Me too, Carol. I don't like that stuffed feeling anymore. It seems to be easier to listen to my fullness now than it did early on. Sometimes I never even reach full, but just stop at satisfied.

I've been eating a lot of bready stuff lately for convenience and I need to go shopping (been too busy for whipping up meals) and so I've been craving veggies. Once again, breakfast was a bread (a bagel w/cream cheese) but it just didn't satisfy me even tho it was a very good cinnamon raisin bagel, so I had a few baby cut carrots to top it off and that seems to have satisfied me, even tho I'm not full. Intuitive eating is fun!

Still having trouble stopping when satisfied. Can't wait to get home.

Hello there, I am fairly new and very interested in intuitive eating. I feel really good when I eating with hunger and fullness, but I am beginning to see a problem with this eating.

This post may be a little long, but I am hoping there is someone out there who has experienced the same problem.

I have done this intuitive eating a couple of times before. The first time with Weigh Down Workshop back in the last 90's. I felt great and for the first time in control instead of food controling me. I continued eating intuitively on this program until I stopped due to a very stressful move out of state which ended in abandoning the program. I did work the program well for at least a year, but I never saw the weight loss that a lot of other people did. Just a couple of pounds here and there and it was discouraging. Looking back I realized that althought I ate small portions of the foods that seems most appetizing, my menu consisted of mostly sweets and carbs.

A few years later I started working an online program that was based on intuitive eating called Setting Captives Free. I faithfully worked this program for 3 months following their guidlines and I lost a total of 5-6 lbs. Basically they accused me of not being "obedient" and I was really mad and disappointed.

I recently started reading the book "Intuitive Eating" and I love it and I have been working hard at doing it. The same thing is happening, I find myself eating mostly sugars and carbs, but small amounts, and I seem to have gained weight.

I am starting to believe that I am insulin resistant, and that is the reason I cannot lose weight. Insulin resistance causes cravings for carbs and sugars and although I am only eating small amount of these foods, I crave them.

The other day I decided to try something. Even though I wanted a couple of my favorite chocolate cookies when I was clearly hungry, I decided to make a simple fruit salad with fresh peaches, bananas, and blueberries, topped with about a 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt. Now my taste buds were not telling me this was truly what I wanted, but I ate it anyway. Well, it turned out that it was sooo delicious and way satisfying!

This got me thinking that I am continuing to crave carbs because I have some type of imbalance with sugar and this is what is keeping me from choosing healthier foods, and losing weight.

Any comments or encouragement is welcome! -Mary

praterteaches, I just have to laugh at the irony of a group calling themselves "Setting Captives Free" accusing you of not being "obedient." ;)

I mix IE with some choices about healthy eating. To me, *what* I eat strongly affects what I *want* to eat. Sure, if I eat nothing but junk, I eventually crave some veggies, but the key word there is "some" ;). I think for most people, the IE logic that you'll eventually eat healthy without trying is flawed. It's complicated to say that you have to balance IE and making healthy choices, but I think it's true.

When I eat whole grains and beans and veggies and nothing sweet - that's what I crave. I can think of sugar during the week and truly prefer something completely not sweet. Seriously. I find that I can have dessert about once a week, really enjoy it, and not crave more. But if I have more sweets than that, I want more and more and more. Junk is even worse.

Plus, my whole grains and beans and veggies keep me so full. Refined grains don't do that. If I'm eating until I'm satisfied, it takes a whole lot more refined grains to get me there.

So, in a way, I am eating intuitively. I'm at the point I truly do prefer healthier foods. But I don't really think it's fair to suggest to people that they will start preferring these foods, magically, and that then they will start eating them intuitively. I think it's the other way around. You eat them, and then start preferring them.

But the process and balance is tricky. I think IE has some very important concepts. But I do think it's lacking in the recognition of just how much *what* you eat affects what you *want* to eat.

That's just my take on it. We all have different eating backgrounds, and I'm sure IE exactly as written is exactly what many people need. Some of the concepts are stellar and pretty universal, and I keep working on them (as we all know, it's a lot harder than it sounds to everyone else!)

Julie, thank you for your imput. Truthfully, I was thinking the same thing. The book says to just go with your true desire of what sounds really good. I have been doing that and find myself eating a cookie at lunch, another two later on, and then a Dove bar at night. That is what sounded good to me, so I ate it. I didn't overeat, I waited until I was hungry. But, the more sweets I eat, the more I want. I tried eating one sweet a day, and that didn't last too long. I eat other healthy foods as well, but when I started thinking about what I was eating it seemed to be close to half of what I eat is sweet. It's not like I just started a month ago and I am not intuned with what I desire.

Your comment has made me realize that I have to adapt my IT eating to make sense for my life. I will never lose weight eating sweets all day long.

