Home Cooks: Does intuitive eating work for you?

2

Replies

  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    I know lots of scratch cooks who got fat eating their home cooked meals - so the assumption that Home cooked meals somehow makes it easier to eat intuitively and maintain a healthy weight effortlessly doesn’t really jive for me.

    I also know plenty of people who eat in restaurants and/or eat prepackaged foods and are able to fairly easily maintain their weight.

    I fit in between - I enjoy cooking, enjoy eating in nice restaurants, but rely on convenience foods and sometimes fast foods to fit my busy life. I log but don’t weigh foods, I lost weight with this approach and am now maintaining for several years. I wouldn’t consider myself an intuitive eater, but I’ve never been a volume eater or binge eater. I became overweight because I ate a little too much of too many foods, and I had become far less active.

    I think trying to connect your success with intuitive eating, with your home cooking preference, and tracing that back to previous generations is not a solid connection. There may be some correlation, but I even think that’s shaky at best.

    Congrats on your success in maintenance!

    I think a lot depends on what there is in the house to cook or eat. I see some meal descriptions which I would have to label as "gourmet", compared to my very simple upbringing and even my current lifestyle. So "intuitive" might be a difficult notion to apply in a generalized way.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    edited October 2018
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I cook all my food from scratch.. I have not been in the inside isle of a grocery store to buy anything..just to take a short cut to the other side of the store.

    I don't use any bottled salty sodium laden dressings or sauces either.. I use vinegar, spices, wine, and no salt added canned tomatoes and tomato paste to flavor most of my dishes.

    so.. with that said...I don't count calories or log my food. only once in a while out of interest. I believe that my whole foods diet is what finally made me successful at losing all my weight this year. It has been amazing and I weigh less than I ever have after counting calories for YEARS.

    But to answer your question.. I eat intuitively... just because my diet is so clean.. I know what is what because I've made a real change in my nutrition and the way I eat and view food.

    When you count calories and eat chips, cookies, coke and other junk and decide as long as it fits a calorie goal.... you never really change the habits that got you fat In that case, one needs the ball and chain of logging to keep in check.

    Serious question - where (or do) you buy your dried legumes? Rice? Quinoa? Vinegar, spices, and canned tomatoes are all on the inside aisles of most grocery stores. It's not all cookies and chips. The doughnuts, cakes, and deli/fried chicken/prepared grab and go foods are on the outskirts of my local store, however.

    haha. I know you didn't ask me but when did that ever stop me?

    At my monster Fred Meyer they have a bulk food section where I buy my beans and nuts and they also have flour, pasta, quinoa, legumes, all other grains, nuts, spices, fresh ground peanut butter, chocolate covered pretzels and all manner of delicious bulk treats. It's essentially in the produce area, right on the edge. It's pretty great. This image shows maybe a third of it.

    I am not the dedicated cook that @elisa123gal is, but I want to be when I grow up.

    I know we're splitting hairs here, but it is MFP. :)

    bulk_bins.jpg
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I cook all my food from scratch.. I have not been in the inside isle of a grocery store to buy anything..just to take a short cut to the other side of the store.

    I don't use any bottled salty sodium laden dressings or sauces either.. I use vinegar, spices, wine, and no salt added canned tomatoes and tomato paste to flavor most of my dishes.

    so.. with that said...I don't count calories or log my food. only once in a while out of interest. I believe that my whole foods diet is what finally made me successful at losing all my weight this year. It has been amazing and I weigh less than I ever have after counting calories for YEARS.

    But to answer your question.. I eat intuitively... just because my diet is so clean.. I know what is what because I've made a real change in my nutrition and the way I eat and view food.

    When you count calories and eat chips, cookies, coke and other junk and decide as long as it fits a calorie goal.... you never really change the habits that got you fat In that case, one needs the ball and chain of logging to keep in check.

    Serious question - where (or do) you buy your dried legumes? Rice? Quinoa? Vinegar, spices, and canned tomatoes are all on the inside aisles of most grocery stores. It's not all cookies and chips. The doughnuts, cakes, and deli/fried chicken/prepared grab and go foods are on the outskirts of my local store, however.

    haha.

    At my monster Fred Meyer they have a bulk food section where I buy my beans and nuts and they also have flour, all other grains, nuts, spices, fresh ground peanut butter, chocolate covered pretzels and all manner of delicious bulk treats. It's essentially in the produce area, right on the edge. I know we're splitting hairs here, but it is MFP. :)

    bulk_bins.jpg

    What fun is MFP if we can't split hairs? :lol: I've seen those, although that isn't how most stores where I live are arranged unless you visit the infamous Whole Foods. Do they also have canned tomatoes and vinegar on the outskirts? :wink:
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    edited October 2018
    pinuplove wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I cook all my food from scratch.. I have not been in the inside isle of a grocery store to buy anything..just to take a short cut to the other side of the store.

