"Free" "flavors": making your diet tasty

For those who enter diets or instate lifestyle changes, the restrictions we face can be depressing. We think about all our favorite foods we have to give up, and resign ourselves to either boring meals or having to become full-time personal chefs to ourselves. Even harmless-seeming condiments like our favorite salad dressing and sweetener in our coffee can become off-limits.

I know a lot of people who decide to go on a diet and just microwave a bowl of chicken and broccoli for every meal until they fall off the wagon. And there's something to be said for the effectiveness of repeating the same meals over and over. But you don't have to live off of bland, dry food.

You might have said good-bye to creaminess, sweetness, coconutty deliciousness and peanut-buttery goodness. Probably you are cutting out greasy or cheese-drenched comfort food, or, like my parents (and me to a less strict extent), oils altogether (see The Esselstyn diet and my family). But there are still plenty of "flavors" you can enjoy that won't put you off your diet.

Of course, every diet is different, and your restrictions will vary. But over the years of many methods of eating, these are some flavors (spices, condiments, whatever) that seem to be relatively "safe" for most diets.

I'm not going to go down the spice rack and list every bottle, but here are the more over-arching tastes that you can achieve without a lot of caloric sacrifice.

Spicy
If you like spicy food, you're in luck. A little bit of hot sauce or jalapeno can add an enormous amount of flavor for almost no calories. And the best thing is the options for where you get your heat are boundless. Cayenne, Tabasco, sweet chili paste, sriracha, or even regular black pepper of salt-and-pepper fame all have different tastes and uses. Plus, there are even studies that show spicy food might boost your metabolism. If you don't like spicy food, you might try sneaking in just a tiny bit of heat. It's something you have to get used to, but once you do, it's a slippery slope!
Drawbacks: Could be bad for people with heartburn/reflux problems.

Soy
Soy sauce adds an Asian mood to anything on your plate. Unfortunately it has a lot of sodium, which is a no-no for many dieters. But there are several options that give you the taste with a lighter salt load. Low-sodium soy sauce is good, as is low-sodium tamari. You could also try an alternative such as Bragg's Liquid Aminos. Depending on sugar, teryaki might be OK, too. Mmmm.
Drawbacks: Most of us are supposed to cut back on sodium, and even low-sodium versions are probably more salt than we should be having. I would not touch it a few days before a photo shoot or other event where you want to look thin. Salt is bloating.

Tomato
You love pizza and pasta? Me too. But it's probably not just the carb-load and fatty cheese you crave. You're free to have as much tomato as you want. That means pizza sauce and pasta sauce are in, as well as ketchup and (depending on sugar) barbeque sauce. You don't need a high-calorie bed to pour them on. I love veggies and beans in bbq sauce, and tomato sauce on my vegan meatballs!
Drawbacks: Like spices, should be OK for almost everyone unless you have a low tolerance for acidic foods.

Sour
Oil and vinegar might have too much fat, but vinegar by itself can do more than enough! Throwing a little vinegar on your stir-fry or in your sauce can give you that sour taste that makes any vegetable interesting. Sauerkraut is a great topping or side for a veggie brat, or even on a salad if you don't have any "safe" dressings handy.
Drawbacks: I seem to remember Fit for Life having a "vinegar is a cleaning product, not a food" policy. So some "internal hygiene" diets might say no. For most of us it should be fine.

Lemon and lime
Here's a recipe for making guacamole out of edamame instead of (high-fat) avocados. Add some lemon or lime juice and cilantro and it's almost like the real thing. I like fresh-squeezed lime juice on my corn on the cob instead of butter. Even if you are on a low-sugar diet where fruit is a no-no, lemons and limes don't really have the sugar that other fruits have.
Drawbacks: Why are all the good lemon squeezer devices like $15? Rip off!

Coffee
If coffee was caloric, no one in this country would ever diet. It's a way of life for Americans. As an add-on flavor, it tends to be more of a dessert thing, and most diets aren't very dessert-friendly. But if you find a way to slip it in, whether it's in a smoothie or in a low-sugar muffin, it's a healthier option than chocolate or peanut butter.
Drawbacks: Lots of people go off caffeine for health reasons, weight-focused or not.

Cinnamon
Cinnamon is sort of the "spicy" option of dessert foods, in that it adds a zing and may increase metabolism. It can be a great substitute for sweeter in pastries or coffee. There are a lot of sweetener options out there that may or may not be healthy, depending on who you ask and what diet you're on, but for most of us it's better if we can cut back on them altogether. There's still an adjustment as you slowly lose your sweet tooth, but if you replace your sugar shaker with a cinnamon shaker you'll be much better off.
Drawbacks: Can't think of any.

So that's a very general survey, but those are the major "flavors" I've found that make a huge difference without detriment to my health or diet. The fun part comes when you combine them. Hot and sour soup! Lime salsa! Cinnamon latte!

