Food as Fuel
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My point, lost somewhere in the telling, is that I don't want joy or other emotions to factor into my food choices.
Food is fuel for my body.
In the kitchen and at meal times, my joy comes from the ability to achieve my weight goals by eating nutritionally balanced meals that results in my having good energy all day and sleep well all night. Those are important results for me.
Amyfb
I get what you are saying, Amyfb. Maybe it has something to do with our age, as I'm 64. I don't always meet my goals, but I do try to fuel my body with nutritious, healthy food most of the time rather than what I consider junk. I know I feel better and have more energy when I eat a certain way.1 -
janejellyroll wrote: »If sugar makes you feel like ants are running through your bloodstream, why wouldn't dates provoke that reaction? They're so sweet that they're often used to sweeten other foods.
I think it's the refined sugars that make the ants run in my blood. Not long ago, I had one (1) bite of iced birthday cake and they started right up almost before I was done swallowing the bite!
Fruits, fresh or dried, don't cause that reaction at all.
I don't think there is any process by which your body could somehow distinguish between the sugar in a date and the sugar in birthday cake, let alone have it activate in your bloodsteam before you even swallowed the food in question. Your mind does know the difference, so this is probably a mental trigger (not that it would feel any less real while it was happening).
no argument on that observation janejellyroll!
I went a-googling and came across this bit from a page (https://www.cancercenter.com/discussions/blog/natural-versus-refined-sugars-what-is-the-difference/) :
"[excerpt]...How the body metabolizes the sugar in fruit and milk differs from how it metabolizes the refined sugar added to processed foods. The body breaks down refined sugar rapidly, causing insulin and blood sugar levels to skyrocket. Because refined sugar is digested quickly, you don’t feel full after you’re done eating, no matter how many calories you consumed. The fiber in fruit slows down metabolism, as fruit in the gut expands to make you feel full.
But there’s a caveat, Baker says. Once the sugar passes through the stomach and reaches the small intestine, it doesn’t matter if it came from an apple or a soft drink.
“How much sugar is already in your blood will determine how the body uses the sugar,” Baker says. “If you already have a lot of sugar in your system, then what you just digested will form either fat or glycogen, the storage form of glucose that’s used for quick energy. It doesn’t matter if it’s junk food or fruit.”[end excerpt]"
That doesn't appear to be an accurate source. I would generally be very careful with blog-type sources, even those found on medical websites. They're often based on the word of a single sources (like this one is) that doesn't share the basis for their conclusions and they're prone to over-simplification and over-generalization (like the statement that most processed foods don't have vitamins or minerals, that's not at all accurate).
From a common sense point of view, do you think it's accurate that consuming a food with refined sugar means that one would never feel full, no matter how much food was consumed? While some sweet foods are hyper-palatable, I'm sure we can all think of meals containing refined sugar that do help us feel full. If I have some lasagna made with a pasta sauce with added sugar, I'm going to get full. So that claim just doesn't match with what we know to be true from observation and real life experience.
The claim that fruit slows down our metabolism? I have never encountered this idea before, but I can't see how this can possibly be accurate. If it was true, this would actually be an argument for many of us to *avoid* fruit. A faster metabolism is generally seen as good in our current energy-rich environment.
Be careful with the Google research. I've noticed that it often tends to throw up low quality information like this blog post.10 -
My point, lost somewhere in the telling, is that I don't want joy or other emotions to factor into my food choices.
Food is fuel for my body.
In the kitchen and at meal times, my joy comes from the ability to achieve my weight goals by eating nutritionally balanced meals that results in my having good energy all day and sleep well all night. Those are important results for me.
Amyfb
I get what you are saying, Amyfb. Maybe it has something to do with our age, as I'm 64. I don't always meet my goals, but I do try to fuel my body with nutritious, healthy food most of the time rather than what I consider junk. I know I feel better and have more energy when I eat a certain way.
