Mindful Eating: Wait… Did I just eat that?

December 24, 2012December 24, 2012 / ktbuchs87

Oh the holidays! What a wonderful time of friends, family, and food! How many of you have been in this situation? You’re at a Christmas party, there is food EVERYWHERE, people all around talking, laughing, drinking, having a good time. You are enjoying the rush of holiday spirit and look down at your plate and realize you have downed five pigs in a blanket, a mountain of chips and dip, and there are still cookie crumbs on your face. You know you had a full plate just a minute ago, but you can’t remember finishing any of it.

Unfortunately, this happens all too often, and not just at Christmas time. I’ve been just as guilty of plopping myself in front of the TV for dinner and inhaling my meal without even remembering the taste of what was on my plate. Or how about the mindless snacking that just seems to go hand in hand with surfing the internet? What would Facebook-stalking your friends be without that endless bag of Doritos? We have become a society that has gotten really good at multitasking, but multitasking while eating can be detrimental to your health.

Enter mindful eating. Maybe you have heard/seen/read about this idea but never really gave much thought to it (pun intended there). This idea has been picking up speed and support here in the United States for the past few years, but the practice of mindfulness has been around for much longer than that. In Buddhist culture, they have been practicing the art of mindful eating for thousands of years. So what is mindful eating exactly? In the simplest terms, it is being completely present and aware of everything that goes in to the act of sitting down and eating a meal. Not just the taste of food, but the smell, the sight, the texture, and the ambiance around you. It is really focusing on being in the moment, so to speak, with your food.

Now, I can see some of you rolling your eyes at the computer screen. “Great. She is one of THOSE people. How long before she has us hugging trees and dancing around with scarves to advocate healthy eating?” No, I am not one of THOSE people, although there is nothing wrong with them and I do a pretty wicked healthy food scarf dance. Mindful eating doesn’t have to be some crazy spiritual food experience to be helpful to you and your health. There have been numerous studies and research products on the effects of mindful eating on a healthy diet. And a lot of them have shown very positive results.

Over the next few posts, I want to go more into the principles of mindful eating as well as share some of my experiences with the practice. It really has helped improve my health, and I was one of the skeptical ones when I first heard the idea (30 minutes to eat a banana? No thanks, get it in my belly asap). But I now see the benefits and I think that you can reap those same benefits for yourself!

With that in mind (yup another pun) I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy the time with your loved ones and bask in the glow of this wonderful season! And just maybe think before reaching for that fifth candy cane….

Merry Christmas from the Dawson’s!

Hello everyone!!

November 14, 2012November 14, 2012 / ktbuchs87

My two week hiatus has come to an end and I am ready to jump back into blogging headfirst. I had an amazing wedding this past weekend and still find it hard to believe that I am a wife now!! After our wedding, we spent the weekend in Chicago because our actual honeymoon isn’t until January. So we have something else to look forward to!

Now, let’s get onto the reason you are reading this blog. As much as I would love to relive every single detail of our wedding and write pages and pages about it, I suspect that you would get VERY bored fairly quickly. That being said, I do want to talk about some things I learned health/nutrition wise these past few weeks. Hopefully my experiences can help you to avoid some of the problems I ran into.

Stress is BRUTAL. I know that I am stating the obvious here, but man did stress kick my butt the past few weeks. I knew that stress was not a good thing and that it should be avoided, but what I didn’t realize was how much it can really wreak havoc on a person’s body. I told Adam that is was a good thing we finally got married because I was sure that I would not survive another week of planning the wedding. I was shocked to see the toll that stress put on my body. I couldn’t sleep through the night, I had no energy during the day, my workouts felt 20 times harder than they should be, and I felt cranky most of the time. But even more than all of that was how my appetite was affected.

