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What are your unpopular opinions about health / fitness?
Replies
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AllTheCoffee wrote: »My unpopular opinion is that everyone who's not someone's doctor/nutritionist/personal trainer should just mind their own damn business when it comes to said someone's dieting, exercise, and health unless they specifically asked for their opinion.
Why?
Unless you specialize in nutrition a regular doctor gets six hours of nutritional classes during their entire schooling...this coming from personal friends and this article
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430660/
nutritionist can happen by getting an online course done over a weekend...
PT's aren't all that great either...I've seen lots who don't know kitten about nutrition or health or exercise and fall into the bro science groups.
Yet we have people on this site who read studies and follow reputable sites and get educated who should and can give great advice...
that's why your opinion is unpopular...cause it's puppies14 -
VintageFeline wrote: »HeliumIsNoble wrote: »@MsHarryWinston Not going to try and convert you to veganism whatever, but mostly, vegans aren't going to convert you to low-carbing!
I think most of us are high carb. Unlike every other diet, the only place I encounter low-carbing vegans is the internet. (Could've knocked me down with a feather when I found out it was even possible to go low carb as a vegan, but maybe that says more about my dependence on carbs than anything else.)
I think low carb was separate to vegan, that's how I took it.
I think veganism without the ethical part is dumb. Unless you actively don't like the taste of all animal products why you doing it if not because of ethics?
Another of my potentially unpopular opinions is not being able to do high impact cardio sucks big ones (I got a hip dysplasia diagnosis yesterday, I'm in the grieving process.........).
Sorry, yeah, everything I listed was meant as its own separate way of eating. As in, I don't want to be vegan OR low carb OR low fat OR keto etc etc. I just want to eat yummy food, slim down, get fit and be happy.7 -
I like almost all of this plan. Imma gonna do it too!MsHarryWinston wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »HeliumIsNoble wrote: »@MsHarryWinston Not going to try and convert you to veganism whatever, but mostly, vegans aren't going to convert you to low-carbing! I think most of us are high carb. Unlike every other diet, the only place I encounter low-carbing vegans is the internet. (Could've knocked me down with a feather when I found out it was even possible to go low carb as a vegan, but maybe that says more about my dependence on carbs than anything else.)
I think low carb was separate to vegan, that's how I took it.
I think veganism without the ethical part is dumb. Unless you actively don't like the taste of all animal products why you doing it if not because of ethics?
Another of my potentially unpopular opinions is not being able to do high impact cardio sucks big ones (I got a hip dysplasia diagnosis yesterday, I'm in the grieving process.........).
Sorry, yeah, everything I listed was meant as its own separate way of eating. As in, I don't want to be vegan OR low carb OR low fat OR keto etc etc. I just want to eat yummy food, slim down, get fit and be happy.
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amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?3 -
Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
some refer to it as "emotional eating" and I don't think it is a good idea no.
However if you want dessert eat it...if it fits why not...
It actually does do good things for health however esp if you are low on calories that day or if it is something like fruit salad and you need that serving and vitamins or ice cream etc.
Dessert itself is neither good nor bad...it is just food.5 -
Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
I think it would depend. If eating a couple of cookies helps you relax and unwind then what is wrong with that? But if you are pounding down 2 dozen cookies several days a week in an effort to feel better there is definitely something wrong with that. Same with drinking. Nothing wrong with a cocktail in the evening to unwind. Lots wrong with downing a bottle of vodka to make yourself feel better.11 -
Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
Food is fuel, first and foremost. Ideally, it is the fuel that tastes good. Any type of emotional importance attached to food (aside from ceremonies (like birthdays, holidays) or food that has religious or ethnic meaning ) is of no benefit.4 -
Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
If not eating a certain food induces stress, and if eating said food does not put you over your calories, then yes. It's a brilliant way to not have to stress about it in the first place and increases the chances of successful weight control. That's what I meant in my post.
