Can you really eat whatever you want?
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Jackibrazil wrote: »rankinsect wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »For weight loss sure, as long as you're burning more calories than you consume. For health? probably shouldn't lol
How healthy it is depends pretty greatly on what one wants to eat. I'm a pretty firm believer that as long as you eat a good variety of different foods and you don't have any specific health issues causing you to need to pay particular attention to some aspect of your diet, nutrition tends to largely work itself out.
Well duh. But for the vast majority of people "whatever I want" isn't going to be healthy. Especially if they have to ask that question. Hello, context.
Why would you assume that?
Whatever I want is healthy, because I want to eat a nutritious diet, I love a lot of foods that have lots of nutrients (fish, vegetables), my idea of a normal meal is basically nutritious (when I got fat it was from portion sizes, adding excess calories from oils and cheese, and especially from eating outside of meals). I don't know why people assume that whatever you want means mostly junk food -- I'd die of boredom and dissatisfaction on such a diet.
Yes, "whatever I want" maybe also means eating without thought and as much as I want, but I assume "can I eat whatever I want" to mean "can I include smaller portions of foods I particularly enjoy but think aren't super high in nutrients within a healthy diet and my calories" and the answer is of course.16 -
Context is essential. The moment I realizied I could indeed eat whatever I wanted, was the moment I started to eat more balanced, and overall nutritious. Trying to "eat healthy" made me keel over again and again.Jackibrazil wrote: »rankinsect wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »For weight loss sure, as long as you're burning more calories than you consume. For health? probably shouldn't lol
How healthy it is depends pretty greatly on what one wants to eat. I'm a pretty firm believer that as long as you eat a good variety of different foods and you don't have any specific health issues causing you to need to pay particular attention to some aspect of your diet, nutrition tends to largely work itself out.
Well duh. But for the vast majority of people "whatever I want" isn't going to be healthy. Especially if they have to ask that question. Hello, context.14 -
Jackibrazil wrote: »rankinsect wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »For weight loss sure, as long as you're burning more calories than you consume. For health? probably shouldn't lol
How healthy it is depends pretty greatly on what one wants to eat. I'm a pretty firm believer that as long as you eat a good variety of different foods and you don't have any specific health issues causing you to need to pay particular attention to some aspect of your diet, nutrition tends to largely work itself out.
Well duh. But for the vast majority of people "whatever I want" isn't going to be healthy. Especially if they have to ask that question. Hello, context.
Most of my co-workers don't count calories for weight-related goals. I would say they're eating "whatever they want." And I see them eating things foods with nutrients, things like meats, vegetables, fruits, grains . . . . they're eating what they want and it isn't a free-for-all of chocolate frosting shots, bacon grease, and Mountain Dew. They're eating a wide variety of foods, just like I do. The main difference between me and them . . . I'm just tracking my calories to hit a specific goal.7 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »rankinsect wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »For weight loss sure, as long as you're burning more calories than you consume. For health? probably shouldn't lol
How healthy it is depends pretty greatly on what one wants to eat. I'm a pretty firm believer that as long as you eat a good variety of different foods and you don't have any specific health issues causing you to need to pay particular attention to some aspect of your diet, nutrition tends to largely work itself out.
Well duh. But for the vast majority of people "whatever I want" isn't going to be healthy. Especially if they have to ask that question. Hello, context.
Why would you assume that?
Whatever I want is healthy, because I want to eat a nutritious diet, I love a lot of foods that have lots of nutrients (fish, vegetables), my idea of a normal meal is basically nutritious (when I got fat it was from portion sizes, adding excess calories from oils and cheese, and especially from eating outside of meals). I don't know why people assume that whatever you want means mostly junk food -- I'd die of boredom and dissatisfaction on such a diet.
Yes, "whatever I want" maybe also means eating without thought and as much as I want, but I assume "can I eat whatever I want" to mean "can I include smaller portions of foods I particularly enjoy but think aren't super high in nutrients within a healthy diet and my calories" and the answer is of course.
