Not eating for pleasure

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  • cwlsr
    cwlsr Posts: 71 Member
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    I will keep it short! Some people live to eat and others eat to live. Why not just eat to be healthy? MFP is the greatest program on the internet to help any person who truly wants to eat to be healthy.
  • feisty_bucket
    feisty_bucket Posts: 1,047 Member
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    First of all, it is not just a weight loss forum.
    Plenty of people here gain weight, lose weight and maintain

    Sure.
    "Goal: Maintaing Weight" has 143 pages of posts.
    "Goal: Gaining Weight" has 108.

    "General Diet and Weight Loss Help" has... 6619 pages.

    If you look at the "I'm new here" messages, the common narrative is one of yo-yo dieting, sometimes over decades.

    If people stick to steady deficits, they can fix almost any weight problem within a year. But that's not happening for a lot of people.
    Why? I'm new here, but the Thanksgiving threads in combination with the backstories have been pretty illuminating.

    I bet it's largely that a lot of people are really, really excited to eat. Unhealthily stoked, you could say. Rabidly enthused. Foodies are food hobbyists, and I think their attitude is often dysfunctional and enabling.

    (But not you! You just have refined taste and appreciate the finer things in life. Go you! Mmm-wah!)
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    feisty_bucket wrote: »
    Is food really that interesting? I think foodies are ridiculous. The reason anybody is overweight is because they get so excited about stimulating their taste buds. You see it all over the Thanksgiving threads here: "I ate 8000 calories today, YOLO!!" On a weight-loss forum. WTF.
    Do you have anything in your life that you are excited/enthusiastic about? Sports? Movies? Books? Games? Nothing?
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Why? And how does it work out?

    I see quite often people in here stating that they now eat only to fuel their bodies, not for pleasure. Are those the same people who used to be overweight? And eat for pleasure then? How can you just switch? Isn't that a recipe for disaster...? Making it sooo easy to slip back to old habits? I am eating both for health and for pleasure now, trying to be sensible and kind to myself at the same time. I cook most of my meals from scratch, and they all taste delicious. I never eat anything I don't like, but I don't eat everything I like at once either.

    This is interesting to think about.
    I definitely enjoy food and I don't think I would be able to stick to eating things I didn't like or trying not to feel anything about it.
    I like to cook. I like to feed people. I like talking about food and looking at recipes. I like trying new foods. I think food and what people eat is very interesting. I don't think I could switch that off. I wouldn't say I consume food for pleasure because I am motivated to eat primarily by hunger. I see no reason not to enjoy the food I put in my body. I just need to stop eating when I have reached the proper amount to "fuel" my body. I can do that and enjoy my food.

    I know there are people who just don't think about food much or care what they eat. If it works for them then that is great.

  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 6,952 Member
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Why? And how does it work out?

    I see quite often people in here stating that they now eat only to fuel their bodies, not for pleasure. Are those the same people who used to be overweight? And eat for pleasure then? How can you just switch? Isn't that a recipe for disaster...? Making it sooo easy to slip back to old habits? I am eating both for health and for pleasure now, trying to be sensible and kind to myself at the same time. I cook most of my meals from scratch, and they all taste delicious. I never eat anything I don't like, but I don't eat everything I like at once either.

    I was obese, about 100lbs overweight.
    Food is fuel to me now. It's tasty food, but I've divorced myself from the obsession with taste and the association with emotion. Now food can just be tasty fuel, and not something I'm killing myself with or obsessing over in an unhealthy way. I can enjoy it, eat to satiety, and stop. I can look forward to a meal, enjoy it, and stop eating after the appropriate amount consumed to fuel my body and still lose weight.

    It isn't a recipe for disaster at all, if the unhealthy relationship is repaired. It might be just an artificial switch in the beginning, however in my circumstance, I identified and fixed the unhealthy components. Now it is a genuine switch. "Food is fuel" isn't that I don't care about food or don't eat tasty food, it's that I don't care too much, in a twisted emotional way, that causes me to allow food to have an inappropriate power over my life. We're buddies, not co-dependent dysfunctional lovers any longer.

    There isn't one type of person. Or one cookie-cutter type of unhealthy relationship with food. And there are people who have never had an unhealthy relationship with food. But some people are still wary of going back in the bad place they were. So they get a little intense about other people indulging, because they don't understand that some people just don't have that issue.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
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    feisty_bucket wrote: »
    First of all, it is not just a weight loss forum.
    Plenty of people here gain weight, lose weight and maintain

    Sure.
    "Goal: Maintaing Weight" has 143 pages of posts.
    "Goal: Gaining Weight" has 108.