    I don't use any bottled salty sodium laden dressings or sauces either.. I use vinegar, spices, wine, and no salt added canned tomatoes and tomato paste to flavor most of my dishes.

    so.. with that said...I don't count calories or log my food. only once in a while out of interest. I believe that my whole foods diet is what finally made me successful at losing all my weight this year. It has been amazing and I weigh less than I ever have after counting calories for YEARS.

    But to answer your question.. I eat intuitively... just because my diet is so clean.. I know what is what because I've made a real change in my nutrition and the way I eat and view food.

    When you count calories and eat chips, cookies, coke and other junk and decide as long as it fits a calorie goal.... you never really change the habits that got you fat In that case, one needs the ball and chain of logging to keep in check.

    Serious question - where (or do) you buy your dried legumes? Rice? Quinoa? Vinegar, spices, and canned tomatoes are all on the inside aisles of most grocery stores. It's not all cookies and chips. The doughnuts, cakes, and deli/fried chicken/prepared grab and go foods are on the outskirts of my local store, however.

    haha.

    At my monster Fred Meyer they have a bulk food section where I buy my beans and nuts and they also have flour, all other grains, nuts, spices, fresh ground peanut butter, chocolate covered pretzels and all manner of delicious bulk treats. It's essentially in the produce area, right on the edge. I know we're splitting hairs here, but it is MFP. :)

    bulk_bins.jpg

    What fun is MFP if we can't split hairs? :lol: I've seen those, although that isn't how most stores where I live are arranged unless you visit the infamous Whole Foods. Do they also have canned tomatoes and vinegar on the outskirts? :wink:

    I would bet that poster doesn't use canned tomatoes. She said "No salt added tomatoes" so I bet that meant "none." She probably makes her own vinegar. :lol:

  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I cook all my food from scratch.. I have not been in the inside isle of a grocery store to buy anything..just to take a short cut to the other side of the store.

    I don't use any bottled salty sodium laden dressings or sauces either.. I use vinegar, spices, wine, and no salt added canned tomatoes and tomato paste to flavor most of my dishes.

    so.. with that said...I don't count calories or log my food. only once in a while out of interest. I believe that my whole foods diet is what finally made me successful at losing all my weight this year. It has been amazing and I weigh less than I ever have after counting calories for YEARS.

    But to answer your question.. I eat intuitively... just because my diet is so clean.. I know what is what because I've made a real change in my nutrition and the way I eat and view food.

    When you count calories and eat chips, cookies, coke and other junk and decide as long as it fits a calorie goal.... you never really change the habits that got you fat In that case, one needs the ball and chain of logging to keep in check.

    Serious question - where (or do) you buy your dried legumes? Rice? Quinoa? Vinegar, spices, and canned tomatoes are all on the inside aisles of most grocery stores. It's not all cookies and chips. The doughnuts, cakes, and deli/fried chicken/prepared grab and go foods are on the outskirts of my local store, however.

    Same here - and I am suspicious of anyone who says they never have to go on interior aisles - yet refer to cooking with canned tomatoes, spices, even wine.... flour? Rice? Quinoa? Oats? These are all on the exterior? Is this a circular grocery store that only has an outer ring with all pristine clean foods and then an inner ring of doom where all the junk food is kept?

    The easier to judge your fellow shoppers with, my dear!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    spices, even wine.... flour? Rice? Quinoa? Oats?

    ...all in the bulk foods. Pretty sure she makes her own wine.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    edited October 2018
    pinuplove wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I cook all my food from scratch.. I have not been in the inside isle of a grocery store to buy anything..just to take a short cut to the other side of the store.

    I don't use any bottled salty sodium laden dressings or sauces either.. I use vinegar, spices, wine, and no salt added canned tomatoes and tomato paste to flavor most of my dishes.

    so.. with that said...I don't count calories or log my food. only once in a while out of interest. I believe that my whole foods diet is what finally made me successful at losing all my weight this year. It has been amazing and I weigh less than I ever have after counting calories for YEARS.

    But to answer your question.. I eat intuitively... just because my diet is so clean.. I know what is what because I've made a real change in my nutrition and the way I eat and view food.

    When you count calories and eat chips, cookies, coke and other junk and decide as long as it fits a calorie goal.... you never really change the habits that got you fat In that case, one needs the ball and chain of logging to keep in check.

