Vacations & "weight Loss"

[Maryruth1035]

OK--

So here I am on a 4 day vacation with my sweetheart of nearly 24 years (It just gets better & better!) And I really am interested in taking off a few pounds I've gained lately via undisciplined eating (=too many carbs for me ) Yet I HATE dieting when I'm on a romantic weekend--or any other kind of vacation for that matter. And of course tonight I went for the salad first (so far so good). Then sweety wanted to try (and share, of course) the beer sampler platter--8, 4oz. tumblers each filled with the brewery's finest--3 of the beers were "Honey wheat", "Rasberry wheat" and plain old "Wheat" He's a Doc, and tried to convince me that there probably wasn't much resembling "wheat" or "barley" in those beers, and I really liked the wheat ones the best, especially the rasberry wheat, Oh my goodness!! Yup, I'm dumb.

So far I'm not really sick. Um, but then there's all the carbs of the Pinto bean sausage soup and the garlic mashed potatoes, not to mention the rootbeer float for dessert I'm hopeless on vacations. I wonder what it is about vacations that sets me off, I simply go in the wrong direction with food. Somehow I feel "entitled" and almost responsible to eat fun and eat large--which makes always avoiding ALL wheat, barley, etc. difficult. And it makes restricting carbs almost impossible. Even to my detriment, because I KNOW I'm happier when I eat right: my body just likes me and the world better.

Of course there's the old script (from my mom, probably): "But we're on vacation" Does anyone else relate to this delimma? Anybody out there successfully overcome? I'd love to hear some strategies that work better than simply throwing caution to the wind!

[frec]

But...I'm confused...don't you have celiac disease? How long have you been diagnosed? Don't you get sick if you eat wheat or barley? If I ate any gluten I'd have diarrhea so badly that my vacation would be ruined for a day or two. That is plenty of motivation for me. If you don't get that obviously sick from gluten perhaps you can motivate yourself by reading a couple of articles about ongoing intestinal damage leaving one at higher risk for colon cancer? also osteoporosis and other malabsorption/nutritional problems? Once you drop gluten containing foods it really slows down one's vacation eating.

Hope you had a fun vacation!

[kbtoyssni]

I don't understand. Are you gluten-free or not? From what you've been eating you're not gluten-free at all. If you need to be gluten-free, then that's the much more pressing issue here than the few extra pounds you want to lose.

[Maryruth1035]

But...I'm confused...don't you have celiac disease? How long have you been diagnosed? Don't you get sick if you eat wheat or barley? If I ate any gluten I'd have diarrhea so badly that my vacation would be ruined for a day or two. That is plenty of motivation for me. If you don't get that obviously sick from gluten perhaps you can motivate yourself by reading a couple of articles about ongoing intestinal damage leaving one at higher risk for colon cancer? also osteoporosis and other malabsorption/nutritional problems? Once you drop gluten containing foods it really slows down one's vacation eating.

Hope you had a fun vacation!

I do get very sick if I have wheat or gluten--but sometimes I chance a swig of beer or a 1 cm square morcel of chocolate cake alo0ng with a full meal--and sometimes I'm only a little--sick....But for me I am actually pretty good at avoiding any semblance of wheat, but I ALSO need to be avoiding large Carbohydrate loads--which I have a harder time with when on vacation. See- I reason, I have to be so careful about the wheat/barley/non org.oats, etc. that I 'shouldn't' also have to count my carbs! So, although I don't get sick from wheat/gluten, I do get sick from eating too many BAD carbs--like today I had too much candy, and I really don't even like candy all that much--I really do prefer wholesome fruit, unless I'm feeling somehow emotionally activated and 'deprived' It's a psychological thing.

As to how long have I been diagnosed--I was not formally diagnosed. In august of 2004, I stopped eating all grains when I went on the south beach diet. Within about 6 months I realized I had stopped getting sick 3-5 times a week or when I ate 'unknown' foods...Up until that time I couldn't figure out why milk only made me sick some of the time (I thought it was a lactose intolerance). Slowly I reintroduced milk and milk products back in to my diet and realized that as long as I follow a gluten/wheat/barley free (And I think millet--is that right?) free diet, I Rarely get Gi symptoms any more (and when I do I can usually look back at my eating over the last 3 days and find a 'suspect' food that I ate while eating out, etc.) So--now I avoid all wheat & gluten containing foods & drinks and I am MUCH healthier. I'm not sure I have celiac disease, but I know my body does not like wheat/gluten containing foods, so I avoid them like they are poison. Oh--yeah, they ARE poison to me!

But you know what--sometimes I still want a 'taste' of poison when the fresh, homemade bread with butter arrives at the table...And if I give in, I pay the price. I'm just stupid that way sometimes! None-the-less, thanks for the advice. And I had a great, romantic trip--with mild stomache problems one night after I took one sip each of the rasberry wheat and honey wheat beers to 'taste' them...

