All The Days Of My Life (so Far)

by Alison Sweeney

  After slimming down

  Positive comments like that—and the weight that I had successfully lost—were motivating. My strengthened willpower came from my new look and those glances in the mirror that had me saying, “Geez, I have to go shopping and buy smaller-sized clothes!”

  Meanwhile, viewers of Days noticed the change, too, and I was deluged with hundreds of letters and e-mails, with fans asking how I had slimmed down. Here’s what one fan wrote:

  Alison, I envy your determination and inner strength to become healthy and live a healthier life. That determination is something I’ve had trouble hanging on to. All my life, I’ve been referred to as the ‘chunky one.’ Even my family doctor would poke fun at my weight sometimes (which REALLY got my spirits down).

  Even though no one ever called me ‘fat’ (at least not to my face), I have always seen myself as fat. The fact that I’m 22 years old, and still can’t shed what my parents politely call my ‘baby fat,’ is pretty discouraging. I have tried almost every diet out there, and haven’t found one with lasting results once you stop the plan.

  I was floored (and jealous and envious) one day when I was watching Days of Our Lives, and you walked out in this flattering dress, and I realized just how much weight you have actually lost and how fit you looked. I’ve been curious about your dieting plan ever since.

  I enthusiastically agree with the natural and healthy path you’ve chosen to assist you in your weight loss and your quest to be healthier. I feel confident that the same path will work for me and a lot of other health-challenged people out there. I would greatly appreciate any feedback or advice you might have for me.

  Linda

  When I make public appearances at Days’ events, some fans want to talk about my weight and not much else (even if my eating habits are no longer my own obsession, someone somewhere seems obsessed with them!). When magazines have run articles about how I lost fifteen or twenty or twenty-five pounds, or Entertainment Tonight and E! Entertainment have documented my dieting efforts, readers have certainly responded, and I’ve received sacks of letters about it. Most of it has been very positive. There have been plenty of letters from people who told me that they’ve been motivated by my own success. Many have cheered me on. Or they’ve thanked me for publicly acknowledging that the battle to lose weight isn’t an easy one. They’ve described their own struggles, their own successes and their own failures:

  Posing on the red carpet!

  Hello Alison—I read your article in Soap Opera Digest regarding sugar. As an experiment, I decided to give up granulated sugar. Not only did I lose 27 pounds, but I also lost any desire to ever eat sugar again. I went from a size 12–14 to a svelte size 6 (now I’m quoting my husband!). I found that I also crave more protein than carbohydrates and my energy level has soared. So THANK YOU for the interview which inspired me to follow in your footsteps.

  Gail

  Hi. I have been a Days fan for many years, and my daughter Brit started watching with me last year. She took a liking to you immediately. Any time I buy Soap Opera Digest, we look for articles about you.

  When we began to notice your weight loss, Brit thought you were losing like other actresses who had become way too skinny. Then we read an article about you talking about your weight loss. When Brit read what you said about being responsible and how you did it for yourself and only you, she was very impressed.

  As we read more articles, and learned that you weren’t obsessive about your weight, she began to have double doubts about what her friends had to say about weight and how they were so preoccupied with it. She started to realize that you were happy with yourself no matter what. She very rarely mentions her weight anymore, and the credit goes to you.

  I just want to thank you for being such an inspiration. Good luck to you in your career, and I hope all your dreams come true.

  Molly

  Chapter 13

  These days, the way I eat is constantly a work in progress. It’s certainly different today than my diet of four years ago, or even four months ago. My own diet plan (I think of it more as a “lifestyle”) is constantly changing, forever evolving, always fluid. I don’t think of myself as dieting, but rather as eating right for myself.

  I’ve managed to gain some insights with age (I’m all of twenty-six as I write these words!), and I’ve recognized that feeling great is definitely more important to me than achieving ultrathinness. Sure, I still have bad days when perhaps I overdo it. But if something doesn’t seem to be working for a while, I’m not married to it—sometimes I make changes and try new foods and approaches, meal by meal. It makes the process much more interesting.