    Serious question - where (or do) you buy your dried legumes? Rice? Quinoa? Vinegar, spices, and canned tomatoes are all on the inside aisles of most grocery stores. It's not all cookies and chips. The doughnuts, cakes, and deli/fried chicken/prepared grab and go foods are on the outskirts of my local store, however.

    haha.

    At my monster Fred Meyer they have a bulk food section where I buy my beans and nuts and they also have flour, all other grains, nuts, spices, fresh ground peanut butter, chocolate covered pretzels and all manner of delicious bulk treats. It's essentially in the produce area, right on the edge. I know we're splitting hairs here, but it is MFP. :)

    bulk_bins.jpg

    What fun is MFP if we can't split hairs? :lol: I've seen those, although that isn't how most stores where I live are arranged unless you visit the infamous Whole Foods. Do they also have canned tomatoes and vinegar on the outskirts? :wink:

    I would bet that poster doesn't use canned tomatoes. She said "No salt added tomatoes" so I bet that meant "none." She probably makes her own vinegar. :lol:

    She specifically said 'no salt added canned tomatoes.' I'll refrain from pointing out the irony if she adds any salt to her recipes...

    I'm sure I'm about to be accused of attempting to lose weight on a diet of Twinkies and Spaghetti-ohs anyway. Nevermind the spinach and grilled chicken salad I had for dinner last night. The (perfectly calorie-appropriate though sodium-laden at a jaw dropping 180mg) Caesar dressing came from an inner aisle, so I'm still doomed.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    Wait. (yes I saw "no salt added canned tomatoes") - Is there such a thing as canned tomatoes that don't have salt?

    I thought she meant, no canned tomatoes (because salt) but whatever, I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt that she was just stating her way of cooking. I could really not care any less whether or not someone stretches the truth or whether she just mistyped. ::shrug:: Maybe she's canning them herself. Some people called cooked/jarred tomatoes "canned."

    We could stretch this "discussion" to page 25 on just this one point.

  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    Wait. (yes I saw "no salt added canned tomatoes") - Is there such a thing as canned tomatoes that don't have salt?

    I thought she meant, no canned tomatoes (because salt) but whatever, I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt that she was just stating her way of cooking. I could really not care any less whether or not someone stretches the truth or whether she just mistyped. ::shrug:: Maybe she's canning them herself. Some people called cooked/jarred tomatoes "canned."

    We could stretch this "discussion" to page 25 on just this one point.

    There are. I can see how they'd be useful in some applications, like those on a sodium-restricted diet.

    k2p9uyr62kre.jpg
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    I am not a raw tomatoes fan although I eat them because they're good for me. They need to be disguised with sausage or beef or hidden in a big salad or salsa with copious amounts of guacamole.

    That image and my morning black coffee just made my stomach turn over.

  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    Sorry! :disappointed: I hated tomatoes when I was younger, raw or cooked. Now I eat them and sometimes actually enjoy them. Fresh pico is divine, and I've discovered grape tomatoes are much tastier than their big brothers.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    Sorry! :disappointed: I hated tomatoes when I was younger, raw or cooked. Now I eat them and sometimes actually enjoy them. Fresh pico is divine, and I've discovered grape tomatoes are much tastier than their big brothers.

    I'm the opposite. grape tomatoes are too sweet for my taste. I eat raw tomatoes every single day.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    Sorry! :disappointed: I hated tomatoes when I was younger, raw or cooked. Now I eat them and sometimes actually enjoy them. Fresh pico is divine, and I've discovered grape tomatoes are much tastier than their big brothers.

    I'm the opposite. grape tomatoes are too sweet for my taste. I eat raw tomatoes every single day.

    Maybe I'm addicted to sugar :neutral:
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    edited October 2018
    I don't think intuitive eating works for me even when I am cooking almost all of my food. When I was younger and more active it was fine to do that but I really have to be more careful of portion sizes and conscious of calorie counts now. However, after logging for a couple of years I have a pretty good idea of what I can eat and have adjusted to smaller portions so strictly counting everything is not as necessary. That is not intuitive but learned behavior.

    If you have a set of rules like only food cooked from scratch that help you moderate that does not sound like intuitive eating either but you knowing a good way to set limits for yourself.

    My grandmother was very overweight and I am pretty sure she cooked everything from scratch. She worked as a cook in fact. I don't remember her snacking or being offered snacks at her house. I think she did eat a lot of calorie dense foods like bread, butter, mashed potatoes, gravy. She had medical problems. I am not sure if they came before her excess weight or from her weight. As she got older she was not able to be very active
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I cook all my food from scratch.. I have not been in the inside isle of a grocery store to buy anything..just to take a short cut to the other side of the store.

