There are so many IE books out there but my personal favorites are "Overcoming Overeating", "The Overfed Head", and of course the IE Bible "Intuitive Eating" by Tribole.
There's another book I'm currently reading that I love called "Eating by the Light of the Moon". It deals with eating disorder issues through story-telling but it's there's definitely meaning to be found in it by all women.
Locke... It is tough to break free from the dieting mindset..Gosh, been up and down that viciious cycle. In time.it will sink in. Be strong and proud that you finally breaking free from it. The rough part is continue on with this method.
Well I made it a week at a 1000 calorie deficit. Then today I allowed myself to have a donut with my lunch (someone had brought them into the office). I ate it slowly and savored it at my desk with the rest of my lunch (and added it to my calorie tracker). Then I hid in the library and stuffed down three more as quick as I could. My body is *screaming* for calories. I've been feeling really depressed, low energy, cold, etc. for the past few days. Then I purged- lunch and donuts all. I haven't done anything like this for a long, long time.
Dieting doesn't F*KING work people. Maybe for some people but not for me. I'm going back to eating a combination of my eating disorder meal plan and IE. I feel like absolute poop.
Don't worry about one bad day of eating. Just start back up with a good plan, and remember to eat small meals all throughout the day. One of the reasons I used to bige eat was because I was practically starving myself. Now I try to eat every 3-4 hours something small, but filling. I no longer have the urge to overindulge. Hope this helps!
I have been feeling a little depressed the past week or so and I find the temptation is STRONG to read one of my diet books. It's ironic because I feel like I am moving forward in my IE journey of not thinking about food as much, losing some of the eating anxiety, and eating when Im hungry, not because Im trying to lose/maintain weight. So, it would be almost self sabotage to read a diet book. I recognize that Im feeling a little sad and depressed and it would make me feel better to distract myself by focusing on my eating and maybe also it is something I CAN control in my life. Having control of something would definitely make me feel better. Anyway, its an interesting observation. I have been reading nothing but fiction books for the past month or so for the first time in a LONG time. No IE books or nutrition books, diet books, lifestyle books etc... I think its been important for my healing.
I don't know if we'll ever be perfect IEers. There are those born IEers that never seem to mess it up but for those of us who learn how to be IEers may always dip in and out of it, and cycle through it. Just know that you may be cycling through a low point and you'll come out of it on top again. That's how it seems to be working for me anyway.
Esofia, welcome. I hope you can find some useful information here. There are no questions asked on what you eat here and how. You know what works for you best so see if there's anything appealing that you can get out of being here. I find the best part of IE to be mindful eating. It's transformative. As far as eating on a schedule, your body needs that due to medication and health issues. A schedule can be very beneficial and I wouldn't worry about skipping meals and waiting until you're hungry. But I would suggest that eating mindfully will help you get in touch with satiety better and prevent you from overeating.
AshliRose, you're absolutely right to approach your health through self-love. IE is a great way to incorporate self love through eating. A great resource for you in particular is Geneen Roth, any book of hers will do and there are so many so pick on with the title that suits your needs best.
Locke, I was not going to comment on your previous post about going back to calorie counting. I was afraid of what the calorie restrictions would cause and I'm sorry to hear it didn't go well. You already knew that dieting can be harmful. We have to stop saying that dieting doesn't work, and start understanding that dieting is actually harmful. I don't like to see you do that to yourself.
Do you exercise formally? I can't remember if you do. Over the last year or so I've been on a quest to calm my mind and do exercise that is gentle like chi gong, yoga, stretching, walking etc. I even considered taking a meditation class. But then something in me realized that I need to sweat! I've started taking a dance class and it's really pushing me out of my comfort zone. The physical exertion is hard on me. I'm also pushing myself much harder on my walks and generally exercising harder. I find that this clears my mind, calms me down and allows me to really feel my body. It's also helping me drop some pounds and get stronger. I know exercise triggers people into the diet mentality but if you can find a way to exercise your body it has a way of making your mind healthy too.
Location: Kelseyville (Lake County, Northern California)
Posts: 150
S/C/G: 164/155/145
Height: 5'6"
Locke & Palestrina,
Thank you for the info. I will check those out.
