Intuitive eating ? which is best described as eating what you want, when you want, because you feel like eating it (with or without a ?damnit!) ? is a great concept. Sure, it has limitations. One is that superstimuli such as artificial sweeteners, flavor enhancers, and pornographically-delightful foods like chocolate, cupcakes, Mountain Dew, and potato chips often induce us to eat, not for hunger’s sake, but out of an empty pleasure-seeking compulsion (sort of that ?just one more? feeling you get when flipping through channels at the end of an unsatisfying day, or hopping around from site to site on the internet with that subtle whisper for gratification in the back of your mind).
But it’s worth recognizing how much more intelligent our bodies are than our minds when it comes to our physiological needs. A very simple example of this occurred the other day and really made me think. I hadn’t thought about it much before because it is so truly automatic, intuitive, and instinctual.
That simple example is how thirsty you get when you eat salty food. At first glance this seems like nothing. Like no big deal. But truly, the vast system of regulatory mechanisms in our body involved in this simple impulse is humbling.
The human body has a very tight range when it comes to the ratio of fluid to sodium. It wants to maintain that level for optimum health. If you consume salty food, you need more water. If you consume food without salt, you need less water to dilute the small amount of natural sodium found in the food. But our thirst really does a fantastic job of regulating this for us. Thirst is a manifestation of dozens of biochemical communications that result in a little lightbulb going off in our brains that says, ?Damn an ice cold glass of ?x? would really hit the spot right now.
But even something so simple as sodium regulation is highly dependent on you being attuned to the cues your body gives you to drink. The danger arises when we have an external idea about whether water is good or bad for us, or salt is good or bad for us, or whether or not we should drink water with meals, or being told that we could die from dehydration if we don’t drink 6 quarts of water a day while working out in the hot sun (A safety handbook given to Forest Service employees, for example, suggests that one quart of water needs to be consumed every hour when engaged in hard physical labor. My supervisor just about died from doing this once, from inducing severe hyponatremia ? dangerously low sodium levels, out in the middle of frickin? nowhere).
All of this junk is mental interference that clogs up an otherwise well-oiled and sophisticated system. But even the smallest idea can do it, such as thinking that sugar will cause “insidious weight gain” and drinking water instead of Gatorade during intense physical labor/exercise.
It’s also a great example of how something simple and pure, like water, can save your life or be deadly depending on the context. Context is everything, and even water has a long list of ?contraindications? depending on the circumstance. Our bodies are always in flux with changing demands, situations, and a constantly-transforming physiology dependent on something as simple as the time of day. A study mentioned in a book Rob A. sent to me actually showed that the prime determinant in whether a person developed side effects from chemotherapy (such as hair loss) was the time of day that the chemotherapy was given!
As it pertains to water, many people could benefit from drinking more water I’m sure, but give too much water to an infant and it can trigger seizures from low sodium levels, as this study shows.
That study is actually what got me so intrigued by this simple salt and thirst regulation system, as supposedly it is very difficult for those with a low metabolism to retain salt, and low sodium levels can induce seizures. The person I know who has problems with seizures hates water and loves salty food ? and thinks it would be healthier to drink more water and avoid foods with a high sodium content. I think her body probably knows best on this one, and it is no accident that these are her preferences.
Speaking of which, I have made mention several times already of allowing this person’s daughter to eat absolutely everything she wanted starting two months ago. Back then she had severe sleep problems and was wetting the bed 3-4 nights per week. She has not had these problems at all in about six consecutive weeks since she was allowed to turn up her nose at dinner when it didn’t look good and eat massive gobs of ice cream instead. No longer is she forced to clean her plate or eat her vegetables, or meat, or starch, or whatever. And her tastes and cravings have become very well-rounded ? with no more tension and anxiety and battle over eating time either. Intuitive eating can be a great thing.
And you never really know what your body might need to rebalance itself. I just received an email yesterday about many health benefits a person experienced after ditching coconut oil and eating a bunch of mayonnaise instead.
Think about all the mental interference you put up between your body and its natural cravings, impulses, and preferences. Many people notice health improvements when they just step out of the way. And this goes not just for eating, but for everything in life ? certainly the type, duration, and time of day you get some exercise and movement, or the time you wake up, or whether or not you lay down and take a nap in the afternoon.
Stay tuned for a follow-up post to this, as intuitive ?living? is only one tool in the toolbox. As you know, information can help, and investigation (of how you respond to certain foods, drinks, exercises, bedtimes, supplements, etc.) can help even more. Each by itself is limited in its usefulness, but taken together could be a pretty sophisticated way for figuring out how to get and keep your body in a harmonious balance.
How to RAISE YOUR METABOLISM.
I've read so much about how little kids are excellent self-regulators when given whole foods to choose from. Being that I'm a stay at home mom to a 1 and 3 year old, I've been trying to really observe them and learn how they do it (they both self regulate and have strong, lean, healthy bodies, plus they both have hot hands and feet, average temp at the doc. is usually 98.8). They definately go through 'phases' with foods. for example the 1 year old spent about 4 months eating almost exclusively eggs, butter, rice, black beans, avocado and carrots with a smattering of ice cream (this diet pretty much cured her eczema and constipation). But now all she wants is oatmeal, yogurt, carrots, whole wheat pasta (buttered). They eat lots of small meals throughout the day. My 3 year old will binge on dried mango pieces, but neither one will binge on ice cream (they will eat what I give them and just start playing, not come back asking for more). It's pretty amazing. They sleep hard about 10 hours a night, plus naps. They never stop moving and their play provides plenty of sprints, plyometrics, core exercises, etc.