I have never really had a problem with eating food before. I like food. I usually have the problem of eating too much and having to control my appetite. So I was very surprised when I suddenly did not want to eat at all or would just miss meals because I would be too busy with something else. I have never had the problem of having to force myself to eat some type of food. Maybe this is all old news to you, but I was a little out of my element. I had been eating so well for such a long time that I did not even think that that would somehow disappear. It was rough and I admit that I didn’t always choose what would be healthiest for me. Fortunately the whole experience did help teach me, so it wasn’t a total loss.

First of all, never think that because something has never happened to you that it never will, especially when it comes to your body and your health. You just never know how you will respond to a certain situation or how your body will react to something you put it through. I think that was a little part of my problem with this whole loss of appetite. I wasn’t prepared for it and so along with the stress of the wedding I had the shock of something else that had never happened to me. My body just didn’t know how to handle all of that. I know it is impossible to be able to prepare yourself for every single type of reaction that you could have to a given event, but you can be prepared that anything, even something that has never happened to you before, could happen. If you’re even a little prepared for that, your body won’t be totally shocked.

Second, food is important. Duh, you all know this. But it is especially important during times of high stress and it is crucial to eat well. Junk food will make all of your problems worse. You’re already going through enough, why add bad food on top of that? You have to eat regularly too. I cringe thinking about the amount of times that I missed a meal because I was just too focused on something else or the thought of food just didn’t appeal to me. I am thankful for the times that someone made me eat or I forced myself to put something in my stomach. While it might sound cruel to force yourself to eat, in my case it was the only way to get that fuel in my body. If you know that you are going to be going through a stressful time soon, take some time to prepare meals/snacks for yourself. This might sound time consuming but trust me, when that stress hits you and you think about all you have to do, you will be glad that you thought to prepare food. It will just be one less thing that you have to think about.

Lastly, we all need some type of support holding us up during tough times. Again, I know that I am stating the obvious on this one, but you can NOT do it all alone. Trust me. I tried and sadly that just made all of my problems worse. I didn’t want to burden anyone with the million problems/thoughts that were running through my head 24/7. I knew the chaos they had brought into my life, why would I want to give that to people I care about? Finally, though, I knew that I could just not take it anymore. I knew I needed help or I would literally just fall apart. To my surprise, people stepped up and helped me when I asked. I shouldn’t be shocked because my friends and family are amazing, but I was blown away by how much they wanted to help me. Once I had other people behind me, helping me, some of my stress and problems were alleviated I kick myself for not asking for help sooner, and possibly avoiding the train wreck of a person that I had become.

This post makes it seem like planning a wedding is along the lines of pure torture. But it isn’t, I just didn’t know what to expect and I let the stress get the better of me. On the bad side of things, I really let my stress dictate my life and I didn’t like that at all. I felt out of control, sad, and just plain old tired. On the good side, I learned how to not let this happen again and I can maybe give some helpful advice to others so they can avoid it entirely.

Everything turned out fabulous and by the end of the whole ordeal I was married to the man I am in love with. That was the most important thing and I get to spend the rest of my life as his Mrs.! Pretty great reward if I do say so myself! Have a great day and I will see you all on Friday!

Late Night Munch

October 17, 2012October 17, 2012 / ktbuchs87 / 2 Comments

Admit it. You have stood in front of your fridge sometime after 9 pm looking for some snack to munch on. And more often than not you choose that hunk of chocolate cake or bag of chips over vegetables or a piece of fruit. Snacking at night is not a new phenomenon. It has been happening since late night TV became intriguing. What is relatively new and starting to cause some major health problems is night eating. While this is not a classified eating disorder yet, it is well on its way.

So what exactly is night eating? Don’t we all technically eat at night and call it dinner? Yes, but night eating is different in the fact that those who have night eating syndrome (NES), will consume more than half their daily calorie intake after 8 pm. Generally people who suffer from NES will eat very little in the morning and throughout the day, but once evening comes they will consume large portions of food. Now this disorder is different from overeating because night eaters are not necessarily eating a mass amount of food all at once. Instead, it is generally portioned out into snack-like meals throughout the night. NES is also different from sleep eating because the person is fully awake and aware of the food they are eating.