    I don't use any bottled salty sodium laden dressings or sauces either.. I use vinegar, spices, wine, and no salt added canned tomatoes and tomato paste to flavor most of my dishes.

    so.. with that said...I don't count calories or log my food. only once in a while out of interest. I believe that my whole foods diet is what finally made me successful at losing all my weight this year. It has been amazing and I weigh less than I ever have after counting calories for YEARS.

    But to answer your question.. I eat intuitively... just because my diet is so clean.. I know what is what because I've made a real change in my nutrition and the way I eat and view food.

    When you count calories and eat chips, cookies, coke and other junk and decide as long as it fits a calorie goal.... you never really change the habits that got you fat In that case, one needs the ball and chain of logging to keep in check.

    Serious question - where (or do) you buy your dried legumes? Rice? Quinoa? Vinegar, spices, and canned tomatoes are all on the inside aisles of most grocery stores. It's not all cookies and chips. The doughnuts, cakes, and deli/fried chicken/prepared grab and go foods are on the outskirts of my local store, however.

    haha.

    At my monster Fred Meyer they have a bulk food section where I buy my beans and nuts and they also have flour, all other grains, nuts, spices, fresh ground peanut butter, chocolate covered pretzels and all manner of delicious bulk treats. It's essentially in the produce area, right on the edge. I know we're splitting hairs here, but it is MFP. :)

    bulk_bins.jpg

    What fun is MFP if we can't split hairs? :lol: I've seen those, although that isn't how most stores where I live are arranged unless you visit the infamous Whole Foods. Do they also have canned tomatoes and vinegar on the outskirts? :wink:

    I would bet that poster doesn't use canned tomatoes. She said "No salt added tomatoes" so I bet that meant "none." She probably makes her own vinegar. :lol:

    She specifically said 'no salt added canned tomatoes.' I'll refrain from pointing out the irony if she adds any salt to her recipes...

    I'm sure I'm about to be accused of attempting to lose weight on a diet of Twinkies and Spaghetti-ohs anyway. Nevermind the spinach and grilled chicken salad I had for dinner last night. The (perfectly calorie-appropriate though sodium-laden at a jaw dropping 180mg) Caesar dressing came from an inner aisle, so I'm still doomed.

    I always find it annoying when people criticize me for buying canned goods because "it has so much salt". 9 times out of 10, it's going into stuff that most people (including the critical person) add a giant ton of salt to anyway. It also doesn't always have salt added.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    Home-cooked can be high fiber lentil/bean/vegetable-containing stew or similar that will be filling in minimal calories.
    Home-cooked can also be gravy/cheese/oil-drenched low-fiber carbs & meat sans veggies.
    Same goes for convenience foods.
    Benefit for home-cooked would be the control over calorie density and possible lack of the extra quick-grab high-calorie-density snacks outside of meals.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    Wait. (yes I saw "no salt added canned tomatoes") - Is there such a thing as canned tomatoes that don't have salt?

    I thought she meant, no canned tomatoes (because salt) but whatever, I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt that she was just stating her way of cooking. I could really not care any less whether or not someone stretches the truth or whether she just mistyped. ::shrug:: Maybe she's canning them herself. Some people called cooked/jarred tomatoes "canned."

    We could stretch this "discussion" to page 25 on just this one point.

    You can make your own. It's not necessarily a PITA, but it is a bit time consuming... (My food preservation guide gives options for canning or jarring, but I'm lazy AF so make my own jarred ones, because I'm not going down the path of actually starting a true cannery...)
  • FL_Hiker
    FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
    I'm too afraid of botulism to try canning foods i'd probably end up killing myself lol
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I don't log and I have more or less maintained for 5.5+ years (outside of my regular winter weight gain). I don't know that I'd call it "intuitive" or not...I eat pretty healthfully and typically stick to 3 meals per day and a snack or two. I don't mindlessly snack/graze and I exercise and otherwise move on the regular. I'm a bit more liberal with my food choices on the weekends.
  • lbryans929
    lbryans929 Posts: 42 Member
    I am a home cook and eat 99% of meals at home. Intuitive eating leads to weight gain for me. Now that I weigh, measure, and track with MFP I am a lot calmer, happier, less depressed, like what I am making and eating, and heading toward my goal. To maintain, I plan to continue.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,333 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I cook all my food from scratch.. I have not been in the inside isle of a grocery store to buy anything..just to take a short cut to the other side of the store.

