approach your journey, and that’s the best way to live – not just lose weight!

(‘Cause if you think I won’t be on the hunt for a conch fritter, you’ve got another thing comin’.

What’d I miss? What would you add to the guide?

Making It Through Labor Day: My Personal Holiday Guide is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. My Personal Guide To Getting Through The Holidays
2. Q&A Wednesday: I’m Not Gonna Make It Through Labor Day!
3. Beyoncé’s Personal Fitness Mantra: Do You Have One?

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Post tags:

Black Girl’s Guide To Weight Loss will be explaining calorie counting, and ways to win the war. This is post 4 of the series – post 1, Defining The Basics of Calorie Counting, can be found here. Comments are always welcomed, and questions will always be answered to the best of my ability.

What do you get from calorie counting, you may ask? Let me tell you what it did for me (really, that’s all I can do at this point, LOL.)

Calorie counting reinforced my ability to be a conscious consumer. Meaning, I am much more able, now, to really take a good hard look at what I’m eating and gauge exactly how much I’m putting into my mouth. I no longer have the insane portion distortion from which I used to suffer.

Calorie counting gave me the ability to say “No.” Checkers? “No.” Big greasy 2,000 calorie lo mein platter from PF Chang? “No.” Eating half a box of fried taquitos in one sitting? “No.” Firecracker Stuffed [with cheese and everything else under the kitchen sink and fried] Jalapenos wiiiiiiiiiiiiith the entire thing of Chili Con Queso (1,950 calories, 134g of fat, and 6,540 milligrams of sodium) from On the Border? “Hell No.” I haven’t even BEEN to Checkers in 7 months. I’m starting to think I’d like to keep it that way. My newly developed self control allows me to follow through on that thought.

Calorie counting taught me how to gauge what’s in what I’m eating, thanks to all the looking up I did. (Note: Mind you, I OD’d on the looking up, thanks to that Lose It! app for the iPhone/iTouch, of foods just because I could.. no one has to be that obsessive with it to be successful. Looking it up the night after is just as effective.) I can now gauge how many calories is in that alfredo dish at Olive Garden. I can guess how many calories are in that KFC macaroni salad. I now know to avoid most dishes with a creamy consistency because of the potential fat levels, and that’s without even looking it up. I now know to avoid most salads at restaurants without telling them “cheese, avocado, dressing, and any other fattening mess on the side, please.”

Calorie counting taught me how to be more aware of what I was feeding my family. Please believe that it’s made me a more watchful cook for the people who eat from my kitchen. This has resulted in us all becoming healthier.

Calorie counting has helped me to understand my limits. I can’t control myself when it comes to goldfish crackers. I can control myself if I have ginger snaps in the house. My daughter might despise me for not keeping goldfish in the house anymore, but she’s happy with how I doll up her ginger snaps. Less sodium for her, too.

Calorie counting made me aware of the empty calories I was eating or specifically for me… the empty calories I was drinking. I eventually gave up sodas, except for mixing them with my alcohol… but then I eventually gave up alcohol. I occasionally had pop when I had an ice cream float, but then I stopped eating so much ice cream! It just became less of an indulgence for me. If my favorite soda was 200 calories in each time I drank it, and I’m only allowed 400 calories for lunch… what on Earth am I supposed to eat with it? Two pieces of cardboard? Pfft!

As I think of more benefits, I’ll probably edit this and add more.

Looking for other posts in the Understanding Calorie Counting series? Check the links below!

• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Basics
• Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself?
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success
• Understanding Calorie Counting: A Final Word

Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself? is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
2. Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
3. Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

Get BGG2WL delivered wirelessly to your Kindle! Click here for more info!

© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: calorie counting, fat loss, overeating

The future Mister, Mini-me, the dogs – Sala and Sushi – and I all packed up and spent ten days in NYC. For a girl like me whose been almost everywhere except NYC? This was quite the experience… so much so, that all of my posts this week are going to be centered around vacationing and how to carry your lifestyle through when you’re no longer in the comfort of your own home.

I always get tons of e-mails asking me how one should work out while they’re on vacation. I mean, sure, if you’ve got access to a gym in a hotel you simply get up an hour earlier and hit the shop… but what if you’re staying with a friend?

I’m a big proponent of the morning workout. Why? Because… I’m vacationing! After that initial wake-up and workout? I’m going to be hellbent on relaxing the rest of the day. I simply don’t trust myself to break that with a workout… which, I’ve got to admit, isn’t always as fun as laying out on the beach or exploring a new city.

Me, Sala and Sushi getting in a (very brief) jog.

That being said… there’s also this interesting thing about a place like NYC that I don’t see too often. (And I’m sure NYCers/visitors may understand where I’m going with this.) I don’t think NYC likes cars very much.

At all, really.

In a city where pedestrians really and truly rule, you can either burn a quarter-tank of gas looking for parking, pay the $26/hr in a parking lot, or figure out how to use that subway and those legs you’ve got. And you’d better make that decision. Quickly.

Y’all know me. I’m cheap. Walking it is.

