I think i am on Day 3 of Intuitive Eating. I am 24 yrs old and weigh 208 but am only 5' 4". I have two kids a little girl 2 1/2 and a little boy 5 months old.
I am an emotional eater and struggle with depression. I am also a person who freaks out if my schedule or habits are disruppted because of my mental problems. It will be hard to break the eating habits for stress, depression, anxiety and boredom.
I have noticed some good things in my new healthy way of eating. Though i have eaten a couple times due to emotional eating there have been a couple times i only ate half of a meal or like tonight i only ate one slice of pizza. That would have been unheard of 3 days ago.
Any advice for a newbie?
Hi CherryAutumn,
I love your avatar with the mice!
Congratulations on your weight loss! And on the changes you made from 3 days ago! I don't feel qualified to give advice since I don't have as much of a change to show for myself as you do! But I think that link in my last post will give some good advice, as far as being mindful of what is consumed. I think that is really key.
jo
Hi Spinymouse and thanks for the welcome. Thank you also for the link. I agree that mindful eating is really key to making intuitive eating work. Even though I haven't been following any diet or eating plan for the past year, I think I am a little scared to officially give myself permission to eat what I want, when I want.
Earlier today something occurred to me when I thought about giving myself permission to eat what I want. Every time I ever walked through a store or shopping area and did not have enough extra money for clothing, I saw so many things I liked. However, when I gave myself permission to shop for clothes, I had a hard time finding anything. Perhaps the simple step of giving myself permission to eat what I want will make the junk foods less appealing. I guess I'll find out!
How do you break eating a certain food just out of habit. It isn't for emotional reasons or that i am hungry i am just very habit oriented. Like last night i needed chocolate. Obviously i didn't really NEED it. I ate a large bar of chocolate and a couple chocolate covered cherries. I did it cause every couple days or so i think i should eat chocolate cause it is a habit
Hi Cherry, Well I'm glad that they finally came out that chocolate is good for you! Probably the biggest thing to get me off track is to go on another diet even if only for a short time to look good for something. In Jean Antonello's book, Naturally Thin, she says that the body saves up in the form of biochemicals when you diet to force your body to eat later and I believe it. Whenever I diet, I am ravenous for several days after. As for chocolate, I think the idea is to keep the amounts small and see what satisfys.
The habits I've changed that come to mind are:
1. diet soda. went from about 6 cans a day to zero. It was amazingly easy. I don't know why I ever developed that habit. I must not even have liked it.
2. to a much lesser degree: cheese. I still eat cheese; it is my favorite food. But I don't eat as much of it. I don't know if it may work the same way with your chocolate, but, I find that if I eat very strong, very high quality cheese, I am satisfied with a smaller amount. Wimpy cheap bland cheese or "diet" cheese makes me feel like I haven't had any cheese, really, so it is easy to eat a lot of it in hope that at some point a cheese satisfaction level will be reached. Maybe it would be the same with chocolate? A really dark, rich, strong chocolate might satisfy more easily with less quantity? Just a suggestion.
Good luck! Habits are tough.
Jo, That's a good idea. I don't eat dairy, mostly because of high blood calcium problems but I find I don't miss it. I drink soy milk if it's not fortified. It has 4 gm of fiber which is helpful. I try to use whole wheat flour whenever I can sneak it in.....like in gravy. My family doesn't notice. I drink only water and some juice. I've never really been a pop fan but find that even iced tea can affect me adversly.
Here's a question. When you are away from home and the food is unappealing, what do you do? For example, yesterday my DH, FIL and I were traveling and they stopped at Burger KIng...Yuck! But I was really hungry so I ordered a hamburger and onion rings. The salads looked very unappealing and there was no soup or baked potato or anything that I like. I should have just got a kids meal but I don't usually go to BK so I don't know what's good. I did have a great night with some high school girlfriends while we were away. I had a hot beef sandwich, only a half order but I hadn't had that in years. It hit the spot.
If I had to eat at Burger King, I think I would have had a garden burger and just that. No fries or onion rings. If I eat a garden burger I'm stuffed. I think this idea of having something else besides the burger might fall into the habit category. Food service places think they are supposed to give you something like fries with your burger or sandwich and people eat them because they think that's normal, but I think most people would be satisfied with just the sandwich part.
