What is your RED FOOD and how do you overcome the urge to eat it?

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  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I can't stop eating these type of foods that's why for me they are a RED food. I need to stay away because I can't control myself around them.

    Yeah, that's it, although you may find that you can control yourself with the right strategy.

    For example, I tend to eat whole grain pasta/bread when I eat it, but I definitely eat starchy carbs like those and potatoes and sweet potatoes and rice (sometimes) and quinoa and oatmeal and beans, etc. The trick is to eat them with protein and fat and watch your serving. Back in the day I'd go to an Italian restaurant and not finish my plate (impossible!) but still eat WAY more than a serving size of pasta. Now I usually make pasta at home, have a serving size or less of the noodles, and load on the protein and veggie based sauce (which was always my favorite part anyway, and I always make it at home). I add cheese or olives or the like sparingly, and the calories are totally reasonable.

    Same with how I eat the other starchy carbs, and I never have any desire to overeat them.

    I don't think I have any red foods specifically (I do have foods I eat rarely because they have so many calories they are hard to fit in, like my favorite Chicago-style pizza from Pequod's), but I do have red times--basically I avoid eating outside of mealtimes and especially if I have the urge to eat because I'm tired or depressed or stressed or procrastinating. THAT'S when I'm likely to end up going back and back and overeating. Much easier to just tell myself it's not a mealtime and have a cup of coffee or walk around or go workout or something.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    But soon I will have strawberries coming out my ears.

    I'm jealous. I love fresh strawberries so very much.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Red Food is something you absolutely know will make you gain weight.

    My Red Food is Carbs. White bread, potatoes, white rice, noodles. Anything that would be considered a carb. I look at it and I gain weight, I stay away from it and I lose.

    Since I started the South Beach Diet and went through the first phase which I think was a month I have very few desires for anything fatty, sweet and just plain crappy junk food.

    I like dark chocolate and tolerate milk chocolate, can't stand soda anymore. Broasted chicken which I loved no desire to eat.
    I see food differently since I have done phase one. I had tried weight watchers and other similar diets but this one seems to have helped me the most.

    :huh: :noway: No food 'makes you gain'
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Just picked my first dozen last night out of my garden :)

    ETA: Strawberries, that is.
  • missomgitsica
    missomgitsica Posts: 496 Member
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    mantium999 wrote: »
    Individual foods do not cause weight gain, too much food does. Dark chocolate is carbs and fat. Color coding foods to imply their status as bad is silly.

    **applauds**
  • allaboutthefood
    allaboutthefood Posts: 781 Member
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    It's all about lifestyle and changing the way you look at food. I love food all kinds, I just ate way to much of it. My one weakness is pasta I can eat and eat and eat that stuff. So 85% of the time I replace my pasta with zucchini zoodles or spaghetti squash. I have replaced half my bread intake with lettuce wraps . If I want a bread sandwich I will have one. Tonight I am making a cheesy pasta bake, made with pasta noodles and I will enjoy it. If you plan to always stay away from these foods, than you should be able to keep the weight off, but if you are planning on putting them back into your diet once you have lost your weight, than you may gain weight back. I just make sure to stay within my calories and yes I watch my carbs I like to keep them at 100 but if I go over I am okay with that.
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
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    My red food is strawberry's. Because strawberry's are awesome ... and red. Also tomatoes. Blaming your lack of restraint on particular foods and restricting them is an insipid crutch doomed to fail.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
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    RHachicho wrote: »
    My red food is strawberry's. Because strawberry's are awesome ... and red. Also tomatoes. Blaming your lack of restraint on particular foods and restricting them is an insipid crutch doomed to fail.

    There are many paths up the mountain.

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    But soon I will have strawberries coming out my ears.

    I'm jealous. I love fresh strawberries so very much.

    If you're in Plymouth County, MA, you can have some plants! They literally spread like weeds and I freecycle dozens of them each year.

  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    RHachicho wrote: »
    My red food is strawberry's. Because strawberry's are awesome ... and red. Also tomatoes. Blaming your lack of restraint on particular foods and restricting them is an insipid crutch doomed to fail.

    There are many paths up the mountain.
    And not all of them are reasonable.

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited June 2015
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    But soon I will have strawberries coming out my ears.

    I'm jealous. I love fresh strawberries so very much.

    If you're in Plymouth County, MA, you can have some plants! They literally spread like weeds and I freecycle dozens of them each year.

