General Diet Plans and Questions General diet questions, support for various diet plans other than those listed below.

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Old 08-04-2011, 02:05 PM   #1  
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Question Obsessed with healthy eating?

Hi all! For the past few days I've been really paying attention to my eating habits; I never used to eat vegetables in any form (don't like the taste of any of them), my weight loss diet only focused on portion size). Then, after a disappointing weigh-in on Monday I've decided to take the focus off weight loss for a while and focus on maintaining my current weight and on healthy eating in general (with the secret hope that I would lose weight as a result)

I've begun eating vegetables (I can tolerate green smoothies sweetened with pineapple), and a few locally available vegetable dishes. HOwever, due to the fact that I never used to do this before, and this is not how we eat in my family, I find myself eating differently from my mom and friend (who lives in our house). I'm gradually going to introduce my 'new' way of eating to everyone else, especially my mom (who has been diabetic for about 30years, she's 69 now, and she's also open to new ideas on blood sugar control), but I'm already feeling as if I'm taking this 'too far'. Right now I'm scared that I'm setting myself up for an irreversible binge, and I wonder maybe I should slow down? I have major food addiction issues and this sharp change is making me feel all 'diety' and all. I mean I haven't changed anything else basically, but in my mind, vegetables is 'diet food'. I know it should be a part of my daily food intake, but I'm just worried...

I take my veggie smoothie at breakfast and it fills me up so much that I'm not physically hungry till about 3-4pm. Also the fact that I start my day with vegetables and fruits make it less likely for me to want to 'spoil' my day with less healthy eating. This should be a good thing, but I fear for when I'll say 'to **** with it all!'

I'd love for this to be a habit, but I guess disordered eating just messes up your mind... for life.

That said, I plan on sticking with it, I really enjoy my dose of morning veggies: This morning I made a smoothie with cashews, peanuts, a little bit of coconut and natural cocoa powder, and it tasted almost like a chocolate milkshake! Healthy eating tastes and feels good.

On another note, can disordered eating/food addiction be cured? Why am I afraid that there's a f**^@#k-it-all binge in my nearest future?
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Old 08-04-2011, 02:21 PM   #2  
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And this is a problem....because, lol.
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Old 08-04-2011, 03:16 PM   #3  
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@fitmom: lol I guess I'm just freaked out by the new-ness of it. Didnt mean to crazy-rant, but in my book this positive change counts as a trigger. I'll take it one day at a time though, and I'll just go from there.
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Old 08-04-2011, 03:37 PM   #4  
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@fitmom: lol I guess I'm just freaked out by the new-ness of it. Didnt mean to crazy-rant, but in my book this positive change counts as a trigger. I'll take it one day at a time though, and I'll just go from there.
I think also over-thinking the future and looking too far ahead can be triggers as well. Interesting that your signature talks about the "present." One day at a time. In the meantime, great job on embracing these new changes!
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Old 08-04-2011, 03:56 PM   #5  
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I think there's overthinking the future, but on the other hand when someone who's got a history of disordered relationships with food recognizes that that's where she's heading or is already, it's foolish to disregard that bit of self-awareness.

What does your daily food intake look like, OP?
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Old 08-04-2011, 05:48 PM   #6  
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I think there's overthinking the future, but on the other hand when someone who's got a history of disordered relationships with food recognizes that that's where she's heading or is already, it's foolish to disregard that bit of self-awareness.
I respect your opinion, and everyone is different, but my experience jibes more with what Christine123 mentioned. I can't count the number of times I've derailed myself because I've thought of all the problems that could arise in the future instead of taking it one day at a time. While it is good to plan for the future, in terms of establishing good habits, I think that thinking too much about future problems will only be discouraging and may make one give up.

To the OP, I tend to go gung-ho into things as well and burn out soon after. This time around, though, I am consciously making myself be moderate. For instance, I usually force myself into some gym exercise regime when I start dieting, and ultimately, I get bored with that, and I stop . . . .which leads me to give up the healthy eating, too. This time, though, I am approaching everything moderately. I'm trying to get activity into my everyday life, and if I am not active one day, I refuse to feel guilty about it.

So, I say just keep doing what you're doing and don't overthink it. If you start slacking off on it, then you can plan a strategy.
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Old 08-04-2011, 06:14 PM   #7  
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Originally Posted by MariaMaria View Post
I think there's overthinking the future, but on the other hand when someone who's got a history of disordered relationships with food recognizes that that's where she's heading or is already, it's foolish to disregard that bit of self-awareness.