okay, so i have two kids virtually opposite of each other. my 6yo was raised with food naziism and my 21 mo old was not. ever. she self regulates so amazingly and i love watching her do that b/c it really is impressive. the older one is seriously picky when it comes to food. he won't touch anything that looks funny or has any green things sticking to it. when he was little he tried everything and now he won't try most things if his life depended on it. we have battles about food every single day. the severity of the battle depends on how i am feeling and so if i am a good mama and i take care of myself by eating enough then i am calmer and more relaxed about his food choices. if i don't take care of myself, then the missiles start firing. anyway, would allowing this child to just gorge on whatever he wants for a while cure his pickiness? i guess i start to worry that he won't get all the nutrients he needs b/c he won't touch milk and would live on pizza if he could. the little one is still nursing so i guess she is getting all she needs easily for the time being. (side note: matt, i would love for you to do a post on how we are to get all of the necessary vitamins and minerals from food on a daily basis)
anyway, neither kid has any health issues and both are strong, intelligent, full of energy and sleep quite well. except for the little one still needing a night nursing. so i guess aside from being a little too skinny, the picky one is doing okay. for now. my hope is that health issues don't start to crop up in the future. but i guess we can cross that bridge when we get there. ;)
Looking forward to this discussion. What I'm most curious about is how we develop these intuitions in the first place and how 'accurate' they are. What if the food I need most is a food I've never eaten – will my body 'know' what's in it due to smell or evolutionary whatever?
Does consciously learning about micronutrients have any effect on what you crave? Or does it just mess it up?
I'm glad you're posting about this subject, Mateo. I think it's quite an art to remember our instincts, and it has taken me years of self-observation and learning from others to regain some semblance of what I had as a child. I actually found watching old home videos of myself as a kid incredibly helpful.
For some good stuff on body awareness, check out the Feldenkrais method of learning or the Alexander technique. Both are great ways to get back in tune with the body. As for intuitive eating, I think the body regains this intelligence once junk has been out of the diet long enough and macronutrients aren't restricted. True openness is required because, as you said, our minds can play tricks on us!
I hope to be writing more about this in the future, as I think it has been one of the essential ingredients in my health pursuits.
@ Jannis or anyone else from Germany
I'm selling 1kg of beef gelatine on eBay. Auction starts from 1?
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180672865500
@team smith, I would try it if I was you- kids do pretty well on their own when we just get out of their way (something I'm still working on!). If you have healthy choices around the house, not a lot of packaged junk, then they are going to be getting good stuff anyway. At our house we have a three bites rule. The kids have to TRY three bites of everything (one for their mouth, one for their brain and one for their tummy) and if they still don't want to eat it… they don't. It works for us because there are no battles over food.
Hey Matt – Sounds like the Maxwell Maltz Diet? :)
Getting out of our way so powerful in life. I feel like that's one of my main jobs as a parent is just help my kids nurture their nature and interrupt weird loops of negativity or anxiety that they can get stuck in.
That being said. My first born is awesome at self regulating. He's active, eats well, loves his meat & eggs, veggies, and has a real moderate taste for junk food. He'll have a couple chips and save the rest of the bag for later. He can have one or two cookies even if the whole package is in front of him with nothing else stopping him.
We introduced sweets to him at about 3.5 years old. He did not really know what they were before that. His younger sister tasted them much earlier in her life since they were around. She has a wacked out appestat: She'll eat ice cream, cookies, and candy all day if we let her.
That being said – she does seem to be the sharper of the two kids so maybe the sugar is helping her brain. But I don't think pure "instinctive eating" would work for her. Her instincts are a bit haywire…
I told my wife last night I was sick of trying to eat this or that and worrying about how it affected me. I'm just going to eat breakfast and lunch out at work till I'm sick of it and see what happens. For the past month all I've ate and had time to cook is some variation of steamed rice, baked potato, and fruit/fruit juice with the occasional Texas bacon cheesesteak w/ double browns.
About the only time I get thirsty after a meal is at a restaurant (like for instance this morning I have been drinking constantly ever since an hour after eating my covered and chunked hasbrowns) or when I cook fried potatoes and load em up with a bunch of salt. Also when I eat ice cream I always get really thirsty.
I work outside in 90+ degree and 80%+ humidity weather and also am extremely hot natured. I rarely can drink enough to keep from getting headaches and feeling weak. If it's going to be really bad hot I will have to start drinking early in the morning to get a head start just to keep ahead of my body. One thing I've noticed about this is that if I wait till I'm thirsty to drink then it's always too late. I don't know if my TRENS (thirst response and notification system) is malfunctioning or if I should have been born WAY up north in one of those Yankee states like TN.
The more carbs I eat, the more protein I crave, and it's been that way my whole life. When I was little I ate lots of cereal but also lots of meat/fish. I would never order/eat pasta meals, because I felt I was "withering away."
It's funny: mental 'stuff' is probably really helpful if someone's in a situation where they're hooked on junk. But I guess at some point you have to toss the ladder away: you get to a point where that method has served its purpose. There's so much emphasis on scheduling and routine, and it can be scary to step out of them. But good.
Jim: I had never eaten durian and the first time that I smelled it, my whole body was so viscerally attracted–I had to have it. For about two years afterward, if I didn't eat my fill of it I'd be dreaming of it at night and constantly craving it. Seemed like a very 'instinctive' thing…
I wonder if superstimuli like chocolate overload the intuitive food impulses.
Lots of cool comments. I noticed that when I have a low fat dinner, baked beans, rice, veggies, and maybe some chicken breast, I'll crave ice cream later on. I had wondered if that was due to my body NEEDING more fat versus my body being used to a certain amount and just trying to maintain the status quo.
John,
Same here. I can't eat starch wihout protein. As a kid, I always wanted meat or cheese an hour after my mother had made us pasta. I was always disappointed when there was something without meat or cheese for dinner or lunch.
Carbohydrates are said to reduce our need for protein, and short-term experiements on nitrogen balance show that you need less protein with high carb to have a positive nitrogen balance. But I don't think that has much to do with reality. I feel crappy without enough protein, although my nitrogen balance might be positive.
