Category: Heart-smart eating

– posts here focus on what we put into our mouths

Six steps to stop emotional eating

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 7 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

Karen Trainoff knows a thing or two about emotional eating.  Years ago, this Heart and Stroke Foundation dietician was a newly divorced single mother. She gained a whopping  70 pounds after she discovered the nightly comfort of sitting down to a big bowl of creamy mashed potatoes after her son’s bedtime – night after night, week after week, month after month.

Hers was a good example of eating driven by emotions rather than hunger. It’s no secret that food can bring us comfort. But when we eat as a way to cope with problems such as depression, boredom, anxiety, anger, frustration or stress, the results can lead to poor self-esteem and unwanted weight gain, which can in turn increase our risk of heart disease and stroke. Continue reading “Six steps to stop emotional eating” →

My debut on the national news

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 16 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

It all started when I was contacted by Melanie Glanz, a television producer with CBC News from Toronto. She was working on a report about hospital food. Would I be willing to be interviewed for this news feature?

Hospital food?  I assured Melanie that I was not a dietitian or nutritionist or hospital administrator. Not an expert on hospital food at all – rather, more like just a mere victim.  But she persisted. She had read my blog article called Hospital Food: The Best Reason to Keep Your Heart Healthy and Avoid Hospitalization. And she told me she really needed a patient’s perspective on such an important topic.

I agreed, albeit a tad reluctantly. What was there to say, after all, about hospital food that hasn’t already been whined about by generations of patients?  “Hospital food is bad!”  After that, I didn’t think I’d have much else to say.  Continue reading “My debut on the national news” →

Should you eat that bacon?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 15 Comments

Bacon has been called the “gateway drug” that can entice mostly-vegetarians like me over to the dark side of meat-eating. But can there be anything good at all about eating bacon? This useful flowchart will help you decide.

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Q:  Are you a bacon lover?

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Bereavement eating: does grief cause carb cravings?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 12 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

I’ve heard it said that some people experience a loss of appetite during stressful times like a death in the family.  These people are not my relatives. Indeed, in our Ukrainian family tradition, we eat when we’re happy, we eat when we’re upset, and we eat during all possible emotions in between.

Every family gathering surrounding my mother’s recent death was no exception.

For example, the delicious lunch following her funeral service was a true labour of love, prepared by the women of my mother’s church, just as the women of churches, mosques, temples, synagogues and neighbourhoods around the world have been doing for mourners since time began.  Continue reading “Bereavement eating: does grief cause carb cravings?” →