To answer your question, and many may disagree (another unpopular opinion I have), food has more than one function and is attached to emotions whether we admit it or not. I don't believe all emotional and hedonic eating is wrong. What's a successful stress coping mechanism? One that helps cope with stress without being destructive. If food fits the bill then I don't see why not. Feeling guilty about enjoying a perfectly enjoyable thing (because food IS enjoyable) is not the perfect definition of healthy in my opinion.12 -
I don't understand how something with one, two or all of the macros, when labeled as dessert, suddenly becomes a bad thing.
Same way I don't understand how cheese, bread, tomatoes and whatever else you want on it and calling it pizza suddenly makes it bad.
It's just food. And if eating some of that food within your calories not at the sacrifice of an overall wide and varied diet then who cares if it scratches a psychological itch? In fact I'd actively encourage it because surely that's a far healthier relationship to have with said food item rather than feeling you're doing something wrong by eating it?23 -
With almost 70% of the US considered obese, I think we can safely conclude that people are utilizing food as something more than a means to fuel themselves. Emotional/psychological eating is an epidemic and diminishing the prevalence of this type of relationship with food is crucial to reducing destructive eating habits. If you are in control of your eating and at a healthy weight, I don't think you really need to be concerned if you are occasionally eating "emotionally"
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Bry_Lander wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
Food is fuel, first and foremost. Ideally, it is the fuel that tastes good. Any type of emotional importance attached to food (aside from ceremonies (like birthdays, holidays) or food that has religious or ethnic meaning ) is of no benefit.
Oh I so disagree with that last sentence. I spend a lot of time and money on food and derive great pleasure from it. Pleasure is beneficial.7 -
Bry_Lander wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
Food is fuel, first and foremost. Ideally, it is the fuel that tastes good. Any type of emotional importance attached to food (aside from ceremonies (like birthdays, holidays) or food that has religious or ethnic meaning ) is of no benefit.
"food is fuel" i think is a helpful outlook for some, and is obviously true at a basic level, but it's too puritanical a mindset for me. i don't think every emotional attachment to food is harmful and i don't think it necessarily sabotages health.
comfort food is different for everyone, but it's associated with 'comfort' for a reason. when i make certain things that my dad used to make and it reminds me of him and i feel good in that reverie, that's an emotional attachment. but it's very different from an emotional dependence. even if i intentionally make something specifically for the emotions associated with it i don't think that's symptomatic of disordered eating.11 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
Food is fuel, first and foremost. Ideally, it is the fuel that tastes good. Any type of emotional importance attached to food (aside from ceremonies (like birthdays, holidays) or food that has religious or ethnic meaning ) is of no benefit.
Oh I so disagree with that last sentence. I spend a lot of time and money on food and derive great pleasure from it. Pleasure is beneficial.
I think I'm just wired differently when it comes to food, perhaps that is why I have never really been overweight. I enjoy expensive food out occasionally - but if plans change and I have to eat something ordinary, life goes on. I have other outlets for pleasure that aren't oriented around food, lol.3 -
Bry_Lander wrote: »With almost 70% of the US considered obese, I think we can safely conclude that people are utilizing food as something more than a means to fuel themselves. Emotional/psychological eating is an epidemic and diminishing the prevalence of this type of relationship with food is crucial to reducing destructive eating habits. If you are in control of your eating and at a healthy weight, I don't think you really need to be concerned if you are occasionally eating "emotionally"
I have a hard time seeing it that way, personally. I grow a substantial amount of our food, as in several hundred pounds a year, and also donate a large portion to the food bank. I make my own jam and cheese when I get a whim to do so. We also have hunters, fishermen, and hobby farmers in our family--when they throw a fish fry, or they get a deer and have their freezer packed full, or pass out fancy eggs at family get-togethers, there is an incredible amount of emotion, particularly pride and love, along with a considerable amount of despair and high dudgeon*, wrapped up in that food.