I have 3 or 4 friends who are naturally lean. Not one of them has ever followed a diet…in fact, they think I am either weird or funny with all my nutritional theories of the moment. I would say each of them is a 100% intuitive eater. They eat what they want…but seem to self-regulate well and without thinking about it. They may have an extra-big meal one day but will not feel like eating much for hours and hours after. I think on average their calorie consumption is moderate. They eat "everything they want" except that overall, they don't really want all that much. And also, every one of them has the capacity to put on weight (temporarily), usually in situations where they have to over-ride their natural instinct to eat. For example, one of my friends went on a back-packing trip, staying with various families, and she said she ate more than she really wanted to in order not to offend the hosts…and put on 25 lbs. So I think one of the reasons naturally slim people are that way is they don't have hang ups about "good" vs "bad" food, and they listen to their appetites. And by doing that, they don't over-eat.
Yeah, my cravings have to be deciphered I think. I was craving tamari almonds yesterday. Nuts aren't on my phase one food list. I ate a few anyway. Halfway through my eating them I realized it wasn't the nuts. I really wanted SALT! The nuts were just a vehicle. I craved them because they are filed pretty availably in my salty foods data base in my brain, so it was my go-to food when my body wanted salt.
My nutrition guy told me to get some Morton's Pickling Salt. Said even the Celtic salt might not be salty enough and might be inflammatory due to iron content (my Celtic salt is very dense, damp, grey and minerally).
My crave-o-meter is off from years of believing that any thing I craved must be bad and I must be a demon for wanting food considering how fat I was and oh-how-dare-I feed myself.
Glad this generation of parents, if they can resist the anti-obesity hysteria, are more willing to let their children's appetites speak for their children's needs.
I hope to heal my intuition so I can rely on it more directly without all the translating and deciphering!
I have mixed feelings about intuitive eating. On one hand I eat intuitively and have found that it helps alot. The other day after being frustrated at yet another failed high-carb attempt I just had a lean steak for dinner. I instantly was put in a great mood and had a good night's sleep. Ignoring whatever minutae about inflammatory amino acids or not enough carbs, or cortisol, glucagon, blah blah. The following morning I had some juice since that's what I felt like and safely ignored the dangers of fructose or whatever.
On the other hand I have a niece with celiac's who _loves_ anything with wheat. Letting her eat whatever she wanted would be totally dangerous. It's hypothesized the wheat proteins have opiate-like effects in the brain, so like the hyper-stimulating chemicals and food additives it can break the intuitive eating process.
Ela,
that's super interesting about your experience with durian. What happened later? Did you just get tired of it? Perhaps that means you had topped up on whatever nutrient you initially needed, or that you were getting too much of something else in the durian.
Talking of thirst whenever I eat a large portion of potatoes I get incredibly thirsty – I cannot get enough water for 2 – 3 hours after consuming them. The same amount of rice, etc. doesn't cause this – just potatoes. Does anyone else experience this? Any ideas why? It puts me off eating potatoes to be honest.
My 4 and 6 year old have such different food preferences – one loves meat and fruit and anything with sugar in it and hates pizza, the other loves stodgy stuff like pizza and pasta with cheese and the only meat she will eat is bacon and just likes a little sweet. It is fascinating. I was much more stressed out whilst pregnant with my second child so wonder if she needs the sugar more that the first one. Who knows. I wonder what happens along the way to change an intuitive eating child into a messed up eating adult. Perhaps it all begins with that first ever diet/food restriction and grows from there. I pray my two don't fall into that huge trap.
@ Dinosaur – I wonder, too, where we take the wrong turn out of childhood. For me, what immediately pops into mind is Catholic school. We weren't allowed to go to recess unless we ate everything on our plates (under strict supervision of nuns, of course). So just about every day I pulled a Shawshank and stuck the turnips in my pockets and would later drop them in the grass on the edge of the playground. (Conversly, I'd save my communion wafer in my pocket and, after school, would find a hiding place and savor it…weird). Also remember being forced to sit at the table until I cleared my plate (I still can't eat corndogs, those were the worst, so I found a way to sneak those into the garbage, too).
Thanks for the feedback guys.
Yves-
There's no question that intuitive eating can go awry, but there's also no question that for many, intuitive eating is a far more successful way of approaching nutrition – especially in today's modern world where it really and truly isn't functional to be on some avoidance diet.
Ela-
When I've been underfed is when I crave fatty, sugary things the most.
John and Jannis-
My whole life I've been a sugar lover more than anything else. I would have eaten toast with jam or breakfast cereal washed down with orange juice every meal if I could have.
Dinosaur – Maybe it's the potassium in the potatoes and your body is trying to dilute it. There's a good guess for ya.
i think the intuitive eating goes away as we are inundated with dieting messages the older we get. while my mother never put us on diets per se and we were fed a variety of good and "bad" foods, she began to collect diet books, the kind to help you get healthy not necessarily lose weight, and every magazine had articles in them promising some kind of miraculous makeover if you just ate and exercised a certain way. being a type A first born personality i was completely drawn to these messages and they began to slowly push out my instinctive eating habits, if i even had them to begin with. parents play a huge role, i am sure. like the parent who switches the milk from whole to 2% when the child is 2 b/c that's what 'you must do or else you will have an obese child.' or when kids go to school and their sack lunches or lunches they used to eat at home don't compare to the tasty junk they can now get. if there is not enough fresh and wholesome and homemade food in the home what choice do children have but to fill up on cheap junk with feel-good chemicals?
i don't think intuitive eating is possible for me ever again. i would be fooling myself if i thought that i could allow myself to eat what my body truly needed to be healthy. i have so much information swirling around up in my brain that i will never be able to look at all food equally. like today i went out and bought bananas b/c of a few things i was reading online where people talked about eating bananas for potassium. so now i think, 'oh, man, i must need potassium, too!' i enjoyed eating them, but it wasn't as if i was thinking i really would love a banana right now.
