by Rita Black
Seafood (50 to 80 calories and 7 to 10 grams of protein per ounce): Halibut, cod, salmon, shellfish, tuna, and snapper.
Low-Fat/Fat-Free Dairy (50 to 120 calories and 3 to 7 grams of protein per ounce): Fat-free (or low-fat yogurt, cheese, milk, and cottage cheese.
Poultry, Eggs, Wild Meats (70 to 90 calories and 8 to 10 grams of protein per ounce): Chicken, turkey, buffalo (bison), elk, and ostrich.
Red Meat (90 to 130 calories and 7 to 9 grams of protein per ounce): Steak, ground beef, pork, sausage, veal, ham, etc. Look for super lean cuts and reduced-fat bacon or sausage.
Vegetarian Sources (50 to 120 calories and 2 to 6 grams of protein per ounce): Tofu and tempeh. Vegetarian versions of bacon and sausage that taste almost like the real McCoy are lower in calories and contain no saturated fat.
Beans (120 calories, 5 grams of protein, and 18 grams of carbohydrates per ½ cup): Red kidney beans, chickpeas, pinto beans, cannellini beans, lentils, black-eyed peas, and black beans.
Vegetables and Fruit
What tempted Adam? Was it a bowl of macaroni and cheese? No! It was an apple. Its crisp, clean taste is tart with a sweet edge. Try a crunchy Romaine lettuce leaf or a hot and spicy bite of a radish. Allow yourself to be seduced by fruits and vegetables. It will be worth it, I assure you.
These two food groups nourish and stabilize you in two ways:
They offer the highest percentage of nutrients and antioxidants per calorie of any food group.
The fiber and water in fruits and vegetables fill you up with a minimum of calories.
Are you eating enough vegetables and fruits?
If there were a drug that reduced your risk of cancer by 20 percent, would you take it? The American Cancer Institute for Cancer Research and The World Cancer Research Fund combined their efforts and evaluated over 4,500 diet and cancer studies. This comprehensive report—The Food, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective—claims that if people were to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, cancer rates would drop by 20 percent.
Recommended daily minimum of vegetable and fruits:
Women: five or more ½-cup servings a day
Men: eight or more ½-cup servings a day
SOURCES OF VEGETABLES AND FRUITS
Low Carbohydrate Vegetables are the most nutritious foods for you. Romaine and other lettuces, kale, collards, spinach, Swiss chard, artichokes, asparagus, Bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, celery, cucumber, okra, peppers, snow peas, string beans, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, yellow and red peppers, bamboo shoots, and cauliflower. (Approximately 25 to 40 calories and 5 to 11 grams of carbohydrates per ½ cup of veggies or one cup of lettuce or spinach.)
Fruits are higher in calories than vegetables but highly nutritious. Apples, apricots, bananas, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, grapefruit, grapes, mangoes, pears, pineapples, plums, raspberries, strawberries, tangerines, and melons. (Approximately 50 to 90 calories and 7 to 17 grams of carbohydrates per ½-cup serving.)
Starchy Vegetables have nutrients but are also higher in carbohydrates. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, acorn squash, winter squash, parsnips, pumpkins, beets, turnips, corn, carrots, and chestnuts. (Potatoes are on this list but not in the form of a French fries.) (Approximately 60 calories and 10 to 23 grams of carbohydrates per ½-cup serving.)
NOTE: Research shows that Weight Masters consume 7 to 11 servings of vegetables and fruits a day. It may seem like a daunting task to eat that much, but a large salad contains about four to 6 vegetable servings.
Even if you are not a fan of fruits and vegetables, there are usually a few that you like. You don’t have to like them all. Know what you do like and go for it. I have seen people completely change their minds about fruits and vegetables once they recognize their value as a powerful tool for feeling full and nourished.
Healthy Fats
Healthy fats are awesome, delivering satisfying taste to your tongue and giving you a feeling of being loved. There’s a reason why high fat foods, like mac and cheese, are called comfort foods! Eat just enough healthy fats to make life worth living. Use them in cooking, for infusing food with flavor, or on their own, like nuts and olives.. Healthy fats nourish and stabilize you in three ways:
They provide flavor.