I don't think the options are "consider food as fuel" or "eat mostly junk." Those are two possible options, but there are a range of other approaches as well.9 -
My point, lost somewhere in the telling, is that I don't want joy or other emotions to factor into my food choices.
Food is fuel for my body.
In the kitchen and at meal times, my joy comes from the ability to achieve my weight goals by eating nutritionally balanced meals that results in my having good energy all day and sleep well all night. Those are important results for me.
Amyfb
I get what you are saying, Amyfb. Maybe it has something to do with our age, as I'm 64. I don't always meet my goals, but I do try to fuel my body with nutritious, healthy food most of the time rather than what I consider junk. I know I feel better and have more energy when I eat a certain way.
I think many of us try to fuel our bodies with nutritious healthy food most of the time. I certainly do. But I tend to choose nutritious foods that I also find delicious and comforting. I also eat some foods that aren't necessarily nutritious but are just yummy. The way I eat is very different from the OP but certainly not just eating junk. The OP's plan is very limited and specific, it's not just "I try to eat healthy". I think it's unfair to suggest that posters saying they'd rather enjoy their food more are not trying to eat healthy.
OP, if that is the way that works for you, I'm glad you found it! Having said that, I think there are drawbacks to that way of eating that could cause problems for the average person. But sometimes, our personal history requires us to stick to a plan despite the drawbacks. I hope you find continued success!7 -
Re the bolded: then why do you eat food you like?CarvedTones wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »MelanieCN77 wrote: »The car metaphor is nice until you consider your car isn't sentient.MelanieCN77 wrote: »The car metaphor is nice until you consider your car isn't sentient.
...and humans aren't machines, and don't function like them.
I don't know. I get your points, but I think OP's analogy is a lot better than the anthropomorphizing you see so often that attributes sentience to parts of your body other than your brain, so that it is susceptible to being "fooled" or "confused" by various dieting tactics.
But that's saying it's good compared to woo. I agree; it will actually work for some people. I just wouldn't encourage it. I think the first response had the right word - joyless.
I think that Joy or Joyless are emotional attributes and are very individual feelings for very specific individual reasons.
In the context of nutrition, joy doesn't factor into my decisions. I don't think that eating to be joyful is nutritionally sustainable over the long term.
YMMV
That's something I don't understand (probably never will since I'm an emotional eater). If you consider food as fuel, why bother eating food you like/tastes good? Eat what will help you hit your macros, micros, and calories.
10 -
[
I get what you are saying, Amyfb. Maybe it has something to do with our age, as I'm 64. I don't always meet my goals, but I do try to fuel my body with nutritious, healthy food most of the time rather than what I consider junk. I know I feel better and have more energy when I eat a certain way.
I think it's unfair to suggest that posters saying they'd rather enjoy their food more are not trying to eat healthy.
[/b]
I think it's unfair for you to put words in my mouth. I did not "suggest" what others are saying or doing. I was only talking about myself.6 -
Re the bolded: then why do you eat food you like?CarvedTones wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »MelanieCN77 wrote: »The car metaphor is nice until you consider your car isn't sentient.MelanieCN77 wrote: »The car metaphor is nice until you consider your car isn't sentient.
...and humans aren't machines, and don't function like them.
I don't know. I get your points, but I think OP's analogy is a lot better than the anthropomorphizing you see so often that attributes sentience to parts of your body other than your brain, so that it is susceptible to being "fooled" or "confused" by various dieting tactics.
But that's saying it's good compared to woo. I agree; it will actually work for some people. I just wouldn't encourage it. I think the first response had the right word - joyless.
I think that Joy or Joyless are emotional attributes and are very individual feelings for very specific individual reasons.
In the context of nutrition, joy doesn't factor into my decisions. I don't think that eating to be joyful is nutritionally sustainable over the long term.
YMMV
That's something I don't understand (probably never will since I'm an emotional eater). If you consider food as fuel, why bother eating food you like/tastes good? Eat what will help you hit your macros, micros, and calories.
