Stop Grazing!

It is critical for all of us to Stop Grazing! It is the kiss of death for a bariatric post op.

We have talked about so many of you having Grazing Behaviors and not realizing it. You put something on a plate and keep coming back to it until you finish it, or you make a super thick shake THINKING it will make you full and take 3 hours to drink all of it.

You do this because you dont understand that both of these scenarios allow you to eat around your surgery.

Protein is a slow digesting source of fuel for the body. To the extent that it is easier for your body to turn to ITS OWN STORED FAT for energy rather than break down the protein you are eating.

Your body burns stored fat to have energy to break down the protein for digestion. When you eat COOKIES, the body is super excited you have given it a FAST BURNING easy to break down food, that ignites and burns quickly. Heck, no need to burn stored fat, we can use the sugar for fuel!!!

Try and use that knowledge to your advantage. Ask yourself, would you rather burn chips or tortillas or cookies, OR WOULD YOU RATHER BURN STORED FAT??? Simple answer, when asked like that, yes?

If you organize and plan actual meals - 3 protein meals a day - you use protein to give you control. Grazing is eating a bite here and a bite there, never really filing up. Your small pouch is your strongest tool and not filling it is giving up a powerful way to control your eating,

Sit down with your plate then slowly and deliberately eat your meal; fullness or better yet satiety, will tell you when to stop. Grazing is a behavior that allows you to consume a larger amount of food over a longer period of time as pouch fullness does not happen.

When you eat a coupe of bites, there is no pushing of the food against the sides of your pouch or protein satiety that signals the brain to send the message to STOP EATING.

If you recognize and realize you are grazing, you can stop it by eating enough Solid Protein to feel full, a hard cooked or deviled egg, rolled up deli turkey, half a protein bar. Or DRINK AN INSPIRE PROTEIN DRINK, tastes good and you won't want to eat.

Much of what we call grazing is due to 'head hunger' where we think we are hungry or actually just looking for something to do. Take up beading, play online games, read, anything to take attention from food!

If you are frustrated and just cant stop this grazing behavior, try this trick. Roast a half turkey breast, cover it with foil and keep it in the fridge. Jenny-O is a brand of boneless seasoned half breast of turkey that you can pick up at Walmart for about ten bucks for a 3 pound tied roast that is seasoned, vacuum sealed and frozen. Cook it according to package directions and then GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION to eat it any time you’d like, but the catch is you have to eat it until you are FULL. Its hard to binge or graze on turkey breast. Ugh. The trick is that you cant just have a little bit here and there, you need to take a slice and eat your fill. Do this as many times as you need. You will soon understand how to stop grazing!

Here is the turkey breast that I buy at Walmart. Jenny-O Boneless Turkey Breast

You will notice something peculiar. That when you eat your fill of turkey, it will organize itself into 3 meals or sittings per day. You can use this turkey to kill any ‘cravings’ or compulsion to eat outside of your meals. Knowledge and often acknowledgment of what you are doing is enough for you to control it and STOP IT.

Give this a try and tell us how it works for you in our Facebook Support Group. We are there 24/7 with the help you need to get the weight off and KEEP it off.