    "General Diet and Weight Loss Help" has... 6619 pages.

    If you look at the "I'm new here" messages, the common narrative is one of yo-yo dieting, sometimes over decades.

    If people stick to steady deficits, they can fix almost any weight problem within a year. But that's not happening for a lot of people.
    Why? I'm new here, but the Thanksgiving threads in combination with the backstories have been pretty illuminating.

    I bet it's largely that a lot of people are really, really excited to eat. Unhealthily stoked, you could say. Rabidly enthused. Foodies are food hobbyists, and I think their attitude is often dysfunctional and enabling.

    (But not you! You just have refined taste and appreciate the finer things in life. Go you! Mmm-wah!)


    I'd say a foodie is someone who likes to cook and appreciates nice tasting food, not necessarily someone who likes to stuff their face. Someone who'd rather go to a posh restaurant with small portions than go to the local buffet and shove as much food in their face as humanly possible. Just because someone eats loads on Thanksgiving doesn't make them a foodie. I'd say it makes them a bit greedy!

    We don't have thanksgiving here, so we have our nice meal at Xmas. My husband enjoys cooking so we'll have a nice meal, but it won't be huge. I logged my calories on Xmas day once...2500 calories, including a glass of prosecco, and a mince pie with brandy butter. More than I'd usually eat, but hardly excessive.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    feisty_bucket wrote: »
    First of all, it is not just a weight loss forum.
    Plenty of people here gain weight, lose weight and maintain

    Sure.
    "Goal: Maintaing Weight" has 143 pages of posts.
    "Goal: Gaining Weight" has 108.

    "General Diet and Weight Loss Help" has... 6619 pages.

    If you look at the "I'm new here" messages, the common narrative is one of yo-yo dieting, sometimes over decades.

    If people stick to steady deficits, they can fix almost any weight problem within a year. But that's not happening for a lot of people.
    Why? I'm new here, but the Thanksgiving threads in combination with the backstories have been pretty illuminating.

    I bet it's largely that a lot of people are really, really excited to eat. Unhealthily stoked, you could say. Rabidly enthused. Foodies are food hobbyists, and I think their attitude is often dysfunctional and enabling.

    (But not you! You just have refined taste and appreciate the finer things in life. Go you! Mmm-wah!)


    just because the masses cry one thing more than something else doesn't make it MORE valid.

    I came on to this site more for bulking purposes than weight loss- but I use it for cutting and bulking.

    I've NEVER been fat- and I have ALWAYS enjoyed food.

    And yeah- I tried to eat my body weight in turkey on Thursday- what of it?? how does that impact you at all?

    oh wait- that's right. It doesn't.

    Sometimes i eat purely for fuel- and to maximize my results- amount of food I can eat- vs calories I consume.

    Sometimes I just want to enjoy my meal- and I make sacrifices to do so- longer runs- longer IF windows- bigger deficits.

    You DO only live once- and you need to make sure you're making the most of it- having goals- setting them and accomplishing them. 6000 calories once a year AND low body fat aren't mutually exclusive.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Given that America has little food culture, and plenty of "foodies" (who aren't exactly free from mockery by general American culture) are actually less likely to be overweight than the average American (which is about income and subculture, not virtue), blaming obesity in the US on foodies seems crazy.

    In particular, food marketing in the US tends to promote size and value over taste, and food costs and household expenses on food is less in the US than thinner Europe and various other well-off countries. France and Italy and Spain are all much more developed food cultures than the US, and yet not as fat.

    To the extent culture plays a role, I think it's more because we don't much appreciate food and imbue it with shame and don't generally keep up basic food traditions and communal rituals. Or it could just be that we are less active and live in a way that means lots of people barely even walk.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,732 Member
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    I've actually never seen anyone on here say they don't eat for pleasure. I've seen plenty say they eat to fuel their body, but I guess I never perceived the two as mutually exclusive, and from the subsequent comments those same people make, neither do they. Fueling your body has much more to do with paying close attention to macro and micronutrients for optimum performance, and does not exclude eating pleasurable tasty foods.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I haven't generally seen it either, but in this thread we have: "The reason anybody is overweight is because they get so excited about stimulating their taste buds."

