Intuitive eating | Imamother

PinkFridge

Thu, Apr 24 2014, 9:58 am

amother wrote:

I'm getting a lot of inspiration from this link:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/foru......html

This is interesting.
There was a post about feeling bad for the regainers. This has always been sobering for me. I see so many women who lost a lot of weight, maybe with weight watchers, and/or lots of exercise - and I don't mean walking, I mean classes a few times a week kind of thing. And then they can't maintain it and they put back on all if not more.
I don't know if I had/have a fully emotionally healthy relationship with food but I'm coming to see that it's not so bad. Making some restrictions or guidelines does work for me. The beauty of what I'm doing is that the restrictions are just for part of the day. I don't have to save up points or reserve my treats for one specific day that I may or may not be in the mood for it. In short, I think what I'm doing is sustainable.
Sustainability for the duration is probably the most important ingredient for a food plan to work.

amother

Mon, Apr 28 2014, 2:01 pm

Hi, I've been trying to eat mindfully for the past few months and have been somewhat successful.
Recently I read an article about eating slowly, they suggested using an app called Eating Slowly
I will be trying it, I hope it'll help me as it's still a tremendous struggle not to read while eating.

http://countyourbites.blogspot......html

Eating slowly- a little secret with BIG results!
Eating slowly has been a big factor in helping me lose weight, and mainly just being Satisfied with my small amount of food I am eating.

It started a couple of years ago, I found a blog called http://www.oneminutebite.com/ and I started with a simple stopwatch.
I would start the stopwatch and everytime it turned over a minute, I would take another bite. Now I wasn't perfect, but I tried to have 5 bites take me 5 minutes or 10 bites take me 10 minutes ect ect!! You get the idea!
That worked for a cheap option, but I got a little more fancy now a days with my iphone and I got the 99 cent app Eat Slower Pro, which I mentioned in a previous post. There is also a free one for iphone and android phone called Eat Slower...
You can also use a free (exercise)interval timer app on the iPhone or other phones

I have found One Minute to be the ideal time between putting one bite to another in my mouth. You can set it anything you want, if its slower than you have been eating, that's progress!

Another thing I have noticed is that it has taken me sometimes as long or longer as my family or nearly so to eat my measly little bites. This alone helps one to feel more satisfied.

This especially helps those who have a problem with binge eating! If you tell yourself you have to eat each bite only once per minute, after while it doesn't become so fun to binge anymore. It actually becomes easy to STOP binging, a it becomes boring to sit there and eat!

Eating Slowly has been proven to help people lose weight! I recommend combining eating slower with bite counting, but even if you only start by eating each of your bites with a minute between, I can almost guarantee you that you will lose weight. You might say, no way, I would just keep on eating, but eating slower makes it way easier to stop eating. When people binge or overeat, they tend to SHOVEL food into their mouth.

Eating slowly helps you savor your food. I don't necessarily chew a long time or anything, but just pausing between bites makes a difference in how you enjoy what you are actually eating!

Eating Slowly helps you realize when you are full. Sometimes only a couple bites is all it takes to feel full when you have shrunk your stomach.

Here are some quotes about some studies on eating slower

Quote from http://www.webmd.com/diet/feat.....-fast

Recent research presented at a meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity showed that overweight men and women took in fewer calories when they slowed their normal eating pace. And a recent Japanese study involving 1,700 young women concluded that eating more slowly resulted in feeling full sooner, and thus eating fewer calories at mealtime.

Quote from http://www.health.harvard.edu/.....19605

Stretch receptors in the stomach are activated as it fills with food or water; these signal the brain directly through the vagus nerve that connects gut and brainstem. Hormonal signals are released as partially digested food enters the small intestine. One example is cholecystokinin (CCK), released by the intestines in response to food consumed during a meal. Another hormone, leptin, produced by fat cells, is an adiposity signal that communicates with the brain about long-range needs and satiety, based on the body’s energy stores. Research suggests that leptin amplifies the CCK signals, to enhance the feeling of fullness. Other research suggests that leptin also interacts with the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain to produce a feeling of pleasure after eating. The theory is that, by eating too quickly, people may not give this intricate hormonal cross-talk system enough time to work.
Quote from http://yourlife.usatoday.com/f.....686/1

People who eat slowly tend to consume fewer calories and weigh less than those who eat quickly, research shows. Slower eaters also report enjoying their food more and having greater satiety.