  As I already mentioned, I’ve never had the intention of turning this into a diet book and recommending a specific program that I think you and everyone else should adopt. I know better than to think that I have the expertise to counsel you on the diet that’s best for you. I’m not a nutritionist, and I don’t know what appeals to your palate, nor am I a doctor who understands what’s optimal for your own body and well-being. You certainly know best what might work for you, and what it may take for you to stick with it for the long term. If you want to try the latest diet fad, go ahead, but don’t allow yourself to be brought down if it doesn’t work. More than anything, I want to encourage you to eat a healthy diet, and the rest will probably fall into place.

  Now, please don’t misunderstand me: I don’t approach my eating lackadaisically. I do carefully consider what goes onto my plate every single meal. But it’s not an obsession. I try to use good judgment, making sure my meals support my goals, while never being fanatical about it or latching on to gimmicks. Whenever I’ve tried to follow a strict program, I’ve ended up eventually cheating, and then feeling angry and resentful that I had tried the diet in the first place.

  In this chapter, let me tell you about a few of my own approaches that I’ve used in recent times when planning my meals and snacks. They may make sense to you—or maybe they won’t. But perhaps if you take a little of what I do, and borrow some other dietary strategies from friends, family members, or other books, you might find yourself creating your own plan that’s the perfect fit. Remember, this is how I often eat, but I don’t pretend to have the answers for you. If you want to try some of my lifestyle changes, great—but you might find other ideas that work much better for you:

  I shop completely differently than I once did. It fact, a trip to the supermarket can turn into something of an adventure these days. Years ago, Dr. Jay told me to read food labels more carefully, and I was surprised at just how much information is there. Just an example or two: Breakfast cereals can differ considerably in the amount of sugar they have (some cereals not only list sugar as a major ingredient, but corn syrup and honey aren’t far behind!). One brand of wheat bread that I used to buy has corn syrup as its second ingredient!

  I eat breakfast every day. Not only is it important for me to start off the morning right, but on the Days set, you never know when you’re going to get a break to eat—you can be on stage for hours and never have a moment to grab a bite, and you better be ready to perform the most demanding scenes at 9 or 10 or 11 A.M., if that’s what the schedule calls for! For breakfast, I often have Puffed Wheat these days. Or I’ll prepare an egg omelet, making it interesting by adding chives and basil from my garden, and perhaps a little cilantro or cheese. Or I’ll eat an egg sandwich made with one slice of whole wheat bread, a little cheese, and turkey bacon. And by the way, if there’s a particular brand of breakfast cereal that I don’t eat very often—but I’m just dying to have it—I will! I’m not going to be driven crazy by my diet, and I’m not going to let it keep me from enjoying life!

  For lunch, a typical meal might be an open-faced tuna salad sandwich, prepared on a piece of bread. Or I might make a salad with plenty of lettuce, other vegetables, and chicken breast. I’ll often chop up and toss all kinds of things into the salad bowl—apples, chives, turkey bacon, shredded turkey, or a little cheese. I try to add a h
ealthy carb like a yam or brown rice at lunch to help me get through the rest of the day.

  For dinner, I usually have some protein—perhaps a modest serving of meat, chicken, or fish (salmon is one of my favorites!). I minimize the carbs I have in the evening, which reduces the likelihood of my blood sugar levels going haywire. In the evenings, I’m also likely to avoid all carb foods like corn, potatoes, pasta, rice, and bread, but I’ll have some vegetables like broccoli or green beans. Variety is key, and I don’t overrely on any single food or food group—or deprive myself completely of anything, either.

  In general, no matter what meal we’re talking about, I lean a little more toward protein than carbohydrates when thinking about what to eat; when I do, fat storage becomes less of a problem for me. Protein also seems to curb my appetite better than other types of food. So I eat modest portions of high-quality, high-protein fish and chicken. And if I have a pasta salad for lunch one day, I make a mental note to take it easy on the carbs the next day. Sensible, but not fanatical.

