It's Time to Step Away from the Peanut Butter
By: Jen Mueller,
SparkPeople Blogger
12/13/2011 2:00 PM
: 90 comments
: 13,866 Views
If you’ve read any of my blogs over the past few months, you know that I recently had my third child. I was always jealous of the women who said they loved being pregnant and felt so great, because I never did. Food was not my friend (lots of random foods made my stomach turn) so I’d eat enough to stay healthy but not a lot more. I never felt like indulging in a hot fudge sundae or most of those other foods a lot of pregnant women crave.
Flash forward to now, and it’s a totally different story. As soon as I give birth, the appetite switch seems to turn on in my body. I am hungry and want to eat ALL the time, which usually means that I gain some weight after having babies instead of losing like most people do. I’m nursing, which means I need to eat more than usual. But the number of calories I’m consuming is far more than I need. And many of those calories are coming from one food: peanut butter.
Peanut butter seems to be my trigger food. If allowed, I can sit with a jar and eat it by the spoonful. Yes, peanut butter can be part of any healthy diet. But a little bit goes a long way, and too much of any one food is not such a good thing.
I think part of my desire to eat and eat comes from a change in my routine. I’m up more at night, and I’m also home more since it’s hard to juggle three little ones on my own in a lot of public places. So with this new routine, I need to develop a new plan for getting my eating under control and relearning my hunger cues. That way I’m eating when I need to instead of just when I feel like it.
My plan is to limit my consumption of peanut butter to one serving, once a day. If I’m hungry and it seems like I shouldn’t be, I’ll drink a glass of water and wait 20 minutes. If I’m still hungry, then I’ll have plenty of other healthy snacks on-hand (like fruit and veggies) to help satisfy my craving.
Do you have trigger foods? Have you learned to eat them in moderation, or do you just avoid them completely? If you eat them in moderation, how have you learned to maintain self-control?
Flash forward to now, and it’s a totally different story. As soon as I give birth, the appetite switch seems to turn on in my body. I am hungry and want to eat ALL the time, which usually means that I gain some weight after having babies instead of losing like most people do. I’m nursing, which means I need to eat more than usual. But the number of calories I’m consuming is far more than I need. And many of those calories are coming from one food: peanut butter.
Peanut butter seems to be my trigger food. If allowed, I can sit with a jar and eat it by the spoonful. Yes, peanut butter can be part of any healthy diet. But a little bit goes a long way, and too much of any one food is not such a good thing.
I think part of my desire to eat and eat comes from a change in my routine. I’m up more at night, and I’m also home more since it’s hard to juggle three little ones on my own in a lot of public places. So with this new routine, I need to develop a new plan for getting my eating under control and relearning my hunger cues. That way I’m eating when I need to instead of just when I feel like it.
My plan is to limit my consumption of peanut butter to one serving, once a day. If I’m hungry and it seems like I shouldn’t be, I’ll drink a glass of water and wait 20 minutes. If I’m still hungry, then I’ll have plenty of other healthy snacks on-hand (like fruit and veggies) to help satisfy my craving.
Do you have trigger foods? Have you learned to eat them in moderation, or do you just avoid them completely? If you eat them in moderation, how have you learned to maintain self-control?
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Comments
Maybe eat p.b. with other protein for breakfast? fewer carbs? - 1/1/2012 12:28:27 PM
Once a week I try to make a pot of healthy soup with lots of veggies and protein from lentils or beans. Then I'll make a hummus and cut up a vegetable tray for dipping and make fresh salads 2-3 times a week as well. I eat raw almonds or a tablespoon or 2 of almond butter or peanut butter with my raw veggies when I have a snack. I try to follow the clean eating diet 90% of the time which means I eat about 5-6 small meals a day.
I make a lot of egg white omelettes with spinach, mushrooms, onion, garlic (no cheese) that are delicious for a mid morning snack/brunch.
I also sprinkle cayenne pepper on most of my food to help curb my appetite and it has great health benefits as well along with curry, cumin, etc..but you know that, because there's spark articles about the spices with health benefits!
It's good to know that you're normal like the rest of us, Jen! Congrats with your new arrival! - 12/30/2011 12:41:17 PM
That said, I try to limit almond butter to two 1-tablespoon servings per day - 12/19/2011 3:37:11 PM
Peanut Butter? I could take it or leave it....doesn't bother me.... - 12/18/2011 10:03:15 AM
- 12/16/2011 2:51:12 PM
When people say peanut butter I am always curious as to which form they are talking about. For me peanut butter is just peanuts and salt with nothing added. Reading the labels on Skippy, Jif or any of the other well known brands turns me off. I restrict myself to the above peanuts and salt only variety. I have used salted in the shell peanuts, hulled and skinned spun in a blender to make my own. I think the prolem many have with the commercial variety is all the added unnecessary ingredients. - 12/14/2011 12:29:11 PM
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