It's believed that slower eating allows fullness and enjoyment to register in the brain before too much food is consumed, Melanson says

So try eating slower and see if you are not more satisfied and lose more weight!

A question someone could ask me is, how do you eat one minute per bite while away? The Eat slower app mentioned above has a vibration option. I Just simply place in my lap and start it and it vibrates each time I should take a bite. I put it in my lap when I feel too conspicuous away from home.

Linksamother

amother

Thu, May 29 2014, 8:53 pm

I haven't seen any posts on here in a while. I want to know how everyone is faring! I hope to hear we're all still working on eating intuitively so that we can prove it's not a diet (those things always end up fading fast) but a way of life!
Personally, I've been slowly getting better. Today I did a pretty sizeable afternoon binge, but my upsetness only came bec. I felt yucky physically. I did not beat myself up about it, and I am comfortable with it bec. I know that I'm not going to gain weight. I was confident enough that I would eat a lot less throughout the day bec. my body just wouldn't be hungry. Although I haven't completely lost the urge to eat when I am stressed, I completely got rid of the binge backlash behavior that makes you eat just because you ate!!
I'm also doing exercise that I totally love, even though traditional dieting would tell you it doesn't burn enough calories. (yoga) but I love it, and feel like I am being kind to my body, and my body is happy because of it. I am at a great weight and feeling good.
Can't wait to hear what everyone else has to say!
cookie amother

PinkFridge

Thu, May 29 2014, 8:57 pm

amother wrote:

I'm trying to stick to a certain food plan, where I don't eat animal protein till later in the day, and stick to whole grains and little to no sugar. Lots of produce. I'm doing this because I have medical benefits to not taxing my liver. While this may not fully jive with IE I still make a lot of intuitive choices. I realized that I needed more protein options and just bought some tofu. I'm also aware of when I want something sweet, in which case I go for fruit - cooked apples with cinnamon is good! - or sugar free chocolate. Or crunchy - popcorn, whole grain crackers.
So I'm gleaning a lot from this discussion myself.

Blue jay

Sat, May 31 2014, 10:23 pm

Thanks cookie amother for checking in with all of us! You sound like you are doing b'h great. Yoga may not be a "Major calorie burner" but it definately revitalizes you and gives you the energy to do moreand be active throughout your day![I] Being active and resting when you're body needs rest can be just as beneficial as a rigorous workout for an hour a day. When you are not so pre ocuupied with dieting, you are free to move and explore the world in your own skin!

Thank G-d I am doing well. Everyday I eat when I am hungry or almost hungry. I am five pounds lighter, but I think my body will just lead the way. really I am happy at my 160 pound weight. I Have leg muscles, and nice arm muscles. (swimming and zumba)

Aside from all of my physical gain, I am exploring "Woman Food and G-d by Geneen Roth" I am finally exploring those emotions that I have been hiding from. The emotional overeating was a way of avoiding any emotion.

Blue jay

Thu, Jun 19 2014, 9:57 am

Just want to share:

I made an important discovery:

Its not what you eat or why you eat its all about how you eat!

Are you standing? Are you sitting? Are you rushing? Are you conscious of what you are eating?

I find that for me mindless eating occurs when I am frantic and rushing.

Dont rush food, dont hurry your life up. Eating is important, sit down and make it count. Whatever the dish might be.

Blue jay

Thu, Jun 19 2014, 11:30 am

If you make eating a priority and take the time to plan for your meals and make them special. you wont feel like someone is taking your life source away. You will learn that feelings and agitation have no place during your meal time. Eating should be a holy and special time during your day in which you fuel your body and soul.

Another point:It is important to explore why you might eat emotionally, but it should not happen while you are hungry and should take place when things are calm so you can devote the time to come up with real strategies.