They help you feel satisfied.
They regulate blood sugar and mood.
Recommended daily healthy fat serving:
Make sure you are getting 600-1000 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids a day by taking a supplement and/or eating at least three servings of omega-3-rich fish (salmon, sardines, trout) a week.
While releasing weight, keep healthy fat to a minimum, about three teaspoons a day or a small handful of nuts.
SOURCES OF HEALTHY FATS
Raw nuts and seeds (Almonds, cashews, filberts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds,) olives, avocado, olive oil, nut oils, and nut butters. (180 to 220 calories an ounce)
NOTE: Watch the amount of healthy fat you eat or cook with daily, since fat is high in calories. Any food ceases to be healthy when you consume more than your body needs in a day. Any food that takes you over your calorie needs for the day becomes an unhealthy food. Also, AVOID trans fats and polyunsaturated fats in such foods as margarine, shortening, and most processed foods.
Whole Grains
Whole grains nourish and stabilize you in two ways:
They are rich in fiber.
They contain phyto-chemicals and vitamins.
Recommended daily minimum of whole grain servings:
Zero to two ½-cup servings per day (this will depend on your “Carb Sensitivity,” which you’ll determine soon)
There is no official minimum of whole grains, but there is a maximum on the overall carbohydrate range you should stay within to be within your Weight Mastery Zone of about around 75 to 150 grams per day. You can enjoy a few servings a day of grains by using them as a condiment and not as a main part of your meal—one that covers the plate and you heap other things on. This rule of thumb changes if you are a vegetarian and need to balance grains with beans to form a complete protein.
SOURCES OF WHOLE GRAINS
Barley, buckwheat, millet, oats, brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, whole grain breads, whole grain pasta, whole grain cereals, etc. (Approximately 120 calories and 19 to 27 grams of carbohydrates per ½-cup serving of cooked grains.)
NOTE: 95 percent of the grain products Americans eat are refined grains, such as white flour and white rice. We need to shift our focus to eating whole grains as part of our balanced way of life. The refined grains are the 15 percent of the 85-15 Percent Food Mastery Zone Eating Strategy.
Water
It’s an essential part of life and weight mastery. Our bodies are composed of 50 to 60 percent water by weight. Thirst is often mistaken for hunger, so being well hydrated is a step toward managing hunger and health. Water brings value to the body in these ways:
Transports nutrients to cells and carries waste away.
Too little water saps energy and mental alertness.
Dilutes waste products filtered by the kidneys.
Some studies have shown water drinkers consume up to 200 fewer calories per day than non-water drinkers.
Recommended daily minimum of water servings:
Eight 8 oz. glasses a day. More when exercising.
SOURCES OF WATER
Water, mineral water, herbal teas, and flavored waters count as long as they don’t contain caffeine, which is dehydrating, or sugar.
Okay, Apprentice, if your head is spinning in a nutritional whirlwind, don’t worry, it will all settle in your mind. Take a moment to take a Shift Breath. Let me remind you that over your 30-Day Thin Thinking Practice you will have time to g
et used to feeding yourself within the 85-15 Percent Food Mastery Zone Eating Strategy. The good news is that nature presents us with many tasty and healthy ways to nourish ourselves. The more you eat of these foods, the more you will enjoy them and even desire them for the way they make you feel in your body and mind.
Now let’s look at Buffer Zone foods.
15 Percent Buffer Zone Foods
Life in the real world presents you with food choices galore. You’re not a nun or monk in a cloistered monastery, nor are you living in prehistoric times and existing on bugs and ferns. You are living in the modern world that is filled with modern food.
As a Weight Master, you have the flexibility to work some of these sometimes not-so-healthy Buffer Zone foods into your Calorie Budget for Weight Release, while still being consistent within your nourishing and stabilized Mastery Zone. You can be sociable, eat at parties and restaurants, and enjoy not having to rigidly stick to a diet. Once you have the ability to stay within your Buffer Zone calories, you have flexibility in food choices. That flexibility allows you to live in the real world.