    I actually disagree (as indicated above). One reason I was overweight was because I ate thoughtlessly, neither focused on food as fuel nor food as really pleasurable. I did too much mindless eating or ate for other reasons (to justify a break) or for emotional soothing (which is different than for pleasure, IMO).

    Whenever I focus on eating for true pleasure, on making sure my meals are worth the calories, I tend to eat better. (And I definitely consider that consistent with eating for fuel.)
  • NoelFigart1
    NoelFigart1 Posts: 1,276 Member
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    I agree that shame about enjoying food keeps us from creating good food traditions.

    We freak out about how to diet on feast days, then feast on days that aren't meant for feasting. We permasnack all damn day on stuff that's marketed to us because we're never ever supposed to feel the slightest hunger, then we don't enjoy simple meals because we're not HUNGRY for them. (A basic salad when you're genuinely hungry can be AMAZING)

    Then we get told we're lazy gluttons for enjoying a meal? That's crap. Yeah, eating is one of the pleasures in life, but that doesn't mean go overboard with it any more than... well, sex...

    Blake was an idiot. The road of excess does NOT lead to the palace of wisdom.

    But shame in life pleasures is just as excessive as gluttony.
  • SLHysell
    SLHysell Posts: 247 Member
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Why? And how does it work out?

    I see quite often people in here stating that they now eat only to fuel their bodies, not for pleasure. Are those the same people who used to be overweight? And eat for pleasure then? How can you just switch? Isn't that a recipe for disaster...? Making it sooo easy to slip back to old habits? I am eating both for health and for pleasure now, trying to be sensible and kind to myself at the same time. I cook most of my meals from scratch, and they all taste delicious. I never eat anything I don't like, but I don't eat everything I like at once either.

    I flippin' love food! I also use it for fuel. As long as I use my brain when eating, I can and do have the best of both worlds.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,732 Member
    edited December 2014
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    If you've ever seen the portion sizes in very expensive restaurants, you'll understand one reason why "foodies" are not usually overweight. Being a foodie is not about being a glutton. It's about enjoying extremely high quality, very flavorful food, often unusual in taste and origin, or with unusual combinations. When you have a meal packed with so much exquisite flavor, you don't need a large portion to enjoy it.

    Also, foodies eat mindfully, and are less prone to overeating for that reason.

    (And yes, I'm a foodie. Currently have a butternut squash and goat cheese gratin in the oven, while marinating my miso-ginger mahi mahi. I can't freaking wait for lunch!)
  • ems212
    ems212 Posts: 135 Member
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    I choose a combination of foods. 90% of the time, I choose foods that are good fuel for my body, but I do also indulge in some foods I find pleasurable. Why? Because I'm only going to live once. I understand that in order to live a long, happy, healthy life, I need to make changes in my life. But, at the same time, I realize that if I never treat myself to foods I find pleasurable, I'm going to miss out on some of the experiences that make life great. For example, if traveling, of course I'm going to try new foods that are common in the area I'm traveling in. And, if they have something that may not be the healthiest, but I'd like to try it, I'm not going to tell myself "no". I'm going to watch everything I eat though, and be careful not to let those pleasurable foods throw me off my path.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
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    I think they just find a different set of priorities. Food is still a source of pleasure for me, and I find nothing wrong with that, but some people just start thinking about it differently. Sometimes I think it may be easier their way.
  • turtlez23
    turtlez23 Posts: 156 Member
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    Today I forced myself to eat Ezekiel almond sprouted whole grain cereal. I just tried really hard to switch my brain off while eating because it is really tasteless. I knew it was good for me and would fill me up, so I was definitely trying to eat just to fuel my body.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,732 Member
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    turtlez23 wrote: »
    Today I forced myself to eat Ezekiel almond sprouted whole grain cereal. I just tried really hard to switch my brain off while eating because it is really tasteless. I knew it was good for me and would fill me up, so I was definitely trying to eat just to fuel my body.


    Was there some particular combination of macros in that cereal that you were unable to find in something more palatable?
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    turtlez23 wrote: »
    Today I forced myself to eat Ezekiel almond sprouted whole grain cereal. I just tried really hard to switch my brain off while eating because it is really tasteless. I knew it was good for me and would fill me up, so I was definitely trying to eat just to fuel my body.

    god lord.
    but why??

    don't they have wawa's near you- or sheets? or dunkin? or a grocery store?
    - anything?

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