The importance of small changes

One of the best things about Eat Stop Eat is that it allows you to really take control of how you eat.

After all, once you have gone without food for 24 hours a couple of times, you really start to get a feel for the real reasons behind why you eat, what you eat and when you eat.

Often times, hunger isn't one of these reasons. Habit and emotional connection are usually the culprit.

If you take this new found wisdom, you can create a big difference in the way you eat by making SMALL changes.

Take coffee for instance.

One of the first things I noticed when I started fasting was how much I loved my coffee with cream and sugar (I put up with black coffee during my fasts, but I DEFINITELY don't like it)

Fasting also made me realize just how often I craved coffee...typically drinking 2-3 cups per day.

I realized very quickly that this was the perfect opportunity to make SMALL CHANGES for BIG RESULTS.

My typical coffee was (at the time) was an extra large with two cream, two sugar - which contains about 280 calories.

I slowly weaned myself down to a large coffee with 1 sugar and 1 cream, which contained about 110 calories.

After about a week of drinking large coffees with 1 sugar and 1 cream I realized I wasn't enjoying my coffee nearly as much as I used to, so I switched to 2 cream, 1 sugar..about 180 calories.

This did the trick.

So, thanks to one small change I reduced my coffee calorie intake by 100 Calories, 2 to 3 times per day, saving myself between 1,400 to 2,100 Calories per week without cutting out any of my favorite foods.

In my opinion this is much better than simply trying to stop drinking coffee all together. After all, I enjoy my coffee, so this would have been punishment, and weight loss and eating healthy should NEVER be about self-punishment. Plus, I know that I would have lasted about 3 days without coffee before going back to my old habits, so it would have been futile punishment at that.

Small changes, big results.

BP

PS- the other day I tried a coffee with 2 cream, 2 sugar (for old time's sake)..I can honestly tell you I like my coffee with 2 cream 1 sugar better!

The Smell of Coffee

Alright, I know this is animal research, but it is still pretty cool for all you coffee lovers out there.

Turns out even the smell of coffee can help get you going in the morning.

You can learn more here ==>

Coffee Smells Great

BP

Summer Time Coffee

It's funny how during the summer, coffee becomes dessert.

The minute the hot weather hits, coffee gets iced, blended, mixed, topped and garnished. It ends up being a Frankenstein liquefied version of a coffee cake.



Now, here is how I differ from most nutrition critics - I don't think there is anything wrong with this.

It is OK to drink a sugar, fat and coffee concoction as long as you realize that this is no longer your 100 Calorie morning cup of Java. It is now dessert. And it must be treated like dessert.

If you consume 300 Kcals and 50 grams of sugar from your coffee drink (which by the way isn't much worse than drinking 500 ml of chocolate milk) then you simply need to cut back on your calorie and sugar intake at some other point during the day.

A wide variety of foods can all be fit into a healthy diet, as long as by the end of the day, everything has balanced out to include a wide variety of foods and a reasonable total calorie intake.

BP

Coffee for weight loss?

I've been following my friend Adam Steer's battle with coffee for a couple weeks now.

Adam is trying to "give up the juice" for two weeks, before starting back up with a respectable 1-2 cups per day (a far more reasonable number than his previous average of 4-5 cups per day).

You can read about Adam's experiences by visiting his blog here ==> ADAM STEER

I've also been trying to alter my coffee habits . I'm a big believer in the idea that when you are following Eat Stop Eat, little changes in the way you eat on your eating days can have dramatic results in the long run.

So, I've cut the sugar out of my coffee.

Since I have 2 (sometimes 3) coffees over the course of the day, this small change should result in about a 50-100 calorie decrease in my daily intake.

Like I said, small changes can create big results with Eat Stop Eat.

If you are looking to make a change in the way you eat, start small and conservative. The easier the change, the more likely you are to stick with it, the more likely you are to see results.

BP

PS- Here's something odd, I still find my coffee to be noticeably sweet, even without the added sugar, perhaps its from the cream?

Why Starbucks is Like Godzilla

On Monday I had a chance to catch up with one of my good friends who has spent the last five years living in Japan. He was back in Canada for a wedding, and since I haven't seen him in years it was definitely time to catch up.

Of course, the conversation eventually turned to Nutrition, and I learnt an eye-opening fact about some disturbing trends in Japan.

According to my friend, Starbucks is making a push to get a foot-hold in the Japanese market. Kind of like Godzilla, only without the death and destruction.

While this shouldn't be shocking to any of us (after all, while visiting China I saw a Starbucks INSIDE the forbidden city!), what is shocking is the effect that Starbucks is having on some of the Japanese nutrition customs.

In Japan it is a centuries-old tradition that you don't drink while walking.

And this poses a huge dilemma for the Starbucks crowd.

Since space is very hard to come by in Japan, many of the Starbucks shops are walk-up "express" versions with little to no seating. Basically, if you want your Starbucks, you are going to have to walk with it.

And guess what - People are walking with their Starbucks. Starbucks is single-handedly destroying centuries of Japanese tradition.

This is a perfect example of a soon-to-be extinct custom that once prevented people from eating while they are distracted. And it fits perfectly with the stories I have been telling you from the book,"Mindless Eating".

In this incredible book there are examples of many other mindless eating methods that have replaced our own nutrition customs. (i.e. If you read it you'll find out what eating in front of the TeeVee has done to us, rather than eating around the dinner table).

So not only are these eating customs "sacred", but they also serve a purpose. In fact, I believe that the disappearance of traditional eating customs is one of the largest factors in our current obesity problem.

If you don't already have your own set of "nutrition customs" perhaps it's time you thought about adopting some.

Here is an easy one for all of you commuters out there. For the rest of this week, do not eat in your car. You can drink, just no food. This rule will help you keep your car clean AND save you from some mindless distracted eating.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

BP

PS- Summer is here so...

...strength coach John Barban is back running his summer conditioning camp. You can read about the first day of camp HERE.

Fasting Diet, Circuit Training