When I read "can I really eat whatever I want?" I would assume they have junk in mind otherwise, a healthy balance seems obvious. Maybe that's just me though. If at least 85% of my food cravings were healthy nutritious things and not just chocolate and chips and macaroni n cheese then I wouldn't even question it. I do however question cravings that are obviously empty calories and high in sugars. The rest just seems obvious basic common knowledge to me. To me, when I hear that question it kind of reminds me of "how can close can I get to the edge without falling over?" and My respose would be stay a good distance and don't toe the line. Human nature tends to lean toward the "let's see how close I can get" side of things.4 -
I guess I could have said that it MIGHT not be healthy dependent on your diet but the point rings pretty much the same. Nitpicking over nothing.4
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I’m not just aiming to lose weight. I am aiming to be healthy. Weight loss doesn’t equal health. My dad used to eat very unhealthy but he is a runner. He started to have an unhealthy heart because of what he was eating. The only reason he hadn’t had a heart attack up until a few years ago was because he ran. Now he has a really great heart because he changed his eating habits. I think he had clogged arteries or something like that. So, I CAN eat unhealthy, but I see no point. One thing though, I’m not afraid to have fun on the holidays.0
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Jackibrazil wrote: »
When I read "can I really eat whatever I want?" I would assume they have junk in mind otherwise, a healthy balance seems obvious. Maybe that's just me though. If at least 85% of my food cravings were healthy nutritious things and not just chocolate and chips and macaroni n cheese then I wouldn't even question it. I do however question cravings that are obviously empty calories and high in sugars. The rest just seems obvious basic common knowledge to me. To me, when I hear that question it kind of reminds me of "how can close can I get to the edge without falling over?" and My respose would be stay a good distance and don't toe the line. Human nature tends to lean toward the "let's see how close I can get" side of things.
When I read "can I really eat whatever I want?" I would assume the individual wants to eat the things they enjoy, like dairy, eggs, use real sugar or butter, etc, but has read too much click bait "DON'T EAT THESE 12 FOODS", and is amazed that they really CAN eat the good healthy stuff that has been demonized by the woo factory.20 -
I have a lot more faith in humanityJackibrazil wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »rankinsect wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »For weight loss sure, as long as you're burning more calories than you consume. For health? probably shouldn't lol
How healthy it is depends pretty greatly on what one wants to eat. I'm a pretty firm believer that as long as you eat a good variety of different foods and you don't have any specific health issues causing you to need to pay particular attention to some aspect of your diet, nutrition tends to largely work itself out.
Well duh. But for the vast majority of people "whatever I want" isn't going to be healthy. Especially if they have to ask that question. Hello, context.
Why would you assume that?
Whatever I want is healthy, because I want to eat a nutritious diet, I love a lot of foods that have lots of nutrients (fish, vegetables), my idea of a normal meal is basically nutritious (when I got fat it was from portion sizes, adding excess calories from oils and cheese, and especially from eating outside of meals). I don't know why people assume that whatever you want means mostly junk food -- I'd die of boredom and dissatisfaction on such a diet.
Yes, "whatever I want" maybe also means eating without thought and as much as I want, but I assume "can I eat whatever I want" to mean "can I include smaller portions of foods I particularly enjoy but think aren't super high in nutrients within a healthy diet and my calories" and the answer is of course.
When I read "can I really eat whatever I want?" I would assume they have junk in mind otherwise, a healthy balance seems obvious. Maybe that's just me though. If at least 85% of my food cravings were healthy nutritious things and not just chocolate and chips and macaroni n cheese then I wouldn't even question it. I do however question cravings that are obviously empty calories and high in sugars. The rest just seems obvious basic common knowledge to me. To me, when I hear that question it kind of reminds me of "how can close can I get to the edge without falling over?" and My respose would be stay a good distance and don't toe the line. Human nature tends to lean toward the "let's see how close I can get" side of things.
