RE: Re: The Line Between Intuitive Eating and Binging

[Guest guest]

Thank you so much for these insights. I really appreciate

them.

I thought I saw some progress today. My wife, daughter and

I had been out and it got so late so my wife wanted to get all of us Mcs

and the thought actually repulsed me. I didn’t not want it because

it was bad for me it just sounded repulsive and I didn’t want to feel

like I knew I’d feel after it. So instead I found enough stuff

around the house to concoct a chicken breast sandwich on whole grain and a bowl

of soup. I’m not 100% fulfilled by that meal but I don’t feel

like garbage either.

I very well might keep the journal you’re mentioning.

I think that’s a great idea.

From: IntuitiveEating_Support

[mailto:IntuitiveEating_Support ] On Behalf Of followyourbliss50

Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 9:08 PM

To: IntuitiveEating_Support

Subject: Re: The Line Between Intuitive Eating

and Binging

Hi ,

Gillian offered some wonderful advice. May I also share that it has been

helpful for me in this process to keep some kind of eating log/calendar/success

list.

I understand (though I haven't experienced it) that some people are sour on the

idea of an eating journal because some of the diet programs use this tool in a

judgmental way.

However, I am not talking about keeping a record in order to judge one's self.

It is a record or notes in order to capture all the positive baby steps that

one is doing with intuitive eating/eating in tune.

We can't build on the positive if we don't acknowledge it. If we don't have it

down somewhere in black and white--then when the critic and the discouraged

part comes up--it is very difficult to counter it.

Also, it is easy to go from a fuzzy kind of (ungrounded) feeling when we let go

of precepts and rules to fuzzy eating.

The main point of the eating log is to find the positive in anything you do

with this--even if it's pausing for one second before eating out the entire

refrigerator. If that were the case you could write, " well I did eat the

entire contents--but I paused for one second before doing this. That's a lot

better than last week. Wow. I'm making progress [i always like to use comparisons

to highlight some improvement from a prior time.]

The writing/thought is deliberately slanted to highlight the positive baby step

that I took.

There's a lot of positive steps you just wrote about. You are listening to what

your body wants! Perhaps you ate and enjoyed it (enjoying one's food is a

positive step). You ate something you liked and didn't turn it into a

" what the heck " binge.

I then set some little goal to work on for the next meal/day (which I might

forget about or adjust--but it gives a direction).

I might say--I'm doing well with listening to what my body wants. It wants fish

sandwiches and ice cream and I ate them with enjoyment without letting the

" food police " sabotage the meal. But I stopped at a bit too full--so

perhaps I'll see if I can stop a bit sooner.

Or perhaps a step could be--I will work on savoring the meal.

If you're eating fish sandwich and ice cream --you know (I am telling you this)

you can lost weight with that if it is within your body signals. (Also, I

believe it is much more stressful and unhealthy for our bodies to overreat

(whether that food is spinach or candy)--than it is to eat ice cream or

anything else in tune with our signals. Our bodies love moderation.)

Also--turn it into a curious somewhat amusing game. I often have eating jags.

(Last week I must have eaten the same turkey burger sandwich five days in a

row). What's helpful here is to just get curious and watch. It's interesting to

see how long the craving for the food will go on--because there is a limit to it.

I eventually moved (wow, big change) from turkey burger sandwiches to chicken

sandwiches (I'm finding my eating at times is pretty boring--but actually

delicious and satisfying too because it's what my body wants).

>

> Good Evening All,

>

>

>

> I'm having a mild crisis of confidence here.

>

>

>

> I'm doing everything IE teaches. I'm eating what I think my body is asking

> for when it's asking for it without restriction. But at the same time this

> feels an awful lot like how I used to eat. I'm not binging per se but

> tonight my body ordered up a fried fish sandwich, fries and an ice cream

> sundae. If I eat that every night for the rest of my life I'll be dead in

a

> decade.

>

>

>

> I know it's a process and where it's supposed to lead. I guess I just need

> some reassurance.