Bon appetite, and feel free to add your own favorite flavors below!

Photo from take the day off

My 3 food epiphanies

I'm a medium-sized person (thin enough to be an aerialist but not a model), and a moderately good eater (a vegetarian who loves cheesecake). As you'll surmise, my diet is "pretty good." I know how to lose weight when I need to, but most of the time I work a couple good sins into my daily food intake.

It's easy for me to complain that people think I don't have to work hard to be thin(ish) and in shape. But I think I'm guilty of the same thinking for other people. Sometimes you catch yourself unconsciously assuming that some people are just petite and some are just big boned, and for the most part we just adjust slightly upwards or downwards in our weight bracket.

Fortunately, I've had a few lightning-strike moments in my life where I realized things weren't always what that prescribed. I'd like to share my top three with you.

The first "food epiphany" I remember was just out of college. I was being really dedicated about taking jazz and ballet classes weekly, even though I didn't have a talent for them. Just for my music/theater career I had going on.

I was so disciplined that I even went to class on Valentine's Day that year. I was taking classes at a dance studio with my college ballet teacher. As you can imagine, she was gorgeous. Tall, thin, long legs, blonde hair, blue eyes, and of course, impeccably graceful.

Of course she should be thin. She's a dancer! She exercises hours and hours a day! She no doubt watches what she eats.

My revelation came as we were waiting for the class before ours to finish, standing around in the hallway. "Happy Valentine's Day, ladies!" the teacher smiled. "Are we all gonna go eat some chocolate after this?"

Long pause.

Then she burst out laughing. "HAHAHAHA!! YEAH, RIGHT! Maybe a chocolate Balance Bar!"

I was a bit taken aback, because I'd totally thought getting chocolate after class was a great idea when she'd said it. And that was the difference between size 6 me and size 0 her. I didn't think much of grabbing a sugary treat. She thought the idea of eating one piece of chocolate on Valentine's Day after a workout was preposterous, and assumed the rest of us agreed.

My second food epiphany happened in an airport. I forget exactly where it was-- Newark, maybe-- but the food court options were slim pickings. I fronced my forehead and reluctantly got in line at Subway as my best option.

Eating fast food when I'm not in the mood makes me feel fat. (When I am in the mood, it just makes me feel happy!!) It makes me feel unhealthy and icky. Looking around at the line I was standing in just confirmed that feeling. Everyone in front of and behind me was overweight. They all looked unhealthy. They didn't look like the kind of people you meet in New York (who are also usually the kind of people who think fast food makes them feel fat). They looked like tourists from states where everyone is just big. Probably some of them were, and probably some of them worked in the airport, and this was their best food option, too.

But slowly, as I waited my turn, I noticed something else, too. Every single every person around me, EVERY one, ordered a footlong (large) sub with both meat and cheese, a large soda, and chips or dessert. I ordered a six-inch (small) veggie sub. I don't think I even had cheese on it. I had a bottle of tap water with me, and did not feel I needed a snack on the side.

This was particularly telling, because we all had the same food options available to us. It's not like I could afford better food because I had more money. It's not a matter of who had time to cook. We were all a captive audience in this airport food court, and all in line at the same food stand.

My third epiphany came after a music performance I was in. We all went out for drinks (and eats) afterwards. A good friend of mine from circus class had come to see my performance, and we sat across from each other.

Most of the women (it was an all-female cast) around me were heavy-set. After we had all placed our orders, one of them piped up. "Can I ask, what did you two order?" she asked mischievously, pointing to my aerial friend and I.

"Huh?" I didn't know what she was getting at.

She explained, "They say if you want to lose weight, observe what the skinniest person at the table orders."

"Oh!" I laughed. "Rachel and I aren't skinny because of how we eat. We're athletes. We do aerial silks twice a week, we just burn a lot of calories doing that."

"Uh-huh," the woman said skeptically. "So what did you order?"

And then it hit me. "We're sharing one appetizer." She was right. Everyone else had ordered a full meal.

These three epiphanies are notable because they all involved unconscious, habitual choices. My ballet teacher didn't reject chocolate because she was on a diet, or because she was fighting a craving for it. In her mind, it wasn't even an option. I didn't order a small veggie sub with no extras at Subway because I was being health-conscious; it was my default. My friend and I didn't order less food than our tablemates because we were watching what we ate. Actually, we were probably just being cheap.

The choices made weren't choices. They were defaults. They happened, for better or for worse, without consideration.


I wish there was a button I could push when I ate a kale salad that said "set as default." Alas, it takes a little more effort than that. But less effort than fighting cravings every day for the rest of your life.

Image from Gracefully Saving.

Working on your body: Hobby or Habit?

Like most polers, I expend a lot of mental and physical energy. Not only do I diet and exercise, but I spend a lot of time thinking about dieting and exercising. I've come to the conclusion that, as far as working on your body is concerned, there are two-- not so much strategies, but systems-- that work, and that work very differently.