My daughter just caught her first really nice keeper bluegill this year, and my brother in law cleaned it, stuffed it (the whole fish, head on) with sliced lemons and thyme, and grilled it. Something so special, beautiful and delicious is pretty much a sacrament in the Church of Nature.
From my perspective, I think a bigger problem is that food has become too meaningless. It is debased and cheap. I would think people who have had to sweat and bleed for their food would tend to be very respectful toward it.
Regarding the discussion on desserts, I have a peach tree and a rhubarb patch that are cranking out copious amounts of food. I suppose there is something joyless and "healthy" that I could make with them, but why on earth would I want to do that when I have my great-grandmothers' recipes for assorted pies, crisps, and cobblers? If I grew them, why wouldn't I want to eat them, in the most respectful and glorious manner possible? A hand-made, home-grown peach pie, rolled out and sliced as my kids loiter about and steal scraps of crust to make their own "jam mini tarts" is a thing of absolute beauty. I think it is very necessary.
Here is why that works: I can shove pies in my pie-hole because we also have, for example, 10 cucumber vines that my daughter grew that are cranking out an insane amount of cucumbers, so I am forcing down at least one calorie-sparse, extremely filling cucumber a day. (Was it this thread where someone mentioned gazpacho? THANK YOU!!!) This is not to mention all the kale, collards, green beans, tomatoes, hot and bell peppers that are suddenly all coming on, all of which are prolific and low-calorie, and all of which required a very high amount of energy inputs to grow (people on my friends list can see that most weekends through the summer my "cardio" consists of hours upon hours of heavy duty garden work).
So the food IS fuel, but to me and my family, it also has a transcendent, very emotional, importance. (In a way that Froot Loops and Ding-Dongs should not.)
*Which may or may not result in me running after the deer loitering about my garden with a pair of garden shears to stab them in the butt as they mockingly trot away. NOTE: This does not work.33 -
Bry_Lander wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
Food is fuel, first and foremost. Ideally, it is the fuel that tastes good. Any type of emotional importance attached to food (aside from ceremonies (like birthdays, holidays) or food that has religious or ethnic meaning ) is of no benefit.
Oh I so disagree with that last sentence. I spend a lot of time and money on food and derive great pleasure from it. Pleasure is beneficial.
I think I'm just wired differently when it comes to food, perhaps that is why I have never really been overweight. I enjoy expensive food out occasionally - but if plans change and I have to eat something ordinary, life goes on. I have other outlets for pleasure that aren't oriented around food, lol.
Well yeah, me too. It's certainly not my only pleasure. But I enjoy growing it, fishing/hunting for it, preserving it, cooking it, and eating it. I'd pass up an expensive meal out for having friends over to eat food I grew and prepared myself any day.7 -
Bry_Lander wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
Food is fuel, first and foremost. Ideally, it is the fuel that tastes good. Any type of emotional importance attached to food (aside from ceremonies (like birthdays, holidays) or food that has religious or ethnic meaning ) is of no benefit.
Oh I so disagree with that last sentence. I spend a lot of time and money on food and derive great pleasure from it. Pleasure is beneficial.
I think I'm just wired differently when it comes to food, perhaps that is why I have never really been overweight. I enjoy expensive food out occasionally - but if plans change and I have to eat something ordinary, life goes on. I have other outlets for pleasure that aren't oriented around food, lol.
Why does it have to be black or white? Can't a person have multiple outlets for pleasure, including food? I love eating food and I really enjoy it, I enjoy it now just as much as I did 120 lbs ago. The only difference is that now I have system in place that allows me to enjoy food just as much but still lose weight. I'm simply pickier now.17 -
Bry_Lander wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
Food is fuel, first and foremost. Ideally, it is the fuel that tastes good. Any type of emotional importance attached to food (aside from ceremonies (like birthdays, holidays) or food that has religious or ethnic meaning ) is of no benefit.
