I love the epicurious site. Their search engine makes it so easy to come up with recipes that fit the ingredients you have on hand, and most of the recipes seem to use whole foods rather than ingredients like condensed cream of mushroom soup

No, I didn't boil the noodles; just used them straight out of the box.

I haven't had any problems with freezer burn using the containers.

I've been reading a lot of the other posts lately and wish I could tell these dear ladies that if you allow all foods, they lose their temptation. A lot of people are complaing about people bringing in food to work and vending machines, etc. Once you try IE you realize the only reason that those things bother you is because of all the denying we've done to ourselves. Lately if I can't figuire out what I want to eat I might try a few bites and can usually tell if that't the thing I want or not. I've had a lot of trouble eating out which I don't do much of but I'm getting better at recognizing what I need. I'm still really bad about throwing things away. My dear mom was great at not wasting things. I still really try not to be wasteful.

Carol,

I had a hard time getting over the guilt about wasting too, because we didn't always have much to eat when I was a child. It helped to realize that eating food I didn't want or need did not equal not wasting it--It wasted it plus made me fat.

I know what you mean about some of the posts. It took me more than 20 years to realize that the dieting process was what was keeping me fat. It makes me sad to see people trying to restrict their eating behavior so much, then being disappointed in themselves when it doesn't work like they want it to.

Since I've been on IE my eating overall has been better. My problem during the holidays is eating either just because it is there, or because I am bored. When went to my boyfriends unit Holiday Party There were long stretches where we just sat around and so he and I ate. When i went to my office party there was dancing so there was a distraction from the food (I prefer dancing to breathing almost) so I didn't each much.

I think the problem for some with the holidays isn't always the denial its there is food around ALL THE TIME. We have 3 tins of home backed cookies in my office. I pretty much ignore them and they don't bother me...until my boss will come in to have one, and sit and talk, then someone else will have one and sit and talk and it seems almost natural to have a cookie with them.

For me it is the socializig over food. I think it is almost like peer pressure to smoke or drink. During the rest of the year it isn't so bad, but with back to back holidays every few weeks it can add up. now that I have found what the problem for me is I can say ok. Am I eating this to be social and I'm bored at a party or am I actually hungry. I know I probably should be asking this anyway, but it really wasn't such a big deal till the holidays came.

Obie.

I agree. It has always bugged me when people say things like "decadent" or "sinful" to describe something like chocolate. It's just food. If you blow it out of proportion you give it too much power.

Just noticed today that Rob Stevens of Thintuition has some relatively new instructional videos on My Space. I haven't watched them all but will try to on Mon.

We may review some books on IE for the website in the next month or two. I have a question for those following IE..

How long have you put IE to use?

How successful has this been for you, in regards to dropping pounds?
--Are you losing weight?
--Or are you retraining your views on food and perhaps no longer gaining weight, but not losing yet?

If you have lost weight, would you say that your weight loss has been faster or slower than when you tried conventional diets in the past?

Which books/programs have you read, and do you recommend any particular book more, or any book less?

Thanks!

Suzanne,

The only book I've actually read on IE was a few years ago--it was called "Diets Don't Work" or something like that. I didn't do anything with it at the time, but the concepts kind of stuck in my head.

I've been doing IE since July 2006. It's only a part of my weight loss program, though, not the complete plan. I'm also exercising a lot and eating whole foods.

I have lost a lot of weight, pretty quickly. I would say the weight has not only come off faster than on any diet I have done in the past, it has also been pretty much effortless. On the rare occasions when I'm feeling discouraged about the sheer amount of weight I have left to lose, I'm almost embarrassed to post on here for support because I see the struggles other people are going through and feel kind of guilty because it has come off so easily for me.

I wish I had realized when I was a lot younger that weight loss didn't have to be difficult. I always gave up pretty fast on conventional diets because I was tired of feeling deprived. So IE has worked really well for me.

