De Stress and Weigh Less in Six Steps

De-Stress, Weigh Less is a well organized compacted book with all the data one needs to know for staying fit and knowing which foods cause stress and weight gain.

“Lose the stress! Drop the pounds!” is the cover motto of the book, which is a Six-Step Plan that does not involve diets. This will help motivate you with goals and tips on relaxing, time management and exercising, while teaching you about binge eating, meditation and food sensitivities.

There are eight chapters with an index and extensive resources. You will find recipes, questionnaires and food sources for vitamins your body needs. The first chapter is the introduction that covers why diets and diet pills do not work and might even harm you in the process.

Step 1 – discover how stress is keeping you overweight.

Step 2 – eliminate foods that may be stressing you.

Step 3 – start filling up on a food in a stress-less way to lose weight.

Step 4 – train your stress response to stop binge eating.

Step 5 – exercise without stress to lose weight.

Step 6 – subdue other life stressors that keep you from losing weight

The final chapter is about keeping the weight off for good and explains how to make your plan a permanent part of your life. It is mentioned that if you want to lose weight, remember to, “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.”

• Step 1 starts with a listing of 34 questions showing which stressors may be keeping you overweight. Examples would be:
• Did I gain weight after I moved to a new home?
• Do I eat when I feel depressed?
• Do I eat when I feel irritable or when others are irritated with me?

Part of the first step is to chart your food and mood to identify eating patterns. “Do you stop for a hamburger and fries after a bad day at work? Do you keep goodies in your desk drawer?”

A food/stress diary should indicate the day/time, event, reactions, hunger (little hunger or starving), food, thoughts and feelings. Try this for one week and then review the patterns and choose a stress-reduction goal. The premise is to start with the most appealing goal from the list of five within the book.

Each goal has a suggested chapter within De-Stress, Weigh Less, so read the chapter to learn how to meet your desired goal. Then you go back to the table in Step 1 and choose another goal and head to that chapter. You can also change the food for the same goal. You will go through all six steps with each goal. The goals are:

• Stop eating in ways that may be stressful -Chapter 3
• Start eating more healthily – Chapter 4
• Take one action to train myself to stop binging – Chapter 5
• Start a stress-less exercise program – Chapter 6
• Use one stress-reduction skill to reduce my life stressors that are keeping me from losing weight – Chapter 7

Step 2 gives an overview of sweeteners and sugars to avoid, like dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup, malt, aspartame and cane juice. It offers a useful list of foods that contain aspartame – like breath mints, instant breakfasts, diet sodas, gelatin desserts, laxatives, vitamins, cereals, cocoa mix and sugar-free gums.

There is also a food seduction test for sugary foods to indicate how often you consume these each week. They consist of donuts, cookies, cakes, pies, pudding, candy bars, ice cream, sweet rolls and strawberry

Processed foods and caffeine are also covered in this step. There is a listing of all sources of caffeine, including coffee, tea, over the counter medications, varieties of chocolate and soft drinks. You add up your total milligrams of caffeine and than think of ways to reduce those from your daily diet. Luckily coffee has never been part of my diet.

Gluten intolerance is another issue that can wreak havoc on your body and causing stress to your system, as well as meat and animal products, chemical additives like dyes, pesticides and preservatives and food sensitivities. There are goals to help you in this quest to reduce food stress:

• I will not buy candy bars
• I will not eat fried foods or use margarine
• I will stop using aspartame
• I will start using organically grown foods

Step 3 starts with the reminder to drink plenty of water to help you digest and de-stress. The tips include eating five or six smaller meals each day and to eat earlier in the day. Cooking can be therapeutic. I suggest watching the Food Network for some meal plan ideas. Also stated in De-Stress, Weigh Less is to eat more nuts and vegetables, foods high in fiber, high in zinc, eggs, and foods that are full of B vitamins. This includes three pages of vitamin sources, deficiency symptoms and the stress reducing functions.

I like having lists that actually explain where to get these sources and what to look out for when you are running low on a vitamin. Recipes in the book include tomato sauce, rice, squash, a high-energy breakfast drink and a power salad. There is a list of vegetables to add to your diet to avoid boredom, like pumpkin seeds, pickles, green beans,and chopped celery.

Step 4 goes over the relationship between binge eating and serotonin with 14 questions that require a yes or no answer that will help you overcome binge eating. There is a behavior chart where you check off whether you or someone else is in control of various activities one does throughout your day. Step 5 covers exercise and when to know you are doing too much of it, and how to choose the correct type of exercise for your lifestyle like walking, yoga, or gardening. There are goals on how to choose and how to dispute excuses you will come up with for avoiding exercise. Step 6 goes into relationships that could be hindering your weight loss and how to resolve conflict. You will learn how to choose a role model for support and dealing with criticism.

The last chapter shows you how to follow the plan and keep the weight off while avoiding stress in your life. The tips include not serving family style meals, to eat slow and chew your food slow, also to use smaller plates.

I tried the smaller plate tip and it works well when using a small dinner plate, and I always have a storage container ready for leftovers so I don’t serve everything. For me having goals and tips at my fingertips is very helpful in reducing stress triggers and maintaining my weight while trying to eat healthy foods.

Buy De-Stress, Weigh Less .

Bonnie has many Autism Family Adventures and writes about Autism Spectrum Disorders

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