…and that brings me to another part of this “fitness on vacation” thing. You’ve also got to know how to sneak a little exercise into your vacay, too. Suppose you’ve spent last night out, and wentto bed at 4AM (I’m not saying that happened to me…. but if it did, don’t judge!) The last thing you want to do is wake up at 6AM and work out. I mean, if that’s your thing, then hey – have at it – but if not? (And I wouldn’t be mad at you if it wasn’t.) Then sneaking fitness into your day is definitely going to be a win.

After spending well over a week’s worth of time in a building with no elevator – and having to walk up and down 4 flights of stairs to get to our place at least 3 times a day? I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that my booty, thighs and calves didn’t feel the burn. That was a kind of struggle I wasn’t ready for, shoot.

If you’re in a new area? Go exploring… in different directions… every day…on foot. Make the most of your vacation time and go exploring. If you’re in an area that doesn’t really have much, then drive to an area that does… and park. We’d ride the subway to one part of Manhattan, walk across the city, make our way back to where we started by taking different streets in the same direction, and then head home. We easily clocked 8 miles wandering around Brooklyn in one day… another 6 by wandering around Manhattan.  Most of us have smart phones, so grab your favorite GPS app (or head right on over to Google Maps) and plot yourself a path. Get the most out of your time away!

Exercise isn’t solely a bunch of stiff and rigorous activities with repetitive motions and minimal context. Not only that, but you can definitely remain active without those same stiff activities. The bottom line is that you get (and stay) moving as much as possible, and that you enjoy yourself while you do it! You are on vacation anyway, and that’s what you’re there to do… right?!

What about you – how do you remain active while you’re away from home?

BGG2WL In NYC: How Do You Remain Active While On Vacation? is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

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3. BGG2WL In NYC: The Effects Of Gentrification On Food Availability

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: BGG2WL In NYC, calisthenics, Cardio, vacationing

Black Girl’s Guide To Weight Loss will be explaining calorie counting, and ways to win the war. Comments are always welcomed, and questions will always be answered to the best of my ability.

A reader hit me up with a question about calorie counting. Basically, sharing with me that for her goal of losing a couple of pounds a week, there’s information all across the Internet saying to shoot for a goal of 1200-1500 calories.

That’s all well and good, but… what if that’s what you were eating before? How do you take in 1500 calories? Where do you go from where you are now?

Let me explain what calorie counting is, and what it does for a person. Then we can get into appropriate calorie numbers.

First, the constants. What I mean by “constants” is the concepts that will be the same no matter WHO you are, how much you weigh, how tall you are, how much you want to lose, or how active you are. So far so good?

The Constants

1. Pounds. Three thousand five hundred (3 500) calories is equal to a pound. What this means is that for every 3500 calories you burn, you will have burned a pound’s worth of energy.
2. Calories. Calories are what your body burns in order to function. (Think of when you hit a cardio machine in the gym, and it tells you how many calories you’ve burned so far – it’s telling you the amount of energy your body has used thus far in order to do your exercise.)
3. Metabolism. Metabolism manages this behavior. Meaning, when your body needs energy to carry out a function – be it running a mile or eating a steak – your metabolism facilitates that energy burst. Provided you don’t have a thyroid problem, your metabolism is able to move as quickly or as slowly as you do. WebMD says that it “not only convert food into fuel but also affect how efficiently you burn that fuel.”
4. Weight loss. Weight loss is absolutely about creating a deficiency in calories taken in so that there is an excess of calories burned. No matter how you managed to find yourself overweight, the bottom line still stands – we will all lose it the same way.

The Sticky Part

1. Pounds. We all weigh differently, and we all got our excess weight in different manners. For me, it was a combination of college and pregnancy. For my best friend, it was a strong decrease in activity levels between jobs. For my professor, it was emotional eating. Some of us have always been overweight, and others of us packed on a large amount of weight in a small amount of time. (As I currently state in my about-me section, I packed it on at a rate of 20lbs per year. Yikes.)
2. Calories. We all eat different amounts! Why? Because we all weigh differently, live in different climates, and our bodies react differently to certain calorie levels. To the person who might be burning a ton of calories but yet is still eating more than she’s burning per day, to the person who may have a great day with calorie levels only to follow it up with a day horrible enough to ruin three good eating days. We all are in the same boat, we all got there the same way (eating more than we burned,) but where we’re coming from will differ.
3. Metabolism. Our metabolism – our body’s ability to use energy and use it properly – changes over time. In our teens, our bodies are always burning energy like crazy because we’re growing. When we’re pregnant, our bodies are burning an excess of energy because we’re facilitating a life inside of our bodies. As we age, our metabolism’s power decreases by about 5% per decade. The amount of activity our bodies have to endure determines how fast and how often our metabolism moves. So, yes… you could keep your metabolism burning by eating all day – but are you eating celery sticks or cheetos?
4. Weight loss. After a very long back-and-forth debate with a visitor, I’ve learned that some of us are simply beaten. For one reason or another, we believe this struggle is much more difficult than it actually may be, and that’s without trying it the old-fashioned way. Our 40s, 50s, and 60s babies didn’t have to fight demons like this, because their food was actually food when they were in their 20s and 30s. Their portions were smaller… so it was nothing to “clean their plates.” Their dishes were more wholesome. They weren’t devouring 7-layer dips, or pound-sized bowls of pasta when they went out to eat. They simply were unequipped to handle the struggle, and so we’re all left feeling a little helpless. We all are a bit clueless as to why we’re less healthy, why we can’t get this burden off our backs, and how we can successfully lose these last few nagging pounds.

