This weekend, my best friend (who is also on SB) and I were discussing changes that we can make to help us be successful in our endeavors to eat cleaner and healthier.

One of the things she mentioned is that she believes that her BF eats for sustenance instead of enjoyment. She thinks that this is one of the "keys" to making the transition into a healthier way of eating for good.

I guess I understand that, but I'm one of those people who loves to eat. There's very few things more enjoyable to me than a good tasting meal, especially if I can find ways to keep it healthy.

Do you guys think that this mindset ("I love to eat!") is one of the roadblocks that keeps us stuck and on the weight loss treadmill forever?

Thoughts and opinions...I hope the consensus on this one is NO because I think in my personal experiences I'm bound to fail weight loss wise if I am not enjoying what I'm eating.

Eating for sustenance only is like having sex for procreation only. It isn't gonna happen.

I know I could never just eat for sustenance. Food tastes good for a reason, right?

Food is a wonderful pleasure and should be enjoyed. Think of the difference between a "gourmet" and a "gourmand." A gourmet loves food and appreciates it and has a healthy attitude towards it. A gourmand just likes quantity. Food nourishes your body and soul, and deserves a lot of respect.

I find eating for enjoyment to be key. What doesn't work for me is eating for boredom, loneliness, stress, fatigue, habit, addiction. I really think they're different.

Maybe some people have that mind set, but I'm definitely not one of them. I love to eat! And I know lots of thin and healthy people that also love food. I don't think not enjoying your food is a requirement for healthy eating (if that makes sense). That's one reason I experiment and try new recipes a lot. Eating really yummy food helps keep me on plan. I am more willing to buy myself expensive, high quality food if it will help keep me from eating junk. When i am on SB, I feel like I eat better than any other time, and by better I mean tastier, fresher, higher quality food.

Eating for enjoyment is not necessarily a bad thing so long as you're eating in moderation and only when physically hungry. Whether you can actually do that depends on your relationship with food. For me, 'eating for enjoyment' is one of the reasons why I was so overweight.

My motto this past year has been "eat for survival, not enjoyment." As an emotional eater/overeater my relationship with food was seriously unhealthy. Whenever I felt an emotion I would eat, whenever I had a craving I would eat, whenever I was bored I would eat, ..., needless to say it's sort of easy to understand why I was so overweight. For me to lose weight it was critical that I change my relationship with food. These days I eat in moderation at mealtimes and not whenever. When I'm hungry these days I ask myself "am I physically hungry?" So yeah, food for me is a survival thing. Yes I enjoy what I eat, and I cook 'tasty' meals, but eating is not a pastime anymore, it's a necessity.

I agree with what's already been said. I love food, I love to cook and I love finding new and healthy recipes. I believe one of the main reasons I succeeded with SBD is that it encourages me to enjoy my food. I would say that I am a very healthy eater generally.

I do know people who eat just to sustain and they make some very unfortunate and unhealthy food choices. Not all of them, but enough to assure me that it is not the secret to healthy eating.

This is like the saying "eat to live, don't live to eat."

I agree, eating should be pleasurable, but I think for me and any one else who can't handle moderation, then the pleasure has to come from new, healthy recipes. And interestingly, foods can taste much better when you are eating healthy, as many of us have experienced. Chocolate cake - yum - but chocolate SF pudding hits the spot for me now and the cake fills me with regret. The few moments of enjoyment do not outweigh the guilt and gain. As the other saying goes - "nothing tastes as good as being thin feels."

So my answer would probably be that we each are different in finding a lifestyle of enjoyable eating that we can live with forever and be happy with the consequences, be they weight gain, cravings, or not. And I soooo appreciate all the great recipes people share on here... for helping me find some enjoyment in my health eating. Maybe someday I will be able to handle moderation, but not yet.

Enjoyment and sustenance aren't mutually exclusive, and I believe shouldn't be made to be. You can and should have both, in my opinion.

I think it's more a question of "why vs. what," in the sense that


WHY I'm eating (answer should mostly be hunger).

WHAT I'm eating (answer should mostly be healthy foods that I enjoy).


It would be possible to eat only for nutrition and strip all the enjoyment out of eating, but I'm not sure that would work for most folks (It doesn't even work very well for lab rats, when given a choice they also prefer certain flavors to nutrient content).

Hahaha! Love that.

I used to say I live to eat not eat to live but I love many of the healthy food. Some not so much but I have found things that I am just as excited about in a healthy lifestyle!

I heartily agree with this. I don't think I know anyone who eats only for sustenance and I don't think we're hardwired to do that.

Life would be pretty dull if you only ate for sustenance.

I love food and consider it one of life's pleasures to be enjoyed in moderation, like most things.