A pep talk for a friend.

My friend is on a message board with me. On that board, we discuss this stuff, among other things. When she first started "The diet according to Kris," she asked the following.

Friend: .....how do I fix this? I find that I eat to get full whenever I eat. If I eat, I can't just stop at a taste of something at night. So I may eat a (I'm SO SO SO embarrassed to share this) a bowl of ice cream, not full and want salt, so I find something salty... chips? crackers? cheese. Then I'm not full so I eat a slice of white toast or two. So, I want to eat something at my night snack that will make me feel full, but I know I've got to decide to be satisfied, not full.

Kris: Sweetie, it is about making a commitment. I am JUST like you. When AF (slang for our monthly visitor, Aunt Flo) was here last week I did just the kind of thing you are talking about. Don't be embarassed. That is why you need to be CONSCIOUS of what you are eating. That is the whole goal of rules #1 and 2. You have to decide, when you wake up in the morning, to eat like a civilized human being (I say this to myself, I'm not trying to be demeaning).

Take an index card and write: 8:30, 11:00, 1:30, 4:00, 6:30, and 8:00 on it, (or whatever times you've decided to eat. Never more than 3 hours between). Eat only at those times, period. But, at those times, eat well. Pairing a carb and a protein really is satisfying, it is. You won't be stuffed, but you can chug two glasses of water and say, "I get to eat again at x:00." If you really feel unsatisfied, eat a little more, but eat something healthy.

This morning I ate 1/2 a cup of cottage cheese with 2 canned pears on it. I wasn't satisfied. I'd had a crappy morning with my oldest child and I wanted to make pancakes and eat 10 of them. I took a shower and then went out and looked at the can of pears. They are 50 calories per serving. 3.5 servings in the can. I ate the rest of the can. They are pears packed in fruit juice. Those pears did not break my sugar rule. They are healthy, high in fiber, and relatively low in calories. I then drank my 2 glasses of water. I no longer wanted to eat everything in sight, nor did I want to eat 10 pancakes. I was sane enough, at that point, to say, "I get to eat again at 11:00."

I promise you that if you eat good food often, you will be less likely to binge in the evening. My guess is that in the business of being a mom, you really don't eat that much all day, or if you do, it isn't that healthy. Then, in the evening, your body relaxes and you eat most of your calories then. I do it too, when I'm not conscious of my eating. This used to happen to me every Sunday. I'd get everyone out the door and in the car for church and I'd think, "crap, I didn't eat." Then, when I got home 3 hours later, I'd eat 3 meals worth of food, mostly crap, because I was starving.

Stupid eating comes from long stretches of NOT eating, or not eating carbs and protein together. I could give you countless examples. The morning I rush out, grabbing just a piece of toast is the morning I grab the donut off the table in the teacher's lounge. The night I eat meat and veggies but no carbs is then night I eat a bowl of ice cream. When I eat my 5 meals, and include the foods listed on the "Let's Get Started" part of the blog, I don't do dumb stuff.