Night eating can cause health problems in a few different areas. First, when you eat a lot right before bed your body has a hard time focusing on getting to sleep because all of its attention is on trying to digest the food you just ate. This can cause insomnia or at the very least unrestful sleep. Sleep is very important to your body’s health because it is when it repairs itself and resets for the next day. Lack of sleep also messes with your metabolism, slowing it down and causing it to not run as efficiently and therefore causing weight gain. Unfortunately, if someone with NES has trouble sleeping they will tend to eat even more, exacerbating all issues. NES also causes problem with weight because when you consume a large amount of calories before bed or at night in general, your body doesn’t have any way to burn those calories off and a lot of them get stored as fat. Evenings tend to be the time when most of us are at our least active. When was the last time you decided to run 10 miles or go to a crossfit class after 9 pm? Also like a lot of other eating disorders, NES is connected with depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders. Overall, not a fun experience.

So why does night eating occur? There is no concrete answer to that question yet because there hasn’t been much research on NES. The doctor in this article believes that people who suffer from this disorder are stressed or anxious and are eating at night as a way to self-medicate and feel better. This doesn’t work, obviously, because it leads to health issues, and that causes more stress and anxiety. Others believe that night eating is caused by a neurotransmitter imbalance, and while there has been some success treating NES with medication, it isn’t conclusive enough to say that is the problem. The good news is that with a little bit of time and motivation there are steps you can take to help with night eating. One of the first things is to make sure you are getting enough food throughout your day. I know some people complain they just can’t eat a big meal in the morning or they don’t have time for a lunch. That’s fine. I’m not trying to tell you when exactly you need to eat. Just make sure you ARE eating during the day. Make sure you are also choosing foods that will keep you going and won’t just give you a quick burst of energy followed by a crash. Think fiber filled foods like fruits and veggies and whole grains. Have a plan for your dinner time and set a time for dinner and stick to it. Again, I’m not telling you an exact optimal time to eat your dinner. Just pick a time, like 7, and make sure you eat at that time. After your dinner, have a night time ritual. Create some type of routine that signals to your body you are done eating and it is time to start winding down. Do some yoga, read a chapter in a book, watch a TV show, or have some hot tea (my favorite). Once you create a routine an stick to it, your body will learn that it is time to start getting ready for bed, not time to keep eating.

As always, if it seems like you might have NES, talk with your doctor. They can help point you in the right direction and give you more ways to help. I don’t want people reading this to freak out about eating at night, that’s not the point. It is ok to snack (on healthy foods of course) at night time. Just make sure you aren’t eating an entire three course meal before you hit the sack!

What do you crave?

October 15, 2012October 15, 2012 / ktbuchs87

Cravings. We all get them at one point or another. Some of us are better at controlling them, and then some of us give in and indulge in whatever it is we want. When trying to eat a healthy diet it seems that cravings are what crush our resolve and pull us back to our old habits. Why do we crave certain things? What is going on in our brain/body that we just HAVE to have that piece of chocolate or those BBQ potato chips? Is there any way to break free from cravings?

There are a few reasons that we experience cravings. First, it is important to distinguish cravings from overeating. When you have a craving, you have a taste for a specific type of food. You want something salty like pretzels or something sweet like a candy bar. Overeating is eating mass amounts of food no matter what type. So why do we get cravings? One of the biggest reasons is emotion. When you eat something that you love, like your favorite home-cooked meal, the pleasure centers in your brain light up. Your brain makes that connection that this food not only tastes good it gives you a good feeling. When you are stressed, or sad, or anxious, your brain likes to remind you that there is a quick way to feel better. It wants you to eat that slice of apple pie because that will release those good feeling hormones that will lift your mood. Unfortunately, eating that apple pie will not help your healthy eating habits and then you feel guilty for indulging. If only you could explain this paradox to your brain….