Having said all that, now I think we’re ready to get down to business.

Looking for other posts in the Understanding Calorie Counting series? Check the links below!

• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Basics
• Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself?
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success
• Understanding Calorie Counting: A Final Word

Understanding Calorie Counting: The Basics is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
2. Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
3. Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

Get BGG2WL delivered wirelessly to your Kindle! Click here for more info!

© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: calorie counting, overeating

I know that’s pessimistic, but I’d much rather have the good times and skip the whole “Battle of Thanksgiving” between my will power and the candied yams, you feel me? Besides, since I don’t eat pork, and everything is cooked in pork or beef (I’m reminded of the Boondocks clip where Huey and Granddad argue about the “Pork Flavored Broccoli”), I’m often left eating lettuce and water while the person next to me enjoys their bacon flavored cornbread. Sigh.

Having said that, I think it’s time I shared a few tips that I plan on using to make sure that I don’t leave Thanksgiving with about 5lbs of food stuck ON me, and 5lbs of booty that I didn’t plan for. ‘Cause seriously — while booty is nice, I’m going to flip out if I leave with more than I came with. Just being honest.

1. Keep a glass of water on you at all times. Why? Firstly, water actually helps you fill up. Drinking water while you eat slows you down, and gives your body time to process the fact that food is being put into it. Since it takes your mind approximately 20 minutes to realize that your body is full, taking time to slow down and drink water (a vital part in weight loss, anyhow) will give your body time to realize what’s being put inside of it, and how much.
2. Portions, portions, portions! I know that Aunt Pookie (hey, I love my Aunt Pookie) has the world’s best scalloped potatoes, and I know that you love ‘em and all, but commit yourself to portion sizes no larger than the palm of your hand.
3. Put the satellite dish-sized plate down. I’m serious. You know y’all have those Thanksgiving-specific plates that are large enough to double as someone’s rims. Don’t do it to yourself. Stick to a regular sized plate, palm-sized portions, and allow yourself to try a bunch of different things… not simply overdoing it on the few things you love.
4. Leave the obviously-store-bought-stuff… alone. I jokingly asked this question on twitter, but I’m serious. Those store-bought pies, those boxed mashed potato flakes, the scalloped potatoes that come from the Betty Crocker magic elixir? Leave it alone. Why? Foods that are processed are, well, processed – genetically engineered to be easier to chew, not leave food in your teeth, or “fill you up.” Unfortunately, it only turns back into the same powder it originated from, with all the calories and none of the “full” feeling… leaving you not only still hungry after all those calories, but on a carb high, at that. That wonderful “melt in your mouth” feeling that M&Ms has convinced us is a good thing? It might be wonderful for chocolate… really not ideal when it comes to actual food.
5. Remember what the holiday is for. I know that’s a little pious, but just humor for me for a moment. If this is the one time that you get to see your younger nieces and nephews who are living out of state, and they’re forced to wait to be the last ones to eat (since they’re the youngest – you know how that goes), then stick behind and talk to them (while sipping your water) for a few moments. Play with the kids you don’t see as often as you like. Talk to your show-off cousin about his new car that he just bought, yet suspiciously has the “Avis” rental brochure still in the windshield. More talking, less eating. Entertain yourself!
6. Lastly, and this is a big one: Don’t listen to anyone telling you what you do or don’t need to do for you. If someone at the table tells you, “So… you got all kinds of booty, now!” or “Why is your plate so light? Let me fix you another plate, girl, you’re too skinny!” or even (as happened to me a few years back) “Gosh, I remember when you were younger… and skinny!” be polite. Keep your composure. I’m telling you it’ll happen and you’re reading this going “Mmhmm, I can hear it now.” Don’t let it derail your holiday, piss you off, and send you running in there to those magic elixir mashed potatoes. Get your joy from the people who know how to act, don’t be afraid to be mocked for trying to focus on your health during the holidays, and for crying out loud… don’t stress out to the point where it makes you emotionally eat. If there’s ONE thing you don’t need this time of year, it’s to emotionally eat. Kid in a candy store syndrome, and whatnot.

If you should happen to let it slip that you’re watching your figure, don’t let anyone tell you “Come on, live a little” as a response. Don’t accept that. You’re surrounded by family you don’t see as often as you like. Use this time to “live” by enjoying their company, sharing stories of strength and love, and amaze yourself with how the kids have grown since last time. The last thing you should be “living” through and for on Thanksgiving… is food. To be a little corny (or a lot), the food is mainly a side dish. The family should be the main course.

Be happy, be healthy!

My Personal Guide To Getting Through The Holidays is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

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2. Beyoncé’s Personal Fitness Mantra: Do You Have One?
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The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: emotional eating, holidays, social eating