Weekly Vlog: Sexy Food
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- Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
- I want to address something from an email I received this week. It said: “I hear you use the phrase ‘Is my food too sexy?’ Please explain this term! I have a feeling it will be very helpful as I am new to the eating plan, and am still feeling my way.”
What a great question! “Sexy food” is a term I use all the time, and it’s worth explaining. It breaks down into three dimensions: the reward value, the level of processing, and complexity.
First, the reward value. Generally, sugar, flour, fat, and salt are the elements that make foods more highly rewarding. Some foods on the Bright Line plan fall into that category. Cheese, for example, is highly rewarding. Nuts and nut butters are also sexy because of their reward value. They light up the brain. Sausage, too. Whole-fat yogurt can be highly rewarding, as well as coffee and caffeine.
Most of the highly rewarding foods have been eliminated from Bright Line Eating-all the highly processed foods and foods with sugar and flour.
Some foods have known addictive qualities, yet they’re allowed on the Bright Line Eating food plan. There are no Bright Line Eating Police, which means that you alone are responsible for noticing if a food is getting out of line; if you’re looking forward to that food too much, that’s important to notice. If so, consider taking it out of your plan for a while.
A note about salt: you need salt. If it becomes problematic, you might consider weighing and measuring it, and keep in mind that salt increases the reward value of the meal. The answer isn’t to eliminate it, however, it’s to keep an eye on it.
Next, processing. Some BLE foods are processed. Take rice cakes. I don’t recommend starting the day with rice cakes and peanut butter. That’s a highly rewarding food on top of a highly processed food. It’s a very sexy meal. Also lookalike foods like bean pasta and Ezekiel bread-they’re sexy foods.
Consider your food on a spectrum from simple to sexy. We’ve already eliminated most of the sexiest foods from your plan. But for someone who’s a 10 on the Food Addiction Susceptibility Scale and who really wants food freedom, keeping food to the simple side of the spectrum is the way to do that. There’s nuance here, though. If you’re a 6 on the scale and are doing BLE to lose weight and it’s working for you, the foods I’m talking about may be fine in weighed and measured quantities. But for the person whose food addiction tendencies are more severe and who is struggling, they will need to make their food simpler.
Third, we have complexity. Complexity refers to adding a lot of condiments and spices, plus a lot of different ingredients, and making your food more flavorful and more rewarding. Doing that slides a food up the spectrum in the direction of sexy.
Note that there’s a big difference between steamed butternut squash vs. butternut squash that has been sprayed with spray oil and roasted. The procedure makes the food sexier. Roasted vegetables are way sexier than steamed vegetables. Roasted vegetables may be fine for you. But if I need to add oil to my vegetables and am attached to it and do it regularly, it’s going to affect my weight and peace of mind. There’s a big difference between steamed squash versus roasted butternut squash versus roasted butternut squash sprinkled with nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice. Then you’re getting into the domain of a lookalike food, and that’s not conducive to mental peace.
This is what I mean about complexity: layering in different elements and aiming to create a whoosh in the brain. That’s problematic. Melted cheese can also be over the line. I never do that. It’s just addictive. If I eat cheese, I weigh two ounces and have it in chunks or string cheese.
One green vegetable, steamed: that’s the essence of simplicity. When you start adding oil, garlic, spices, or multiple vegetables-say in a stir fry-all of those things add to the complexity level. That’s not necessarily bad. But if you’re looking to simplify food, try eating whole foods, one food per category at a time, with the simplest preparation-and see what happens to your brain.
I find simple food delicious. And when I haven’t eaten between meals, my brain is so ready for that food it hits my taste buds just right.
The simpler I keep my food, the more likely the next meal will feel like enough. Simple food begets a brain that appreciates simple food. Sexy food begets a brain that needs sexy food. With each choice, we’re creating a brain that is either satisfied or needy.
Lightening up on sexy food is a favor to our future self. It will give us a brain that is delighted with simple food; that is peaceful and calm, and for whom simple food is truly enough.
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I really needed this video because I tried BLE 2 years ago and was all the way in for 100 crystal vase bright days. I was still trying to make my food sexy and using salt/spices and cheese to make it “better”.I’m so thankful for the rejection letter for the Bootcamp scholarship that gave advice to join FA. My eyes have been opened even more and know I will succeed and continue to stay bright for the rest of my life. ❤
🧡🧡🧡
Let me share my experience: I am a 7 on the susceptibility scale. I lost my weight in 6 months, and i was very careful about simplicity of food during that phase because I had to heal my brain. Moving into maintenance, however, I have incorporated ALL of the "sexy" but allowed foods that Susan lists here -- some of them daily! AND I have kept my weight off. For four years. So if you eat these sexy foods, find they don't trouble your brain, and you are sustaining your weight loss, let me reiterate what Susan says here: Carry on, soldier!
