Food as Fuel
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Replies
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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:
Exactly.2 -
happymom221 wrote: »My meals have a pattern of foods which I eat frequently. For example a protein and two veggies or a big salad or eggs and fixings. Most people would think it’s super boring
However, I only eat food that I love.
When I bite into my food I go mmmmm
I agree with this. Day to day, I typically eat a lot of the same things with a few little tweaks here and there. During the week I have oatmeal for breakfast with different fruits and/or nuts for variety, rice/potatoes/noodles at lunch and dinner with different vegetables and proteins and sauces for variety, and some kind of snack/dessert that varies by the week depending on what I've baked over the weekend. Once or twice a week my husband and I go out to eat or order in, and I'll eat a little differently on weekends depending what we're doing. I love it and have been eating like this for the past 7 years. It works for me but I fully recognize that it would be boring or even unbearable for others0 -
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.
Biologist Frans de Waal writes about primates and food preferences in "Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?", including observations of both captive groups and populations in the wild. This gets into how some animals are more motivated by certain foods and that they seem to attach emotions to them (for example, if two chimpanzees do the same "task" with a human and one is given a higher value food than the other, the chimpanzee receiving the less preferred food seems to register this as unfair). That primates values certain foods over others and will even engage in deception and misdirection to keep others from getting them has been observed in captivity and in the wild.
I am not getting into how complex the attachments are and I'm not making the claim that they are necessarily as strong as ours. I don't know if that's something we can reasonably access right now. My point is that at least some animals do seem to have them and I don't think it's accurate to claim these attachments are purely human and purely the product of socialization.
As for the dogs getting excited when they think they're going to get a treat, I'll admit that is purely anecdotal and based on my observations. I have no doubt there is good research on dogs and food, but I haven't read any of it.2 -
I could be a car but alcohol would be my windshield wiper fluid. 😁
Either way. You do you. Whatever works. Good luck!4 -
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)
You know, that was the first thing I thought of as well!🤣1 -
food is fuel
food can be delicious
you can hold both thoughts in your mind and find them not mutually exclusive.
my favorite cookbook is the Runners World Cookbook. good fuel and good flavor
sweet is a flavor, sugar is a carb
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janejellyroll wrote: »This strikes me as absolutely joyless, but people vary. I'm glad you've found something that works well for you.
I'm in the food as fuel Camp. I don't find joy in any food really. None, never have. It's not fun, it's not entertainment or reward etc. I do try but nothing ever tastes as good as I'd hoped. Im okay with that.4 -
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!
Amyfb
With all due respect, it's a bit early to call what you're doing a success. Especially considering the fact that relationships with food can often be deep rooted, and what you've said in this thread indicates that. You have a lot of life experience under your belt, and it's not going to be wiped away in two months.
Allow me to share a little nugget of my experience with thinking I had my issues with food solved for once and for all. I thought I finally had it figured out too. I just needed to avoid certain things and eat a certain way and I would solve all my issues with food for good. I ate that way for ten years. TEN YEARS. And it wasn't sustainable, and it didn't solve my issues.
There's a moment, and no one can hold your hand and take you to it, where you come to where you finally get an internal YES regarding your own responsibility for your choices and own your own agency regarding food that empowers you to move forward and truly find success. Some days I think I'm there, some days I'm not so sure. But I do know from reading the stories of people who have achieved lasting success that they've all had it.
I'm into my 4th year of maintaining a 90 pound loss. I was talking last week to the woman who cleans my teeth. She's maintained a 75 pound loss for 30 years. The things we have in common? We watch what we eat, but we have indulgences and sometimes complete blow outs when we want them. We regularly exercise. We like and enjoy food. We eat healthy most of the time, but both think french fries are worth every calorie. We will both pig out on Thanksgiving and enjoy alllllll the pie.17 -
My mum says she thinks of food as fuel, would just take a pill to survive if she could etc, etc, etc but I've seen her with a piece of tiramisu and she is lying to herself lol
I think the human body is supposed to enjoy food. Why would we have evolved with so many different flavour sensors if it wasn't beneficial to use them? Birds have hardly any taste buds but they do have enough to eat and enjoy very spicy chilli peppers, which means they are the only ones who can eat that food source and the chilli peppers get their seeds germinated. Smart evolution! We can taste spicy things, salty things, sweet things, savoury things and bitter things because wow a varied, interesting diet is probably going to have a wider range of nutrients and be better for you!