  I eat plenty of fresh produce. I realize that I need some fruits and vegetables since, without enough complex carbohydrates, I may be playing havoc with my blood sugar levels. I might have an orange in the morning, for example, which doesn’t have the high concentration of sugar as a glass of orange juice (I remember reading that juice provides the equivalent of the sugar in eight oranges, but an actual piece of fruit has a much more modest amount of sugar, and tends to fill me up). In the supermarket, my shopping cart may have vegetables like bell peppers in it (I love their flavor, texture, and color). And I’m always trying new foods to cook with—I used leeks in my omelet the other day…delicious!

  I spend a lot of time in my dressing room at NBC, waiting to be called to the Days set. While it might be tempting to take advantage of the candy and bagels available for the cast and crew, I rarely let that temptation get to me anymore. Sure, the crew works very hard, they’re on their feet all day, and they want something substantial for lunch or dinner, so the show’s producers make sure they’re well fed. But as an alternative, I rely on my own healthy snacks, often stopping at the deli on the way to the studio for some cold cuts (like turkey pastrami or smoked turkey). When I get hungry, I’ll raid the refrigerator in my dressing room, roll up some turkey, often using iceberg lettuce as my “bread,” and perhaps make it a little more interesting with some Muenster cheese and avocado. Or I might have a healthy snack of celery with a little peanut butter or seasoning salt.

  There are some foods that I eat less often (as far as I’m concerned, no food is taboo, but there are some that I try not to do to excess). Pizza isn’t something I overdo. I’ve reduced the amount of starchy foods I eat. I’ve cut down on bread and other heavy foods. The same with refined sugar; at one point early in the process, I eliminated sugar from my diet completely—cold turkey—tossing out the Cokes in my refrigerator (I even gave up my beloved Diet Cokes for a while!), and replacing them with iced tea (with a little fruit water, but no other sweetener). After drinking two or three sugar-saturated soft drinks a day for years, I found that in just a couple weeks, I lost the compulsion to reach for something sweet. I put my sweet tooth to rest. These days, I drink a Diet Coke from time to time, but not in excess. Some people, however, can’t stop consuming sugar on a dime, particularly when you’re talking about something they’ve been eating all their life; maybe you need to wean yourself gradually from sugar-laden foods, which is fine. Do whatever works best for you. But, let me tell you, after a while your sugar cravings will subside. That’s why I even cut out the Nutra-Sweet, too. You have to get your taste buds off the sugar cravings! So if you really cut all sugar and sugar substitutes, eventually sugary sodas and the related stuff aren’t particularly appealing.

  I’ve dramatically reduced my dependence on coffee. For much of my life, I was so hooked on caffeine that I used to salivate just driving by a Starbucks (you’re right—that’s a bit of an exaggeration!). But once I weaned myself from coffee and switched instead to iced tea or Ice Blended, I could barely stand the smell or the taste of coffee anymore. The acidity of the bean almost made me ill. As for caffeine, I try to keep the lid on the number of caffeine-spiked diet sodas I consume, which required a real change in mindset. There was a time when my closest friends would give me cases of Diet Cokes as birthday presents! I remember once getting a Coca-Cola lap blanket as a gift. But I now rely on much healthier drinks (although the lap blanket has survived my decision to rid the house of most soft-drink reminders!).

  Now, let me be honest: I still love desserts, and I eat them from time to time. But I don’t have them—and certainly don’t feel I need them—every day. I remember times when I’ve been on vacation, and I ended up at some restaurant, and rationalized it this way: “Hey, I’m on vacation—and when am I ever going to come back to this restaurant? So I’ll splurge and enjoy myself.” Nothing’s wrong with that—but I also know that if I have a few cookies four or five nights in a row (which I very rarely do!), I better get back on track once I get home. I also try to choose desserts that I really enjoy (candy bars aren’t my thing, so when I’m selecting desserts, I make sure it’s something I truly love!). Not long ago, when US Weekly did an interview with me and featured my weight loss, I wasn’t the least bit hesitant to tell them that I had recently joined some girlfriends for a big dinner at Emeril’s in Las Vegas. Why not?! It’s all a matter of give and take, appreciating the good things that make life enjoyable, while never losing sight of the overall goal of maintaining my weight at a certain level.