What does your daily food intake look like, OP?
I think the danger though is expecting doom and failure. To me it sounds like the OP is expecting to throw it all out the window, that nothing will stick, and it's inevitable. It's possible that SOME thing will stick. You won't be perfect at any of this all the time. But waiting for the other shoe to drop ensures that eventually it will. I think it can be a slippery slope. I am just as guilty as the next person of overthinking. I am terrified of maintenance and have expressed it in other posts, even though I still have some ways to go. I am hoping some of this will stick through the weight loss process so that it's not all or nothing, because I do have disordered thinking and behaviors surrounding food.
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Old 08-04-2011, 06:16 PM   #8  
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I respect your opinion, and everyone is different, but my experience jibes more with what Christine123 mentioned. I can't count the number of times I've derailed myself because I've thought of all the problems that could arise in the future instead of taking it one day at a time. While it is good to plan for the future, in terms of establishing good habits, I think that thinking too much about future problems will only be discouraging and may make one give up.

To the OP, I tend to go gung-ho into things as well and burn out soon after. This time around, though, I am consciously making myself be moderate. For instance, I usually force myself into some gym exercise regime when I start dieting, and ultimately, I get bored with that, and I stop . . . .which leads me to give up the healthy eating, too. This time, though, I am approaching everything moderately. I'm trying to get activity into my everyday life, and if I am not active one day, I refuse to feel guilty about it.

So, I say just keep doing what you're doing and don't overthink it. If you start slacking off on it, then you can plan a strategy.
Agreed. I have to say that I hope I can adopt some of this balanced and moderate way of thinking about food and losing weight.
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Old 08-04-2011, 06:45 PM   #9  
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I agree that you may be over-thinking the whole thing. Don't anticipate failure! Just go with habits that you know are good for you, one day at a time.
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Old 08-04-2011, 06:48 PM   #10  
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There is an proposed (not included in DSM, but being used in the mental health community) eating disorder diagnosis called "Orthorexia" that corresponds with a true healthy eating obsession.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthorexia_nervosa
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Old 08-05-2011, 11:34 AM   #11  
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@MariaMaria: Hmmm. Daily food intake. It's complicated can't really explain it cos over here we have dishes you're unfarmiliar with and probably never heard of lol. Locally available soups like 'ugu', 'waterleaf', 'bitterleaf, 'ewedu', 'peppersoup' just to name a few, which we eat with pounded yam or cassava (tapioca). These are mostly eaten at lunch. For breakfast I have a veggie smoothie with an omelet (on workout days) and on the days I don't workout I have either oatmeal or just the smoothie. We do have carrots, cabbage, lettuce, cucumbers and green pepper, tomatoes, potatoes (which I recently started eating daily), but I don't bother calorie counting cos most of what I eat is these local soups (which are delicious by the way) and there's no nutrition label or calorie reference cos there's no standard recipe. But I'm sure I'm doing okay with portion control because I've lost 27kg/59lbs so far in one year eating these foods (minus the veggies). I eat three meals a day, and if I have to snack (OP) it's usually a handful of nuts. Dinner can range from corn to rice to noodles on most days. It's really more of carbs but I'm modifying it these days to include more veggies and fish. Sorry I couldn't be more specific.

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Old 08-05-2011, 11:50 AM   #12  
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@Christine123 That about sums it up, I'm over-thinking the future and scared that I'll fail and it's gonna be so depressing. I'll just take one day at a time

@Lin43 MOderation, Even in making a positive change seems like a good way of easing into this, esp for pple like me with an all-or-nothing approach to weight loss, thanks

@xxkaleidoscopic Thanks for the encouragement!

@Mandalinn82 I looked it up, and I don't think I'm at risk of that just yet, but it's interesting to know that it even exists. NOw wouldnt I rather be a vegetable junkie lol. Funny at some point in my life I 'tried' but failed woefully to be anorexic. Yep! I did. But failed. Luckily though!

Thanks everyone for all your encouraging responses! I hope you all meet your weight loss/maintenance/healthy lifestyle goals! Cheers!!!
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Old 08-05-2011, 01:27 PM   #13  
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@MariaMaria: Hmmm. Daily food intake. It's complicated can't really explain it cos over here we have dishes you're unfarmiliar with and probably never heard of lol. Locally available soups like 'ugu', 'waterleaf', 'bitterleaf, 'ewedu', 'peppersoup' just to name a few, which we eat with pounded yam or cassava (tapioca). These are mostly eaten at lunch. For breakfast I have a veggie smoothie with an omelet (on workout days) and on the days I don't workout I have either oatmeal or just the smoothie. We do have carrots, cabbage, lettuce, cucumbers and green pepper, tomatoes, potatoes (which I recently started eating daily), but I don't bother calorie counting cos most of what I eat is these local soups (which are delicious by the way) and there's no nutrition label or calorie reference cos there's no standard recipe. But I'm sure I'm doing okay with portion control because I've lost 27kg/59lbs so far in one year eating these foods (minus the veggies). I eat three meals a day, and if I have to snack (OP) it's usually a handful of nuts. Dinner can range from corn to rice to noodles on most days. It's really more of carbs but I'm modifying it these days to include more veggies and fish. Sorry I couldn't be more specific.