On a personal level, if I'm eating interesting, full flavoured food that I've put work and love into I am way less likely to mindlessly snack on convenience food because it's always disappointing. Even takeaways and eating out have less appeal because I can usually make something better myself. When I'm depressed and binge-y guess what I go for every time? Plain buttered toast and oatmeal. Hardly hyper-palatable!9 -
I think it would be fair to say that OP's post describes a mindset and behaviour that she is trying out and is finding mentally beneficial, not one that she has mastered and is some zen expert at. It's working for her at this moment in her experience, there's no reason to believe it would work wholesale just plopped down onto any of our us at this moment in our experience.
A lot of the time we see people on here talking about "what they do" and whatnot and what they are describing is inevitably a temporary routine. I've found myself doing it - truth is how I cope with seasons and my cycle and my life at the time and how food fits into is is always going to be changing, and I'd guess the same is true for the majority of people here. I like to think I'm fairly stable in my habits, past 18 months into maintenance, but if I looked back I bet I could isolate a bunch of experimental behaviours.2 -
I'm an all or nothing kind of gal, meaning I don't do well moderating myself, and for this reason I believe the Food as Fuel concept works really well for me.
To thine own self be true.
Doesn't sound like my kind of thing but if your approach brings you happiness, good results and serenity then go for it! There are plenty of (non-edible) things that can bring pleasure and joy to life and if you don't miss things like cake or ice cream then it's not a big deal.
1 -
I've done this a number of times to kick myself out of a habit of grabbing quick, bad-for-you food. It's not something I'm able to maintain though because I eventually get bored and want some more variety. Eventually that leads back to grabbing quick, bad-for-you food and so the cycle continues. I'm bad at moderation as well, so it's just something that I live with knowing that I'll eventually kick myself out of eating poorly soon.0
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GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »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!
Amyfb
With all due respect, it's a bit early to call what you're doing a success. Especially considering the fact that relationships with food can often be deep rooted, and what you've said in this thread indicates that. You have a lot of life experience under your belt, and it's not going to be wiped away in two months.
Allow me to share a little nugget of my experience with thinking I had my issues with food solved for once and for all. I thought I finally had it figured out too. I just needed to avoid certain things and eat a certain way and I would solve all my issues with food for good. I ate that way for ten years. TEN YEARS. And it wasn't sustainable, and it didn't solve my issues.
There's a moment, and no one can hold your hand and take you to it, where you come to where you finally get an internal YES regarding your own responsibility for your choices and own your own agency regarding food that empowers you to move forward and truly find success. Some days I think I'm there, some days I'm not so sure. But I do know from reading the stories of people who have achieved lasting success that they've all had it.
I'm into my 4th year of maintaining a 90 pound loss. I was talking last week to the woman who cleans my teeth. She's maintained a 75 pound loss for 30 years. The things we have in common? We watch what we eat, but we have indulgences and sometimes complete blow outs when we want them. We regularly exercise. We like and enjoy food. We eat healthy most of the time, but both think french fries are worth every calorie. We will both pig out on Thanksgiving and enjoy alllllll the pie.
Yup to all of this. I'm coming up on 20 years of maintaining a 50 pound loss and I actually stuck to a very restrictive plan for 10 years of that. Now I'm definitely more relaxed and have the sense of "one day/one meal/one vacation is not forever, day to day is what matters".6 -
sunfastrose wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »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!
Amyfb
With all due respect, it's a bit early to call what you're doing a success. Especially considering the fact that relationships with food can often be deep rooted, and what you've said in this thread indicates that. You have a lot of life experience under your belt, and it's not going to be wiped away in two months.
