Archive for the 'How To Stop Emotional Eating' category

PEERtrainer Cleanse Review: Good For Emotional Eaters?

Jun 30 2012 Published by under Cleanses And Detox Programs, How To Stop Emotional Eating

We have been spending some time discussing Dr. Oz’s cleanse ideas.  We also are seeing many questions about the relatively new PEERtrainer Cleanse.  The reason is that this is really the next wave in dieting, and people are looking for advanced weight loss strategies that take them to the next level.

Dr. Oz will never say any of this, because Weight Watchers is a major sponsor of his show. But the idea that you need to understand is that you have to move beyond the simple strategies that we all know. Because clearly, it is not getting us the results we want.

If you want a different result, you have to do different things!!

Portion control is great, group support is great, but as those of you who struggle with emotional eating, night eating and binges- you know that conventional diets at a minimum haven’t provided a cure.

The path to building high levels of emotional strength is a long one. Very doable with the right strategies, but it takes time and focus.

In the short term, one thing that we have seen help in the eating department is the implementation of some big shifts in your diet. The first big change is a pretty significant increase in the amounts of plants and vegetables in your diet.

Most people don’t get enough plants and vegetables in their diet, and as a result develop a “micronutrient deficiency.” This helps to feed food cravings, because your body wants these nutrients, and gives you signals.

Most people who struggle with cravings and out of control behavior misinterpret these signals and eat the wrong foods.

Usually these foods are high in sugar and carbs, which helps to further deepen the cycle of bad decision/bad feeling.

This is where something like the PEERtrainer Cleanse can play a helpful role for emotional eaters. Dr Oz has some great advice, but as we all know the key to doing anything is follow-through.

The PEERtrainer Cleanse implements some sound strategies of increasing your vegetables, and giving you a way of avoiding the foods which deepend the bad decision/bad feeling cycle.

Most importantly, the PEERtrainer Cleanse features a program which guides you step by step, and is connected to their well known support system.

The support system on PEERtrainer is key to making their cleanse work. It has been identified by US News and World Report, and also recommended by Dr Oz himself.

From a structural perspective, this program is designed to help emotional eaters, because it has you remove the foods that deepen the bad decision/bad feeling cycle. The shakes and meal plan then give you a way to replace these foods.

Anytime you remove these foods (wheat, dairy, corn etc) you are going to bring your cravings in control.

There is no guarantee that it will work for you- that is up to you. But if you remove the foods they tell you to, and increase your vegetables, you will probably experience some good benefits.

The bottom line here is that when you embrace advanced nutritional strategies beyond simple portion control, your will gain more control. You’ll experience fewer cravings, a reduction and inflammation and likely a pretty good reduction in weight, especially if you bring your overall stress levels down.

For those of you who do their program, please leave a comment below. Let us know if it helps with your emotional eating.

 

 

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Dr. Oz’s Two Day Wonder Cleanse: Great For Emotional Eaters

Feb 25 2012 Published by under Emotional Eating Meal Plans, How To Stop Emotional Eating

Dr. Oz has published a new “Two Day Spring Cleanse” in the March 2012 issue of Oprah Magazine. The first thing he points out is that this cleanse is meant to detoxify your body by eating whole foods that are packed with nutrients.

He contrasts this approach with the cleanse and detox programs pushed by celebrities that deprive you of nutrients and often have you drinking lots of water and juice. What Dr. Oz outlines follows closely on the success of The Clean Program and PEERtrainer’s Fresh Start Cleanse, which have focused on adding nutrition instead of removing calories.

Even Nutrisystem has gotten in the act by creating something called the Success Program which adds a daily protein drink to the mix. Protein is a key part of each one of these Cleanse approaches because it plays a key role in removing toxins from the body.

How Dr. Oz’s Cleanse Works

In Dr. Oz’s two day cleanse he has people start the day by making a bowl of Quinoa mixed with ginger and nutmeg for breakfast. Dr. Oz states that “quinoa contains all the essential amino acids, making it a complete protein.”

He then states correctly that traditional versions of cleanses do not include protein, which can result in muscle loss. Your body needs the amino acids to perform the detoxification processes, and if your body cannot get it from your diet, it will start to “mine” them from your muscle tissue.

How Dr. Oz’s Cleanse Is Different

Not only can cleanses that do not include protein cause muscle loss, they can also make you feel bad. Many people who go on The Master Cleanse for example report feeling bad, sick and nauseous. This is because the body is not consuming enough protein to remove the toxins. So not only do the toxins build up, which makes you feel sick, your body is attacking its own muscles.

Lunch Recipe For Dr. Oz’s Cleanse

For lunch Dr. Oz suggests drinking a fruit smoothie, which will taste great and also provide nutrients which have been shown to clean the cells and help support the liver. The fruit smoothie recipe includes blueberries and banana, and also includes ground flaxseeds or ground chia seeds. These seeds contain fiber, which helps to support elimination. They also contain protein and Omega-3 fatty acids which your body needs to function optimally.

Dinner Recipe For Dr. Oz’s Cleanse

For dinner. Dr. Oz suggests making a vegetable soup. The recipe he gives includes red onions, chopped celery, chopped fennel, chopped garlic cloves, sliced shitake mushrooms, chopped cabbage, chopped parsley, fresh oregano. You take all these ingredients and cook them in 2 cups of water for an hour.