  My advice to my friends (and maybe it will make sense to you as well) is that if you absolutely crave something—let’s say a slice of cheesecake, for example—you might as well have the cheesecake (a small slice, of course!) and be done with it, rather than feeling deprived and obsessing about it. In my own case, I won’t go through life completely avoiding chocolate cake; and if my mom (who is a wonderful baker!) makes a special dessert (like blueberry pie!), I’m the first in line.

   I’ve known people who are just dying to eat a cookie, but have convinced themselves that they shouldn’t—so instead they’ll have a slice of bread, and when that doesn’t satisfy them, they’ll end up eating an entire bag of baby carrots with peanut butter (I know this from personal experience!) and maybe a soda or two. Before all is said and done, they’ve eaten eight or nine different food items in lieu of the cookie—but then they’ll probably end up eating the cookie anyway! My philosophy: If you’re feeling deprived, you’re going to fall off the wagon at some point. So keep the portions of desserts relatively small, give yourself a little latitude, and enjoy life!

  I carry a water bottle with me nearly all the time. Water helps control my appetite, so I drink it all day long. If you’re accustomed to eating and snacking throughout the day, water will help quench your appetite and keep you from reaching for food as often.

  I used to eat when I was bored or anxious, and there are plenty of tedious times at the studio when you’re waiting (and waiting and waiting) to be called to the set for rehearsals or to shoot your scenes. In the past, there were times when I’d pace my dressing room, wondering what I could eat. When that would happen, I’d often break the tedium by walking to the vending machines, and buy a bag of potato chips, a candy bar, or a soda—just because I was bored, not because my stomach was growling! It became a huge problem for me—and it threatened to make me huge as well! So I’ve worked hard on eating only when I’m hungry. I’ve found other ways to cut the stress and shatter the boredom that used to lead me to food. I always keep my mind occupied—by answering fan mail or e-mail, for example, or surfing the net. I listen to classical music, sometimes with the lights dimmed and a burning candle nearby (I grew up in a household where my mom played classical violin, and the kids always played one instrument or another). Also, I occupy my time by talking with fellow actors or doing all kinds of absolutely crazy things—I actually taught myself to juggle, if you can believe that!

 
Even though these are general guidelines that I’ve often used, let me stress again that my diet is fluid and constantly changing. I’ve gone through phases where I feel like eating carrots and not much of anything else. Or there have been times when the sight of a hamburger almost turns my stomach, and I can’t go near it. I’ve become very good at “going with the flow,” and adapting to whatever works at the moment. If this sounds like a comfortable approach, maybe a rigid diet isn’t for you, either. At the same time, I know that I’m in a “rest-of-my-life” situation—I’ll never go back to eating (or overeating) the way I used to. It’s given me a real sense of “diet liberation.”

  What About Portion Size?

  I realized a while ago that we don’t need as much food to sustain us as we often consume. It’s just like sleep…your body may need only five or six hours a night, but people who are accustomed to getting seven or eight hours feel deprived if they sleep less. So my own portion sizes rarely get out of control—I’m very careful not to overdo it. (Listen up! This is a real key to my success with weight management!)

  Our society is obsessed with supersized portions, apparently as a way to “get more for our money” at restaurants. But our bodies don’t require that much fuel. Our pasta bowls don’t need to be filled to overflowing. We aren’t supposed to make every meal a Thanksgiving feast, 365 days a year. I simply don’t eat as much as I used to, and because my stomach and my appetite have shrunk with time, I really don’t miss overindulging.

  At the same time, however, as I’ve already written, I won’t deprive myself, either. If I really feel like eating pasta, I’ll have it—but I don’t need a Herculean-sized bowl of pasta to feel satisfied. I’m content just having a side-dish-sized portion and not getting carried away—I simply don’t need a second or third helping, and I feel quite satisfied without them.