SOURCES OF NON-NOURISHING PLEASURE FOODS
Refined grains and starches and baked goods. White-flour breads, pasta, bagels, tortillas, flatbreads, English muffins, chips, pretzels, French fries, doughnuts, cakes, cookies, croissants, muffins, pastries, and pies. (Approximately 80 to 150 calories and 7 to 20 grams of carbohydrates per ounce.)
Full-fat dairy. High-fat cheese, whipping cream, etc. (Approximately 80 to 220 calories an ounce.)
Refined sweets. Chocolate, hard candy, chewy candy, lollipops, and sugary gum. (100 to 300 calories an ounce.)
Condiments. Ketchup (America’s second favorite vegetable after French fries!), syrup, BBQ sauce, etc. (25 to 120 calories a tablespoon.)
Other. (Calories vary enormously.) Alcohol, sugary juice, sodas, coffee beverages, sweetened iced tea, fried foods, sugary blended fruit shakes, frozen yogurt…and on and on and so forth!)
NOTE: The best time to eat Buffer Zone foods is with a meal or within an hour of eating. Why? Because when you eat refined foods on a stomach that is already stabilized with protein and whole foods, the mental and physical effects of the refined food have less of an impact on your body and mind.
I invite you to think of your Buffer Zone as the percentage of your daily Calorie Budget for Weight Release that allows you to share a dessert with a friend or have a glass of wine with dinner or a not-so-healthy “something” without feeling bad or guilty. It allows you the breathing room to create a way of eating that honors your life. No longer do you live just in the world of super clean “good” foods or super naughty “bad” foods, but there is an area where you can create some gray that allows you to feel, to quote Goldilocks, “just right.”
The important thing to remember is that while a small amount of these Buffer Zone foods are manageable for long-term weight release and maintenance, too many refined sugary and white foods stimulate the reward center in your brain, causing an imbalance in your body and mind—awakening the Carb Zombie which then makes you feel hungry (even when you have eaten) and crave even more of these foods.
The recommended 15 percent daily maximum of Buffer Zone food servings for weight release looks like this:
1,200-calorie budget = 180 Buffer Zone calories
1,400-calorie budget = 210 Buffer Zone calories
1,600-calorie budget = 240 Buffer Zone calories
2,000-calorie budget = 300 Buffer Zone calories
There are many ways you can use your Buffer Zone calories. Here are some tools for using your Buffer Zone calories that have been tried and tested over many years by myself, my clients, and Shift Weight Mastery Process participants:
The three-bite tool for decadent, stimulating foods.
According to a study in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association, the mouth’s sensory experience of a food diminishes from 90 to about 20 percent after three bites. Many Weight Masters use this three-bite tool to taste desserts and other dense-calorie foods and find they can easily skip eating a whole portion. Really! Try it out. Many of my clients are surprised when they realize that after the sensation of the first few bites, the food is less about pleasure and more an unconscious shoveling of calories down their gullets.
My client Jane said that when she went to a local fish and chips restaurant with her husband, which was a family ritual, she always ate an entire order of fish and chips. Once she started eating within her 85-15 Percent Food Mastery Zone Eating Strategy she realized that if she just took three bites of her husband’s deep-fried fish and a few fries and ordered the lower-calorie non-fried fish dish, she was completely satisfied.
The three-bite tool is especially useful when dining at a restaurant or at social events. You will be surprised how easily three bites will satisfy you.
NOTE: Three average bites or sips of the following equals 100 calories: Chocolate, most pies, muffins, cinnamon rolls, cake, brownies, cookies, milkshakes, candy bars, deluxe cheeseburgers, thick and gooey pizza, garlic bread, onion rings, and loaded ice cream.
Enjoy an end of day “treat.”