quite frankly, pasta is what i want most of the time. i have taken my temp the last few days after meals and it is highest like 99.5 and 98.6 after a big old plate of gnocchi. i eat it b/c i love it and it really makes me feel good and calm, but in the back of my head i am still thinking how "bad" pasta is supposedly and i really should be eating something different that isn't so refined. i hate the smell of butter cooking so i only make things with butter for my kids b/c i know it is good for them. i forced myself to eat loads of it for about 4 years but i always had to cover it up. now if i eat a potato, which does not sound good to me in the slightest these days, i only put a smidgen of butter and lots of cheese. the only way i like butter is cold on a piece of good italian or french bread. again, my head telling me i will surely die an early death if i eat that stuff too often! but i also worry that if i don't eat lots of butter i will also do harm. i could live in italy–i love italian food! and also right now i `prefer shrimp over any kind of meat. i sometimes wonder if it's a mental game where i read about what i need to eat to get a certain health outcome and then my brain tells my body to go eat that food even if before i really wouldn't have cared for it.
Dear Organism as a Whole,
Wow. That was some long-ass comment about salt.
My nutrition guy did not say to get the Morton's for its mineral content. He told me to get it because it DIDN'T have iron. Morton's is just pure salt. My body needs to get salt from the salt, not 86 minerals. He said I can get the minerals from shellfish.
Thanks for the time you put into your reply.
Team Smith-
Pretty much a classic comment there. I go through the same thing. I seem to feel best snacking on cookies throughout the day and sipping orange juice. It's hard for the mind to conceive of it being possible that it is healthier. But part of intuitive eating is changing what you eat as your tastes and preferences change. Eat enough pasta and you'll want something else. I do fantastic on white flour products like pasta, bread, bagels, etc. though. I'd be kidding myself if I said I didn't.
Don't say gno to gnocchi!
Another interesting tidbit that comes from the intuitive eating camp is to really try to tune into how your body feels before, during, and after eating. The goal is to tune into the body, and keep the mind out of the picture as much as possible. They also insist that you pay attention to what you're eating and not to eat mindlessly in front of a television or something like that. All of these are probably good tips, and enable even a hardcore junk food addict to be able to stop eating the junk at the point where physiological hunger ends.
Matt,
I loved sugar for most of my youth but felt bad/sick to my stomach without significant meat, and I had cavities in my baby teeth. I also had acne for like two years. Despite my love for ice cream, candy, cereal, etc, I didn't really eat starch. I never ate pasta and rarely ate potatoes or rice. Now I can't handle the sweetness of things like orange juice. I only eat potatoes with lots of butter, and I still don't even really like them. I eat chunks of butter while I add it to them. Sushi rice is pretty good though.
Intuitive eating will not work for 99% of people who have any sort of weight or food issues. If you have the body comp and health that you want naturally without having to try then it will work, if not, then it probably won't.
It doesn't make much sense to me that our natural instincts should match up with the artificial world we live in. If you lived in nature, with no access to modern foods, then intuitive eating would be a good idea.
Most of my friends that I grew up with have become overweight. Even the ones that used to be lean naturally when we were younger started gaining steadily once we hit mid twenties. They haven't gone on diets EVER, and have
always eaten intuitively. It did not work for them. I know plenty of fat little kids who eat intuitively and have never dieted.
John & Jannis,
I am the same when it comes to high carb low protein diets. If I have lots of carbs without enough protein I start gettin really hungry for meat and fat. Actually, eating lots of carbs without protein will just make me hungrier than not eating at all, especially in the morning. I also get weak and fatigued without enough protein.
Matt,
I wonder if your teeth problems are due to a protein deficiency? Aren't rotted out teeth the main problem fruitariana have?
I hope you figure it out before you do irrepairable damage to yourself. You have probably swung to to far into dietary extremism again. You have a history of doing this frequently, and as you have already experienced, this is not healthy.
The thing is, intuitive eating doesn't square with the hyperpalatable food theory, as hyperpalatable food will overwhelm the body's natural sense for what it needs. That is, eating modern foods intuitively will inevitably lead to eating junk food.
What really makes this tricky is that it's very difficult to evaluate how food really affects you, since I suspect that short term and long term effects can be radically different.
For example, let's say that you are a junk food addict who's avoided junk food for a week. You now feel lousy because you're essentially in flavor withdrawal, so you start to think that healthy food doesn't work for you. And then you eat a bag of Doritos, get a dose of MSG-induced opioids, and feel much better in the short term. Both rationally and emotionally, this reinforces the Doritos-is-good-for-me feeling. In the longer run, it's not true, just as ever-increasing amounts of heroin make the junkie feel worse most of the time.
Do people feel & sleep better when salting their foods more because a) they're in legitimate sodium deficiency, b) their body has acclimated to so much salt that they now require it, or c) salt enhances flavor so much that it turns pretty much any food into a highly rewarding food that releases opioids and thus makes them feel temporarily better? I dunno. I'm starting to think c). I believe I've read that primitive people introduced to salt initially dislike the taste, but quickly start to like (and crave) it.
On the other hand, it's clearly absurd to say that we should eat foods that have no reward, as we've evolved to enjoy flavors for very good reasons. My guess is that there is a natural threshold of flavor that we can cope with just fine, and it's probably easiest to stay under that by eating whole, natural foods, which don't have an artificially high amount of flavor. Eating intuitively within this set is probably optimal.
And incidentally, I haven't had a comment dropped in a while, whereas before it was like ~75% were getting dropped. Blogger's fixed?
@Jim–Matt's response to what I said was accurate: I was at somewhat of an extreme of anorexia the first time I smelled durian, thus underfed to the max… I don't know what about durian's sulphurous smell would have told my body that it was a fatty and sweet food, though… Anyway, since I was anorexic, initially I never ate my fill of it (hence the dreams and jonesing). But I got my fill of it traveling in Thailand, and then a few times when I lived in HI. When I ate higher fat, I didn't feel like I needed it as much.