As a side note, those foods sound delicious and really healthy already. If you would like to get a better handle on the calories, you might ask for general recipes for the soups you like, get the calories for the individual ingredients, and get a rough estimate of the calories that might be in one bowl. That's just if you're concerned about the calories, though. It seems as if you're doing just fine with what you're doing.
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Old 08-05-2011, 08:54 PM   #14  
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@lin43: Yeah, the basic nigerian diet is delicious and healthy if you can control the carb intake, not to mention my own 'vices' in the form of sodas, chocolates, fast food etc. So I'm trying to stick to eating whole, natural unprocessed foods. If I can succeed in doing that, which I've been able to do for a few days now, then I'm sure I'll find it easier to stay OP. I actually initially lost 71lbs, then gained 12lbs back cos of y'know, the usual. I haven't been successful at losing since I gained the weight around March, and I'm a bit frustrated cos I've been pushing myself in my workouts but my eating doesn't support my efforts. I read in someone's signature that 'you cannot out-exercise bad eating habits' which I didn't really believe until now. I've been very down lately cos of some work related events and I've been turning to food more often. So... yeah, the foods are fine, it's just the emotional overeating that's setting me back. That said, I'm really enjoying this week; I've been eating better since Tuesday, practicing not to feed emotions with food, and since not losing weight at the expected or hoped-for rate is part of the problem, I'm not focusing on that right now because I want to retrain myself to eat healthy for more than just weight loss but because I deserve to treat myself better and to feed on more of nutrient dense than calorie dense foods. Likewise I'm exercising more for fitness and strength/stamina than for weight loss. In order to do that I'm actually avoiding the scale for a few weeks (I'm one of those pple who get all depressed/angry/whiny and nasty to myself it the scale doesn't shift) but I'll record tape measurement of inches lost. I will try and not feel like the bubble will burst any time soon. I'm not sure I'm ready to count calories (yikes!), I'm sure I'll find alarming skeletons in the (calorie) closet lol. Thanks much!
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Old 08-06-2011, 09:21 AM   #15  
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@lin43: Yeah, the basic nigerian diet is delicious and healthy if you can control the carb intake, not to mention my own 'vices' in the form of sodas, chocolates, fast food etc. So I'm trying to stick to eating whole, natural unprocessed foods. If I can succeed in doing that, which I've been able to do for a few days now, then I'm sure I'll find it easier to stay OP. I actually initially lost 71lbs, then gained 12lbs back cos of y'know, the usual. I haven't been successful at losing since I gained the weight around March, and I'm a bit frustrated cos I've been pushing myself in my workouts but my eating doesn't support my efforts. I read in someone's signature that 'you cannot out-exercise bad eating habits' which I didn't really believe until now. I've been very down lately cos of some work related events and I've been turning to food more often. So... yeah, the foods are fine, it's just the emotional overeating that's setting me back. That said, I'm really enjoying this week; I've been eating better since Tuesday, practicing not to feed emotions with food, and since not losing weight at the expected or hoped-for rate is part of the problem, I'm not focusing on that right now because I want to retrain myself to eat healthy for more than just weight loss but because I deserve to treat myself better and to feed on more of nutrient dense than calorie dense foods. Likewise I'm exercising more for fitness and strength/stamina than for weight loss. In order to do that I'm actually avoiding the scale for a few weeks (I'm one of those pple who get all depressed/angry/whiny and nasty to myself it the scale doesn't shift) but I'll record tape measurement of inches lost. I will try and not feel like the bubble will burst any time soon. I'm not sure I'm ready to count calories (yikes!), I'm sure I'll find alarming skeletons in the (calorie) closet lol. Thanks much!

I sounds like you're doing fabulous. I mean, to lose approx. 70 lbs. is great!

I hear ya about the exercise. I do try to get in one hour of non-routine activity a day (e.g., walking, biking, housekeeping, etc.), but I am focusing on that as fitness not as a weight loss tool. I realized fairly recently that I do not burn as many calories as I thought I did. What many people do not consider is net calories burned. So, for example, let's say you work out for a half hour and burn 250 calories. However, that doesn't mean that you burned 250 calories net. You have to subtract the amount of calories you would have burned if you had just been sitting. So, let's say I would have burned 40 calories just sitting for 30 minutes. If I subtract that from 250, that means my net calories are really 210. And you know how very easy it is to eat 210 calories. That's why it's really hard to out-exercise overeating.
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