Allow me to share a little nugget of my experience with thinking I had my issues with food solved for once and for all. I thought I finally had it figured out too. I just needed to avoid certain things and eat a certain way and I would solve all my issues with food for good. I ate that way for ten years. TEN YEARS. And it wasn't sustainable, and it didn't solve my issues.
There's a moment, and no one can hold your hand and take you to it, where you come to where you finally get an internal YES regarding your own responsibility for your choices and own your own agency regarding food that empowers you to move forward and truly find success. Some days I think I'm there, some days I'm not so sure. But I do know from reading the stories of people who have achieved lasting success that they've all had it.
I'm into my 4th year of maintaining a 90 pound loss. I was talking last week to the woman who cleans my teeth. She's maintained a 75 pound loss for 30 years. The things we have in common? We watch what we eat, but we have indulgences and sometimes complete blow outs when we want them. We regularly exercise. We like and enjoy food. We eat healthy most of the time, but both think french fries are worth every calorie. We will both pig out on Thanksgiving and enjoy alllllll the pie.
Yup to all of this. I'm coming up on 20 years of maintaining a 50 pound loss and I actually stuck to a very restrictive plan for 10 years of that. Now I'm definitely more relaxed and have the sense of "one day/one meal/one vacation is not forever, day to day is what matters".
People like you and my dental hygienist are where I like to get insight on how the long game really plays out and what the main factors are for maintaining!
This may be a great first step for the OP, if perhaps you think of struggling with weight issues as a series of stepping stones on a path.
I just still see, in how she's posted here and in some other threads, an unsettled sense in how she sees herself in relation to food and how that plays into the importance of owning your own agency in the matter. I think that's pretty key in continued success.7 -
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!
Amyfb
To the bolded: In my opinion, and speaking only for myself, no. It isn't "about" control. It's about balance (though I suppose control is involved in some way).
To me, eating fulfills a number of needs and purposes: Fuel, nutrition, sense of connection to place and culture, social belonging and tradition, pleasure, adventure, health promotion, and more.
The overall goal, for me, is to balance all of that for the benefit of both my current and future selves.
Current self would perhaps prioritize pleasure (and some of the other hedonic factors) too highly, at the expense of long-term health. But if I fully sacrifice long-term health for current pleasure, my future self will be obese (again, like my past self), so that future self will not have as good a quality of life. On the other hand, if I forego current pleasure to squeeze out every remotely possible theoretical/speculative benefit to my future self, my current self will not be having much fun.
For me, it's about balancing those things, mostly. That's how my mileage varies.
Best wishes!
11 -
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!
Amyfb
To the bolded: In my opinion, and speaking only for myself, no. It isn't "about" control. It's about balance (though I suppose control is involved in some way).
To me, eating fulfills a number of needs and purposes: Fuel, nutrition, sense of connection to place and culture, social belonging and tradition, pleasure, adventure, health promotion, and more.
The overall goal, for me, is to balance all of that for the benefit of both my current and future selves.
Current self would perhaps prioritize pleasure (and some of the other hedonic factors) too highly, at the expense of long-term health. But if I fully sacrifice long-term health for current pleasure, my future self will be obese (again, like my past self), so that future self will not have as good a quality of life. On the other hand, if I forego current pleasure to squeeze out every remotely possible theoretical/speculative benefit to my future self, my current self will not be having much fun.
For me, it's about balancing those things, mostly. That's how my mileage varies.
Best wishes!
Really, really well put, as usual. I was trying to think of how I view successful diets because I agree control doesn’t come to mind.... if anything I try to avoid use of the word “diet” and I think of my approach as flexible, and because of the flexibility, it’s actually quite liberating to know you can eat what you want in the context of an appropriate amount of calories and an overall balanced approach to food and nutrition.
But “balance” is perfect.5 -
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!
Amyfb
To the bolded: In my opinion, and speaking only for myself, no. It isn't "about" control. It's about balance (though I suppose control is involved in some way).