I just wanted to add that I recently completed a 12- Day Detox. It wasn't a starvation cleanse. I had to eat very healthy while on the detox. When I first came here last October, I tried to eating healthy, but what I realize now is that my body was so polluted by toxins, & I craved sugar, caffeine, alcohol, etc. now that I have completed the detox, my body is clean & the cravings are gone. I'm only craving clean, healthy foods now, so that detox was crucial for me!
"The Wild Rose 12-Day Detox" was recommended, so I watched some YouTube videos & read about it. It worked for me and got me back on track!
The word "clean" makes me shudder. It denotes a good vs. bad mentality towards food which can be very triggering to those who are trying to overcome an ED with IE. For every "clean" food you list there are sources that would dispute their cleanliness. We try not to make judgments on food specifically on this thread. What is "not clean" to you is an important source of energy for others.
Location: Kelseyville (Lake County, Northern California)
Posts: 150
S/C/G: 164/155/145
Height: 5'6"
Thanks for your input Palestrina.
I meant no judgement with my post. I'm simply sharing MY experience. I like to think of what I've heard at 12-Step Programs: "Take what you like and leave the rest". I'm sure what is "clean" to me may not be clean to others. I think it is important that we are able to share our opinion and hopefully people can be open-minded enough to know we are all on our own journey and cannot do it exactly like anyone else. If I try to avoid words that may "trigger" someone, I may not be posting much because there are a lot of people here and I don't know what triggers others.
Are there other specific guidelines to participating in this thread that I should know of ie, words to avoid, topics to avoid, etc?
I will not share specific "lists" of food in respect of others. I personally like the word "clean" because that's how I feel. I also don't have a problem with the word "bad" foods, since there are definitely foods that are bad for "me" (or not good for me) because of my specific health issues. It's simply a word choice that I don't have any hang-ups with. I say "to each his own"
I was able to get in to see my dietitian yesterday and in her opinion I wasn't eating enough carbohydrate and the increase in exercise gave me hypoglycemia. So I'm upping my calorie intake and increasing my carbs. I do exercise most days and I find it so helpful for my anxiety and depression. I either go to the gym and do something more intense or take long walks with my dog. So I'm still calorie counting (just had a bit of a freak out yesterday I guess), but I'm trying to be more gentle and listen to my body rather than try to "push" through the hunger.
I meant no judgement with my post. I'm simply sharing MY experience. I like to think of what I've heard at 12-Step Programs: "Take what you like and leave the rest". I'm sure what is "clean" to me may not be clean to others. I think it is important that we are able to share our opinion and hopefully people can be open-minded enough to know we are all on our own journey and cannot do it exactly like anyone else. If I try to avoid words that may "trigger" someone, I may not be posting much because there are a lot of people here and I don't know what triggers others.
Are there other specific guidelines to participating in this thread that I should know of ie, words to avoid, topics to avoid, etc?
I will not share specific "lists" of food in respect of others. I personally like the word "clean" because that's how I feel. I also don't have a problem with the word "bad" foods, since there are definitely foods that are bad for "me" (or not good for me) because of my specific health issues. It's simply a word choice that I don't have any hang-ups with. I say "to each his own"
Also, what is "ED"?
Thank you.
An ED is an eating disorder. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the principles of IE but one of the pillars of the philosophy is to make peace with all foods and not to distinguish between good vs bad, healthy vs unhealthy, clean vs junk. We try not to be critical of what food we eat, rather reflect on the eating experience as a whole.
I do not mean to scold or censor, just asking you to be mindful of the hard work we IErs put into these concepts and the safety we strive to feel in this tiny corner of the forum regarding the IE principles.
Out biggest hurdle as a group is the diet mentality creeping back in and words like that are the first heralds of it. All in all "clean eating" is a term we anti-dieters associate with dieting.
I have been lurking around this site off and on for a few years trying to find the right diet. I have avoided the IE thread since I had tried it several years ago and failed. I caved recently and began reading this thread and I have to admit, IE makes sense. I don't have another diet in me and IE seems like a natural way to eat.