My favorite book is The Overfed Head by Rob Stevens. I have not lost weight. I do take prednisone for a chronice illness (sarocoidosis) but I still think this will work. I have really come to see all foods as equal. The chocolate and other sweets have finally lost their pull. I still eat for the wrong reasons sometimes so I am still learning. Yesterday I ate pie at a friends house to be polite. I know that's not right but we hadn't been there for awhile and I know she was really happy that we could get together since they recently moved into their new house.

Thought this was an interesting description of IE.

Intuitive Eating: What is it? How does it work?
--------------------------------------------------

• It varies from person to person. Because our tastes, bodies, activities, emotions,
and spiritual paths are different, what our bodies require in terms of
nourishment also differs.

• It is cyclical. Weekly, monthly, and annual cycles, even life
cycles, change our body's need for, and responses to, food.

• It is imperfect. Intuitive eating does not mean we'll always choose
absolutely "healthy" or "pristine" foods. We won't always feel as if
we've had a "perfect" balance.

• It is rhythmic. We feel pleasantly full (but not stuffed) after a
meal and pleasantly hungry (but not starving) before the next.

• It includes a wide variety of foods. Cereals and grains, fruits
and vegetables, dairy products, meats, beans, nuts, and even fats
play a role in normal, intuitive eating. Again, the exact balance and
variety of foods must be individualized.

• It is free of obsession. It acknowledges that our compulsions are
due to biochemical or emotional reasons and any over- or under-eating
is a clue to begin looking further as an opportunity for learning.

• It is nourishing to the body and spirit.

• It feels good. Good food in the right amounts and at the right
times excites the senses. It provides tactile and taste sensations
as we eat, and a pleasurable "full" feeling afterward. When we finish
a meal, we feel comforted and renewed - physically, emotionally, and
even spiritually.

• It is an essential component of self care. What better way to
nurture ourselves than with the foods we need and enjoy in the
amounts we require?

(taken from: http://www.nanallison.com/intuitiveeating.htm)

Another interesting view on IE.
PROVO, Utah (MedPage Today) -- Steven Hawks, a professor of health science at Brigham Young University here, says phooey to dieting.

Eat what you want, when you want, says Hawks. Just use common sense.

For most of us it sounds like a formula for obesity. Not so for Hawks. He was on the borderline of obesity when he gave up dieting. Now, living with his new credo, Hawks is 50 pounds lighter.

His secret, he claims, is "intuitive eating."

Clearly out of the mainstream in the conservative world of nutrition, Hawks proselytizes what he calls a common-sense, hunger-based approach to eating. Nothing in intuitive eating, he says, is taboo.

While intuitive eating doesn't involve measuring cups or calculators, it does entail a high degree of self-awareness. The individual must be constantly in sync with the body's satiety signals.

This doesn't mean that when the stomach starts grumbling, Hawks reaches for a candy bar.

"I'm not advocating nutritional ignorance," he said. "If a fruit or vegetable will solve that hunger instead of something from Cinnabon, then I'm going to be intelligent about it and choose the fruit or vegetable."

Nothing in Hawks' background, except 20 years of teaching and research, would seem to qualify him as a scientific guru in nutrition. His has an education doctorate in community health, an MBA in international business, a master's in international studies, and a bachelor's in East Asian studies, all from BYU.

But he teaches, among other courses, body image, self-esteem, and weight control.

And the 46-year-old Hawks practices what he preaches. He keeps a three-foot-tall refrigerator in his office stocked with everything from fruit to ice cream.

Intuitive eating isn't a license to eat badly, he says. Instead, it's a holistic approach that involves being highly attuned to hunger signals, sensible eating, and not denying the body treats like ice cream.

Now a lean 165 pounds at 5-foot-9, Hawks' intuitive eating style is getting increasing attention, most recently a prominent mention in a feature on the failure of dieting in U.S. News and World Report.

Chubby childhood
Hawks says he used to feel like a hypocrite, teaching nutrition while struggling with his own weight, a battle that had followed him since childhood.