Intuitive eating including noticing how you feel afterwards per Matt: that also gives some pause with durian-eating–I don't always feel great after chowing down on a bunch of it, and that became more apparent with greater quantities consumed. Also makes me (and everyone else I've talked to) very thirsty.
But, it fills the 'creamy pudding' slot that was my favorite kind of food as a kid, besides fruit.
zogby:
I know that my taste for salt drops off at some point. Salty foods don't taste good anyone once I've eaten enough. Salt Licks have been around for a very long time, not sure that it's all that modern.
Catching up a little tonight. Got through the comments of this post…
JT, really good commentary of late. Although I didn't agree with everything, many of your comments made for good discussion.
But with regard to intuitive eating, what you described above, IMO, is "mindless eating" like I talked about before, not really "intuitive" eating — huge difference.
Just another opinion…
I think the idea of intuitive eating as generally understood is problematic at best.
Intricately tied in with all our perceptions about particular foods, or anything at all we perceive via our senses, are all the beliefs about the particular thing (food), not to mention all the experiences, associations, cultural influences, upbringing, etc, etc.
That there is an independent, objective 'perceiver' that can look on and adjudicate through all this, what is inutitive and what is not, seems unlikely.
Thats not to say, that certain bodily signals like a dry throat, or bloating, or burping, bowel movements or many, many other occurences are not signals that can be acted on.
But the idea that one can throw the knowledge one believes about what foods to eat or not eat (together with all the other background influences mentioned above) out the window and just rely on intuition, I think is just not possible within the intricate human neuro-map makeup.
For what its worth, I suspect more and more research will be devoted to the neuro-chemical responses and so-called reward theories of food choice.
As for RRARFing, like Matt, I still believe in its relevancy as well. If for no other reason, RRARF is crucial, at the very least, to free people from food phobias AND from *calorie* phobia — which (I believe anyway) is a key breakthrough to get to *true* intuitive eating. With RRARFing, you eventually get to a point where you can start really listening to your body's cues and *trusting* your cravings. If you eat everything (fat, protein, starch, sugar, fiber, fruit, veggies, dairy, meats, seafood, legumes, grains, nuts, junk foods–all in the context of a nutritionally sufficient diet as a whole) and a lot of everything for a while, then eventually your body will start to crave the things it needs and less and less the things it doesn't.
This is why many of us stop craving (as much) junk foods and start to prefer real and home cooked foods over fast-food and "food products." But we also learn to stop depriving ourselves of *any* foods, junk or otherwise, when we do crave them. This makes all the difference. But you have to actually *listen* to your body before and after you eat. You can't just *mindlessly* eat junk food all day sitting in front of the computer or TV or snacking at your desk at work, for examples, and call it "intuitive eating" or expect to get the same results as when you truly eat intuitively.
People tend to way over think the intuitive eating concept.
I differ somewhat from (but I know it was well-meaning) JT's comment about Matt and his "maturing" as JT called it, in response to what Rosenfelt said.
Call it what you want, but it takes a hellava set of balls for Matt to not only accept when he might be wrong but also *openly* admit it on the world wide web for all to see on a regular basis — in the interest of truth. And in his unique 180 style of "getting excited about new theories" and then "breaking them down" — rather than putting all efforts into only trying to prove and defend theories no matter what — like most others do.
No, instead, after some trials and errors, Matt does a 180 and often says, "Ah screw it. I was wrong. Moving on." Impressive!! I can't think of one other person in the field of health and nutrition that does this. This is what makes Matt, his open-mindedness, his talent, his work stand out from the rest. And that's what makes his blog the best damn blog of its kind on the world wide web! Period. :-)
This is 180 Degree Health. If people can't handle the 180s, then they're in the wrong place. Feel free to go somewhere where they stick to and defend their dogmatic beliefs no matter what — where you don't have to think for yourself. There's certainly plenty of them out there to choose from lol!
Otherwise, follow along with Matt in his never-ending search for his truths as he breaks through the walls of dogmas. And maybe, just maybe, you'll find some of your own truths as you go. Of course he's gonna discover he was wrong here and there along the way — like the rest of us. But at least when Matt sees where he might have gone wrong, he accepts it, he does a 180, and he shares what he learned from it with all of us — even though it means opening himself up to regular bustin' of his balls. But that's okay, he can take it :-)
MATT: You want answers?
Critic: I think I'm entitled to them.
MATT: You want answers?
Critic: I want the truth!
MATT: You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls of dogmas. And those walls have to be broken down by men with truths. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Mr. Critic? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for past beliefs and you curse my 180s. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know; that the death of past beliefs, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives…You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.
We use words like intuitive eating, RRARF, sex drive (wink)… we use these words as the backbone to a life spent seeking the *truths* to good health (and sex drive-ha!). You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a anyone who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very dogmatic freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!
Critic: Did you do a 180?
MATT: (quietly) I did the job you sent me to do.
Critic: Did you do a 180!
MATT: You're goddamn right I did!! And I'll do it again!
P.S. I wanted to use Top Gun (love it!) but A Few Good Men worked better. But… I'm sure I'll find ops to slip in some Top Gun later ;-)
Okay, one more… for Rob :-)
Rob, you know I had to give you a shout out! Awesome commentary, of course. You've mentioned Ran a few times now so I'm gonna have to check him out soon! Hope all is going great for you up in NYC! :-)
Rob wrote (to Matt)…
"I don't want you to apologize for getting excited about stuff and then trying to poke holes in it. Awesome. I will keep on pointing out where I think you're acting dismissive in an unwarranted way, though. Because like I mentioned before, I want this 180 thing to be the best it can be, and I'd rather poke holes in your work and have you patch 'em up than have others do it and write you off."
Ah, purest expression of integrity and truth is in expectation of the same…
And what a compliment of you, Matt, for peeps (I for two) to come to have –and want for you– such high expectations of you, eh? :-)
AS, (which stands for Aaron Sorkin, apparently)
Excellent. I read one of this site's old posts recently, and it was about how fiber was terrible, and I was amazed at the 180. But then, if I had been around here at the time, and I believed that fiber was terrible, then I might have a harder time with it.