There are studies that suggest that family dinners and eating meals with others vs. alone in your car and such are good for you. I think that suggests that it's more than just fuel and that the emotional elements are important (indeed, that's also why emotional eating is bad).
I think there are healthy ways to eat and unhealthy ways to eat, and enjoying food and finding pleasure in it seems to me on the healthy side, if of course not taken to extremes. Feeling bad about enjoying food or thinking that food should be separated from pleasure would seem to me negative.
Anyway, dessert is just about timing, really -- it's a little something after a meal.
I often have fruit or yogurt with walnut butter or nuts for dessert, and that serves nutritional purposes and tastes good and keeps me from feeling deprived or wanting to overeat at other times, so I wouldn't agree no purpose.
I also sometimes have good cheese for dessert. That serves less of a nutritional purpose, but meets the other purposes mentioned above.
And I sometimes have dark chocolate or ice cream or whatever else might fit into calories if I am eating sweets or have a taste for whatever (popcorn, for example). Same basic calories, not really any nutritional purpose.
Anyway, I see dessert also as something that could be part of a routine, could be something shared with others, and both of those can have health benefits.
Stress eating, not good, but I don't think anyone is talking about that. (Although in the short term it may well be preferable to some other ways of dealing with stress.)5 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
Food is fuel, first and foremost. Ideally, it is the fuel that tastes good. Any type of emotional importance attached to food (aside from ceremonies (like birthdays, holidays) or food that has religious or ethnic meaning ) is of no benefit.
Oh I so disagree with that last sentence. I spend a lot of time and money on food and derive great pleasure from it. Pleasure is beneficial.
I think I'm just wired differently when it comes to food, perhaps that is why I have never really been overweight. I enjoy expensive food out occasionally - but if plans change and I have to eat something ordinary, life goes on. I have other outlets for pleasure that aren't oriented around food, lol.
Why does it have to be black or white? Can't a person have multiple outlets for pleasure, including food? I love eating food and I really enjoy it, I enjoy it now just as much as I did 120 lbs ago. The only difference is that now I have system in place that allows me to enjoy food just as much but still lose weight. I'm simply pickier now.
This is how I think about it too. Preparing and eating food is a big source of pleasure in my life. The difference now is that I balance that with my other goals and pleasures. As long as it isn't causing problems in your life or health, I don't see anything wrong with finding pleasure in food.7 -
French_Peasant wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »With almost 70% of the US considered obese, I think we can safely conclude that people are utilizing food as something more than a means to fuel themselves. Emotional/psychological eating is an epidemic and diminishing the prevalence of this type of relationship with food is crucial to reducing destructive eating habits. If you are in control of your eating and at a healthy weight, I don't think you really need to be concerned if you are occasionally eating "emotionally"
I have a hard time seeing it that way, personally. I grow a substantial amount of our food, as in several hundred pounds a year, and also donate a large portion to the food bank. I make my own jam and cheese when I get a whim to do so. We also have hunters, fishermen, and hobby farmers in our family--when they throw a fish fry, or they get a deer and have their freezer packed full, or pass out fancy eggs at family get-togethers, there is an incredible amount of emotion, particularly pride and love, along with a considerable amount of despair and high dudgeon*, wrapped up in that food.
My daughter just caught her first really nice keeper bluegill this year, and my brother in law cleaned it, stuffed it (the whole fish, head on) with sliced lemons and thyme, and grilled it. Something so special, beautiful and delicious is pretty much a sacrament in the Church of Nature.
From my perspective, I think a bigger problem is that food has become too meaningless. It is debased and cheap. I would think people who have had to sweat and bleed for their food would tend to be very respectful toward it.