"Third grade kids called me 'fatty,' " he said. This pivotal point was followed by years of dieting, short-lived weight loss, regained weight, and a constant undercurrent of failure, Hawks said.

Even though Hawks had jogged regularly since high school, the weight problems never went away. Junk food was banned from the house much to his six kids' dismay. He tried multiple diets, but nothing worked.

"Before I started intuitive eating, I would skip breakfast and then I would have a light lunch, like a tuna sandwich or an apple and a handful of carrot sticks."

By the time he left work at dinner time, Hawks was ravenous. He would lose control "and binge on whatever I could find, so that it was a constant struggle of restrict, restrain, feel hunger."

Epiphany in Thailand
Hawks' moment on the mountaintop came during a seven-week, work-related trip to Chiang Mei, Thailand, in the summer of 2001. He was working with his students at leper colonies and in poverty programs. During his almost two months in Thailand, he observed how the Thai people didn't obsess about their bodies or what they ate. They just simply enjoyed their food.

"Being in Thailand opened my eyes to seeing how people relate differently to food," Hawks said. The locals didn't have the kinds of anxieties about food that Americans experienced, he said.

He had an epiphany when he patronized a McDonald's in Thailand. "The portion size was about a third to what you get in the United States," he said. "My first reaction was 'What a rip off,' but then I started to see, 'Well, that was enough to be satisfied.' "

That got Hawks thinking. Perhaps the key wasn't so much about what he ate and when, but how he felt about what he was eating, he said.

By the time Hawks flew halfway around the world to return home, he was a changed man. He decided to change his relationship with food for good. His wife, who also wanted to lose weight, joined him in his quest. Within one year they each lost between 40 and 50 pounds following "intuitive eating." Five years later, they're still the same weight.

Intuitive eating not for wimps
Eating intuitively sounds misleadingly easy, but it's probably far more challenging than most fad diets. It involves round-the-clock conscientiousness about what you eat and why.

Hawks said there are three main types of unhealthy consumption intuitive eaters need to be hyper-aware of: environmental eating, such as snacking on chips in front of the TV; emotional eating, like nose-diving into Ben & Jerry's after an argument; and social eating, dipping the fingers into the plate of cookies a co-worker brought to the office. All three are unconscious ways of eating that quickly pack on pounds.

However, restriction just leads to lowered self-esteem and sets people up for binging, Hawks said, so he doesn't deny himself any food, including shrimp, his favorite, whether it's fried shrimp or a shrimp taco.

In his quest to lose weight, Hawks not only dramatically changed his eating habits, he also ate more food. While this may sound counter-intuitive to weight loss, Hawks said variety is critical to maintaining any sort of lifestyle change.

No eating solution would work without exercise, Hawks said. He jogs an average of 25 to 30 miles per week. Exercise enhances intuitive eating, he explained, because it strengthens the connection between mind and body.

Science supports intuition
Hawks published a small study a few months ago in the American Journal of Health Education on intuitive eating's potential. Carried out with more than two dozen female BYU students, it showed that intuitive eating reduced body mass index, lowered triglyceride levels, increased high-density lipoprotein levels, and also improved the students 'overall risk for cardiovascular disease.

Fad diets may, says Hawks, offer short-term weight loss, "but at one level or another they are not in harmony with what your body is telling you, which means you have to work against biological urgings and ultimately you're going to fail. It's not sustainable because it's not natural."

That was a really good article, Carol.

Missing you, Obi. Fiddler, sometimes certain words are highlighted in yellow. How do I get rid of that?

Missing you, too, Jo.

This past weekend was my birthday and now I am off Christmas shopping, so just been busy. Eating has been so so, and I have just decided to do the best I can do until after the holidays and everything returns to normal.

On another note. I am 17 miles from my 100 mile goal and just not motivated. I think it is because I am just tired of Leslie Sansone (Walk away the Pounds). I can do the 4 mile, but after 3 miles of her all I want to do is reach through the TV and shake her. So tomorrow I am going to try and focus.


How is everyone else doing?