It is also important to explore what you eat but again not when your are in the throngs of hunger. Keep a mental check list of how certain foods taste and make you feel after you eat them. Think about any health concerns you may have that might impact your food choices. (what is your chocolate limit, if you have cholestorl issues like myself ..etc)

Last. ( I have lots of updates... Smile

)

IN your kitchen, create a zoning out spot! I piicked a distant edge of my kitchen table, which faces a window so I can look out into the world. I keep a favorite book there and my special tea mug. I find myself always in the kitchen and although alot of family life and joy takes place there, I feel like sometimes I need a breather and break from the serving and cooking. Instead of munching, I look towards my soothing station. Sit down and dive into book. If Im feeling capable , I have some tea too,
The kitchen now has 2 functions, to nourish myself and as a place to relax too.
Make peace with your kitchen. Smile

amother

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 11:28 pm

Another good article:
http://evidencemag.com/flexibl.....sics/

The 4 Most Important Things You Need to Know About Flexible Dieting

September 24, 2013 by Armi Legge 42 Comments

You’re willing to suffer.

You want to be lean yesterday, and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get there.

You cut calories, eliminate as many foods as you can, and deal with being miserable because you know it will pay off.

It will, in the short-term.
Letting yourself enjoy your favorite foods, like my Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes, will help you reach your long-term fat loss goals.

Letting yourself enjoy your favorite foods in moderation, like my Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes, will help you reach your long-term fat loss goals.
Image

It won’t, in the long-term.

When you can’t maintain your diet any longer, and you don’t know how to stay lean without it, you’ll lose all of your hard earned progress.

The truth is that you’ll lose more fat, faster, with less trouble, and keep it off in the long-run, by giving yourself a break.

In this article, you’ll learn the general principles behind a concept called “flexible dieting.” As you’ll see, this is a system that helps you direct your dieting efforts in a way that gives you the results you want, without driving you insane.

This article is mostly about fat loss, but the same principles are just as important for muscle gain, weight maintenance, and general health.
A Simple Introduction to Flexible Dieting

Be less strict about your diet.

That’s the essence of flexible dieting.

Instead of forcing yourself to follow a set of rigid, unsustainable rules to lose fat or stay healthy, you take a more relaxed and long-term perspective on your diet.

The term “flexible dieting” has gotten popular for a reason — it works. What’s confusing, however, is that there isn’t an objective definition of flexible dieting. It means different things depending on who you ask. You’re about to learn the fundamental concepts behind flexible dieting, why it works, and how to start using it.

Lyle McDonald was probably the first person to popularize the concept of flexible dieting. In fact, he wrote the book on the topic in 2005 called A Guide to Flexible Dieting.

McDonald lays out what he believes are the two main reasons dieters fail:

1. Being too absolute and expecting perfection.

2. Focusing only on the short-term.

Flexible dieting is basically the opposite — not being as absolute and focusing on the long-term as well as the short-term.

Let’s take a closer look at what flexible dieting is and isn’t.
The 4 Essential Elements of Flexible Dieting

Flexible dieting has several different interpretations, but we’re going to define it with the following four criteria:

1. Modifying your diet based on your preferences, goals, and tolerances.

2. Letting yourself enjoy your favorite foods in moderation without feeling guilty or deprived.

3. Staying calm and sticking to your diet if you do overeat, or have something that’s not “on” your diet.

4. Focusing just as much on maintaining fat loss as on achieving it.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these principles and why they work.
1. Modify your diet based on your preferences, goals, and tolerances.

You should eat foods that you enjoy.

You should enjoy both “healthy” and “unhealthy” foods.

There are no specific foods you need to eat to be healthy or lose fat. Food isn’t “bad,” “good,” “healthy,” “unhealthy,” “super,” or anything else. It’s just food. You should eat a well rounded overall healthy diet, but you should enjoy all of the foods you eat within that diet.

Your diet should also support your goals. If you’re trying to lose fat, you need to eat fewer calories. If you’re trying to gain weight, you need to eat more calories. If you’re training hard, you might want to eat more carbohydrate and/or protein.

It’s fine to place restrictions on yourself to make it easier to reach your goals. If you enjoy higher fat foods and it’s easier for you to control your calorie intake by eating a low-carb diet, then do it. If eating “paleo” — avoiding grains, legumes, dairy (and other stuff, depending on who you ask) helps you eat less, then go for it. Just remember why you’re eating that way. Your diet isn’t magical; it’s just easier for you to follow.