I don't assume that the healthy adult, left freely to make their own decisions, would live exclusively on vodka and chocolate cake. But "nannying" makes people helpless as well as rebellious, and that frame of mind is not conductive to good health. 11 -
Jackibrazil wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »rankinsect wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »For weight loss sure, as long as you're burning more calories than you consume. For health? probably shouldn't lol
How healthy it is depends pretty greatly on what one wants to eat. I'm a pretty firm believer that as long as you eat a good variety of different foods and you don't have any specific health issues causing you to need to pay particular attention to some aspect of your diet, nutrition tends to largely work itself out.
Well duh. But for the vast majority of people "whatever I want" isn't going to be healthy. Especially if they have to ask that question. Hello, context.
Why would you assume that?
Whatever I want is healthy, because I want to eat a nutritious diet, I love a lot of foods that have lots of nutrients (fish, vegetables), my idea of a normal meal is basically nutritious (when I got fat it was from portion sizes, adding excess calories from oils and cheese, and especially from eating outside of meals). I don't know why people assume that whatever you want means mostly junk food -- I'd die of boredom and dissatisfaction on such a diet.
Yes, "whatever I want" maybe also means eating without thought and as much as I want, but I assume "can I eat whatever I want" to mean "can I include smaller portions of foods I particularly enjoy but think aren't super high in nutrients within a healthy diet and my calories" and the answer is of course.
When I read "can I really eat whatever I want?" I would assume they have junk in mind otherwise, a healthy balance seems obvious.
I read it as "is it okay to occasionally have chocolate and ice cream or go to a restaurant," since sometimes people seem to think that they can't lose if they do that, even within their calories.
Many people think you have to eat boring "diet" food to lose, so I think stressing that you can eat normally, food you enjoy, chicken roasted with the skin on and bones in, not just boneless, skinless, so on, it is helpful.
Also, I think thinking of normal nutrient dense foods as desirable and foods you want to eat is helpful, and preparing them in a tasty way (and not thinking "I'm on a diet so shouldn't care about how food tastes") is good.
I don't really divide up foods into healthy or unhealthy (diets, yeah), but I definitely crave foods that are high in nutrients, whether it's lamb or the roasted chicken with roasted potatoes and brussels sprouts, a well-made salad, gazpacho, many vegetable preparations, trout, skate, salmon, a stir fry with lots of vegetables and shrimp (or even tofu), so on.5 -
Jackibrazil wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »rankinsect wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »For weight loss sure, as long as you're burning more calories than you consume. For health? probably shouldn't lol
How healthy it is depends pretty greatly on what one wants to eat. I'm a pretty firm believer that as long as you eat a good variety of different foods and you don't have any specific health issues causing you to need to pay particular attention to some aspect of your diet, nutrition tends to largely work itself out.
Well duh. But for the vast majority of people "whatever I want" isn't going to be healthy. Especially if they have to ask that question. Hello, context.
Why would you assume that?
Whatever I want is healthy, because I want to eat a nutritious diet, I love a lot of foods that have lots of nutrients (fish, vegetables), my idea of a normal meal is basically nutritious (when I got fat it was from portion sizes, adding excess calories from oils and cheese, and especially from eating outside of meals). I don't know why people assume that whatever you want means mostly junk food -- I'd die of boredom and dissatisfaction on such a diet.
Yes, "whatever I want" maybe also means eating without thought and as much as I want, but I assume "can I eat whatever I want" to mean "can I include smaller portions of foods I particularly enjoy but think aren't super high in nutrients within a healthy diet and my calories" and the answer is of course.
When I read "can I really eat whatever I want?" I would assume they have junk in mind otherwise, a healthy balance seems obvious. Maybe that's just me though. If at least 85% of my food cravings were healthy nutritious things and not just chocolate and chips and macaroni n cheese then I wouldn't even question it. I do however question cravings that are obviously empty calories and high in sugars. The rest just seems obvious basic common knowledge to me. To me, when I hear that question it kind of reminds me of "how can close can I get to the edge without falling over?" and My respose would be stay a good distance and don't toe the line. Human nature tends to lean toward the "let's see how close I can get" side of things.
There's a lot of nonsense in blogs and magazines demonizing foods, and a boatload of posts here from people who think they've "ruined their weight loss" by eating one cookie, french fries/chips, or a Coke, while staying within calorie goal, or between goal and maintenance.