@KP,
Oh, I'm not saying that salt is a problem. I'm just wary of 'I ate more salt, and it made me feel better.' Because I think it's quite possible that the short term and long term effects of food aren't the same.
It's pretty remarkable how much salt some people add to their food. I tend to think it's not because their body is really that salt deficient, but rather that they're that flavor tolerant. And flavor tolerance goes away if you eat less seasoned food for a little way.
Sorry for the off topic, but I really wanted some input. I have been eating monotonously for the last week- just potatoes and eggs to appetite. My weight went down, then up, then down, then up: net weight loss in a week, a pound and a half. I had gained 20 pounds in 4 months using an IUD, got that removed, then stayed at the same weight for a month. I just decided to try eating the same thing, hoping it would help with weight loss. Do you think the hormones are hanging on, still making it so I can't lose weight? Or is 1 1/2 pounds just the beginning and I should keep on keeping on? I think I remember JT talking about getting hormones tested- how and where do you do that, and would that be a good next step for me? Any insight would be appreciated!
Chanelle, a couple quick comments…
First, unless you're very heavy, 1.5lbs per week of bodyfat is probably too much, and not sustainable without your thyroid shutting down. 1.5-2lbs a week is the upper limit for very heavy people without sacrificing a ton of lean muscle mass.
This is important because muscle mass keeps your metabolism high, plus if you just lose weight recklessly you'll end up a smaller version of what you look like now and just as unhappy with your appearance.
People always try to lose weight too fast. No wonder so many screw up their hormones and then get fat–and unable to lose the weight again.
1lb per week is probably a good baseline for you so you're truly losing fat and not lean mass.
Also, weight loss is in no way linear. Some weeks you'll go 2 or even 3 weeks with no change, then the next week you'll have lost 5 lbs all of the sudden. This is normal.
You need to stick with something for at least a month or so to see if it's working for you IMO. Then look at the results and re-assess.
Just keep an eye on your temps (not just morning as that can be unreliable, some people are just colder in the morn) and have fun with it.
Good luck!
Michael, thanks for the reply. I don't have that much to lose, 25-30 pounds. And you're right about all that- I've been in the fitness industry for years (currently own a yoga studio and teach there) and I agree about the importance of keeping your muscle mass, making sure you're losing fat, etc. I guess my big concern (besides impatience!) is the going up and down thing. I haven't had a scale in years though, is that pretty normal? I weigh myself at the same time every morning. I am glad the scale is finally moving, but I'm concerned that hormones are causing me to gain back what I've lost and to lose slowly (although you're probably right that it's not too slow). These were my numbers last week: 159.5, 157, 156.5, 158, 159, 158, 157, 158 So just slightly down and slightly up. Maybe I should just stop weighing myself every day! i just want to know that I'm on the right track, doing something that is going to work for me!
Chanelle, I think Michael's response was great. And surely once a week should be plenty for weigh in, considering that it's so non-linear. I don't weigh myself at all because of crazybrain, but I know that I couldn't stand more than once a week…
It seems like the more I read the more I'm confused. I don't even know what to eat. Since I started eating fruit, (or since it's gotten hotter, one of the two or a combination) starch makes me feel lethargic. Yet if I strictly eat fruit, I start craving starch and fat. Maybe I just need to try the FF (fruit and fat) diet. What could I eat on that?
Maybe I'm just depressed because I'm cutting out my beloved milk. I don't know. I just need a hug. I wish Matt didn't live so far away.
I need a hug too. I wish I had never RRARF'ed, to be honest. I'm left with ten extra pounds that are making me miserable and I'm more f-ed up than ever in my attitude towards food. It's good/it's bad/it's nothing to worry about….
I'm going to lose my mind I think. I know losing weight by cutting down on calories won't fix anything but it seems like the only thing that might help.
Cyber hugs to Johnny Lawrence and anonymous! And Ela, "crazybrain" must be my problem. I think I will have my hubby put the scale up high where I can't reach just in case I get any ideas. And I'm going to try your idea of a cheat day once a week. I think it's needed for sanity as much as for any metabolic boost it may give.
I totally get what you're saying, anon. I kept feeling like that too, that's why I finally tried eating monotonously. In theory, it's not supposed to mess with your metabolism like calorie restriction does, and I felt like, at least it's SOMETHING I can try!
I agree with JT. Intuitive eating will not work for most people in a modern western food environment. Our intuitions are to gorge on fatty, salty, sugary, umami-laden foods. When we come into contact with them we really enjoy eating them and so we eat a lot. At the same time our appetite is triggered to rise to take advantage of their probably limited availability. The problem is that in the current environment these foods are always available. Our intuitions lead us astray. This is not 'mindless' eating as some here want to say. This is intuitive eating. Many people seem to want to believe that our bodies have this infinite wisdom contained within them that we can tap into if we just get out of the way. Wrong! Our bodies were designed by evolution to survive and reproduce in environments that were very different than the one in which we now live. That is all!! There is no infinite wisdom. Very specific cravings may indicate a nutrient deficiency or a current need for some nutrient but they may not. If we could rely on our intuition we would find 0mega-6 disgusting after our tissue concentration of 0mega-6 rose too high. We don't because we didn't need such a mechanism in our ancestral environment. If our intuition was reliable our appetite would cut off after we had an extra 10 or 15lbs of bodyfat. It doesn't do that because the current environment is different than the one we evolved in. Our intuitions are just evolved inclinations to respond to certain conditions because they tended to improve our survival and/or reproductive success in the ancestral environment. That is all they are. It is exactly these intuitions that lead us to become fat and sick in the first place.
AS… excellent posts. I like JT's input as well. The intuitive eating/naturally lean thing is tricky. The eat whatever you want whenever you want mindset is definitely part of it, but there is more to it.