You should also consider any medical reasons for avoiding certain foods. If you’re less insulin sensitive, you may need to eat fewer carbs. If you have celiac disease, you can’t eat gluten.

Base your diet on personal preference first. Modify your diet to suit your goals second. Then take into account any potential restrictions you might need to place on yourself.

Most popular diets do the exact opposite of this approach. They tell you to avoid certain foods or foods groups based on pseudoscience and anecdote, regardless of your goals.

Flexible dieting is the opposite. You get to decide what you do and don’t eat to reach your goals.
2. Let yourself enjoy your favorite foods without feeling guilty or deprived.

Unless you have a specific medical condition like celiac disease, there is no reason you need to avoid any food forever. There’s also no reason you need to eat the exact same diet every single day for the rest of your life.

You should let yourself enjoy your favorite foods throughout your diet. When you do, you shouldn’t have to feel guilty.

Some people prefer to take a binary approach to dieting. They eliminate all desserts, sugar, added fat, or certain food groups. There’s nothing wrong with this approach as long as you let yourself enjoy these foods later, in moderation, when you’ve reached your goal.

Most people don’t. They deprive themselves of their favorite foods and end up miserable or, more likely, bingeing on them later. This also usually happens before they’ve gotten as lean as they want to be, which makes them even more depressed.

With flexible dieting, you let yourself enjoy your favorite foods, whether it’s cake, brownies, bagels, ice cream, cereal, pizza, pasta, french fries, or steak throughout your diet. You don’t darn up your cravings and let them break through later on when you can’t control them.

In most cases, it’s best that your fat loss diet be essentially the same as your regular diet.
3. Stay calm and stick to your diet if you do overeat or have something that’s not “on” your diet.

Whether accidentally or intentionally, you’re going to eat more calories than you mean to, or you’re going to eat a food that isn’t “on” your diet.

It’s going to happen. The only thing that separates successful dieters from unsuccessful ones is how they react.

If you’ve been depriving yourself of your favorite foods and forcing yourself to stick to a diet you don’t enjoy, you won’t react well. You’ll either hate yourself for failing to stick to your diet, or binge, and then hate yourself even more.
Obsessing over your calorie intake can sometimes be as destructive as obsessing over your food choices. Image

Obsessing over your calorie intake can sometimes be as destructive as obsessing over your food choices.
Image

When you break the rigid and unrealistic rules you’ve set for yourself, you feel like there’s no point in trying. Five Oreos turns into an entire box. An extra scoop of ice cream turns into the whole carton.

On the other hand, a flexible dieter stays calm in these situations.

Flexible dieters put the magnitude of their mistake into perspective. They realize that one scoop of ice cream or an Oreo has literally delayed their progress by about 100 calories — the equivalent of maybe an hour or two.

Flexible dieters don’t feel like they’ve failed, cheated themselves, or broken any rules, because they set reasonable expectations from the beginning. They expected to overeat on some days and to eat some foods that weren’t “on” their diets. It’s all just part of the plan.

Rigid dieters do not. They expect to eat exactly the right foods in exactly the right amounts every day, and when they can’t, they give up or hate themselves for not reaching their unreachable expectations.
4. Focus just as much on maintaining fat loss as on achieving it.

If you’re a rigid dieter, you think in the short-term for two reasons:

1. You want results as fast as possible, so you set up a diet you hate because you rationalize that it won’t last that long.

2. After you’ve set up a diet you don’t like, you become even more focused on the short-term because that’s the only way you can make your diet bearable.

When you don’t enjoy your diet and set impossible standards, the only way to have any hope is to focus on the short-term. You adopt an “it can all be over soon” mentality.

In some cases you might reach your goal. However, losing fat isn’t the hard part. It’s maintaining fat loss that’s really hard.

This is where rigid dieting almost always fails.

The behaviors that help you lose fat are the same ones that will help you stay lean. If you can’t maintain the diet and exercise habits that you used to lose fat, you probably won’t be able to stay lean in the long-term.

