Thoughts on my eating philosophy?

Nakeshia88

My new philosophy for food is that if you can't grow it, catch it, kill it or make it yourself then don't eat it. For example: I can grow fruits/vegetables/legumes/grains and nuts so these are OK; I can fish and shoot so meat is OK; and I can/could easily learn to do things like grow/grind my own flour, salt and coffee, I can brew beer, make bread and pasta so these are OK - however, I couldn't make something like Coca Cola or anything containing artificial ingredients/additives so I won't eat these things.

So lately when I'm picking up food that's in a tin, bag or box I'll read the ingredients and ask myself, could I grow or kill these ingredients, process and mix them together myself to make this? If so, then I'll buy it, if not, back it goes! What do you think of this philosophy?

lemonsnowdrop

I think it's terrible. There's nothing wrong with foods you didn't make yourself, so why not eat them? Life is too short to constantly deprive myself of things I enjoy.

Nakeshia88

lemonsnowdrop wrote: »

I think it's terrible. There's nothing wrong with foods you didn't make yourself, so why not eat them? Life is too short to constantly deprive myself of things I enjoy.

I'm not saying I'll only eat foods that I make myself, I'm saying I'll only eat foods I *could* make myself. It would be way too restricting to only eat food that I'd made myself! For example, I'd still buy a pizza because it would only have ingredients that I could grow/kill myself - like flour, salt, milk, vegetables, meat etc, all things I *could* grow, kill or make myself if I needed or wanted to, but thankfully someone else has done all that for me! I wouldn't buy a Coca Cola because I couldn't grow and make my own high fructose corn syrup, caramel colour, phosophoric acid or natural flavours... I don't even know what half those things are!

lemonsnowdrop

Nakeshia88 wrote: »

lemonsnowdrop wrote: »

I think it's terrible. There's nothing wrong with foods you didn't make yourself, so why not eat them? Life is too short to constantly deprive myself of things I enjoy.

I'm not saying I'll only eat foods that I make myself, I'm saying I'll only eat foods I *could* make myself. It would be way too restricting to only eat food that I'd made myself! For example, I'd still buy a pizza because it would only have ingredients that I could grow/kill myself - like flour, salt, milk, vegetables, meat etc, all things I *could* grow, kill or make myself if I needed or wanted to, but thankfully someone else has done all that for me! I wouldn't buy a Coca Cola because I couldn't grow and make my own high fructose corn syrup, caramel colour, phosophoric acid or natural flavours... I don't even know what half those things are!

But...those things aren't bad for you.

Nakeshia88

lemonsnowdrop wrote: »

But...those things aren't bad for you.

Perhaps not, but to put it simply I'm trying to eat things that are as nature has provided them, or as close as possible to...

forgtmenot

Nakeshia88 wrote: »

lemonsnowdrop wrote: »

But...those things aren't bad for you.

Perhaps not, but to put it simply I'm trying to eat things that are as nature has provided them, or as close as possible to...

Why?

Nakeshia88

Because in my view that's the healthiest way we could possibly eat, and why not put only the best into your body?

misskarne

What are you wearing right now?

93gemmac

Deprivation usually results in intense craving for the 'forbidden' food. Nothing wrong with having a little Coca Cola here and there; no food is intrinsically 'bad', it's the quantities which make it unhealthy...

AbsoluteTara79

There's nothing wrong with this philosophy if you're excited about adhering to it for the rest of your life.

But if you don't think you can do it, or the thought of never having diet coke again makes you sad, you might consider a philosophy that moves you closer to your health goals but isn't as strict.

SLLRunner

I appreciate that you've shared your philosophy and am glad it works for you. I grew up in farming country, and what you are talking about was literally how people got their food. I eat some processed foods, but I really enjoy baking my own bread, making my own peanut butter, and buying fruits and veggies from local farmers. This has nothing to do with weight loss, and I personally don't believe foods are good or bad, but you have to find a dietary plan that is sustainable for you.

Nakeshia88

93gemmac wrote: »

Deprivation usually results in intense craving for the 'forbidden' food. Nothing wrong with having a little Coca Cola here and there; no food is intrinsically 'bad', it's the quantities which make it unhealthy...

Who said I'm depriving myself of anything? I can still have things like ice cream, cakes, beer, wine, and even chocolate, because these are all things I can make myself from ingredients that I could grow myself...

tomatoey

I don't know how long you've been here, but just so you know, this idea is a very unpopular one on the site (see any thread involving the phrase "clean eating"). You're going to be challenged a lot on this.

But since you're asking for opinions, I don't have a problem if you want to eat that way and are shooting for nutritional balance. Go for it.

I do think it'll be harder than you imagine, depending on how strict you're going to be, because unless you're prepared to spend a lot of dough, the bread etc. that you could make but are buying is probably going to have some of the ingredients you don't want (preservatives, etc.).

If it does turn out to be hard for whatever reason, you can still lose weight eating more processed foods.

I do think trying to get more veg and fruit and meat and stuff into your diet is generally a good thing.

SLLRunner

Nakeshia88 wrote: »

93gemmac wrote: »

Deprivation usually results in intense craving for the 'forbidden' food. Nothing wrong with having a little Coca Cola here and there; no food is intrinsically 'bad', it's the quantities which make it unhealthy...

Who said I'm depriving myself of anything? I can still have things like ice cream, cakes, beer, wine, and even chocolate, because these are all things I can make myself from ingredients that I could grow myself...

