DAY 26: Post-28 Days Food Plan

Post-28 Days Food Plan

If you watched the WEEK 4 live chat you’ll know that your post-28 Days food plan can include a variety of new foods that we have abstained from during the program. Yay for new foods!

The caveat (you knew that would be one, right?) is that some of these foods may be triggers for you, so you really need to tune in to your own reactions as you begin to include them.

Here’s another kicker: some of these foods may not be triggers per se, but they can be “slippery slope” foods.

What do I mean? Let’s take cheese for example.

I’ve included goat cheese and even just the smallest bit of sharp, salty parmesan cheese in the post-28 Days food options, but these can be gateway foods for a couple of reasons:

• The kinds of foods we put these on (pasta and pizza come to mind) are giant, flaming hot triggers for many of us. A smidge added to a healthy salad for a bit of tang and saltiness is fine, but keep an eye on whether you’re “upscaling” your meal into dangerous territory.
• If you’re anything like me you ate more than your fair share of these foods in the past. Controlling portions of these foods can be especially challenging. It’s just waaaaaayyyyyy too easy to sort of “have my finger on the scale” and fudge (always on the side of having more) when I’m portioning out these special foods. To quote the 1960s TV show “Lost in Space,” Danger, Will Robinson! (If you missed that one in reruns you really missed out.)

But be aware, it’s not just cheese that can be a slippery slope that triggers addictive eating.

Among my favorite additions to the standard 28 Days meal plan are salty foods like olives. Olives are a healthy fat, but it’s so easy to plop 10-12 on a Mediterranean salad, and at about 10 calories per olive the calories (and fat … and sodium) add up real fast.

The moral to the story is that you must exercise those mindfulness muscles that you’ve been building throughout the program and really start to flex them.

Here you’ll find a list of the foods that will make up most of your post-28 Days to Overcoming Food Addiction meals; the WEEK 4 Resource Guide will take it a step further and offer suggestions on some of my favorite healthy recipe websites and sources.

Happy recovery eating!

The Post-28 Day Food Guide:

Below is a list that will give you a starting point from which to design your own meal plans. Though it’s pretty exhaustive, it’s nowhere near a complete listing of all the possible options, especially when it comes to spices, herbs, vinegars, and condiments which are virtually limitless, as long as they contain (virtually) no sugar, sodium or added oil.