Why would they think that?
Because popular media browbeat us to believe that we have to suffer to lose weight, to expiate ate our sin of becoming fat. Ain't so.
For a recent potluck, I made mac'n'cheese that had 366 calories per serving (9x13" cake dish, cut 10), 19g protein (no meat BTW), 8g fiber, 82% RDA of vitamin A, . . . and I could go on with the nutrition. My non-weight-conscious friends loved it, judged by consumption, not just compliments. If eating that is wrong, I don't wanna be right.
P.S. I've long eaten healthy foods (vegetarian 43 years; love my veggies). I got fat eating mostly healthy foods . . . way too much of them. Then I lost 1/3 of my body weight, and have stayed at a healthy weight for 2 years since, eating pretty much the same foods I've always eaten (and doing the exercise I've done for over a decade) . . . just eating less.12 -
i lost 106 eating what i wanted4
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I feel much better when I recently started eating whatever I want (after asking this question here and getting the answer "yes") . I am still losing weight at the same rate.5
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Jackibrazil wrote: »rankinsect wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »For weight loss sure, as long as you're burning more calories than you consume. For health? probably shouldn't lol
How healthy it is depends pretty greatly on what one wants to eat. I'm a pretty firm believer that as long as you eat a good variety of different foods and you don't have any specific health issues causing you to need to pay particular attention to some aspect of your diet, nutrition tends to largely work itself out.
Well duh. But for the vast majority of people "whatever I want" isn't going to be healthy. Especially if they have to ask that question. Hello, context.
It's so strange to me when people presume this. That people are disinhibited children (and saying that, even my children when young wouldn't have done this) who would only eat chocolate and pop tarts and greasy pizza if given the license to all day long.
I really don't get it.
I do understand this being the case for some people, but "the vast majority"? Hardly. Most people reach adulthood with an awareness of how food makes them feel and are tuned into their bodies enough to eat somewhat sensibly, even if it's just quick meal like cereal and milk with a banana for breakfast, a sandwich and some fruit for lunch, and a quick frozen entree for dinner. Is it the most nutritious menu out there? No, but it's also not completely devoid of nutrients.10 -
Jackibrazil wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »rankinsect wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »For weight loss sure, as long as you're burning more calories than you consume. For health? probably shouldn't lol
How healthy it is depends pretty greatly on what one wants to eat. I'm a pretty firm believer that as long as you eat a good variety of different foods and you don't have any specific health issues causing you to need to pay particular attention to some aspect of your diet, nutrition tends to largely work itself out.
Well duh. But for the vast majority of people "whatever I want" isn't going to be healthy. Especially if they have to ask that question. Hello, context.
Why would you assume that?
Whatever I want is healthy, because I want to eat a nutritious diet, I love a lot of foods that have lots of nutrients (fish, vegetables), my idea of a normal meal is basically nutritious (when I got fat it was from portion sizes, adding excess calories from oils and cheese, and especially from eating outside of meals). I don't know why people assume that whatever you want means mostly junk food -- I'd die of boredom and dissatisfaction on such a diet.
Yes, "whatever I want" maybe also means eating without thought and as much as I want, but I assume "can I eat whatever I want" to mean "can I include smaller portions of foods I particularly enjoy but think aren't super high in nutrients within a healthy diet and my calories" and the answer is of course.
When I read "can I really eat whatever I want?" I would assume they have junk in mind otherwise, a healthy balance seems obvious. Maybe that's just me though. If at least 85% of my food cravings were healthy nutritious things and not just chocolate and chips and macaroni n cheese then I wouldn't even question it. I do however question cravings that are obviously empty calories and high in sugars. The rest just seems obvious basic common knowledge to me. To me, when I hear that question it kind of reminds me of "how can close can I get to the edge without falling over?" and My respose would be stay a good distance and don't toe the line. Human nature tends to lean toward the "let's see how close I can get" side of things.
Ah, you're forgetting the diet mentality, though.
The diet mentality says that when you diet, you can't have anything you crave. Ever, ever, ever.