>

>

>

> Thanks,

>

> Jon

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you , for sharing this. You are right on about using some kind of journal as a tool in the IE process. There are many people that don't want to do this because journal equals diet in their mind, and I don't force anyone to use one, but for those that do it is really helpful. Anything we can do to increase awareness really helps. But as you said, the journal is strictly about awareness, not judgment. I usually say that the worse you think it looks as far as what and how much you ate, the better for us to have things to work on.

If you are hesitant to write down your food, then find something else to write down. A typical IE journal has the time you ate, what you ate (without weights or measures of food), starting and ending numbers on the hunger scale, and moods, thoughts or feelings that were happening around the time of eating. But anyone of these items by themselves are useful to keep track of if you don't want to do all of them.

When I find myself eating mindlessly or even getting too hungry for any length of time, using a journal for a few days can bring me back to awareness and paying attention to my body.

I like the idea of setting a goal of something to work on for the week. Having that written down certainly gives you more chance of accomplishing it.

Thanks again for bringing this up, it's a great reminder!

Thanks!GillianGillian Hood-son, MS, ACSM

Get your report, "The 6 Steps to Guilt-Fr*e Eating" at http://www.HealthierOutcomes.com Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/gillianhood

From: IntuitiveEating_Support [mailto:IntuitiveEating_Support ] On Behalf Of followyourbliss50Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 7:08 PMTo: IntuitiveEating_Support Subject: Re: The Line Between Intuitive Eating and Binging

Hi ,Gillian offered some wonderful advice. May I also share that it has been helpful for me in this process to keep some kind of eating log/calendar/success list. I understand (though I haven't experienced it) that some people are sour on the idea of an eating journal because some of the diet programs use this tool in a judgmental way.However, I am not talking about keeping a record in order to judge one's self. It is a record or notes in order to capture all the positive baby steps that one is doing with intuitive eating/eating in tune. We can't build on the positive if we don't acknowledge it. If we don't have it down somewhere in black and white--then when the critic and the discouraged part comes up--it is very difficult to counter it.Also, it is easy to go from a fuzzy kind of (ungrounded) feeling when we let go of precepts and rules to fuzzy eating.The main point of the eating log is to find the positive in anything you do with this--even if it's pausing for one second before eating out the entire refrigerator. If that were the case you could write, "well I did eat the entire contents--but I paused for one second before doing this. That's a lot better than last week. Wow. I'm making progress [i always like to use comparisons to highlight some improvement from a prior time.] The writing/thought is deliberately slanted to highlight the positive baby step that I took.There's a lot of positive steps you just wrote about. You are listening to what your body wants! Perhaps you ate and enjoyed it (enjoying one's food is a positive step). You ate something you liked and didn't turn it into a "what the heck" binge. I then set some little goal to work on for the next meal/day (which I might forget about or adjust--but it gives a direction).I might say--I'm doing well with listening to what my body wants. It wants fish sandwiches and ice cream and I ate them with enjoyment without letting the "food police" sabotage the meal. But I stopped at a bit too full--so perhaps I'll see if I can stop a bit sooner.Or perhaps a step could be--I will work on savoring the meal.If you're eating fish sandwich and ice cream --you know (I am telling you this) you can lost weight with that if it is within your body signals. (Also, I believe it is much more stressful and unhealthy for our bodies to overreat (whether that food is spinach or candy)--than it is to eat ice cream or anything else in tune with our signals. Our bodies love moderation.)Also--turn it into a curious somewhat amusing game. I often have eating jags. (Last week I must have eaten the same turkey burger sandwich five days in a row). What's helpful here is to just get curious and watch. It's interesting to see how long the craving for the food will go on--because there is a limit to it. I eventually moved (wow, big change) from turkey burger sandwiches to chicken sandwiches (I'm finding my eating at times is pretty boring--but actually delicious and satisfying too because it's what my body wants).>> Good Evening All,> > > > I'm having a mild crisis of confidence here.> > > > I'm doing everything IE teaches. I'm eating what I think my body is asking> for when it's asking for it without restriction. But at the same time this> feels an awful lot like how I used to eat. I'm not binging per se but> tonight my body ordered up a fried fish sandwich, fries and an ice cream> sundae. If I eat that every night for the rest of my life I'll be dead in a> decade.> > > > I know it's a process and where it's supposed to lead. I guess I just need> some reassurance.> > > > Thanks,> > Jon>