vegetables

[Guest guest]

Not long before I found the IE book, I had read a book called " Mindless Eating, " which I've seen several posts about over the months and which I found really interesting. There were some diety things about it and some IE things about it. Overall, it advocates mindful eating, which I think is really closely related to what we're all striving for here. Anyway, that book cites a " diet " which says that you should fill half your plate with vegetables (and fruit?) and half your plate with your other foods. That way you still feel you can have a full plate of food, but you do fill up a bit on roughage and all that " virtuous " green stuff. When I read it, I liked the idea and my husband really liked it and we both sort of casually started to do it.

I am one of those folks who actually LIKE most vegetables as long as they are not the only thing I'm allowed to eat. Right? So, in the few weeks I was trying to do the half plate thing, I felt GREAT. I remember feeling physically good and yes, I felt " righteous " --like I was now eating in a more enlightened way. Ha ha.

Well, when I read IE, I stopped eating that way. In the IE book, there is a similar recommendation, right? They say to work toward something like at least a third of your plate with vegetables and or fruit. But they say you have to work out all those food demons first before you worry about nutrition too much. Am I recalling correctly?

Anyway, my whole point is, if I try to go back to the fill a good portion of your plate with vegetables (only those I like of course) and continue to eat all the other foods I like, will it be like a diet? Are my motives pure enough here, that i'm doing that because it made me feel better? Or will I want to one day rebel,etc. the way i do with other diets? Of course, no one can really answer those questions FOR ME, but I'm interested in your thoughts.

I'm sort of enjoying the " I don't have to eat vegetables if I don't want to " thing, but the thing is, I DO want to. But I haven't been because someone told me I don't have to, so I took that to mean I shouldn't. You know how after so long of eating according to rules, you make the absence of rules into a rule? Did you follow me?

Anyway, if any of that made sense, let me know what you think.