This soup is packed with a broad array of nutrients. Not only will this soup fill you up, but it literally will help to detoxify your body. If you do this often enough it can reduce your risk of cancer! According to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, eating mushrooms on a regular basis “is associated with decreased risk of breast, stomach, and colorectal cancers.” He goes on to say that “White, cremini, Portobello, oyster, shiitake, maitake, and reishi mushrooms all have anti-cancer properties – some are anti-inflammatory, stimulate the immune system, prevent DNA damage, slow cancer cell growth, cause programmed cancer cell death, and inhibit angiogenesis.”

Dr. Oz suggests that one include fermented sauerkraut, which contain probiotics that help the gastrointestinal tract. He also suggests that after dinner one eat some apple slices to increase the fiber. For those of you struggling with emotional eating, this cleanse strategy can really help you deal with night eating and mindless snacking after dinner.

Will Dr. Oz’s Cleanse Work?

Starting the day off with Quinoa (or any other clean protein like wild salmon) has been shown to help fight hunger. The fruit smoothie will give you a little glucose which your body needs some of. And the extremely nutrient dense soup for dinner will help you feel very full. This helps you in two ways. First, your body gets the nutrients it needs, which over time will help you stop emotional eating.

Secondly, this soup will fill you up without adding calories or fat. If you find your self dealing with emotions or some sort of trigger where you would normally eat, just eat another serving of this soup. This way, you’ll turn something that is normally negative into a positive.

Of course over time you need to train yourself to respond to your emotions without using food. But first things first. Eating a hearty vegetable soup at night, even when you are not “on a cleanse” is a good strategy. You can also experiment by adding a little avocado or grass-fed beef to your dinner.

One very interesting thing to note about Dr. Oz’s cleanse program is that it does not include any dairy, eggs, wheat, soy or corn. He does not make this clear, but this is very good advice.

Related Emotional Eating Diet Article: The 8 Steps To Stopping Emotional Eating Forever

 

 

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A 4 Step Action Plan For Rapid Weight Loss

Feb 23 2012 Published by under How To Stop Emotional Eating

In order to lose weight rapidly, one must first learn how people actually burn fat. This can be tough because this is the single biggest marketing term out there.

As a result, what people think is the right way to burn fat is actually the most effective marketing term. For example, people think that cardio is the best way to burn fat, when in fact the key to rapid weight loss is actually controlling your insulin levels.

In simple terms, when your blood sugar levels rise, so do your insulin levels. That’s the big thing to keep in mind. So step one of our 4 step rapid weight loss action plan is to reduce the amount of sugar in your bloodstream. You do this by consuming less actual sugar as well as fewer starchy carbs.

This first step is commonly referred to as a “low-carb diet” and often done alone. We find that for most people, especially those who struggle with emotional eating or night eating, this strategy alone is not adequate. In order to make a low carb diet work, you need to focus on these 4 steps and more.

The second step to rapid weight loss is to increase your fiber intake to at least 30 grams per day. This helps to detoxify the body and helps things move through your system. Fiber helps to fill you up, helps to repair your gut and is generally excellent for overall health.

A study in Nutrition Reviews showed that 14 grams of fiber a day helped people lose four pounds of weight in four months, even when they made no other dietary modifications. Other studies have shown that 30 grams of fiber or more is helpful to overall health.

Fiber helps you burn fat by suppressing ghrelin, delaying stomach emptying, and buffering dietary sugar to balance insulin levels. The issue with fiber, however, is that most people struggle to get enough per day. A general rule of thumb here is to have a cup of black beans per day and a cup of peas. Those two foods are very high in fiber. They also contain beneficial micronutrients, which are essential for health. Numerous studies have linked micronutrient intake to reduction in disease. The inverse has also been shown.

The third step to rapid weight loss is to learn the basics of a cleanse done right. If you think of something like The Master Cleanse you are barking up the wrong tree. You need to focus on eliminating dairy and wheat in particular, which helps to further reduce insulin levels.

This third step is the “secret sauce” to this rapid weight loss plan. Most people do not balk at the suggestion that they reduce sugar and carbs, and increase fiber. However, many of those same people will question the suggestion that they give up bread and dairy.

We will leave the science of why you should remove these foods for another post. For the time being just trust us- if you want to lose weight quickly, you are going to want to go cold turkey on those foods for a couple weeks.

The fourth step to rapid weight loss is a dramatic increase in vegetables. Green vegetables in particular help to clean out the cells. As long as you are consuming adequate protein in your diet, you will be able to clean out your fat cells, making them more available for fat burning.

Green vegetables contain high levels of important nutrients, which most people don’t get enough of. They are help reduce your hunger. It is thought that when the body has the nutrients it needs, this helps to reduce food cravings. This is very important because if you are getting good at reducing or controlling your insulin you will be burning fat. The last thing you want to do is start overeating, which will force you to start the process again.

The combination of portion control, reducing carbs and increasing your green vegetables is a proven one.

There is a ton more to losing weight, on top of the emotional issues surrounding weight loss. But these four steps will really help you burn fat quickly and get on the path to rapid weight loss.

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New 8 Part Guide To Help You Stop Emotional Eating

Feb 09 2012 Published by under How To Stop Emotional Eating

We have just published the first 4 of 8 lessons to help you stop emotional eating. It is a fairly long guide so you may want to bookmark it so that you can find it again. The lessons are based on a very reliable formula to help you first understand what emotional eating is, and really give you insight into what your behaviors and emotions are.

When you understand what emotions you are feeling, why you do and what your usual decision making process it, you are then in a place to begin working on developing new habits and patterns. It is very empowering.  One thing that we would ask is to leave a comment at the bottom of the guide with your feedback and comments.

Thank you! Here is the link.

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