For instance, studies have consistently shown that meal replacements and weight loss shakes help people lose a lot of weight.1-5 It helps them control their portion sizes and calorie intake. The problem is that these people never learn to control calories without the shakes and meal replacements. They never learn how to maintain weight loss with sustainable and enjoyable behaviors. That’s why longer studies have generally shown that meal replacement diets are not great at helping people maintain much weight loss.6

With flexible dieting, your fat loss diet is almost identical to your habitual diet. There’s no abrupt transition from your fat loss diet to your regular diet, because the only real difference is your calorie and macronutrient intake.

Instead of seeing your diet as an obstacle that you can forget about once you’ve gotten lean, think of it as a long-term transition to healthier behaviors that you’ll use to stay lean for the rest of your life.
Eat a Diet You Can Maintain

That’s essentially what it means to be a flexible dieter.

You want to get lean as fast as possible, so you rush. You put up with cravings, hunger, lethargy, and social isolation because you’re willing to suffer. You set rigid, impossible, miserable standards that you can’t achieve.

You either give up before, soon after, or long after reaching your goal, because being lean wasn’t worth the trouble anymore.

Flexible dieting is about finding a diet that works for you, and deviating from that diet in a way that doesn’t impede your long-term progress.

How has rigid dieting helped or hurt your efforts to get lean? How do you eat a structured diet to lose fat while maintaining your sanity, social life, and happiness?

Blue jay

Wed, Jul 16 2014, 3:32 pm

In response to the above post.

This approach sounds a little like a "diet" to me. Flexible dieting calls for being adaptive and patient with yourself. Making up your own rules and then breaking them... and being ok with that. Choosing plans for yourself. I shudder at the word "plan"... You cant plan intuitive eating.

Very interesting though, keep the conversation going!

amother

Fri, Aug 15 2014, 8:17 am

imasinger, how is it going?

(I am one of the anonymous lurkers/rare posters, thinking of jumping into this, and want to hear how you are doing.)

amother

Tue, Aug 26 2014, 9:51 pm

I've been doing IE for a couple of months and it's definitely a challenge, Here is an excerpt of an article that really inspired me, in fact I've been reading his blog for the last couple of days...a treasure trove.

And all any of this does is separate you from yourself. When you tell yourself your body is not good enough, you are telling yourself that YOU are not good enough and you feel the emotional impact of this – you carry it with you like a bathroom scale chained to your ankle as you go through your day. And how’s that workin for ya? Is there ever any relief from the sense of pressure you feel, when you are always in the field of play of compare/contrast and compete with your other societal sisters – sisters; who inside themselves are suffering just the same as you are. Can you imagine the impact, if, as a group and en masse you all just said “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!” – Because you can, and you should! But instead - you internalize “mad as hell anger” of this cultural ideal – and you unleash it on yourself, and in yourself. Does that make any sense to you?
You see the weak thing to do is to continue to not link hands, minds, and hearts together in this. The weak thing to do is to continue to abide in a cultural ideal that is set up to have you thinking and feeling badly about yourself - to yourself - and within yourself. The strong thing to do would be to stop accepting this any longer. Or at least start asking yourselves why and how you accepted it this long already?

amother

Tue, Aug 26 2014, 9:51 pm

cont.
This cultural ideal has had you declaring war on your own bodies for decades now. Has that empowered any of you women out there? But here’s an idea:
Instead of declaring war on your body and because of that, depriving it of food and punishing it with exhaustive exercise – how about right now – as a unified group, one for all, and all for one – Finally – how about you declare a truce and practice peace ‘with’ your body. How about you finally surrender working endlessly ‘on’ your body within the battlefield of your own minds. Declare a truce and surrender the cultural ideal and be blown away by all your body is willing to do for you, once you stop exhausting it, by warring with it. How about you turn the war around – give up the war on your own body – take up the war with this ridiculous cultural ideal-image; an image that plagues you all? Take back your own sensuality and s-xuality that is exalted in you as a birth-right and not as something you need to achieve. Take a lesson from Lillian Russell and Mae West in this.
Most of you don’t even know how to accept your own bodies anymore, let alone love them. And those of you who say you do love your own body I challenge you to own that statement. Look at the famous Corinthians versus on love - “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