    I don't use any bottled salty sodium laden dressings or sauces either.. I use vinegar, spices, wine, and no salt added canned tomatoes and tomato paste to flavor most of my dishes.

    so.. with that said...I don't count calories or log my food. only once in a while out of interest. I believe that my whole foods diet is what finally made me successful at losing all my weight this year. It has been amazing and I weigh less than I ever have after counting calories for YEARS.

    But to answer your question.. I eat intuitively... just because my diet is so clean.. I know what is what because I've made a real change in my nutrition and the way I eat and view food.

    When you count calories and eat chips, cookies, coke and other junk and decide as long as it fits a calorie goal.... you never really change the habits that got you fat In that case, one needs the ball and chain of logging to keep in check.

    Serious question - where (or do) you buy your dried legumes? Rice? Quinoa? Vinegar, spices, and canned tomatoes are all on the inside aisles of most grocery stores. It's not all cookies and chips. The doughnuts, cakes, and deli/fried chicken/prepared grab and go foods are on the outskirts of my local store, however.

    I do buy my rice noodles.. and oats and rice on the inside isle.. I am just trying to make the point that most of the inside isles have processed foods. It is actually weird when I have time to look at all those products and think of how people eat that crap. Even the bread... I head to France for a trip this week..and enjoy their bakeries called "La Boulangerie". it is a law there that bread be fresh.. only key ingredients used.. flour, oil, salt, yeast... I can smell the yeast out in the street. The French buy "on the day" lines out the door I marvel at how thin they all are as they purchase armloads of fresh bread.

    When I counted calories I'd buy those 100 calorie sandwich rounds and flat out bread ..and wonder whey they never grew mold or got stale and I'd have them for months!
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,333 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I cook all my food from scratch.. I have not been in the inside isle of a grocery store to buy anything..just to take a short cut to the other side of the store.

    I don't use any bottled salty sodium laden dressings or sauces either.. I use vinegar, spices, wine, and no salt added canned tomatoes and tomato paste to flavor most of my dishes.

    so.. with that said...I don't count calories or log my food. only once in a while out of interest. I believe that my whole foods diet is what finally made me successful at losing all my weight this year. It has been amazing and I weigh less than I ever have after counting calories for YEARS.

    But to answer your question.. I eat intuitively... just because my diet is so clean.. I know what is what because I've made a real change in my nutrition and the way I eat and view food.

    When you count calories and eat chips, cookies, coke and other junk and decide as long as it fits a calorie goal.... you never really change the habits that got you fat In that case, one needs the ball and chain of logging to keep in check.

    Serious question - where (or do) you buy your dried legumes? Rice? Quinoa? Vinegar, spices, and canned tomatoes are all on the inside aisles of most grocery stores. It's not all cookies and chips. The doughnuts, cakes, and deli/fried chicken/prepared grab and go foods are on the outskirts of my local store, however.

    Same here - and I am suspicious of anyone who says they never have to go on interior aisles - yet refer to cooking with canned tomatoes, spices, even wine.... flour? Rice? Quinoa? Oats? These are all on the exterior? Is this a circular grocery store that only has an outer ring with all pristine clean foods and then an inner ring of doom where all the junk food is kept?


    Oh you make me smile. please don't be suspicious of me.. I'm just sharing with the OP what I do. Do your own thing that works for you. God Speed.. lol.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    After so many years of calorie counting I can't eat intuitively because I automatically know an estimate of everything I am eating. It doesn't work for me because my brain can't not tally up an estimate of my meals. And having that estimate, knowing how many calories I've had takes away the whole point of intuitive eating since it affects my choices.

    Sometimes I wish I could go back to those days and that there was still an opportunity to go back to eating intuitively without counting.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Yes. Although I log it hasn't determined my eating for years. Sometimes it reassures me that - yes I am really hungry and I can eat what I hunger for. Because I average over the week logging doesn't stop me from eating.

    I'm not sure what that has to do with cooking from scratch though. Even when I eat out I can tell when I've hit the point where I'm not hungry. I usually have 300 calories for breakfast. Went out to Paneras and bought a muffin. Got halfway through and my whole body is like - stop, no more. Gave the rest to my son. Logged it later and realized that, yes, that was 280 calories.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
    We cook all our meals at home. Right now we live in an 'undeveloped country' so most of our food is very close to nature, unpackaged and, well, very good tasting, but some additional work in preparation.

    I still log every day, it makes me successful at maintaining.
This discussion has been closed.