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

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.

The only way carbs, or any food, will make you gain fat is if you eat enough to send you over maintenance

lisasweetlisa wrote: »

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.

Umm...so do you eat veggies or fruits? Because those are carbs and are needed for a healthy balanced diet.

I'm glad you found something that works for you. For me, moderation and calorie restriction work best. I also don't label foods as good or bad.

I couldn't have something like Girl Scout cookies in the house. This was my very first binge food.

I have found that opening a pint of ice cream tends to result in me finishing it that same day, but that I am able to keep the 4 oz mini cups in the freezer untouched until my fiance requests them, as he did yesterday, and thanks to all the gardening I had done I could fit this into my caloric budget.

Pizza is problematic - we don't have it very often and always with a big salad. I'm probably full after two pieces, but due to the Completion Compulsion don't want to stop until I've eaten my share of 4 pieces of a 10" pizza.

I've reduced my serving sizes of white rice and pasta and have them less often.

When I recommitted to MFP almost two months ago, I stopped baking, until today. Mostly for dessert we have a serving of Ghiradelli chocolate chips.

So far the Ritz crackers in the small sleeve packages have been safe. They are also out of site, as are my finace's Fritos.

As I've increased protein and decreased carbs, I want carbs less. I can be satisfied with one dried plum for dessert. I was worried about premenstrual cravings, but so far, so good.

my RED FOOD is everything you can snack on. From cereal to icecream. I struggle everyday, but I am finding the longer I go with out sweets, the easier it is to not crave them.

Hi carb and hi sugar stuff drop-kicks me off the wagon. I know what I can control and what I can't. I just don't buy it unless it comes in small serving sizes, like ice cream, or don't have it in my house at all.

The first ripe strawberry of the season in my garden is actually outside of the garden in the poison ivy

But soon I will have strawberries coming out my ears.

You can control yourself. You just choose not to.


I don't have any red foods. I eat what I like. I have however begin to not choose some things as often simply because the portion size does not give much satisfaction for the calories. A big bowl of popcorn with butter is better than an ounce or two of nachos most days.

If you're asking what food is hard to resist and will ultimately make me exceed my budget (?) then I say cake batter when I'm baking. Really tough to resist more than a lick or any appropriate amount. Luckily I don't bake often. Also peanut butter. I absolutely have to measure it out on my food scale and commit to just one serving or I could easily eat the whole jar.

lisasweetlisa wrote: »

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.

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**

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.

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.