amother

Tue, Aug 26 2014, 9:53 pm

So, in terms of your relationship with your own body, are you patient and kind? Are you envious of the female ideal image? Do you seek a better body so you can use pride instead of pride using you? Are you easily angered at your own body? Do you keep records of the ways it has failed you – records like dress sizes and body-weight numbers? Do you ever, let alone always, protect, trust, hope and persevere in your relationship with your body?
You need to look again, at what love means, in relation to loving yourself through your own body and mind. And more than likely you now realize you treat your body as an enemy to conquer – and only because this false-ideal, false-idol sticks in your head. As far as treating your body as the enemy to subdue, how is that working for you?
And there is another verse that seems long-forgotten that women could usurp and reignite and reclaim. We call diamonds “precious” stones. They are called that for a reason. They are rare and fine. More importantly, they come in various shapes and sizes, just like you all do. And the verse says, “Diamonds are the highest of Nature’s mineral creations, just like women are the highest of Nature’s animal creations, which is why women and diamonds have such an affinity for each other. But it seems women have forgotten this truth about themselves. And the affinity between diamonds and women is lost - when women forget that the adornments ‘on’ them - are not nearly as precious as the adornments ‘within’ them.
Precious stones – and precious bones.
from here
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/......html

amother

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 10:27 pm

Here's another good one:

http://dietsarefattening.com/s.....d-is/

Sugar Isn’t Poison. Stressing Over Food Is

Do not let anyone tell you that sugar is poison. Sugar is a beautiful part of life. People fought wars over sugar.

But I used to think it was “bad” too. I fell prey to the “good” food “bad” food diet mentality that left me food obsessed. I wouldn’t buy anything sweet and delicious. I would pick apart a menu so that I would get the most healthful food possible. If I went to a party, I ate before hand so I wouldn’t be tempted to eat something “bad.”

And I thought I couldn’t handle sugar because I felt bad after I ate it. Do you know why? Because whenever I ate sugar I ate too much because I was “off the wagon” so to speak. I didn’t realize that if I routinely, as part of a delicious well balanced eating, I could enjoy sugar. I didn’t realize I could trust my body to lead me to reasonable amounts of food and to a diet that included a wide variety of foods.

Does this sound familiar? Do you do these kinds of things?

Well, let me help you get out of that terrible cycle.

Give yourself to permission to eat whatever you crave when you are hungry. Yes, whatever you crave. Don’t look at calorie counts. Don’t over analyze the ingredients. Listen to your body for clues as to what would be most satisfying. No, you won’t be great at this at first, you have been trained out of this very normal behavior. But be patient, the payoff for understanding this is huge.

Over time, here are just of few of the lessons you will learn:

When you eat what you crave, you will crave a wide variety of foods, not just cookies!

When you give yourself permission to eat anything you crave, including desserts, the power of those foods over you goes away.

When you eat when you are hungry and stop when hunger is quiet, you will reconnect eating with hunger and that is how you lose weight.

Eating when you aren’t hungry, no matter healthful the food, will make you gain weight.

Not eating when you ARE hungry will backfire on you and make you overeat later.

I am advocating normal eating behavior. I am advocating the enjoyment of food, all kinds of foods, instead of the demonization of foods depending on the latest fad diet.

Your life will be less stressed, you will enjoy food more, and you will lose weight.

amother

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 10:41 pm

http://dietsarefattening.com/d.....lity/
Diet Myths Sabotage Your Thin Mentality
One of the most enduring diet myths is that you can “replace” a high calorie item with a low calorie item and “save” calories and your body will not know the difference.

Nope.

If you eat less in an effort to save calories, you do save them temporarily, but the effect of that lower calorie meal is that you will need more food later. Doesn’t that make sense to you?

So instead of substituting a non fat, fake-sugar yogurt for the yogurt or food you really like, just eat the food you really crave, when you are hungry. And as you eat it, truly enjoy it, without guilt or telling yourself you “should” be eating something else.

The diet industry has created that list of “shoulds” for you, and they make TONS of money making you believe their list is more important than the signals you get from your own body. Do you let some company tell you when to go to the bathroom? No, you rely on your body.

You “should” eat what your body is asking for. And your body will surprise you with how many variable and wonderful foods it will crave- including really healthful stuff. It will be far more satisfying to you, and help you calm down your food and eating/not eating obsession.