In my opinion, those that stay more naturally thin eating intuitively have other things going for them. They're part of a social circle that values fresh and natural foods and is more likely to cook and share meals. They're more connected with their food and sense of place and have a deeper appreciation of it. Food is about pleasure, but it's about other things as well. They're more apt to follow common sense (lard comes from the farm, that's what I'll use) as opposed to weird nutritional theories (low-fat, paleo, etc.). There is high amount of awareness and they are in tune with their bodies. There aren't any restrictions, including industrial pornographic foods. And maybe most important, they have other things in their lives that bring them value.
I don't think that list applies exhaustively to any one person, but those are the general trends. The more of those traits any one person has, the thinner/healthier I would expect him/her to be.
Of course having dieted (or low-carb, vegetarian, vegan, whatever), we have disrupted our connection with food. Restoring intuitive eating is tough because I don't think it can be done by focusing on the food itself. There's a distinction to be drawn between being intuitive and simply being mindless and yet I'm not even sure how much it matters.
I used to be a fairly mindless eater… come home from school, plop on the couch, and have Coke and cookies. It never made me fat or unhealthy. But I did eventually get sucked into orthorexia.
I think the best bet is to increase appreciation and gratitude in your life overall, however that may work for you :)
Chanelle, Ela gave a great suggestion of weighing in no more than once a week. Your weight will naturally fluctuate up and down a few pounds either way based on a lot of different factors.
So it's important not to weigh yourself often, and make sure to do so at the same time ever day. I've always tasked people to do so once ever 1-2 weeks, first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom in their undies.
Also, I can't stress enough the importance of taking regular progress pictures at the same time you weigh-in. You may not see changes on the scale, but that doesn't mean your body's not changing. We see ourselves much too often to really use the mirror as a guide, so pictures are a killer tool.
Lastly, weighing yourself less often injects something most people severely lack when dieting: patience. You need to give a plan time to work, and only after doing the same thing for a while and tracking results, then make changes.
This is hard for a lot of people because it takes a certain level of maturity to plug away day after day for a goal that's several months into the future.
AaronF wrote…
"AS… excellent posts. I like JT's input as well. The intuitive eating/naturally lean thing is tricky. The eat whatever you want whenever you want mindset is definitely part of it, but there is more to it."
Aaron,
Thanks and, yes, I agree. I was about to post further clarification of my take on the whole intuitive eating thing, but you already touched on it, so I will just agree with some of your comments quoted below. Yes, there is more to it. And since I talk about it all of the time, I tend to take for granted and assume that people know the context in which I use and view it. It's all about context.
AaronF wrote…
"In my opinion, those that stay more naturally thin eating intuitively have other things going for them."
Yes, exactly! Again, what is often described or mistaken for eating intuitively is anything but "intuitive" eating. Call it what you want or don't want, mindless eating, emotional eating, pleasure eating, eating for entertainment, eating/wanting/craving food just cause you see it, food addiction, eating disorder, binge eating, whatever. Yes, any one or combination of them can mess with us and trick us into thinking we're following our "intuition" when it's actually acting on emotion, etc. (which is why I specified above about getting to a point where you can *trust* your cravings. So I do understand why people are skeptical.
AaronF wrote…
"There is high amount of awareness and they are in tune with their bodies. There aren't any restrictions, including industrial pornographic foods. And maybe most important, they have other things in their lives that bring them value.
I don't think that list applies exhaustively to any one person, but those are the general trends. The more of those traits any one person has, the thinner/healthier I would expect him/her to be."
Yes, again, I agree there. And here too…
"Restoring intuitive eating is tough because I don't think it can be done by focusing on the food itself. There's a distinction to be drawn between being intuitive and simply being mindless and yet I'm not even sure how much it matters."
"I think the best bet is to increase appreciation and gratitude in your life overall, however that may work for you :)"
Having fulfilling and important interests outside of food actually helps cultivate a better relationship with food and your weight/body. This is another crucial factor in the context of effective intuitive eating. It's easier for some than others, but it's very possible. I've seen intuitive eating work for many (including myself) even still in this modern western world.
@chanelle: great, good luck! One amendment, though: I think it's very important to say 'treat day;' not 'cheat day.' I wrote a blog post about that this morning that goes into detail, in case you want my thoughts: ulteriorharmony.blogspot.com/2011/05/blogger-responsibility-and-restricted.html
Yeah, I'd just like to re-emphasize the point made above in case people feel it's irrelevant for them… the idea of actually diverting all this energy into OTHER areas of your life, the things you value on a more fundemental level… the things you don't feel require any control/restricting/TRYING because of their inherent easy value to you… the more intuitive you can be regarding food. When your brain is no longer invested in even thinking about food, all you are left with is body signals to do the work for you, and I've found that things start to fall into place and weight loss occurs naturally, but you shouldn't even be noticing or checking up on yourself.
It's not something I've gotten over by any means, but it's the truest fundemental improvement I've seen over the last couple of years.
As Charles Bukowski's headstone reads: "Don't Try"
A friend of mine saw this on the news and sent this to me because they've heard me talk about how I would love to live in a treehouse. Yes, I said treehouse lol! :-)
How cool is this treehouse?!!
(soon to be featured on MTV Cribs, really lol!)
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/192103/186/Its-a-tree-its-a-house-its–The-Treehouse?
Pay close attention to Sam's last statement at the end of the video. Sooo true!! Embrace your inner child :-)
"When your brain is no longer invested in even thinking about food, all you are left with is body signals to do the work for you, and I've found that things start to fall into place and weight loss occurs naturally, but you shouldn't even be noticing or checking up on yourself."
Yes! That's what I've been *trying* to say lol! Very well said, Anonymous :-)
—
Johnny,
"Don't try."