I vividly recall attending weight loss meetings back in the day that revolved around exchanging recipes to make the “points” as sexy as we could get them. It’s no wonder that program didn’t help me. My brain needed simple food so my addiction could be brought under control. Thank you for such a good explanation of what makes food sexy and why we don’t want this.
You got it! 😉
I had the same issue with the other weight loss program. Once I went to simple non-processed foods, I was able to maintain the plan and have success. Five years bright now at goal weight range!
Woohoo!@@ColeenSternsLeith
Great vlog. I am plant-based and I see all these delicious foods with veggies, legumes, and nuts on Insta. I was putting sauteed apples with cinnamon and pecans in my oatmeal. No wonder I have fantasies about cinnamon rolls, I am not doing my brain any favors by making my oatmeal complex. Thanks for the freedom tip!
Glad you know what is too complex for you! 🌟🥰
Good stuff. Yeah, I had to ditch Triscuits and shredded wheat as they were too "sexy" for me.
Glad you knew to do that. 🧡
Triscuits were a nightmare for me. No more.
Susan, thank you for this video! I now understand why I've struggled with lasting changes. I've been sabotaging my brain all along. I look forward to your vlog on cheese and why it is so addictive. I was sick last week, so I am doing my prep and planning to start Bootcamp next Monday. Looking forward to a bright journey with you and my fellow boot campers!!
This vlog was a reminder to me to keep it simple…ALWAYS! Will save this video. Thank you!
Happy this was helpful! ⭐⭐
This was incredibly helpful and that is the "slide" that has hijacked my progress. Thank you, Susan!
You're welcome! 🌟
Such great post!!
I needed this. Everything you mentioned as 'sexy' is too much for me. I wonder, though, if there's anyone who has such dietary restrictions as I do. I'm not able to eat almost all vegetables, meat or fish. So, I seem to be limited to nonfat yogurt, kefir, and fruit. I'm really struggling with sticking with this, but haven't found anyone else who eats (and thrives) like this.
I bought Ezekiel bread a few days ago convincing myself it would be okay (I was out of lentils, lentil crepes aren’t a problem for me.) It was not okay. I ate almost nothing but the bread at every meal until the loaf was gone. Total addictive binge. Now I’m dealing with the fallout while I get back on the wagon.
Good to re-evaluate what I am doing. I need to make a few changes to keep it more simple. At goal weight but want to keep it there!!
No harm in reevaluating 👏
I roast vegetables for convenience and efficiency. Simple and repetitive is the ticket for success. I've been doing it for years.
KISS! 🧡🧡
For me, I definitely need chickpea pasta, and Ezekiel bread as I am trying to cut down on carbs and sugar… they don’t trigger me much. And they make me happy lol.
This was an excellent vlog. It’s a beautiful thing when you notice how much your brain comes to love simple, delicious, and nutritious food. It’s a gift you give yourself, a gift that just keeps giving for the rest of your life. It’s a miracle.
🎁Great way to look at it!
Hello from Spain, i NEED that cheese vlog 🙏🏻❤
Great vlog! I found an attachment to PB2 that I HAD to put in my morning oatmeal which was totally delicious without it. The PB2 definitely make it sexier. It’s ws only a tablespoon of 30 calories, but it was 30 I didn’t need but got in a habit of “ needing”. Thank you!
Way to look more closely at your program 🧡🧡
This really hits home. Thank you.
So glad this was helpful! 😍
I sometimes get so into watching this lady who does very sexy food shorts with recipes with lots of cheese in every recipe. What was I thinking!? lol So bad for cravings.
Hi Susan, I'm wondering what your thoughts are about Kay Sheppard's food plan. It eliminates cheese, nuts and seeds, anything puffed or popped and is a very low fat eating plan.
Parchment paper is my friend.
I can't eat roasted veggies, even on parchment. WAYYYY too sexy for me as a 10+++.
Happy New Year!!🎉
Right back at you! 🎆🎆
Go Niners! ❤
:)
Thank you. I listen to your blog every week and follow the food plan. I have tried to get on a Facebook group and have not been approved. Is that only for bright lifers?
Hi Beverly, the Bright Line Eating Community on Facebook is only for members of the boot camp or the Bright Lifer's membership. We hope this helps 🧡
How would you cook brussel sprouts unless roasted? No way I’m steaming those.
Can you explain the specific mechanisms in the brain and body that happen when eating sexy foods that set up the need for more sexy foods. Does it relate to leptin resistance and/or dopamine down regulation? Or something else?
Forgiveness in spirit the resistant attitude I have.God please give me ears and willingness to accept what's workx for me as suggested thru this link.thank u.
Might roasted veggies be sexier due to carmelization?
That's exactly it.
Maybe this is why you didn’t include BLE rolls made with cottage cheese and oats in your cook book? Too sexy?
Just wish I didn't have to listen to Dr. Oz for 3 minutes