Because I can have my “cake” and eat it too, for the reason that I balance my eating events with something from each category of macro, and, I don’t eat things I don’t like the taste of.
Do I like some flavors more than others? You bet!
Flavor is my focus. Sometimes I read a lot about sweet seeming to be treated as a flavor.
Sweet is not a flavor to me, it is a carbohydrate. Apricot or date is a flavor that happens to be a sweet carb, as compared to a red pepper or a chunk of raw cauliflower which are (to me) very flavorful and complex carbs , one of which is very sweet and the other middling sweet.
As has been said numerous times in this thread, not just by me, we all have different needs, goals and motivations.
I like how we can share our stories and kick them around the room with one another.
To each their own, and just cos it worked for me, well YMMV!! (Your Mileage May Vary)8 -
CarvedTones wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »MelanieCN77 wrote: »The car metaphor is nice until you consider your car isn't sentient.MelanieCN77 wrote: »The car metaphor is nice until you consider your car isn't sentient.
...and humans aren't machines, and don't function like them.
I don't know. I get your points, but I think OP's analogy is a lot better than the anthropomorphizing you see so often that attributes sentience to parts of your body other than your brain, so that it is susceptible to being "fooled" or "confused" by various dieting tactics.
But that's saying it's good compared to woo. I agree; it will actually work for some people. I just wouldn't encourage it. I think the first response had the right word - joyless.
I think that Joy or Joyless are emotional attributes and are very individual feelings for very specific individual reasons.
In the context of nutrition, joy doesn't factor into my decisions. I don't think that eating to be joyful is nutritionally sustainable over the long term.
YMMV
I will respectfully disagree. Some of the most developed culinary traditions in the world, the French and Italians among them, have food as a central part of the culture. The is much joy and pleasure regarding this. They do not have issues in these countries with sustainability and do not have obesity as a major social issue.
Additionally, I am a chef and the culinary arts are for creating pleasure and joy through food. I personally have lost 45 lbs and gone from a 41 inch waist to a <36 inch waist. I have done this over a period of the last 7 years from age 60 to 67. Joy through good food and sustainability are not mutually exclusive.25 -
janejellyroll wrote: »I feel these boards believe no foods are innately good or bad, until someone cuts out foods that (for want of a better description) are seen as junk food. Then suddenly they must have an unhealthy relationship with food.
At is very basis food is fuel for our bodies. We have been socialized to connect it with comfort, love and other emotions. I think one could also argue that is the unhealthy perspective?
I am not arguing that one way or another, I just find the subject fascinating and I do think there is room for both perspectives. Even of you have no interest in vegetarianism the book "eating animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer is a good read that touches on this topic.
I think the idea that we have to be socialized to feel emotions around food requires us to ignore substantial evidence that we aren't the only animals that do so. When we see apes celebrate getting certain fruit, do we think that is mere socialization? When dogs get excited when they anticipate getting a treat, is that just because of socialization?
Are you talking about wild or captive animals? I would be surprised if wild animals had any of the complex emotional attachments to specific foods that humans do, but honestly I don't have enough knowledge on the topic to comment thoughtfully. I am interested though, so if you could point me towards some of the substantial evidence you mention I'd appreciate it.0 -
When my family and friends gather around the dinner table at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and tuck into the many foods that I have lovingly prepared, you betcha there's joy.10
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Re the bolded: then why do you eat food you like?CarvedTones wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »MelanieCN77 wrote: »The car metaphor is nice until you consider your car isn't sentient.MelanieCN77 wrote: »The car metaphor is nice until you consider your car isn't sentient.
...and humans aren't machines, and don't function like them.
I don't know. I get your points, but I think OP's analogy is a lot better than the anthropomorphizing you see so often that attributes sentience to parts of your body other than your brain, so that it is susceptible to being "fooled" or "confused" by various dieting tactics.
But that's saying it's good compared to woo. I agree; it will actually work for some people. I just wouldn't encourage it. I think the first response had the right word - joyless.