[Maryruth1035]

I don't understand. Are you gluten-free or not? From what you've been eating you're not gluten-free at all. If you need to be gluten-free, then that's the much more pressing issue here than the few extra pounds you want to lose.

I'm curious--what do you mean by I'm not gluten free at all? I avoid all sources of wheat/barley/millet/gluten in foods that I know of--I really did think maybe my husband knew what he was talking about with tasting 3 of the beers he sampled...None of the other food I had had any wheat in them according to the waiter--was there something else I mentioned that had gluten in it and I don't know it?

<"If I need to be gluten free...">

OK, OK, I KNOW I need to bee gluten free to be as healthy as I can be. That doesn't mean I ALWAYS do it 100%

UM--so nobody here EVER cheats? Wow--you guys are my heroes! Apparently none of you come from eating disordered or addiction backgrounds. Either that or you're on a higher playing field than I... An addict cheats sometimes. It is nothing I'm proud of, but I fail to do what is best for me 100% of the time. Not that I really want to--and I would of course be MUCH healthier if I never cheated--but that's not me. Maybe one day it will be me, I'm just not there yet. But for now, I stayy 99.9% gluten free (--until dinner at the Broadmoor...then I sample my husband's dessert, which I didn't order because it clearly had flour in it. Mind you it is a very SMALL sample (1cmX1cm at most)) but really--you guys NEVER cheat?

OK, in my family, food was an addiction. Maybe alcohol too. I'm the only kid who didn't end up obese (probably BECAUSE of all the diahrhea, now that I think about it...Yuck...) nor addicted to alcohol (except for my 1 brother who has brain damage and is much better at will power than I, he never had problems with drugs or alcohol--he really is a great man)... Yup, my other sister is morbidly obese, and my older brother, Rex, just died of esophogael cancer--he switched from cigarrettes to chew...Darnit! And his sons STILL chew...

Anyway, that doesn't mean I can't learn from other people's suggestions. Maybe there are some other people out there who are struggling to be good besides me? Man, way to make a girl feel lousy...Still, I am trying to stay healthy. And I am not perfect. I probably--no, strike that, I most likely NEVER will be perfect this side of heaven. But I do persevere, and I will keep trying!

[Maryruth1035]

> If I ate any gluten I'd have diarrhea so badly that my vacation would be ruined for a day or two. That is plenty of motivation for me. <

Yeah, you'd think. But, then, I'm 50 and until I realized it was gluten making me sick, I was sick 3-5 times a week for life...I think we can get "used" to anything...Usually the sick part comes way after the fun, 2-5 hours later, depending on the exposure...by then the night is over and no one but me knows I'm sick. I never really thought about it before, but I guess on top of all the neurological damage (several surgeries, learning to walk again, always in pain) I just kind of had the mind set that being sick several times a week was "normal"

You are right though--it isn't. And it isn't good for me. I need a reframe...

[aikiducky]

Maryruth, I'd think of it this way: if it actually turns out that you have celiac disease, then that means there is an autoimmune reaction (meaning your body is attacking itself!) that gets triggered even if you just taste a tiny bit of gluteny food. It doesn't matter that you just take a tiny bite, that tiny bit is like pushing on a button that sets the reaction in motion, and after that it doesn't matter how much you ate, the reaction is going to run it's course. You might not get a lot of visible symptoms but your intestines might still be getting damaged.

Gluten is addictive to some people, eating it gives a "buzz" before the more unpleasant symptoms start. If you keep cheating, you keep yourself addicted. It might be easier to avoid cheating if you realize that it's that buzz that you might be looking for?

I get HORRIBLE symptoms from gluten so it's probably easier to avoid for me. But I have a sweet tooth so I can relate to the carb addiction.

The best way I've found to deal with eating is to be completely honest with myself about what I eat, and also to thoroughly enjoy every bite of what I decide to eat. I've given myself permission to eat anything I want, as long as I'm honest with myself about it. For example: "I'd like a gluten-free cookie. Ok this cookie has x amount of calories, so now that I'm going to eat it, that's the amount of calories I'm going to get". Or "I'd really like to taste that beer, ok, I'm allowed to do that but then I'm going to get a stomach ache and maybe do myself damage". So I'm not allowed to tell myself while little lies like "Oh it's just one cookie, it's practically nothing". But I'm also not denying everything from myself.

After making the decision to eat that cookie, I make sure I thoroughly enjoy every bite, that way I'm not craving another one a minute later. And I don't beat myself up about it. I made the decision before eating, not afterwards.

In other words, I try not to hide what I eat from myself if you see what I mean? I often find out that really I didn't want whatever it was all THAT badly. Also I'm more aware of what I've eaten during the day this way, so I'm not so likely to keep eating all day. I realized that one of the reasons I kept eating more than I should was because I was sort of trying to stuff things in my mouth in secret (from myself, not other people necessarily) so I didn't take the time to enjoy what I was eating, and didn't get a satisfied feeling of really having tasted what I ate.

