Guest guest Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Alana,Isn't it silly???Of course, a deck-of-cards-size piece of meat isn't right for anyone if they aren't hungry, and could cause weight gain if repeated over the long haul... and if they are very hungry, eating only that portion size could backfire, too. Isn't it amazing that they don't teach lessons in learning to honor your hunger??? If we only ate when truly hungry, we wouldn't have weight problems. But instead of using common sense, we try to rely on external rules which are ever so much more complicated than " eat when you are hungry. " It's amazing to me that we, as a society, and also myself, personally, tried diet plans that told me exactly how much I was " allowed " to eat. How could any external source possibly know what I needed to eat? (It's no surprise to me that feeling like I was starving on Weight Watchers led to weight loss for only a brief time before it stagnated... I was in starvation mode!) Eating when hungry is the simplest rule in the world (note: simple does not necessarily equal easy!)... why do we try to outsource this most basic issue??? " food " for thought! abbyIE since 11/08 Last night the gym I go to was doing a free seminar on portions. I didn't sit in as I knew it was the same information I had been bombarded with over the years. But as I was working out on the Arc Trainer with my head phones on, I would occassionally look over and the gal was holding up an apple and a banana and I knew she was talking about what should be the size of these fruits to eat. I think that is so silly to try and portion control fruit! Isn't a piece of fruit a piece of fruit no matter the size? I thought of how Katcha is always talking of internal vs. external control and I just thought of this as so external! I know I didn't get fat over eating fruit for goodness sake! And then she of course had a deck of cards and I know she was talking the " correct " portion of meat. And I thought I am so glad that I can trust my body to tell me how much I need to be eating and that I am away from the obsessivness. Just had to vent. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts! Alana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 The obsessing over portion sizes of fruit and vegetables has always seemed ridiculous to me. It seems like most diets (especially those low carb ones) are always demonizing things like the [deliciously tasty] banana and [super sweet] grapes. I just can't believe that eating a whole large banana or a whole bag of grapes could possibly hurt my health regardless of the calories or carbs or whatever nutrient the diet is demonizing at the time. Why would you discourage someone from eating the whole bag of baby carrots or a handful of clementines? For me it always seemed that if I carefully restricted foods that made me feel good, later in the day I would always end up ravenously hungry in a location that had nothing but a vending machine full of chips I didn't want but I would end up buying and eating the chips because they were the only option. Cheers ~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 You made me smile Alana! I know I still shake my head in wonder at most of the 'diet dictates' people espouse and embrace. Makes me wonder how I could ever think those were 'right' too. Sure it would be convenient to know exactly 'how much' of 'what', but who wants to live a straight jacketed life?!? I can even go so far as saying that perhaps my being a 'different' size/shape than others/ideal really helped me more to remain more true to myself than if I had chased that carrot, make that lettuce leaf (giggles) on a stick that dieting is. Intuitive Exercise away darling! Bet your body hums thank you for it too. ehugs, Katcha > > Last night the gym I go to was doing a free seminar on portions. I didn't sit in as I knew it was the same information I had been bombarded with over the years. But as I was working out on the Arc Trainer with my head phones on, I would occassionally look over and the gal was holding up an apple and a banana and I knew she was talking about what should be the size of these fruits to eat. I think that is so silly to try and portion control fruit! Isn't a piece of fruit a piece of fruit no matter the size? I thought of how Katcha is always talking of internal vs. external control and I just thought of this as so external! I know I didn't get fat over eating fruit for goodness sake! And then she of course had a deck of cards and I know she was talking the " correct " portion of meat. And I thought I am so glad that I can trust my body to tell me how much I need to be eating and that I am away from the obsessivness. > Just had to vent. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts! > > Alana > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Well...maybe " we " do it (diets and not following the eat when hungry pattern) b/c we can't control our emotional eating very well and yet we want to lose weight...so we head to diets sorry..i know it's not what we all want to hear on an IE forum..I just know how my brain works and that is how I got into the diet mentality. I'm happy to be out...but ... I am having a very difficult time controlling the emotional eating aspects and hate that I can't lose weight... I want to eat only when hungry, truly I do. But eating a handful of pretzals is so much easier sometimes:( Jen > > > > > > > Last night the gym I go to was doing a free seminar on portions. I didn't > > sit in as I knew it was the same information I had been bombarded with over > > the years. But as I was working out on the Arc Trainer with my head phones > > on, I would occassionally look over and the gal was holding up an apple and > > a banana and I knew she was talking about what should be the size of these > > fruits to eat. I think that is so silly to try and portion control fruit! > > Isn't a piece of fruit a piece of fruit no matter the size? I thought of how > > Katcha is always talking of internal vs. external control and I just thought > > of this as so external! I know I didn't get fat over eating fruit for > > goodness sake! And then she of course had a deck of cards and I know she was > > talking the " correct " portion of meat. And I thought I am so glad that I can > > trust my body to tell me how much I need to be eating and that I am away > > from the obsessivness. > > Just had to vent. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts! > > > > Alana > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 I understand the desire to lose weight. I think multiple times every day how I would *love* to lose weight. But it's important to counteract this sort of thinking, b/c the very first principle of Intuitive Eating is to " Reject the Diet Mentality. " I think it's almost impossible to let go of guilt and treat ourselves with the gentleness and patience required to learn about our needs and explore ourselves on this journey if the end goal is to lose weight. I find it really hard to resist the gut reaction that losing weight will fix everything, but if know deep down that if I fix my relationship with food everything else will follow. Be gentle with yourself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 I know compared to most here, I'm very new to IE but I don't think the desire to lose weight (through IE) and the "reject the diet mentality" are the same thing at all. As far as what I've read so far, practicing IE and being committed to it go hand in hand with weight loss, which I've also seen written as "return to the body's natural weight". In fact, so far, everything I've read points to weight loss. I know for me, I haven't seen progress in weight loss because I haven't quite got down the eat when hungry, quit when full thing properly. I don't see trying harder at it to be going back to diet mentality. I see it as a commitment to getting healthier and healing my relationship with food that I do expect will lead to weight loss. Sunny Re: Portions I understand the desire to lose weight. I think multiple times every day how I would *love* to lose weight. But it's important to counteract this sort of thinking, b/c the very first principle of Intuitive Eating is to "Reject the Diet Mentality." I think it's almost impossible to let go of guilt and treat ourselves with the gentleness and patience required to learn about our needs and explore ourselves on this journey if the end goal is to lose weight. I find it really hard to resist the gut reaction that losing weight will fix everything, but if know deep down that if I fix my relationship with food everything else will follow. Be gentle with yourself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 This is all true, but the point I was trying to make is that focusing on weight loss can really work against the larger goals of IE. It wouldn't be the number 1 principle if it didn't; weight loss is not our magic solution, healing our issues with food and disordered eating is. -- Sent from my iPhone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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