About 7 years ago I tried IE. I had lost 12 pounds in 3.5 weeks but I felt lousy. i could not walk up a flight of stairs without getting really tired. I roughly calculated the number of calories I had been eating and I realized I was only getting about 900 or so calories a day. No wonder I was exhausted all the time. I went off the plan at that point.
The instructions were to eat when hungry with hunger being a growl in the stomach, a slight headache or gnawing in the stomach. I found that I experienced these things only twice a day. I ate slow, putting the fork down between bites, and I stopped eating when the hunger signals went away before I was full.
I can't figure out what I did wrong. How do you know when you are hungry? Was I following the hunger signals correctly but maybe I did not eat enough when I was hungry. Was I going past the point of hunger to starving and then not eating enough?
How often do you find you get hungry during the day?
I have been lurking around this site off and on for a few years trying to find the right diet. I have avoided the IE thread since I had tried it several years ago and failed. I caved recently and began reading this thread and I have to admit, IE makes sense. I don't have another diet in me and IE seems like a natural way to eat.
About 7 years ago I tried IE. I had lost 12 pounds in 3.5 weeks but I felt lousy. i could not walk up a flight of stairs without getting really tired. I roughly calculated the number of calories I had been eating and I realized I was only getting about 900 or so calories a day. No wonder I was exhausted all the time. I went off the plan at that point.
The instructions were to eat when hungry with hunger being a growl in the stomach, a slight headache or gnawing in the stomach. I found that I experienced these things only twice a day. I ate slow, putting the fork down between bites, and I stopped eating when the hunger signals went away before I was full.
I can't figure out what I did wrong. How do you know when you are hungry? Was I following the hunger signals correctly but maybe I did not eat enough when I was hungry. Was I going past the point of hunger to starving and then not eating enough?
How often do you find you get hungry during the day?
Thank you in advance for your help
Welcome back to IE! If you were waiting until a growling stomach and a headache then you were waiting way too long to eat. You were famished. You were depriving yourself of nourishment both physical and mental and it's no wonder you gave up on this. That was not IE, may I ask what source instructed you to eat in such a way?
IE is a very individual process for each person but most often it begins with getting rid of the diet mentality and giving yourself permission to eat any food you want and from there you begin to observe yourself and how food makes you feel.
Putting your fork down between bites alludes to mindful eating but the way you describe it it sounds more like a procedure, one you probably came to resent right? You can eat mindfully without chewing 30 times and putting your fork down, it's about being present with your food and enjoying every bite and be aware of it.
Location: Kelseyville (Lake County, Northern California)
Posts: 150
S/C/G: 164/155/145
Height: 5'6"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Palestrina
An ED is an eating disorder. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the principles of IE but one of the pillars of the philosophy is to make peace with all foods and not to distinguish between good vs bad, healthy vs unhealthy, clean vs junk. We try not to be critical of what food we eat, rather reflect on the eating experience as a whole.
I do not mean to scold or censor, just asking you to be mindful of the hard work we IErs put into these concepts and the safety we strive to feel in this tiny corner of the forum regarding the IE principles.
Out biggest hurdle as a group is the diet mentality creeping back in and words like that are the first heralds of it. All in all "clean eating" is a term we anti-dieters associate with dieting.
Okay, thanks. As you know I AM new to this forum and just asked yesterday for some websites or books about IE. In fact, you recommended "Geneen Roth". So for now I will not post here until I read all about "Intuitive Eating" to see if that is something I want to pursue.
I guess it's a little confusing to me because I don't feel I need to "make peace" with all foods because I am not angry at food. I believe I am a compulsive eater and have addictions to foods. I believe there is a deep psychological or emotional issue there, but I could be wrong! There are some "foods" I personally don't consider "food". Just because it's labeled as that and sold as food, doesn't mean it will nourish me ie, chemical, additives, etc. I will surely check out the references you and Locke recommended to see if to see if this thread is a fit for me.
It is tough to break free from the dieting mindset..Gosh, been up and down that viciious cycle. In time.it will sink in. Be strong and proud that you finally breaking free from it. The rough part is continue on with this method. 