I think Julie put it well. My mom always taught me to eat sweets at the end of a meal so basically that's what I still do. But most people get tired of things they eat often and that's what I think IE teaches. When I get home I would really like to exercise more because sometimes I feel like and old lady at 60. I can't be in the sun so I usually garden at sunset. But I think I need more.

Hey everybody!

I would LOVE to just eat as much as my body needs for fuel then stop! So I hear people talking about a "program," so what else is involved other than only eating when hungry, and then only until nourished? Also, did I hear that some blend this program with others? Anybody (for example) count calories or go to OA at the same time?

Since I have close to 100 pounds to lose (OK, if I lost 100 pounds I would be at the perfect weight really) it will not be easy to exercise vigorously until I drop 25 or 30 pounds, which I have done in a short time in the past following pretty balanced eating programs. But like most who lose weight quickly, I've put every bit back on along with additional pounds.

So I am new here today. Any suggestions?

Thanks ~~ Julie

Julie, Welcome, I am new as well. Chances are if you need to lose 100 lbs you have been on lots of diets. I need to lose close to 50 lbs and I have been on every diet on the planet.

Intuitive eating is not a diet plan, but a way to stop dieting. You eat when you are hungry and you stop when satisfied. Simple concept but not as easy when you have been used to rules all your life.

There are many books out but the one I am reading is called "Intuitive Eating" by Evelyn Tribole.

seattlejules - welcome :)

I'd recommend reading the Intuitive Eating book. It does have a program. But more than structure, it provides a philosophy or new outlook on eating and our relationship with food.

I think no matter what "diet" or "program" you talk about, people customize it to fit their needs!

Also, you can explore a bit on an online site like Amazon or Barnes & Noble - there are a lot of other books out there addressing "not" dieting, mindful eating, intuitive eating, "normal" eating, and so on. One I liked was "The Slow Down Diet," by Marc David, which despite the title, is also not about a diet.

Hi everyone! :wave: I'm going to do lots of quotes in this post so I'll post my own comments in blue within the quotes I'm posting.

Back in a few with more quotes. This post is getting kinda long!

More blue quotes from Blue. :D

I haven't read this thread in awhile, but there are some very interesting posts here recently.

I think once our systems get messed up from too much dieting, we tend to get that way--where we crave the junky carbs, and can eat them endlessly without getting full, and without ever really craving natural, whole foods.

I've found that to be true for me over the last few years. I could live completely on grains, baked goods, candy--and I've gone MONTHS without a single craving for protein, veggies, or fruit.

I do notice that when I make a point of eating "real" foods, I crave junk less.

Blue, you've got some very good insights there.

So good to see you Becky and so many cool posts to come home to. Sooooo glad to be home and back to a routine. We've just been on too many vacations this year. The cool thing is, I haven't gained weight through it all. That has never happened before. Now if I can just get back to exercise.

Just found this article in the NY times.

To Eat Well, Be Instinctive

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By MANDY KATZ
Published: July 15, 2009

WE all knew how to eat intuitively once: Infants don’t binge or starve themselves, and presumably, cavemen didn’t either. But instincts become twisted in an environment where you can hold a Twinkie in one hand and the remote in the other, surrounded by images of skinny starlets.

After near-lifetimes of restricted consumption, practiced dieters find it takes a concentrated effort to learn how to answer to their appetites through a practice often called “intuitive eating.”

Intuitive eating involves returning to basic drives, dispensing with the notion of “good” or “bad” foods and rules about when to eat. Absent a fear of deprivation, the philosophy holds, one’s hunger and taste cues — rather than cognitive rules — provide the most trustworthy guide toward balanced, healthy eating.

Kate Harding, an ex-dieter and an author of “Lessons From the Fat-O-Sphere,” said eating intuitively did not come easily for her at first. But eventually, she said, “If you’re actually listening to your body, instead of the voices in your head, you won’t be inclined to eat yourself sick very often.”

Intuitive eating works only when coupled with weight-neutrality, Ms. Harding said. “The first step is to take away all the moralizing and shame,” she said. To that end, she suggested, “Why not buy some clothes that fit you and turn off the TV a little bit?”

At bottom, eating is, or should be, “a basic process,” she said.

Wow, thanks Carol, Truffle, and especially Blue.
Very interesting stuff. I'm glad to hear others thinking and feeling the same way I do.

I really feel better when I eat healthy and I'm more satisfied. Now I just have to incorporate that into intuitive eating. It's tricky because the moment I think about eating healthy, I then feel guilty about eating sugar.

I am starting a "program" called Women to Women. It is for women who have trouble with peri and post menopause. Besides overeating I have entered menopause with all kinds of problems, (another reason make healthier choices). I am hoping to include their guidelines for eating into intuitive eating.