The Fourth Thin Commandment
Structure Gives Control



COMMANDMENT ESSENTIALS
~Eat a snack with protein and fiber between 3 and 5 PM
~Always bring your own healthy snack to a meeting
~Put together a "Thin Pack" and never leave home without it.
~DO your food shopping right after breakfast or right after eating
~Don't clip coupons
~Stay away from food "Minis" such as mini muffins, mini bagels, mini cookies
~At buffets and cocktail parties, use the smallest plate to serve your self

What is the key ingredient that makes any diet work at the start?
What is the common bond?
It is structure!
The structure reins in eating behaviors that are out of control.

So why do many people lose weight on diets fail to maintain that weight loss?
When you are taught to focus on calories and carbs, people don't anything wrong with fooling around with the structure of their diets. We are led to believe all that really matters is the "calorie budget."
You cannot skip lunch to have a dessert at night. We need to stop thinking like that.
The diets encourage people to play around with the diet and fail to teach you the strategies to keep you from returning to your old eating habits.

The Wall Street Eating Syndrome
He talks about missed meals, grabbing meals on the run, uncontrolled snacking all day. A society that used to sit down at a table for 3 meals is now people eating on the run.
Not only are we eating on the run, we eat it fast, so the food isn't digested and the body isn't satisfied by the meal.
We stopped worrying about how healthful this food is, just how fast we can eat in on the run.
There is no meal planning, NO STRUCTURE

WHAT IS STRUCTURE
The timing and Frequency of your meals
~DO you have set times to eat?
~DO you wait till your hungry to eat?
~DO you skip meals/or replace them with snacks?
~DO you eat fast?

THE TYPE OF MEAL YOU EAT
~Is it a real meal? or a quick snack?
~Will it keep you full till the next meal?

HOW YOUR HOME FOOD SHOPPING GETS DONE
~What time in the day do you get it done?
~What is brought?

THE WAY YOUR MEALS ARE SERVED
~Buffet or family Style?
~By the plate?
~Do you eat them standing or on the run?

Your eating structure is ETHER a bridge to control or it promotes failure in weight loss.
People with weight problems are people with no structure.

We should-
Eat Breakfast and lunch that has protein and fiber
Eat a snack with protein and fiber between the times of 3 and 5
Don't go longer then 3-4 hours with out a meal or snack
Dinner should be high fiber veggies, salad and protein
NEVER SKIP A MEAL OR SNACKS

Never let a diet make you hungry
There is more danger eating too little then your trying to lose weight, as in eating too much.
Eating too little will make you eat and over eat the first food you see and you will feel deprived.
Remember feeling hungry isn't a sign saying your following your diet right.
Skipping meals doesn't help you keep the weight off.....
Structure is the cravings killer
Cravings come from the 4 "S"
Seeing, Smelling, Stress, Starvation

(being taught how to do a food diary will be later in the book.)
By helping your self with a structure of frequent meals and snacks everyday, you protect your self again the 4 "S"s
The best way of keeping cravings away from ruining your diet is to prevent them.

Planning and eating the right Breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner.
These help keep your blood sugar stable an keeps hunger and cravings away.


The Cinderella Syndrome
Middle of the day and on is where your blood sugar hits and you are hungry.
Your blood sugar goes lower and lower, so most people will crave sweets then or carbs.
If you give n your create a cycle of chemicals up and downs that makes you a compulsive eater.

To break this cycle you need to remind your self it isn't about the food, it is 4 PM and your blood sugar is
low.
Eat a low fat protein snack such as a fat free/low fat yogurt with some berries. Apple with cheese, or a protein shake.

YOUR THIN PACK
NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT
Life is unpredictable.
Keep a healthy snack with you at all times. Having a smart food strategy means that you will never give in to the eating something you shouldn't have because your hungry.
Your think pack should have 2-3 high fiber crackers, apple, pre wrapped cheese. If cheese is a trigger food, use cold cuts. Or any other protein that you do not have a history of abusing.


Thin starts in the supermarket
Do not shop hungry, never go without a list. Don't shop when your tired.

Meal Structure and the E.A.T Principle
Your meals and your snacks should have a firm structure that optimizes your control over eating.
All you can eat places offer unstructured eating. So does family style dining where you serve your self and you can go back for 2nd's.
Snacking with a bag of popcorn is unstructured. Standing eating over the kitchen counter is also.

The E.A.T or the Expanding Appetite Theorem says Appetite expands to consume the amount of food presented.
If your given 4 oz's of food you will eat 4 oz's of food, same with 15 oz's of food. If you eat out of a large bag of chips, you will eat the whole bag of chips.
BUT the more precisely structured your food is, the less likely you will over eat.
You might over eat mashed potatoes, but one baked potato, you would know more when to stop.


UNOPHOBIA
Do you feel deprived if you see only one piece of anything on your plate?
Many people feel better seeing 2 of the same on their plate
CUT THE PEICE in HALF and then you will have two pieces on the plate.


Structures empowers you to do the right thing.
They help you prevent the cravings
guides you in planning your meals and snacks and going food shopping.
It helps you feel like your in control of your life.
Structure is part of a successful diet, but it MUST remain part of your successful eating style.
Once you loose the weight, you cannot get loose with your eating structure.
Structure gives control-----and structure guards control.

"We should-
Eat Breakfast and lunch that has protein and fiber
Eat a snack with protein and fiber between the times of 3 and 5
Don't go longer then 3-4 hours with out a meal or snack
Dinner should be high fiber veggies, salad and protein
NEVER SKIP A MEAL OR SNACKS"


This has been a real key to my maintenance routine. As long as I'm eating a snack every 3 hours or so... and I encorporate the good protein/fiber early on. It is amazing to me the suppression of that Neuropeptide Y surge! A friend told me not to long ago about they way they feel on this way of eating... and it really is true. Instead of being ravenously hungry now... I just feel "empty." Like it's time to refuel... but I don't have to go and chow on everything. My strategy at home has been to make sure that I always have a good snack available here. Working great so far!

what snacks do you have?
sandi

I eat protein at every meal- and even if I have to eat a piece of chicken for breakfast!

In my thin pack I keep a flax muffin, 10 almonds, diet root beer and a baby bell cheese.

Bella

"People with weight problems are people with no structure."

Wow! Somebody's readin' my mail! A light just came on with that statement. That just might be one of the largest contributing factors to my weight problem. It's definitely got me thinking about 'structure'!

Thanks again for posting this all important info!

Ron, aka The Former Donut Junkie

that is why I love this book
it really talks to me
it goes past all the how to diet books and gets to the root of things
of why I over eat!!!!
sandi

Hi there,

I was wondering where do you get those Scan. bran crispbread? I've looked just about everywhere?

Anybody know?

Pam