intuitive eating, veg*n style
 

Hey vegheadz of various stripes,

Anyone doing a vegetarian/veg*n version of intuitive eating as their primary diet plan? If so, do you track any nutrients at all or keep it entirely 'intuitive'?

From Wikipedia:

I tried and failed at Intuitive Eating, unfortunately! :-(

I do plan to go back to it eventually, probably a year into maintenance or so. I don't want to count forever, but I need to for now.

I tracked in the beginning because I went from low carb (lots of meats, eggs, cheese with my veggies) to vegan. I tracked WW points as usual and also Fitday to check nutrient levels, especially micronutrients (minerals, vitamins).

After a few weeks, I stopped tracking altogether because my food intake is fairly consistent from day to day. I know which foods I need every day to keep my micronutrient levels up (seeds, almond milk, and as many greens, veggies, fruit as I can eat).

Now, I just eat. I wouldn't say I eat intuitively as far as WHAT I eat, because after reading the IE books, they recommend eating what you crave, and I'm sticking to plant based, whole foods, at least a 90% level.

But, I don't track calories or measure anything with a scale or cups, or track protein or count # of fruit servings, or whatever. I do try to limit nuts to a handful a day and am cautious with grains, choosing starchy veggies over grains most of the time.

It's been very freeing after years of counting calories or WW points. I will continue this way as long as it works for my weight loss, and so far, it's going very, very well.

Last year, I started reading the book "I Can Make You Thin" by Paul McKenna. I only read up until the section on hunger, which I found very useful since I have a history of ignoring/not feeling hunger. If I recall correctly, he presents a scale for recognizing how hungry you are. Anyway, something clicked for me and I am now only eating when I feel about a level three hunger. This approach has eliminated any desire to snack, or to eat unconsciously. I have made sure that my kitchen is stocked with simple, nutritious vegetarian food. I have a genetic metabolic disorder, so I try to eat more way more protein than carbs, as even carbs from certain fruits and veggies are problematic for me.

I don't need a huge variety, so I normally start the day with Nile Spice Lentil Curry Couscous, to which I add a mini box of raisins. The next time I feel hungry I eat a banana or apple slices with a tbsp of almond butter (yummy combo). During the rest of the day I choose from among the following:
- ww tortilla wrap with scrambled egg, salsa, avocado, greek yogurt and a tbsp of low fat shredded cheese.
- 1 cup of Emerils vegetarian chili (homemade) on 1/4 cup brown rice
- Soy-based veggie patty with no bun, with a tsp of russian mustard and ketchup
- salad with lots of nuts
- lentil based pasta sauce with small serving of ww linguine

I write down everything I eat for accountability, and to make sure that I am eating a minimum of 1200 calories a day because I was under-eating before, which caused my body to hang onto its fat stores. I only count protein and fibre along with calories to make sure I am getting enough of each. Because I rotate my dishes, it's not hard because I already know how many calories are in everything. I only make recipes that provide a measure of calories per serving, otherwise it would become too cumbersome for me.

I also don't eat any white foods, except for 1.5 tsp of sugar in my morning latte and the milk that goes in it. Oh, and greek yoghurt (my new best friend).

After 25 years of dieting (WW, Atkins, soup diets, etc), this is the only way that makes sense to me anymore. And, its working. I have been losing over a pound a day this week.

Because I have just started to pay attention this month, I have chosen to keep things as simple as possible. So far, so good. I enjoy the food I eat and I don't feel any pressure or stress over my diet.

Best of luck to all!

I've been a vegetarian for about 12 years, and doing IE since I started losing weight in late 2009. I don't track track nutrients but I do consider myself nutrient-aware. When I'm planning a meal, I try to think back to the last few meals and make sure to cover anything I've been slacking on. Other than that, I trust cravings to remind me what I need.