To me, eating fulfills a number of needs and purposes: Fuel, nutrition, sense of connection to place and culture, social belonging and tradition, pleasure, adventure, health promotion, and more.
The overall goal, for me, is to balance all of that for the benefit of both my current and future selves.
Current self would perhaps prioritize pleasure (and some of the other hedonic factors) too highly, at the expense of long-term health. But if I fully sacrifice long-term health for current pleasure, my future self will be obese (again, like my past self), so that future self will not have as good a quality of life. On the other hand, if I forego current pleasure to squeeze out every remotely possible theoretical/speculative benefit to my future self, my current self will not be having much fun.
For me, it's about balancing those things, mostly. That's how my mileage varies.
Best wishes!
Well said.
I think in my early days of calorie counting, it did feel like "control." There was conscious effort involved. The longer I've been at it, the more it does feel like balance. I don't often have that feeling of consciously holding myself back from foods that I desire. It's more like I find a way to have the things that I do desire in a way that fits with my calorie needs and if it's not a good time to have it, I accept that I'll have it later.3 -
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!
Amyfb
To the bolded: In my opinion, and speaking only for myself, no. It isn't "about" control. It's about balance (though I suppose control is involved in some way).
To me, eating fulfills a number of needs and purposes: Fuel, nutrition, sense of connection to place and culture, social belonging and tradition, pleasure, adventure, health promotion, and more.
The overall goal, for me, is to balance all of that for the benefit of both my current and future selves.
Current self would perhaps prioritize pleasure (and some of the other hedonic factors) too highly, at the expense of long-term health. But if I fully sacrifice long-term health for current pleasure, my future self will be obese (again, like my past self), so that future self will not have as good a quality of life. On the other hand, if I forego current pleasure to squeeze out every remotely possible theoretical/speculative benefit to my future self, my current self will not be having much fun.
For me, it's about balancing those things, mostly. That's how my mileage varies.
Best wishes!
Ah, this perfectly states something I've been feeling but couldn't quite land on. Thank you!1 -
food is fuel
food can be delicious
you can hold both thoughts in your mind and find them not mutually exclusive.
my favorite cookbook is the Runners World Cookbook. good fuel and good flavor
sweet is a flavor, sugar is a carb
A.
It wasn’t me who thinks fuel can’t be delicious also. It has seemed to be a conclusion of some posters who find no appeal in my program.
I just don’t focus on deliciousness of flavor first. I know everything I make is tasty and can be tastier if I care to make the effort.
I find joy in flexibility!! Lol but true!!
B. Ok sweet is a flavor most often found in carbs , some of which are complex and others refined. Will you accept that compromise?
4 -
WinoGelato wrote: »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!
Amyfb
To the bolded: In my opinion, and speaking only for myself, no. It isn't "about" control. It's about balance (though I suppose control is involved in some way).
To me, eating fulfills a number of needs and purposes: Fuel, nutrition, sense of connection to place and culture, social belonging and tradition, pleasure, adventure, health promotion, and more.
The overall goal, for me, is to balance all of that for the benefit of both my current and future selves.
Current self would perhaps prioritize pleasure (and some of the other hedonic factors) too highly, at the expense of long-term health. But if I fully sacrifice long-term health for current pleasure, my future self will be obese (again, like my past self), so that future self will not have as good a quality of life. On the other hand, if I forego current pleasure to squeeze out every remotely possible theoretical/speculative benefit to my future self, my current self will not be having much fun.
For me, it's about balancing those things, mostly. That's how my mileage varies.
Best wishes!
Really, really well put, as usual. I was trying to think of how I view successful diets because I agree control doesn’t come to mind.... if anything I try to avoid use of the word “diet” and I think of my approach as flexible, and because of the flexibility, it’s actually quite liberating to know you can eat what you want in the context of an appropriate amount of calories and an overall balanced approach to food and nutrition.
But “balance” is perfect.
As I see it, Balance is a defined condition or state of being, and , any mechanism that exists to maintain the balance is a type of control.
They coexist as mutually beneficial partners in a planned endeavor.
3
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