And how do you lose weight doing this?

Well once you understand that you can’t fool your body, you must start trusting your body instead. And the weight loss comes when you successfully match eating and hunger. When you eat when you are hungry and stop when hunger is quiet, you will be eating appropriately for YOU. And if you are doing this and not losing weight, try paying more attention to the “enough” signal.

And remember, you are the only one who can listen to your body. If you don’t, no one will! And wouldn’t that be sad? If your fantastic, smart body went ignored for your whole life?

Bottom line: (I don’t mind telling you the truth) We need less food than we think… But when you can eat whatever you crave, whenever you are hungry, you will be fine. It is not eating when you are hungry that is so hard.

amother

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 10:47 pm

And one more:
http://dietsarefattening.com/g.....food/

No More Good Food Bad Food
I used to think that eating anything “bad” for me was a mark of weakness. I used to shy away from foods I loved and eat stuff I didn’t love.

I used to go to Wendy’s after I worked out, and order two chicken sandwiches and just eat the chicken out of both of them. That way I would eat a whole bunch of protein and no white bread. But then, later that night, or the next day or week, I would lose control and eat a whole box of snack packs I had bought for my kids’ lunches.

Now I look back on that as funny. I picture myself having to go out to the grocery store to rebuy the food for my kids! How silly this was. What a waste of time and energy and love!

Why was I like this?? Because dieting had so screwed me up, I had no idea how or what to eat anymore.

I have regained a normal, healthy, and happy relationship with food, since 2000. And my website, blogs, facebook, podcasts, twitter, books, etc. is from my passion to help others climb out of that awful diet hell.

YOU CAN DO IT TOO.

Please read my blogs and notice the common themes. Building a thin mentality and ditching your diet mentality is about reconnecting eating with hunger. And, it is about enjoying food again, eating the food you love, and understanding that putting yourself on a diet, which your body perceives as a famine, is DANGEROUS to your happiness.

Your body will make you pay for ignoring hunger. Your biology is going to do everything possible to make you eat. You will not understand how you could diet, and then how you could be such a weakling.

But it actually makes perfect sense. Your biology will help you diet at first. It will think you need to survive some awful famine, so you will adapt to less food. Your body will conserve energy. Your weight loss will slow. And your body will want your appreciation! It has saved you from starvation!

And then, when you go off your diet, your body will pack on the pounds to help you through the next famine. You will DIET YOUR WAY TO FATNESS.

So the next time you see a delicious cupcake, please think of me. I don’t gorge on cupcakes now, as I used to after a diet, I savor them. I put them in a pretty domed plate on my counter. And when I am hungry for one, I eat it so happily. I don’t eat a pound of protein instead!

And you know what? I am healthier and happier this way than I ever was as a dieter.

You must know what I mean? Dieting makes you sad and stressed. That is so harmful. Get happy, lose the diet and start eating because you are HUNGRY. And yes, STOP eating when your hunger is quiet.

It will take a bit to get used to this. You won’t believe that you could lose weight this way.

But let me tell you, you will not only lose weight, you will gain happiness and peace.

I am so happy that I have a cupcake on my counter just waiting for my next sweet hunger craving. Who knows when that will be? Today ? Tomorrow? Wednesday? I don’t know. I don’t care. I am free.

imasinger

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 11:05 pm

amother wrote:

imasinger, how is it going?

(I am one of the anonymous lurkers/rare posters, thinking of jumping into this, and want to hear how you are doing.)

Sorry, I just saw this now.

I haven't posted here for a while because I am still trying to figure some things out. Here's what I have learned, and what still challenges me.

I really, deeply believe that IE works, and works like nothing else I have ever done. But I wish that Josie Spinardi would come out with her second book on emotional eating (it was originally due out last January). That part has proven more difficult. Every now and then, she posts something good on Twitter. My favorite is: "Don't feed your fears with worry- or cake for that matter! This is your one life. Learn the skills you need to achieve your dreams. Then put one foot in front of the other. You've got this!"

After last Chanukah time, when I went on a reading-and-eating binge, I realized that reading while eating was like being social at a meal. It makes stopping when full more challenging, but not impossible. So, books and newspapers are back at the table when wanted. When I was really busy, like before Pesach, weight would just disappear effortlessly. I wasn't in the mood to sit and read and nosh instead of workng.