And if the person beginning to diet comes onto a dieting forum and asks, "can I really eat whatever I want" it's within the context of the dieting mentality, because of where she's asking the question.
So the answer has to take place within the context of being on a diet.
So many people failed at dieting for so many years because people were told that the secret to weight control involved denial. To some extent it does, but that denial comes in the form of percentage, not in absolute substance. You can have whatever food you want, just not as much of it as you might like.
That's the context of the question.11 -
I guess because I've never had that mentality about dieting I just figured that's what OP meant. Unhealthy..2
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Jackibrazil wrote: »I guess I could have said that it MIGHT not be healthy dependent on your diet but the point rings pretty much the same. Nitpicking over nothing.
Nitpicking over nothing? C'mon. You've been here since 2012. Surely you've seen the daily messages. "OMG, I just ate xxx and now I'll never lose weight." "My family avoids all sodium bicarbonate because it's used to strip paint and I don't want it in my body." (I'm not making that one up. I wonder about that woman sometimes during holiday baking season.) "I only eat chicken, broccoli, and cauliflower but I keep falling off the wagon. HALP!!" It's not nothing to say that a sustainable and healthy diet can include foods that aren't traditionally considered healthy. We all see too many people asking about it every day to consider it nothing.12 -
diannethegeek wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »I guess I could have said that it MIGHT not be healthy dependent on your diet but the point rings pretty much the same. Nitpicking over nothing.
Nitpicking over nothing? C'mon. You've been here since 2012. Surely you've seen the daily messages. "OMG, I just ate xxx and now I'll never lose weight." "My family avoids all sodium bicarbonate because it's used to strip paint and I don't want it in my body." (I'm not making that one up. I wonder about that woman sometimes during holiday baking season.) "I only eat chicken, broccoli, and cauliflower but I keep falling off the wagon. HALP!!" It's not nothing to say that a sustainable and healthy diet can include foods that aren't traditionally considered healthy. We all see too many people asking about it every day to consider it nothing.
I've had an account since 2012. I don't look at emails and I've literally never used the message boards or looked at them before two days ago. My friends were all people I know who just use this to log. C'mon.1 -
Why can't people just drop it already. I'll re-state. If anything means continuously eating unhealthy then you probably shouldn't. My original one line statement was that you can eat anything you want and lose weight as long as you're consuming less than you burn but for health you probably shouldn't. Key word was ANYTHING. Because it's open to interpretation. You probably shouldn't eat just anything you want if it's in excess or incredibly unhealthy.
I didn't really think that statement would be such a huge deal to so many.5 -
Jackibrazil wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »I guess I could have said that it MIGHT not be healthy dependent on your diet but the point rings pretty much the same. Nitpicking over nothing.
Nitpicking over nothing? C'mon. You've been here since 2012. Surely you've seen the daily messages. "OMG, I just ate xxx and now I'll never lose weight." "My family avoids all sodium bicarbonate because it's used to strip paint and I don't want it in my body." (I'm not making that one up. I wonder about that woman sometimes during holiday baking season.) "I only eat chicken, broccoli, and cauliflower but I keep falling off the wagon. HALP!!" It's not nothing to say that a sustainable and healthy diet can include foods that aren't traditionally considered healthy. We all see too many people asking about it every day to consider it nothing.
I've had an account since 2012. I don't look at emails and I've literally never used the message boards or looked at them before two days ago. My friends were all people I know who just use this to log. C'mon.
Before I start posting in a new community I read a couple of weeks worth of posts first. Just to get a feel for the community and the types of things people are likely to say. Otherwise you risk coming across rather tone deaf through lack of knowledge even though your intent was to be helpful.10 -
For a recent potluck, I made mac'n'cheese that had 366 calories per serving (9x13" cake dish, cut 10), 19g protein (no meat BTW), 8g fiber, 82% RDA of vitamin A, . . . and I could go on with the nutrition. My non-weight-conscious friends loved it, judged by consumption, not just compliments. If eating that is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
@AnnPT77 would you mind posting your recipe in the Recipe section please. That sounds like something I’d like to make. Thanks!
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