I think that Joy or Joyless are emotional attributes and are very individual feelings for very specific individual reasons.
In the context of nutrition, joy doesn't factor into my decisions. I don't think that eating to be joyful is nutritionally sustainable over the long term.
YMMV
That's something I don't understand (probably never will since I'm an emotional eater). If you consider food as fuel, why bother eating food you like/tastes good? Eat what will help you hit your macros, micros, and calories.
Because I can have my “cake” and eat it too, for the reason that I balance my eating events with something from each category of macro, and, I don’t eat things I don’t like the taste of.
Do I like some flavors more than others? You bet!
Flavor is my focus. Sometimes I read a lot about sweet seeming to be treated as a flavor.
Sweet is not a flavor to me, it is a carbohydrate. Apricot or date is a flavor that happens to be a sweet carb, as compared to a red pepper or a chunk of raw cauliflower which are (to me) very flavorful and complex carbs , one of which is very sweet and the other middling sweet.
As has been said numerous times in this thread, not just by me, we all have different needs, goals and motivations.
I like how we can share our stories and kick them around the room with one another.
To each their own, and just cos it worked for me, well YMMV!! (Your Mileage May Vary)
The bolded doesn't make sense. Perhaps you meant sugar instead of sweet?
Sweet is certainly a flavor, as well as salty, bitter, sour, spicy, and umami. Sugar can make a food sweet, but it doesn't have to. Sometimes it serves to enhance the other flavors, and you wouldn't notice unless you tried the dish without it.
It's hard to imagine anything that weaves culture, history, family, and emotion together more than how we prepare food. That can also create a lot of emotional baggage for some people around food. If you prefer to try to treat food separately from that context as some form of asceticism, that's certainly your prerogative. I don't see a particular inherent virtue in it, though.
17 -
janejellyroll wrote: »This strikes me as absolutely joyless, but people vary. I'm glad you've found something that works well for you.
I totally get that reaction - it's absolutely not for everyone.
In my personal struggles with food and weight over the years, I have struggled with negative concepts like cheating, or being bad, or suchlike. It upsets me to find myself feeling guilty , or , requiring permission to behave poorly. Many posts in the community talk about tips or challenges in dealing with cravings for certain foods, sugar/sweets being the one that floats to the top in almost every case.
As stated in my OP, with an all or nothing kind of personality such as I possess, there is no room for "just a couple pieces of candy corn". Today, a couple of pieces of candy corn would make me feel unwell, but a couple dried apricots would seem like the sweetest thing on planet earth.
I am often surprised, and others find it hard to believe, how very much I enjoy a bowl of corn grits with two soft fried eggs stirred into it. (guilty pleasure - I lick bowls clean)
The joy that comes from eating differs for each of us, as you already noted.
good fitness to us all, however we find it on our personal journey.
amyfb
But the descriptions of the foods you are choosing:
I am often surprised, and others find it hard to believe, how very much I enjoy a bowl of corn grits with two soft fried eggs stirred into it. (guilty pleasure - I lick bowls clean)
Your subsequent description of the stuffed date and how much you enjoy it...
Sounds anything but joyless, or that you only view food as fuel. Someone who only views food as fuel wouldn’t care at all about the taste or texture and wouldn’t like the bowl clean as a guilty pleasure. They might as well eat nothing but soylent or other meal replacements to derive nutrition but no pleasure.
It seems like you enjoy food just as much as the rest of us but you feel that your choices are morally superior to others since you compare that stuffed date to the same experience someone else has when eating a chocolate sundae.... it’s not the food as fuel that you’re proud of but the fact the you think you’re making Better choices for the source of your pleasure.
26 -
WinoGelato wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »This strikes me as absolutely joyless, but people vary. I'm glad you've found something that works well for you.
I totally get that reaction - it's absolutely not for everyone.
