Read the Label

In this day and age of it is even more important to read the label of the products that you’re using.  You can’t simply just trust that companies have your best interest at heart or that you’re getting the product that is advertised.  This may not matter to some people but for others this can have dire consequences if there is something in the product that a person is not supposed to have for any various reasons. 

Case in point, I’ve been buying a certain type of protein powder for a while now.  It’s a great powder and has quite a bit of protein per serving.  The manufacturer makes a few different types of them from Zero Carb, Endurance, and Ready to Drink.  Now, I’m quite different when it comes to flavors because I hate chocolate and have all my life.  So it puts me at a disadvantage when shopping for protein powders because that’s the most popular out there.  I was lucky enough to find Isopure at the suggestion of my mentor who knew I was looking for specific things. 

I found a flavor that I liked and bought it and continued to buy it not bothering to read the label.  This has been months now.  Recently my online seller emailed me when I placed my order and informed me that they were out of stock and would I like to try another or wait.  Not wanting to be without I decided to try another flavor and found another that I liked.  I even had given some to my friend who is also a trainer. 

Well yesterday he and I were talking and we were wondering why the nutritional info was off from flavor to flavor.  Grabbing his bottle he and another trainer went over it and when I came up from my workout that had a HUGE surprise for me.  What I thought was the zero carb version was actually their endurance version which has carbs in it but the carbs are completely sugar.  Now I knew that I had been getting the endurance brand for a while but had never bothered to check the label.  Having sugars in my protein shake of that level has been contributing to my plateaus in weight loss.

So the morale of the story, read the label.  Now that I’m aware that I’ve been getting the wrong  product line of Isopure, I’ll be switching with my next order to the proper one and thus putting myself one step further to being on the right track for weight loss.

 Challenge Yourself.

Binge Eating: How do you know?

What is Binge Eating? 

Binge eating disorder is characterized by compulsive overeating in which people consume huge amounts of food while feeling out of control and powerless to stop. The symptoms of binge eating disorder usually begin in late adolescence or early adulthood, often after a major diet. A binge eating episode typically lasts around two hours, but some people binge on and off all day long. Binge eaters often eat even when they’re not hungry and continue eating long after they’re full. They may also gorge themselves as fast as they can while barely registering what they’re eating or tasting.

The key features of binge eating disorder are:

• Frequent episodes of uncontrollable binge eating.
• Feeling extremely distressed or upset during or after bingeing.
• Unlike bulimia, there are no regular attempts to “make up” for the binges through vomiting, fasting, or over-exercising.

People with binge eating disorder struggle with feelings of guilt, disgust, and depression. They worry about what the compulsive eating will do to their bodies and beat themselves up for their lack of self-control. They desperately want to stop binge eating, but feel like they can’t.

So why am I writing about this?  You guessed it.  I have in the past suffered from this disease and to a degree still suffer from it.  I can’t say that I’ve learned to control it but I have found that recently my binges are smaller and less frequent in nature but they still happen nonetheless.  Certain foods always seem to set it off and unfortunately their foods that I really can’t eliminated from the house.  Lately, my biggest one has been peanut butter sandwiches.  I can manage to control myself to only have two of them but they are packed with peanut butter, probably enough for 4-6 sandwiches easily.  It never fails either, I know what I’m doing is wrong but for some reason just can’t stop myself from eating them. 

Now I know what most people would say, “Just don’t bring that stuff into the house.”  It’s not that easy.  I have a family and they enjoy peanut butter for lunch and snacks, bread is a needed essential in the house but we do try to get the healthy versions when at all possible.  I’ve even talked with other people about this very subject and you can tell when someone doesn’t deal with this or doesn’t understand.  Things like, “it’s all in your head”, “you can control yourself, you just choose not to”, or “that’s not a disease, it’s just you not having self-control or being lazy”. 

So I wanted to write this not only to admit to myself that I do have a problem, to hold myself accountable, and finally to show other people that just because you decide to change your life, lose weight, get into shape or anything else, you may still have to deal with things like this for a while.  The best thing you can do is admit that you have a problem, not matter what it is and seek some sort of help for it. 

Challenge Yourself.