Also, after being completely gluten free for a while, my food cravings decreased dramatically. I think because I started absorbing nutrients better, so my body wasn't asking for more more more all the time.

If you possibly can, I'd really encourage you to give it a try, to be strictly gluten free for a while. You might be surprised how much better you can feel.

Pauliina

[kbtoyssni]

I'm curious--what do you mean by I'm not gluten free at all? I avoid all sources of wheat/barley/millet/gluten in foods that I know of--I really did think maybe my husband knew what he was talking about with tasting 3 of the beers he sampled...None of the other food I had had any wheat in them according to the waiter--was there something else I mentioned that had gluten in it and I don't know it?

<"If I need to be gluten free...">

OK, OK, I KNOW I need to bee gluten free to be as healthy as I can be. That doesn't mean I ALWAYS do it 100%

UM--so nobody here EVER cheats? Wow--you guys are my heroes! Apparently none of you come from eating disordered or addiction backgrounds. Either that or you're on a higher playing field than I... An addict cheats sometimes. It is nothing I'm proud of, but I fail to do what is best for me 100% of the time. Not that I really want to--and I would of course be MUCH healthier if I never cheated--but that's not me. Maybe one day it will be me, I'm just not there yet. But for now, I stayy 99.9% gluten free (--until dinner at the Broadmoor...then I sample my husband's dessert, which I didn't order because it clearly had flour in it. Mind you it is a very SMALL sample (1cmX1cm at most)) but really--you guys NEVER cheat?

OK, in my family, food was an addiction. Maybe alcohol too. I'm the only kid who didn't end up obese (probably BECAUSE of all the diahrhea, now that I think about it...Yuck...) nor addicted to alcohol (except for my 1 brother who has brain damage and is much better at will power than I, he never had problems with drugs or alcohol--he really is a great man)... Yup, my other sister is morbidly obese, and my older brother, Rex, just died of esophogael cancer--he switched from cigarrettes to chew...Darnit! And his sons STILL chew...

Anyway, that doesn't mean I can't learn from other people's suggestions. Maybe there are some other people out there who are struggling to be good besides me? Man, way to make a girl feel lousy...Still, I am trying to stay healthy. And I am not perfect. I probably--no, strike that, I most likely NEVER will be perfect this side of heaven. But I do persevere, and I will keep trying!

I certainly didn't mean to make you feel badly. The tone of the post made it sound like you don't really eat completely gluten-free on vacation, starting with the beer. And 99.9% gluten-free is not gluten-free. And please don't make assumptions about my background. You may find that going gluten-free helps a lot. Here's what I've discovered.

1. Gluten is an addictive substance itself. If you eat it occasionally you will go through cravings and withdrawal every time.

2. Gluten affects some people neurologically which leaves you open for depression, other addictions and mental illness.

3. You body kind of understands that some foods don't sit well which can lead to subconscious psychological issues with food.

If you eat gluten every week or two, your body will never get out of this vicious cycle. It will never heal. My last glutening took me six weeks to get over. No, I never cheat. Because I never want to feel the way I did before I went gluten-free again. I want my life back. I understand there are plenty of people out there who do cheat. It's not easy. I would encourage you to find a way to motivate yourself to stay 100% gluten-free.

To get back on the topic of weight loss, it seems that many people here can't get to a health weight when eating gluten. Once off gluten the body starts to function properly again and you can gain or lose the weight necessary. Weight loss can be very hard when you're still eating gluten.

If you're the type who likes to eat large, yummy meals with the local cuisine, let yourself do it once a day, but make the other two meals lighter. Plan out what you want to eat for the day. If you know where you're going for dinner, take a look at the menu before you go and pick your entree before you get there and are starving and want to eat everything off the menu. Get some exercise in - hiking or biking or swimming at whatever vacation destination you're at. There's got to be somewhere pretty to wander around.

[frec]

I'm from an alcoholic family too. I just can't have a fun vacation when I'm incontinent. There isn't anything particularly heroic about it. (I like to snorkel. Picture diarrhea in a wetsuit, rocketing out of the water and sprinting up the beach while trying to take the wetsuit off....it wasn't pretty.) The possible complications are a helpful added incentive.

I gave up sugar this year in hopes of helping my fibromyalgia. Now THAT has driven me crazy. I adore candy--it is going to be miraculous if I get through Halloween without sticking my head in a bag of candy corn. But I am tired of hurting. The results are not as clear cut as with gluten; sometimes I am not sure it is helping at all, so it is hard to stay on the diet. I found that I was seriously addicted to sugar--the first few weeks were especially miserable and I do not want to go through that again. So that is another motivating factor.

The thing that helps the most is to promise myself treats--legal ones. It's good to have them on hand so that if you are faced with temptation you can resist, go home, and dive in. My current favorite is bean dip and guacamole. I keep a bag of cashews at work to eat when there are birthday cakes in the staff room. Don't even worry about calories for a while.

The more you stay gluten free, the better you feel, and the more you want to stay gluten free.