In my personal struggles with food and weight over the years, I have struggled with negative concepts like cheating, or being bad, or suchlike. It upsets me to find myself feeling guilty , or , requiring permission to behave poorly. Many posts in the community talk about tips or challenges in dealing with cravings for certain foods, sugar/sweets being the one that floats to the top in almost every case.
As stated in my OP, with an all or nothing kind of personality such as I possess, there is no room for "just a couple pieces of candy corn". Today, a couple of pieces of candy corn would make me feel unwell, but a couple dried apricots would seem like the sweetest thing on planet earth.
I am often surprised, and others find it hard to believe, how very much I enjoy a bowl of corn grits with two soft fried eggs stirred into it. (guilty pleasure - I lick bowls clean)
The joy that comes from eating differs for each of us, as you already noted.
good fitness to us all, however we find it on our personal journey.
amyfb
But the descriptions of the foods you are choosing:
I am often surprised, and others find it hard to believe, how very much I enjoy a bowl of corn grits with two soft fried eggs stirred into it. (guilty pleasure - I lick bowls clean)
Your subsequent description of the stuffed date and how much you enjoy it...
Sounds anything but joyless, or that you only view food as fuel. Someone who only views food as fuel wouldn’t care at all about the taste or texture and wouldn’t like the bowl clean as a guilty pleasure. They might as well eat nothing but soylent or other meal replacements to derive nutrition but no pleasure.
It seems like you enjoy food just as much as the rest of us but you feel that your choices are morally superior to others since you compare that stuffed date to the same experience someone else has when eating a chocolate sundae.... it’s not the food as fuel that you’re proud of but the fact the you think you’re making Better choices for the source of your pleasure.
That’s a mostly fair characterization but I don’t mean to claim
Any moral superiority.
This all started as me sharing my story of my success and the things I do to achieve my goals.
I developed my plan from an introspective look at my past behavior and identifying the points where controls are needed to stay on track.
Isn’t that really what all diets end up being about? Control?
For as long as it works for me, I will continue on this program and report my progress over time.
If someone reads about my plan and finds a nugget of usefulness towards their own goals, great! If not, no skin off my back. I can’t see that I am offering any advice that would harm someone who took it at face value.
Good fitness to us all!
Amyfb7 -
Re the bolded: then why do you eat food you like?CarvedTones wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »MelanieCN77 wrote: »The car metaphor is nice until you consider your car isn't sentient.MelanieCN77 wrote: »The car metaphor is nice until you consider your car isn't sentient.
...and humans aren't machines, and don't function like them.
I don't know. I get your points, but I think OP's analogy is a lot better than the anthropomorphizing you see so often that attributes sentience to parts of your body other than your brain, so that it is susceptible to being "fooled" or "confused" by various dieting tactics.
But that's saying it's good compared to woo. I agree; it will actually work for some people. I just wouldn't encourage it. I think the first response had the right word - joyless.
I think that Joy or Joyless are emotional attributes and are very individual feelings for very specific individual reasons.
In the context of nutrition, joy doesn't factor into my decisions. I don't think that eating to be joyful is nutritionally sustainable over the long term.
YMMV
That's something I don't understand (probably never will since I'm an emotional eater). If you consider food as fuel, why bother eating food you like/tastes good? Eat what will help you hit your macros, micros, and calories.
Because I can have my “cake” and eat it too, for the reason that I balance my eating events with something from each category of macro, and, I don’t eat things I don’t like the taste of.
Do I like some flavors more than others? You bet!
Flavor is my focus. Sometimes I read a lot about sweet seeming to be treated as a flavor.
Sweet is not a flavor to me, it is a carbohydrate. Apricot or date is a flavor that happens to be a sweet carb, as compared to a red pepper or a chunk of raw cauliflower which are (to me) very flavorful and complex carbs , one of which is very sweet and the other middling sweet.
As has been said numerous times in this thread, not just by me, we all have different needs, goals and motivations.
I like how we can share our stories and kick them around the room with one another.