Regarding the discussion on desserts, I have a peach tree and a rhubarb patch that are cranking out copious amounts of food. I suppose there is something joyless and "healthy" that I could make with them, but why on earth would I want to do that when I have my great-grandmothers' recipes for assorted pies, crisps, and cobblers? If I grew them, why wouldn't I want to eat them, in the most respectful and glorious manner possible? A hand-made, home-grown peach pie, rolled out and sliced as my kids loiter about and steal scraps of crust to make their own "jam mini tarts" is a thing of absolute beauty. I think it is very necessary.
Here is why that works: I can shove pies in my pie-hole because we also have, for example, 10 cucumber vines that my daughter grew that are cranking out an insane amount of cucumbers, so I am forcing down at least one calorie-sparse, extremely filling cucumber a day. (Was it this thread where someone mentioned gazpacho? THANK YOU!!!) This is not to mention all the kale, collards, green beans, tomatoes, hot and bell peppers that are suddenly all coming on, all of which are prolific and low-calorie, and all of which required a very high amount of energy inputs to grow (people on my friends list can see that most weekends through the summer my "cardio" consists of hours upon hours of heavy duty garden work).
So the food IS fuel, but to me and my family, it also has a transcendent, very emotional, importance. (In a way that Froot Loops and Ding-Dongs should not.)
*Which may or may not result in me running after the deer loitering about my garden with a pair of garden shears to stab them in the butt as they mockingly trot away. NOTE: This does not work.
Everything you described above is really cool and worthwhile. No one would consider what you are doing as using food as an unhealthy emotional/psychological crutch, which is what I was referencing. You are working hard and fueling yourself with delicious and healthy food that you have grown/ caught and processed yourself - when this practice was prevalent in the past, obesity was virtually nonexistent.5 -
French_Peasant wrote: »(Was it this thread where someone mentioned gazpacho? THANK YOU!!!)
Gazpacho is one of my favorite parts of summer.
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janejellyroll wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
Food is fuel, first and foremost. Ideally, it is the fuel that tastes good. Any type of emotional importance attached to food (aside from ceremonies (like birthdays, holidays) or food that has religious or ethnic meaning ) is of no benefit.
Oh I so disagree with that last sentence. I spend a lot of time and money on food and derive great pleasure from it. Pleasure is beneficial.
I think I'm just wired differently when it comes to food, perhaps that is why I have never really been overweight. I enjoy expensive food out occasionally - but if plans change and I have to eat something ordinary, life goes on. I have other outlets for pleasure that aren't oriented around food, lol.
Why does it have to be black or white? Can't a person have multiple outlets for pleasure, including food? I love eating food and I really enjoy it, I enjoy it now just as much as I did 120 lbs ago. The only difference is that now I have system in place that allows me to enjoy food just as much but still lose weight. I'm simply pickier now.
This is how I think about it too. Preparing and eating food is a big source of pleasure in my life. The difference now is that I balance that with my other goals and pleasures. As long as it isn't causing problems in your life or health, I don't see anything wrong with finding pleasure in food.
This is a good point.
I often react to stress by thinking "too tired to deal with anything, just want to order delivery and veg." What I typically do instead, even if I get home at 10 pm, is make a quick dinner. Cooking is enjoyable for me and tends to de-stress. So that's healthy.
There's a lot more involved -- the creativity, the ritual, the taste, knowing I can take ingredients and make them delicious -- than just fuel, and even if Soylent were a perfect food replacement I'd think there was something better (for me, at least) about enjoying food and food preparation.
And as others have said, I enjoy food more and am much more picky now that I am focused on staying fit. When I had unlimited calories I ate the same in many ways (I was a foodie, I liked cooking, I've always liked vegetables), but I was more likely to just eat because food was there and eating something seemed good in itself (weirdly).
For me, focusing on food as tasty, pleasurable, something I will really enjoy (including breaking a day up into 3 meals and dessert) makes it more special, ritualistic, sometimes social, and also something that for me makes me LESS likely to overeat.
Thinking of it as either food is 100% utilitarian and any food for pleasure is BAD is for me likely to result in me eventually overeating (and not really enjoying that either) and feeling crappy.