But at other times, there is nothing so comforting in a moment of anguish as a good book and something to munch on. I would know that I was moving past satiety, but in those moments, I didn't care. In those moments, telling myself I would be able to eat and enjoy more if I waited until I was hungry and stopped when full didn't work. I didn't want to wait.

I still am working through some of the personal challenges that tempted me to binge at times over the summer. Life is slightly less stressful now. I remind myself to stay positive and ignore that critical inner voice.

One trick that seems to help is reminding myself of the great physical feelings that come from enjoying those first bites when hungry.

More significant is this amazing sense of well being that follows about 5-10 minutes after stopping at the early signs of satiety (what Spinardi calls "Chasing the Taste", where you go in search of something else to eat, even though you may not think you feel all the way full). That feeling is almost euphoric, and if I eat a little too much, I miss out. If I eat a lot too much, I feel icky.

All in all, I have stayed basically within a 5 pound range, going up a little more when stressed, and down a little more when busy or in a good emorional place. My goal for the coming year is to try to face and master the emotional issues that tend to send me to the table, and maybe lose that last bit.

As I see the last amother's post, sugar may not be the enemy, but it's not my friend, either. I tend to avoid sweets with processed sugar because they make me so tired and grumpy an hour later, and I don't like feeling that way. Most of the time, they don't tempt me too much. Now, salty things, that's a different story. I try to keep reasonable intake on salted nuts, whole grain crackers, salt pickles, or olive dip with veggies. But I do like chips!

I hope to have more to post as I learn and master my issues. I hope all who are trying and following this style are also finding it a good thing!

amother

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 11:19 pm

imasinger wrote:
As I see the last amother's post, sugar may not be the enemy, but it's not my friend, either. I tend to avoid sweets with processed sugar because they make me so tired and grumpy an hour later, and I don't like feeling that way. Most of the time, they don't tempt me too much. Now, salty things, that's a different story. I try to keep reasonable intake on salted nuts, whole grain crackers, salt pickles, or olive dip with veggies. But I do like chips!

Imasinger thanks for the update!

If sugar makes you tired and grumpy then you're being INTUITIVE when you avoid them.
You really need to take your time to reacquaint yourself with your body’s signals.

Hatzlacha to all of us on this journey!

amother

Thu, Sep 18 2014, 7:59 pm

I had an amazing epiphany today!
My husband recently bought me this enormous box of delicious chocolates. I was thrilled and have been savoring them very slowly (as I should considering the sky high price!) I have about a months supply of chocolate, literally.
But today when I was in the mall all I could think about was going into the chocolate store and buying myself a few pieces. WHY??? I have so many at home and theyre exactly the same as the ones in the store. I made no sense. BUT WAIT!!!! It's obviously not the chocolate I want (duh) but the act of treating myself, of splurging and nourishing myself with something. Instead I bought some jewelry. It totally did the trick. Breakthrough!

zissy2004

Thu, Oct 23 2014, 5:11 am

Hi guys!!!
Wow, I haven't been on in over a year and have just finished reading the whole thread!
Thanks all for your updates, keep them coming!!
I was so enthusiastic with this approach and I still know, in my heart that this is it but it has been very difficult to do, can you believe I STILL haven't finished Josie's book?
It's like I have an inner resistance to reading it. I'm a classic textbook addict to eating but I tried OA and didn't work.
Once, a few weeks ago, I fell back into the trap of doing weight watchers and after 3 weeks and a bit of loss, I'm now 5 kg more and at my heaviest I have ever been...
I'm reading a lot on the subject now to try to get myself in the mood of doing this again.
It's not at all easy, I have no idea about body signals, I feel very restless if I don't read while eating and so on...
I so much want this to work for me. I guess the first thing would be to finish reading Josie's book.
I am by nature a perfectionist so I feel that I need to read every chapter slowly and write down notes and all and that's prob why I resist starting...
Any words of chizuk for me?
I just ate 4 slices of bread for breakfast, I wasn't sure if I was full after 3 (white spelt bread) so I ate the 4th.