To each their own, and just cos it worked for me, well YMMV!! (Your Mileage May Vary)
Then you're not really treating food as fuel (to me any rate). I suppose I look at this from a very literal point of view. Using myself, why don't I eat oranges instead of apples? Oranges have way more vitamin c than apples. I don't like oranges, that's why. I eat Greek yogurt for protein and calcium, but I add honey and oats to it. Why? Because, imo, plain Greek yogurt tastes bitter.
I'm just very literal when people say they eat food as fuel (or don't eat sugar or whatever).6 -
I don't see anybody bringing up meal replacement in this discussion (unless I missed it).
From slimfast back in the days to Soylent which I read about a few months ago. The founder certainly takes Food as Fuel to a new level with (from what I read) yucky drinks packed with everything you need to fuel your body. When I was reading about it he hadn't had a solid meal in months maybe years.
Why don't more people replace all their meals with meal replacement solutions if food really is only and ever just fuel? (genuine question. No sarcasm. I don't live in a country that sells them so I don't know why that wouldn't be a choice)3 -
Food is fuel for my body.
Food is the only thing I can rely on to give my body the energy it requires.
I do this by selecting foods in balance with my calorie and macro goals, at the times that I need the energy.
Nothing I do or say is an absolute; this story is an example of how this human (me) is achieving her goals.
Don’t like it for yourself? Don’t do it!
Not sure? Try it! And quit if it doesn’t work for you!
6 -
I don't see anybody bringing up meal replacement in this discussion (unless I missed it).
From slimfast back in the days to Soylent which I read about a few months ago. The founder certainly takes Food as Fuel to a new level with (from what I read) yucky drinks packed with everything you need to fuel your body. When I was reading about it he hadn't had a solid meal in months maybe years.
Why don't more people replace all their meals with meal replacement solutions if food really is only and ever just fuel? (genuine question. No sarcasm. I don't live in a country that sells them so I don't know why that wouldn't be a choice)
1 -
I don't see anybody bringing up meal replacement in this discussion (unless I missed it).
From slimfast back in the days to Soylent which I read about a few months ago. The founder certainly takes Food as Fuel to a new level with (from what I read) yucky drinks packed with everything you need to fuel your body. When I was reading about it he hadn't had a solid meal in months maybe years.
Why don't more people replace all their meals with meal replacement solutions if food really is only and ever just fuel? (genuine question. No sarcasm. I don't live in a country that sells them so I don't know why that wouldn't be a choice)
My sister is one of those people who really do see food as fuel. She doesn't care about food at all except to fuel her body and she'd be happy to take her meals in pill form if she could get enough nutrition that way. She's tried soylent and would have been happy eating that way if it weren't so expensive. She gets no pleasure from food at all.1 -
Food is fuel for my body.
Food is the only thing I can rely on to give my body the energy it requires.
I do this by selecting foods in balance with my calorie and macro goals, at the times that I need the energy.
Nothing I do or say is an absolute; this story is an example of how this human (me) is achieving her goals.
Don’t like it for yourself? Don’t do it!
Not sure? Try it! And quit if it doesn’t work for you!
OP, I hope you're not regretting making this post. This is a discussion board, after all, and we're just discussing and sharing our thoughts on your post.9 -
VioletRojo wrote: »Food is fuel for my body.
Food is the only thing I can rely on to give my body the energy it requires.
I do this by selecting foods in balance with my calorie and macro goals, at the times that I need the energy.
Nothing I do or say is an absolute; this story is an example of how this human (me) is achieving her goals.
Don’t like it for yourself? Don’t do it!
Not sure? Try it! And quit if it doesn’t work for you!
OP, I hope you're not regretting making this post. This is a discussion board, after all, and we're just discussing and sharing our thoughts on your post.
Agreed! While I can't relate to looking at my diet that way, I think the OP and the discussion about it could give folks still trying to figure out how to make MFP work for them some great stuff to think about, and relief if they recognize themselves in the OP and were afraid they were the only one :drinker:6
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