I call them "hobby" and "habit."

The long and short of it is, most people I see succeeding at their goals (health or otherwise) either become remarkably enthusiastic about them, or find a simple system that works for them and follow it blindly.

I'm positing that both are equally valid approaches, depending on your personality and situation. To clarify, I'm going to give some examples.

Diet

I know people who decide they need to lose weight, long-term, and spend huge amounts of their free time on it. They start grocery shopping more, not less. They analyze labels. They research organic food. They read (or write!) books, magazines, and blogs about weight loss. They get excited about all the new recipes that will make them healthy. They "evangelize" to overweight friends. Weight loss becomes their primary hobby; possibly, in the case of nutritionists, their career.

On the other hand, there are people like me. People who don't want a new hobby might simplify their dieting process. They will find a few meals that work for them, and eat the same couple of things every day. This method is extremely efficient, but most effective if some leeway is allowed. (Leeway is more assumed in the "hobby" system; in the "habit" system, you have to plan for it.)

Which way is best for you depends a lot on you and the life you lead. Are you a foodie? Do you love to cook? To entertain? To eat out? Do you enjoy wandering around Whole Foods Market and comparing fruits for antioxidant properties? Are you excited to discover new "tools and tricks" that will help you along your way? Then you will have a good chance at success by being an "obsesser."

Do you already have too much on your mind to dedicate yourself full-time to your weight-loss goal? Would you rather expend your energy on a completely different interest, such as learning French or running marathons? Are you fine with eating at home and bringing your lunch most of the time? Can you adjust quickly to a healthy diet without excessive cravings? Then you'll be a better "automater."

When I need to lose weight, I make the same dinner every night. That might sound boring to some people, but I don't mind-- I go through long phases anyways, where I get the craving for a certain take-out (massaman curry or pineapple pizza or what have you) and order it, well, more often than not. If I can train myself to crave something healthy, that's perfect.

Exercise

I used to (and probably will again someday) love reading Muscle & Fitness Hers. I would go to the gym with a different workout almost every day (or my favorite "flavor of the month" workout that I'd repeat once a week for several months). One day, I ran into some of my musician friends in the gym. I hadn't even known they went there! I asked them if they were hitting the sauna, and they said, "No, we just like to get in and out as fast as possible." I was confused.

When it comes to exercise, I am more of an obsesser. I know the names of the moves and machines. I log my workouts. I ran 4 marathons. I know how much I can bench.

Many of my friends are automaters. They hit the gym and get on the treadmill and/or circuit and go home. They don't love the gym, they just want to be healthy.

Are you excited about new workout options? Do you stand in the mirror and analyze the size of each muscle in your body? Do you set exciting goals for yourself, such as competing in Iron Man or entering a figure competition? You're a hobbyist.

Do you have a fixed schedule to work around? Is going to the gym torture? Are you happy with maintaining a decent weight instead of sculpting your body? You belong on the habit track.

Neither is right or wrong. It would be awkward for me to "habit" my exercise options, because as a freelancer I have a different schedule every day. It's hard to say "Go to the gym before work" when sometimes work is at 9am and sometimes at 9pm and sometimes I don't leave the house. And I just don't love cooking enough to "hobby" my diet.

This dichotomy can apply to other aspects of your health as well. Do you stretch every morning, just like you put on your make-up? Or do you hardly ever stretch and then one day decide you're going to get the splits if it kills you, and stretch for an hour a day, and read up on PNF and AI and ballistics, and buy workout DVDs just for stretching, and join a yoga class? Do you learn the new pole or trapeze moves taught in class and revisit them in next week's class, or do you spend hours a day watching YouTube videos, own your own apparatus, and drive yourself crazy trying to figure tricks out? (If you're reading this blog, chances are you're the latter!)

I'm pointing these things out not just so we can be more aware of how we relate to our own bodies, but also because we can make a conscious choice. Maybe you've been beating yourself over the head for years trying to become a fitness enthusiast, when all along you're better suited to be a habitist than a hobbyist. Here are a few advantages and disadvantages for both techniques.

HOBBY

Advantages:

• Good for obsessive or enthusiastic people

• You'll become very knowledgeable about the subject

• You'll build up a community around yourself as you seek out like-minded hobbyists

Disadvantages:

• Failure sets in as enthusiasm naturally wanes

• Takes a lot of time and mental energy

• Decision fatigue can set in, leading to temptation and overwhelm

HABIT


Advantages:

• Efficient

• Fewer temptations, as you don't consider so many options

• Good for people who like routine

Disadvantages:

• Boring

• Doesn't leave much leeway

• It's just as easy to develop bad habits as good ones, so watch out!

So how do you approach your aerial life: hobby or habit?

Photo from Megan Fox Diet