Thinking of food as about ritual and pleasure and taste, as well as nutrition, makes me more likely to be satisfied and healthy in my approach.
I think pleasure in food is normal and natural, so telling yourself that you are wrong to feel it for many of us backfires.7 -
janejellyroll wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »(Was it this thread where someone mentioned gazpacho? THANK YOU!!!)
Gazpacho is one of my favorite parts of summer.
Mine too.1 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Dessert after meals is unnecessary and does nothing good for your health.
Unnecessary, true. Does nothing good for your health, that depends. If you really like having dessert after a meal and having it helps you moderate your calories and reduce your stress level, then it can be very healthy.
Is eating to reduce stress, dessert or anything else for that matter, really a good way to cope with stress?
Food is fuel, first and foremost. Ideally, it is the fuel that tastes good. Any type of emotional importance attached to food (aside from ceremonies (like birthdays, holidays) or food that has religious or ethnic meaning ) is of no benefit.
Oh I so disagree with that last sentence. I spend a lot of time and money on food and derive great pleasure from it. Pleasure is beneficial.
I think I'm just wired differently when it comes to food, perhaps that is why I have never really been overweight. I enjoy expensive food out occasionally - but if plans change and I have to eat something ordinary, life goes on. I have other outlets for pleasure that aren't oriented around food, lol.
Why does it have to be black or white? Can't a person have multiple outlets for pleasure, including food? I love eating food and I really enjoy it, I enjoy it now just as much as I did 120 lbs ago. The only difference is that now I have system in place that allows me to enjoy food just as much but still lose weight. I'm simply pickier now.
This is how I think about it too. Preparing and eating food is a big source of pleasure in my life. The difference now is that I balance that with my other goals and pleasures. As long as it isn't causing problems in your life or health, I don't see anything wrong with finding pleasure in food.
This is a good point.
I often react to stress by thinking "too tired to deal with anything, just want to order delivery and veg." What I typically do instead, even if I get home at 10 pm, is make a quick dinner. Cooking is enjoyable for me and tends to de-stress. So that's healthy.
There's a lot more involved -- the creativity, the ritual, the taste, knowing I can take ingredients and make them delicious -- than just fuel, and even if Soylent were a perfect food replacement I'd think there was something better (for me, at least) about enjoying food and food preparation.
And as others have said, I enjoy food more and am much more picky now that I am focused on staying fit. When I had unlimited calories I ate the same in many ways (I was a foodie, I liked cooking, I've always liked vegetables), but I was more likely to just eat because food was there and eating something seemed good in itself (weirdly).
For me, focusing on food as tasty, pleasurable, something I will really enjoy (including breaking a day up into 3 meals and dessert) makes it more special, ritualistic, sometimes social, and also something that for me makes me LESS likely to overeat.
Thinking of it as either food is 100% utilitarian and any food for pleasure is BAD is for me likely to result in me eventually overeating (and not really enjoying that either) and feeling crappy.
Thinking of food as about ritual and pleasure and taste, as well as nutrition, makes me more likely to be satisfied and healthy in my approach.
I think pleasure in food is normal and natural, so telling yourself that you are wrong to feel it for many of us backfires.
No one is suggesting that enjoying food is wrong or that food should be only be considered fuel. I stated that I consider the fuel aspect first - that is my primary way of looking at food. Having stated that, I certainly consume my share of food purely because it tastes good, I'm not a robot, lol. If this perspective is unhealthy for some, they shouldn't consider food the way that I do.3 -
stanmann571 wrote: »Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »@theresejesu are you turing complete?
ManOman . . . @stanmann571: You and I aren't always on the same wavelength, to say the least . . . but that's hilarious as baby feline, right there. Thanks for the belly laugh!.
Code breaker?
T.D.i.P.: Alan Turing. Turing test. Google it. There's a hoot in there.