I did have a garden burger yesterday - at a bar/restaurant. I said "no thousand island" but it still came with it on there anyway. I said "no thousand island" not because of calorie counting but because I just don't like it, or mayonnaise or any mayonnaise based dressing. I don't know why the default is to smear it on sandwiches. Why can't places just offer it on the side? They had bottles of catsup and mustard on the side, why not mayonnaise? It's kind of awkward to scrape it off, and you can't really scrape off all of it. Slimy stuff.
I hear ya, Jo. I don't like mayo either. I didn't know BK had garden burgers. Maybe they don't offer them in NE. I'm from WI but grew up in NE. I know what you mean by habit. The thing that bugs me is eating when you are really hungry but not liking what you are eating.
Another interesting thought from Beyond Chocolate.
FOODS THAT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD
By Surinder Phull, head nutritionist at Eatwell.co.uk
Beyond Chocolate makes a distinction between feeling full and feeling satisfied and, from my point of view, this is very significant.
In broad terms, 'feeling full' is the physical feeling of engorgement after a meal. Theoretically, you could feel full after a super-sized plate piled high with lettuce or a litre of soup - but would you feel satisfied? Probably not.
Feeling satisfied is a totally different experience, which involves hormones and neurotransmitters (brain chemicals). What exactly contributes to feelings of satiety in different individuals is poorly understood. What studies have clearly shown is that certain foods, such as chocolate, induce feelings of pleasure and satisfaction by stimulating reward centres in the brain. Yet it has also been shown that overeating past satisfaction can negate these effects and induce low mood.
While much of the research has been on chocolate, I encourage my clients to examine the foods that leave them feeling satisfied. It might be cheese or nuts or double cream. I have worked with hundreds of women and, in my experience, if my patients learn to stop when they are satisfied, these foods can be successfully incorporated into a healthy diet that makes them feel good, both physically and emotionally.
Hi, just me. was at coast over weekend so of course got off track. but back to it now. and scales are looking good. so got to keep them like that. i am fixing t.g. day dinner so that is nice i fix what i want to eat. Healthy.haha and then the other for others. ha so its all choice and i got to stick to that. good luck to all of you. have a nice week. LaDean
Hello, I've been lurking and subscribing to this thread for a while now and just wanted to poke my head up and say "hi!"
I'm a calorie counter, as well as volumetrics dabbler, but would like to be more sensitive to my body and its needs instead.
I count my calories but often find that when I'm really hungry and eat instead of denying (and possibly gorging later) I actually lose weight easier.
Yesterday I ate out twice and for lunch got the soup and salad. By the time they brought my second bowl of soup I was satisfied and didn't want anymore. Same last night. I only ate half of my plate and then was satisfied, so brought the rest home (can't waste food-- old habits die hard). I was so proud of myself for listening to my body and not just eating because it was in front of me! Thank you all for your wisdom and all the great articles. I'm now subscribed to the beyond chocolate newsletter because of y'all!
So, I've enjoyed all the articles and will continue to enjoy the discussion, and occasionally pop in to say hi!
Last edited by mom2mollie; 11-16-2007 at 07:24 AM.
mom2mollie. Share your struggles whenever you can. We can use the help.
Hi LaDean. Who will be coming for Thanksgiving? I think we will have about 15. Some of the kids will be going to their inlaws. We have a nontraditional meal of prime rib and ham. But sometimes it changes. I really like turkey. Actually, this is one time I really like the company more than the food. Maybe that's because I make most of it and it usually tastes better when someone else makes it. Have you ever noticed that?
hi carol. oh i find that out to when i cook it. i never ask them to bring anything but sometimes they do. i am having this year just 9/ usually have lots more. i love it when they bring something else to. we have always had turkey. but everyone likes it. My scales are down some this day and so happy. I am in tops and have meeting tuesdays. so working for a loss. been eating right. and trying to watch portions alot. good luck this week to all. nice to meet everyone and welcome. LaDean
mom2mollie. Share your struggles whenever you can. We can use the help. 