Another reason that we get cravings is a restrictive diet. People who follow certain diets such as low carb or low fat tend to have very intense cravings. That is because your body is missing something that it needs, and when your body needs something it WILL let you know. In the case of food, that means a big ol’ craving. With this type of craving your body is trying to let you know it really needs some certain mineral or vitamin and you need to find some source of it pronto. This often means grabbing some junk food, mostly because it is quick. In reality there are other easy ways to get what your body craves if you know how to interpret your craving. This is a really nice chart that shows what craving “bad” food really means.

How are we suppose to deal with these cravings? As anyone who has experienced a craving knows, it is hard to fight it when you are caught up in it. Well this is the first way that you can fight a craving, don’t let yourself get to the point of craving food. Thanks Captain Obvious, I’ll make sure I try that next time. But seriously, take steps to make sure you aren’t getting to that desperate moment of craving when your willpower is at its weakest. Make sure you’re eating a balanced diet. Include a variety of foods so that you know you are getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs. Eating the exact same thing everyday might be easy and convenient, but this can sometimes become problematic because you limit the amount of nutrients your body is receiving. Mix it up, try a few new recipes and add variety to your eating. Learn to listen to your body. If you feel a craving coming on, stop and first make sure that you aren’t just thirsty (dehydration feels a lot like hunger) and then determine what it is you are craving. Use that chart and see what the healthy version of your craving is and have that instead of the huge slice of cake. Have a list of other activities that will distract you and your brain from your craving. Go for a walk or maybe call a friend and chat for awhile (hard to eat chips while you’re talking on the phone). Anything to get your brain focused on something else other than your craving. Find healthy alternatives to your junk food. Yes, it would be nice if we could all have the willpower to say no to a chocolate bar and choose a handful of raw almonds. But sometimes you really need that bar of chocolate. There are tons of blogs/recipes out there that have healthy versions of your favorite junk food. One of my favorites is The Gracious Pantry. There are tons of recipes for any craving you have. Healthy chocolate bars, caramel popcorn, potato chips and a ton more. Do a little research, find a recipe, and give it a shot. Will it taste exactly the same? Maybe not, but a lot of them are just as good or better and won’t leave you feeling guilty or depressed.

The biggest thing to know about cravings is to try to remain calm when dealing with them. Take a deep breath and think about what it is you really want. If you are trying to lose weight, focus on how much progress you have made and how giving into your craving will set you back. If you are just trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, think to how you feel after eating junk compared to how you feel after you eat a healthy balanced meal. Will you be perfect every time and resist? No. We are human and sometimes we falter. But you can learn something from those weak times and use it to make your resolve stronger for next time. You are in control of your body and you CAN overcome any obstacle!

Hello and welcome!

August 15, 2012August 17, 2012 / ktbuchs87

Hello and welcome to my brand new blog! You are either here because I told you to look at my new blog (Hi Dad!), you thought that this had something to do with the movie (sorry, I have tricked you. But stick around for just a minute!), or you have a desire to learn how to have the best health possible. What ever your reason may be, I hope that you are able to take away something valuable from this blog and that you decide to come back. So what exactly will I be writing about and why? I have become fascinated with the world of health and nutrition since I have started to see how the way I eat has changed and affected my life. But there is SO much information out there. What we should or shouldn’t eat, when we should eat, how we should eat, where we should eat…. it all starts to get a little overwhelming. And with all the conflicting information out there, it is no wonder our country has a health epidemic of gigantic proportions. It is my hope that I can help you wade through the sea of facts and studies and research out there so that you have a chance at your best health. Because I believe that every single person deserves to live life in the healthiest way possible. Each week I will post about books, articles, studies, and anything in general that has to do with nutrition and the way it can either positively or negatively affect our health. I will also share insights into my life and my journey through the wide world of food. My goal essentially is to arm you with the best tools to make informed decisions about the way you prepare and eat food. Like I said before, everyone deserves to live with the best health possible and I am ready to fight for you so you have a chance at that healthy and full life!!