Eating Psychology

[schmitzy]

Hi guys!

I'm hoping for some insight and discussion on this topic.

Myself, I am very confused when it comes to eating and living consciously healthy. And I mean not overly healthy: I've tended to exaggerate in the past.

One problem is that I'm lacking positive role models since my childhood, my father being a bulimic. Luckily, that has never been a problem of mine but I have gotten to know yo-yo dieting very well.

Sometimes I have weird cravings and bingings that I don't really understand (e.g. a lot of dried mangoes, cereal or nuts with butter ???)

I'm not really looking for advice to go vegetarian/vegan which I have both tried out and I'm tending to anyway. I don't think anything super strict and restrictive is the key. But well, who am I to tell here?

I would love some helpful role models or guidelines that I could check out. Maybe you have a healthy relationship with food and can tell me what it is like.

I'm also interested in body image. We don't all have to look the same. Does someone have an unusual shape and embrace it? How do you do it?

Wrapping up the sushi right here - love, schmitzy

 

[cirkussmile]

I don't know if you trying to loose weight but the most common problem is that people don't eat enough! They can stick to a low calorie diet but after 2 weeks of 1000kcal/day they cannot control the body any more and before they know it they sitting in front of he tv with a big bowl if ice cream and feel bad. You can't control that urge and it makes sense...

 

A  really important rule is to eat at least 85% of the food as whole foods. And stick to it. Find a way and if you can think yourself eating the same way for 20 years to come then that's what you want. Do not lie to yourself. Personally I want to eat everything so I do plan when I can eat the stuff I want. 

 

Always have food ready at home.

 

 

[vizual]

I used to have problems food with calorie restricting and the subsequent food binging. After several years of screwing around and yoyo-ing in weight I realized calorie counting is not a viable long term strategy for both mental and physical health. Not only did my weight fluctuate a bit, I felt that food became a way too important focus in my life. With the result that my quality of life was severely compromised. 

So the first thing I did was stop calorie counting and stop worrying what the scales says. Second thing I did was really analyze my binge behavior, why did my mind go haywire when there was yummy food in sight? The key here wasn't really the food choices itself, I could binge on the most crazy food products, it was definitely psychological, not physiological. The key was the lack of awareness, I realized that when I had a craving I wasn't really hungry. It was my mind interpreting a certain state of mind as hunger, mostly boredom, or fear of not getting enough food in. It was my mind justifying to eat food, while the body wasn't really asking for it. So the thing that was really important to me was to not believe everything the mind says, if the mind wants to eat doesn't mean the body wants to eat.

Another problem was that once I started eating, I could go totally crazy. You know, you totally go blank and just start eating, once it's over you think, what have I done? Again, another key point is awareness. Upon analyzing the moments of my binges I felt this contraction in my body, it's a contraction of muscles in the body. The food gave me a safe and comfortable feeling, the contraction shows me that at that moment I am trying to escape reality by trying to block out everything and only focus on food and my body. So it's really important that you relax while you eat, both the body and the mind, don't shove the food in. 

[ChimpBrain]

If you've never heard of Pauline Norton and her Fighter Diet that's something worth checking out. I have some of her ebooks if you want them. Her philosophy is basically "prevent overeating by overeating". She has you eating like a pound of vegetables with every meal and you stay so full you're not even tempted by the things you shouldn't eat. 

[schmitzy]

Thank you, these are all pretty good hints and valuable insights. It has already helped me a lot.

@ChimpBrain No, I've never heard of Pauline Norton's Fighter Diet but it sounds like an awesome concept!

[Paul EMD]

@schmitzy 

I really find Paul Chek to be amazing concerning nutrition. He basically rejects all kind of diets, as they inherently cannot work on everyone. His belief is that everyone has different physiological needs depending on heredity, the county you live in, the seasons, the amount of physical activity you have etc. 

He basically recommends building a very strong relation with your own body by learning to understand and analyzed the signals it provides after meals. If you work on this, you can basically manage to understand when you had too much protein, carbs etc. It's a great way to start being mindful of your own body, and thereafter adjusting your diet to your own needs,

You should definitely check out this article if you want to learn more 
http://chekinstitute.com/blog/what-diet-is-right-for-you/

Peace!

[schmitzy]

@Paul EMD thank you!