I was actually half serious, there were some peculiar inconsistencies beyond normal human response.
And yes very interesting that the comments stopped as soon as you posted that. In all the threads. Like "test over, humans 1, AI bot 0, back to the drawing board."
@jessiferrrb3 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »(Was it this thread where someone mentioned gazpacho? THANK YOU!!!)
Gazpacho is one of my favorite parts of summer.
Mine too.
Just make a mean Watermelon Gazpacho last weekend. Yummy!0 -
stanmann571 wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »@theresejesu are you turing complete?
ManOman . . . @stanmann571: You and I aren't always on the same wavelength, to say the least . . . but that's hilarious as baby feline, right there. Thanks for the belly laugh!.
Code breaker?
T.D.i.P.: Alan Turing. Turing test. Google it. There's a hoot in there.
I was actually half serious, there were some peculiar inconsistencies beyond normal human response.
And yes very interesting that the comments stopped as soon as you posted that. In all the threads. Like "test over, humans 1, AI bot 0, back to the drawing board."
@jessiferrrb
maybe computer would have won if they had a realistic diary. lol. usually how that goes would be that despite all proclamations to the contrary we'd see oreos and velveeta interspersed with deadly legumes and nightshades.6 -
French_Peasant wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »With almost 70% of the US considered obese, I think we can safely conclude that people are utilizing food as something more than a means to fuel themselves. Emotional/psychological eating is an epidemic and diminishing the prevalence of this type of relationship with food is crucial to reducing destructive eating habits. If you are in control of your eating and at a healthy weight, I don't think you really need to be concerned if you are occasionally eating "emotionally"
I have a hard time seeing it that way, personally. I grow a substantial amount of our food, as in several hundred pounds a year, and also donate a large portion to the food bank. I make my own jam and cheese when I get a whim to do so. We also have hunters, fishermen, and hobby farmers in our family--when they throw a fish fry, or they get a deer and have their freezer packed full, or pass out fancy eggs at family get-togethers, there is an incredible amount of emotion, particularly pride and love, along with a considerable amount of despair and high dudgeon*, wrapped up in that food.
My daughter just caught her first really nice keeper bluegill this year, and my brother in law cleaned it, stuffed it (the whole fish, head on) with sliced lemons and thyme, and grilled it. Something so special, beautiful and delicious is pretty much a sacrament in the Church of Nature.
From my perspective, I think a bigger problem is that food has become too meaningless. It is debased and cheap. I would think people who have had to sweat and bleed for their food would tend to be very respectful toward it.
Regarding the discussion on desserts, I have a peach tree and a rhubarb patch that are cranking out copious amounts of food. I suppose there is something joyless and "healthy" that I could make with them, but why on earth would I want to do that when I have my great-grandmothers' recipes for assorted pies, crisps, and cobblers? If I grew them, why wouldn't I want to eat them, in the most respectful and glorious manner possible? A hand-made, home-grown peach pie, rolled out and sliced as my kids loiter about and steal scraps of crust to make their own "jam mini tarts" is a thing of absolute beauty. I think it is very necessary.
Here is why that works: I can shove pies in my pie-hole because we also have, for example, 10 cucumber vines that my daughter grew that are cranking out an insane amount of cucumbers, so I am forcing down at least one calorie-sparse, extremely filling cucumber a day. (Was it this thread where someone mentioned gazpacho? THANK YOU!!!) This is not to mention all the kale, collards, green beans, tomatoes, hot and bell peppers that are suddenly all coming on, all of which are prolific and low-calorie, and all of which required a very high amount of energy inputs to grow (people on my friends list can see that most weekends through the summer my "cardio" consists of hours upon hours of heavy duty garden work).
So the food IS fuel, but to me and my family, it also has a transcendent, very emotional, importance. (In a way that Froot Loops and Ding-Dongs should not.)