Sounds good to me.

Nakeshia88

I too don't label foods as good or bad. I just want to give my body the best fuel I can, and treat myself every now and then. For the record, I don't even like Coke, or any soft drinks really, I just think that this philosophy simplifies things and gives some good guidelines for a healthy diet.

Alatariel75

Could you make your own bleached flour?

ninerbuff

A bad philosophy? No. A tough philosophy to follow if you're not able to prep your own meals? Probably.

People want simple. The more complicated things get, the less they may want to do it.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Nakeshia88

Alatariel75 wrote: »

Could you make your own bleached flour?

Nope, but I could make my own rice flour I'm on a low FODMAP diet at the moment with instruction from my nutritionist so trying to avoid gluten

azulvioleta6

I actually do make/grow/harvest a large percentage of my own food.

Still--NO.

I can make all kinds of things from scratch that do not work for my body.

tomatoey

Nakeshia88 wrote: »

Alatariel75 wrote: »

Could you make your own bleached flour?

Nope, but I could make my own rice flour I'm on a low FODMAP diet at the moment with instruction from my nutritionist so trying to avoid gluten

Aha, well - if you're doing that already, and sticking to rice and potatoes (I think the bread will be harder, for real, though) - yeah, it's kind of built in.

TahoeSki

A simpler version could be I "don't eat fake foods" or I "won't eat foods that have ingredients that sound like chemical weapons". Not a bad philosophy.

Nakeshia88

TahoeSki wrote: »

A simpler version could be I "don't eat fake foods" or I "won't eat foods that have ingredients that sound like chemical weapons". Not a bad philosophy.

True, I thought "if you can't grow it, catch it or kill it don't eat it" sounded simple, perhaps not, or perhaps people are reading into it too much. Nevermind, it's just a thought at this stage :-)

Alatariel75

I suppose my issue is, you're still making a judgment call. Why can't you make your own high fructose corn syrup? Just because you don't know how doesn't mean you couldn't learn. I don't know how to make cheddar, but by your philosophy, it's on the list because I could if I tried.

So you're still making a subjective call on what you will and won't eat based on your views, and not an actual objective formula. You could probably make phosphoric acid, given the right tools and ingredients, same as you can make beer given the same.

I don't object to eating more naturally, but it is still a judgment call for you to say you could make chocolate, but not high fructose corn syrup. Coz you could, if you really wanted to.

forgtmenot

I think it is a recipe for disaster for most people. Telling yourself you can never have anything that isn't "clean" is much more restrictive than you seem to realize. I actually took this approach every time I've tried to lose weight in the past. It didn't work for me. I felt deprived and whatever I decided was off limits was eventually all I could think about. Now I eat about 75% "clean", 25% not. Nothing edible is off limits for me. If I want something I make it work into my calorie goals. I never feel deprived and I never want to quit. In fact, I've never been happier or felt more in control of my eating. If it works for you, great, but if didn't work for me.

To add to that, eating clean won't make you lose weight, eating at a caloric deficit makes you lose weight, so I hope you still plan on logging everything you eat.

Nakeshia88

Weight isn't the issue here, the issue is giving my body the best fuel possible. I guess I'm just starting to take a more hollistic view to health and wellbeing - I want to keep things as natural as I can most of the time that's all, and it's a theory, not a dead set rule.

doktorglass

Nakeshia88 wrote: »

Alatariel75 wrote: »

Could you make your own bleached flour?

Nope, but I could make my own rice flour I'm on a low FODMAP diet at the moment with instruction from my nutritionist so trying to avoid gluten

You missed the point of the argument. The dividing line between healthy and non-healthy foods that you have made is arbitrary. What foods you could make or not is not correlated with quality of the food.

Will you never eat a scone again? Do you know how to make baking powder/soda? Or yeast? And do you consider them unhealthy and unnatural?

Sulfites are added in wine as a preservatives, I guess you couldn't grow and make sulfites. But sulfites also occur naturally as a by-product in beer. So beer would be ok?

But it's your diet! You can eat as arbitrary as you want.

Rayman79

I think its great.

Over the past few years I have seen MFP slowly trend from accepting others food choices to becoming more militant about 'macros and calorie counts at the expense of everything else'. In my humble opinion it has gone too far that way.

I am a flexible dieter, and keeping my macros in check is my main focus, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to eat more natural foods and less processed stuff. Instead of applying your own experience and biases, just applaud people for wanting to improve their eating habits. Again, there are very few restrictions mentioned in the OP's post, it is all sensible and not very restrictive at all!

If she cant make it work and needs a more flexible eating plan, then let her come back and ask for that advice when its needed.

Nakeshia88

Thanks everyone :-) Just a thought.

Overall I pretty much eat whatever I want... but I listen to my body and give it what it needs to function. I want to give my body the best, after all, isn't that what loving your body is all about - giving it the best, most nourishing and tasty foods and nothing less?

misskarne

But what do you wear? Do you wear only animal skins and woven hemp?

Nakeshia88

misskarne wrote: »

But what do you wear? Do you wear only animal skins and woven hemp?

What does what I wear have to do with what I eat? I don't eat my clothing!

Carol_

I am seeing what you are saying. You would eat only things that are natural, from the earth. That would certainly be healthier. As for me...it would be very hard. I find just keeping up with a calorie counting and choosing healthy food most days, is enough for me. I wish you the best!