The Oxford Study, a cognitive behavioral weight loss study, found that participants were less likely to treat themselves during the day when they knew they had an after-dinner treat planned.
I’ve noticed similar results when my clients have their 15 percent Buffer Zone calories as a treat at the end of the day. Nourish and stabilize yourself, though, before you have that treat. After dinner (not before on an empty stomach) is the best time. Have wine with dinner and not before for the same reason; the impact it will have on your mind and body will be lessened when you have some healthy food in your stomach as a buffer.
Keep your Trigger Foods Out of the Buffer Zone
Everyone, even thin people, has trigger foods that when they eat them create hyper-eating, that out-of-control way of eating that will not stop until the bag or the box or the carton is empty. Everyone’s trigger foods are different but the effect is the same. If we eat a bite of our trigger food, our Carb Zombie awakens, and we are going to eat much more than we intended. You probably have an idea of what your trigger foods are now. Were you thinking that you might be able to have that food within your Buffer Zone and manage it? The answer is, for the most part, no. We will go into trigger foods more with Skill 7 Stimulus Control. Sorry, don’t blame the messenger; blame the trigger food. There are plenty of other foods you can enjoy in your Buffer Zone that don’t trigger you.
0-15 Percent Shades of Gray
Don’t get the wrong idea—you don’t have to eat 15 percent refined foods every day. You can and, probably will, choose to fill your 15 percent Buffer Zone some days with even more of the 85 percent nourished, stabilized, and Balanced Zone foods. Or you may only eat five percent Buffer Zone Foods, or ten percent—depending on how you feel and what is going on in your life. You can see this is sort of an art form of feeding yourself that you are now beginning to master.
Chart T: 85/15 Food Mastery Zone Eating Strategy
Living Within Your Food Mastery Zone: Guidelines for Success
Now that you have your 85-15 Percent Food Mastery Zone Eating Strategy, I’ll walk you through setting up your own Food Mastery Zone Eating Structure, and then give you some guidelines for living in your Food Mastery Zone. That’s right, guidelines. What I am going to share with you are tools—not rules.
Growing Up Your Relationship with Food
These guidelines are going to build upon the 85-15 Percent Food Mastery Zone Eating Strategy that you just learned. I want you to understand that none of this is a diet or dogma. The idea is that you can take what I am teaching you and learn to evolve a way of eating for yourself based on the foods you like and what works for you—your body, mind, and lifestyle.
You cannot fail here, only learn and improve—even by making mistakes—what works best
for you. Rena Wing, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, who has headed the National Weight Control Registry, said that the biggest takeaway from the research of all the Weight Masters to date (over 10,000 of them) is that no two people released their weight in the exact same way. You need to create and own what works for you in the long run.
I know some of you might be reading this and feel that not having a rigid structure to hold on to is a little odd. If you are feeling nervous with the idea of being in charge for yourself, I understand. When we struggle with our weight, we give our power away to structures outside of us and become dependent on something to “save us” from ourselves. We feel like we need a strict regime to whip us into shape because we are so naughty, so addicted, and so incapable of being in charge of ourselves and our relationship to food. Those days are over.
You are now here to begin growing up your relationship to food. You are here to put you in charge and let you be an adult and make your own decisions about what you feed yourself based on how those allow you to feel stabilized, nourished, and balanced.
Starting Where You Are
I deal with a variety of clients who start from different places with their relationship to food:
Already Food Mastery Zoners: I have clients who come to me and are already eating a very healthy diet. They might be following a low-carbohydrate Paleo Plan, Ketogenic diet, or some other “clean and healthy” popular plan, or they may be vegetarian or vegan. The weight challenge most of these people have is that they are just eating too much food! Even super “clean” diets with super organic and nutrient-dense food become unhealthy and fattening when we are eating more than our body needs for weight release.Their Journey to Weight Mastery: As these people begin tracking their calories (as we will learn in the next chapter) and become clear on how to live within their body’s Calorie Budget for Weight Release, they release weight consistently and fairly easily because their bodies are already in a nourished and stabilized state.