    Chicago, so oh well. ;-)

    My problem is I garden on the roof in pots. I had strawberries one year but was unable to protect them adequately over the winter.

    Speaking of red foods, tomatoes are usually my greatest success (other than herbs) in the pots. My nemesis is the wind and sometimes squirrels.
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
    edited June 2015
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    RHachicho wrote: »
    My red food is strawberry's. Because strawberry's are awesome ... and red. Also tomatoes. Blaming your lack of restraint on particular foods and restricting them is an insipid crutch doomed to fail.

    There are many paths up the mountain.

    I don't believe that applies. In order for weight loss to succeed long term then people have to make sweeping changes in the way they live. If this includes giving up their favorite foods then this will last until the next highly stressful event. Which considering the way the world works these days is probably arriving round about next Tuesday. The key isn't restricting foods. It also isn't sticking to your calorie limit religiously every single day without fail because that is miserable and you won't do that either. You just have to have more good days than bad don't binge unless it's a really special occasion and keep yourself active. However this requires an effort of will and people grab on to almost any temporary solution in order to avoid facing this fact. But it's just a patch job. The first thing that really pushes you will have you binging on your "red food" before you can sing the first line of the lumberjack song. Because it's become the forbidden fruit that you secretly crave and resist with all your might. Rather than tasty food that you occasionally allow yourself.

    People want to push the big red button, Flip the skirt and eat ALL the cake. Forbidding something gives it power. Restricting foods is false stability. And it WILL fail. Believe me ... been there.

    There are indeed many path's up the mountain.

    It's just a shame most of them have landmines.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    ceoverturf wrote: »
    Red M&Ms, Red skittles, tomatoes, apples (sometimes) , strawberries just to name a few

    Mine is red jelly beans. I don't have a problem with limiting chocolate. Red skittles make me sick after eating several. But red jelly beans (or any color of jelly beans) don't have a natural stopping point. They're soft, so they don't last long and they just turn to sugar water in your mouth.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    ceoverturf wrote: »
    Red M&Ms, Red skittles, tomatoes, apples (sometimes) , strawberries just to name a few

    Mine is red jelly beans. I don't have a problem with limiting chocolate. Red skittles make me sick after eating several. But red jelly beans (or any color of jelly beans) don't have a natural stopping point. They're soft, so they don't last long and they just turn to sugar water in your mouth.

    Starburst put out bags of only red jelly beans for Easter. Needless to say, that didn't last longer than a week for me.
  • EvanM120
    EvanM120 Posts: 6 Member
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    Easy. Any kind of sweets. Plz friend.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
    edited June 2015
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    RHachicho wrote: »
    My red food is strawberry's. Because strawberry's are awesome ... and red. Also tomatoes. Blaming your lack of restraint on particular foods and restricting them is an insipid crutch doomed to fail.

    There are many paths up the mountain.
    And not all of them are reasonable.
    Thinking "insipid crutch doomed to fail" is a helpful statement is not reasonable.
  • angelexperiment
    angelexperiment Posts: 1,917 Member
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    I avoid things like bread, pasta, rice, etc because they tend to make me feel hungrier or I don't stop at just one serving. I just set myself up for success by prepping meals on weekends and freezing. I make some breakfasts - frittatas/egg bakes, some soups/chilies/stews, make sure I have things like cauliflower rice or zucchini on hand for zucchini noodles. Basically I plan ahead so I can grab what I need already portioned out. No real thought - every meal fits the plan.

    My kinda girl! I need to do this!
  • angelexperiment
    angelexperiment Posts: 1,917 Member
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    I think peanut butter and hersheys jarred spreads and nutella are mine at times at times I have the control on but other times its irresistible!
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    Baby back ribs. Oh how I love them, and OMG how many calories they have. :o:(

    I resist with willpower, and the promise that a couple of times per year I will eat them with abandon and without regret.
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
    edited June 2015
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    RHachicho wrote: »
    My red food is strawberry's. Because strawberry's are awesome ... and red. Also tomatoes. Blaming your lack of restraint on particular foods and restricting them is an insipid crutch doomed to fail.

    There are many paths up the mountain.
    And not all of them are reasonable.
    Thinking "insipid crutch doomed to fail" is a helpful statement is not reasonable.

    Yes it is. You just don't like it. Because I heavily disagree with you.

    Many paths up the mountain indeed.

    Use a real argument. Not one from a fortune cookie. At least before accusing me of being "unreasonable".