*Which may or may not result in me running after the deer loitering about my garden with a pair of garden shears to stab them in the butt as they mockingly trot away. NOTE: This does not work.
May I come live with you please and thank you.11 -
jessiferrrb wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »@theresejesu are you turing complete?
ManOman . . . @stanmann571: You and I aren't always on the same wavelength, to say the least . . . but that's hilarious as baby feline, right there. Thanks for the belly laugh!.
Code breaker?
T.D.i.P.: Alan Turing. Turing test. Google it. There's a hoot in there.
I was actually half serious, there were some peculiar inconsistencies beyond normal human response.
And yes very interesting that the comments stopped as soon as you posted that. In all the threads. Like "test over, humans 1, AI bot 0, back to the drawing board."
@jessiferrrb
maybe computer would have won if they had a realistic diary. lol. usually how that goes would be that despite all proclamations to the contrary we'd see oreos and velveeta interspersed with deadly legumes and nightshades.
Unpopular opinion. Nightshades are great on pizza.8 -
And stir-fries!1
-
VintageFeline wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »Bry_Lander wrote: »With almost 70% of the US considered obese, I think we can safely conclude that people are utilizing food as something more than a means to fuel themselves. Emotional/psychological eating is an epidemic and diminishing the prevalence of this type of relationship with food is crucial to reducing destructive eating habits. If you are in control of your eating and at a healthy weight, I don't think you really need to be concerned if you are occasionally eating "emotionally"
I have a hard time seeing it that way, personally. I grow a substantial amount of our food, as in several hundred pounds a year, and also donate a large portion to the food bank. I make my own jam and cheese when I get a whim to do so. We also have hunters, fishermen, and hobby farmers in our family--when they throw a fish fry, or they get a deer and have their freezer packed full, or pass out fancy eggs at family get-togethers, there is an incredible amount of emotion, particularly pride and love, along with a considerable amount of despair and high dudgeon*, wrapped up in that food.
My daughter just caught her first really nice keeper bluegill this year, and my brother in law cleaned it, stuffed it (the whole fish, head on) with sliced lemons and thyme, and grilled it. Something so special, beautiful and delicious is pretty much a sacrament in the Church of Nature.
From my perspective, I think a bigger problem is that food has become too meaningless. It is debased and cheap. I would think people who have had to sweat and bleed for their food would tend to be very respectful toward it.
Regarding the discussion on desserts, I have a peach tree and a rhubarb patch that are cranking out copious amounts of food. I suppose there is something joyless and "healthy" that I could make with them, but why on earth would I want to do that when I have my great-grandmothers' recipes for assorted pies, crisps, and cobblers? If I grew them, why wouldn't I want to eat them, in the most respectful and glorious manner possible? A hand-made, home-grown peach pie, rolled out and sliced as my kids loiter about and steal scraps of crust to make their own "jam mini tarts" is a thing of absolute beauty. I think it is very necessary.
Here is why that works: I can shove pies in my pie-hole because we also have, for example, 10 cucumber vines that my daughter grew that are cranking out an insane amount of cucumbers, so I am forcing down at least one calorie-sparse, extremely filling cucumber a day. (Was it this thread where someone mentioned gazpacho? THANK YOU!!!) This is not to mention all the kale, collards, green beans, tomatoes, hot and bell peppers that are suddenly all coming on, all of which are prolific and low-calorie, and all of which required a very high amount of energy inputs to grow (people on my friends list can see that most weekends through the summer my "cardio" consists of hours upon hours of heavy duty garden work).
So the food IS fuel, but to me and my family, it also has a transcendent, very emotional, importance. (In a way that Froot Loops and Ding-Dongs should not.)
*Which may or may not result in me running after the deer loitering about my garden with a pair of garden shears to stab them in the butt as they mockingly trot away. NOTE: This does not work.
May I come live with you please and thank you.
I was thinking the exact same thing lol. Sounds amazing!0
This discussion has been closed.
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