And here's another hug for you :-)
Chanelle,
Sounds like your natural bodyweight setpoint is around 160 lbs. If you eat to appetite this is how much you are going to weigh. Your body will autoregulate your appetite to maintain this weight. This doesn't mean you have some sort of hormonal disorder. Its not like you have severely abnormal weight. But, i think it is always good to get everything checked out if it is possible.
A mono diet of potatos and eggs is not sustainable, this means it is not a good diet. I eat a very monotonous diet, but it is sustainable and not so limited.
Taylor,
Very well said. Gorging on modern junk food is eating intuitively.
Ela,
I like the change from cheat to treat!
JT,
do you have any suggestions for losing weight in a "healthy way" that will likely put you a bit below your setpoint? Maybe just 10 lbs below? I think I'm 5 lbs above my SP right now
Anonymous,
It would depend on your individual situation and what your current diet, exercise, and bodyweight are?
5lbs isnt much, and if i needed to do it myself I would just up my exercise and decrease my calories slightly. I have found that the best way for me to do it in a healthy way is to make sure I have adequate (not excessive) carbs and protein to prevent a highly catabolic state.
AS–I lived in a treehouse for a while when I lived in HI!
Anonymous on diverting all the food-obsessive energy into other areas: I _love_ this. I was thinking of something similar recently myself.
Recognizing how easy it is for me to go on a very strict and seemingly obsessive food regime, I asked myself whether it wouldn't be a much greater challenge to go on a 'words diet:'–what comes out of my mouth rather than what goes in. I think it would be far harder for me to take on the moment-to-moment challenge of 'being impeccable with my word' (a la the Four Agreements) than it is to go on a very strict diet and stick to it…
Stole my own thunder for an upcoming blog post there, speaking of watching one's words…
anonymous, how do you know you're 10lbs above your weight set point and that the new weight isn't your weight set point?
JT, I gained 20 pounds since having an IUD inserted in January. Before that I was still losing baby weight. I don't think you have quite enough info. to say that 160 is my setpoint. I think it's my got-screwed-up-from-hormones-TEMPORARY-weight. But thanks for the encouragement (that is sarcasm).
After babies 1-3, I ate to appetite, exercised and got back to my natural setpoint of 130-135 within about a year. This time I got an IUD and gained weight.
Jane, I guess you are right. This could be my new set point. If it is, I'm kind of pissed- and I see plenty of people lose weight and keep it off so I don't see a reason why I can't be one of them. Yes, I want to maintain my health but I also feel that my frustration with my appearance is damaging as well.
I got to this weight by RRARFing which was going well but it turned into emotionally eating. I had hit a ceiling of about 7ish lbs less than I am now, except then I started basically binging. That has died down and a couple LBs dropped off but I think the rest won't come off without some coaxing.
I think there is SOME truth to the setpoint, but I really think people can re-set that weight.
So now letting a kid eat as much ice cream as they care for is "intuitive"? What about your older post that was adamant that letting your kid eat macaroni and cheese 3x a day was pure evil?
I really liked your RRARF paper and enjoyed my first winter without freezing. But I can't make heads or tails of your blog posts anymore. If you want your readers to evolve along with you, you have got to give us more information.
Chanelle,
I wasn't trying to discourage you. Im sure you could still lose it if you want, but not by doing what you are doing now. Intuitive eating and eating to appetite do not work for the majority of people who want to change their body comp. The problem isn't you, the problem is that you just have a false belief from the diet industry.
Your appetite is autoregulating around 160, so if you want to change it, you cant just go by appetite. I would need to keep track of your calories for a while and see how much I was taking in. Then see how low I need to take them to get to the weight I want. Then I know how much I can eat to maintain a certain weight. Of course you have to figure in exercise and activity levels as well.
Just because you had a lower setpoint in the past doesnt mean that it is the same now. I used to put on muscle and lose fat without even trying when I was a teenager, but is not as easy now that I am older, and I have to make an effort. Maybe the IUD did some damage like you think. I am always in favor of getting things checked out by a medical professional.
Even if you find out that your hormones are a little wacky now, what will you do? Your choices will be the same. You will have the options of going on drugs, probably for life, or change the way you eat and exercise. I am not against medication and HRT if it is recommended by a GOOD doctor.
frustrated, what were you eating when you emotionally ate? was it junk or whole foods? i find it easy to emotionally eat on processed food but not on whole foods and especially not when i'm including regular balanced meals containing protein, fat & carbohydrates.
i don't have things like chocolate in the house or i would use them to emotionally eat but still have some occasionally.
also, how long have you been doing this new way of eating – to appetite? some people have said it took up to 4 years for their metabolism to heal.
Jane
I'm feeling a little down on the whole intuitive eating thing. It's been great for my kid, but not so much for me. I've had reversals in every key area of progress that I've had in the last two years (colds, allergies, skin issues, digestion issues) since January. I'm thinking of going back to being more careful about what I eat.
As per this discussion, I just found this very awesome thing that Emma Thompson wrote. A letter to her 16 year old self from her 50 year old self:
May 29th 2009
Dear Em (16)
I realise that you are young and in love and that nothing much that anyone old says seems relevant, but seeing as it’s me ? that is, you; that is, us, I think it’s worth a go.
Two Top Tips from 50 to 16:
1) Don’t EVER EVER EVER bother to go on a diet. I know you’re obsessed and have that awful thing of standing in the 6th form canteen trying to choose between a yoghourt & a breathe of fresh air (whilst wanting chips & a cheese salad). Don’t sweat it. Eat regularly, try & avoid rubbish and never diet. You’ll end up the same size anyway, so drop it girl, & drop it NOW. Believe me ? nobody cares. Diets are the best way of confusing your metabolism for the rest of your life. Just be you & get on with it, I cannot tell you how much time & energy you’ll save & how much happier you’ll be.
2) When he says he doesn’t love you, believe him. He doesn’t.
That’s it. All the other mistakes you make are worth their weight in gold.
I love you ? Em (50)
Chanelle, you may want to try maca to help re-balance your hormones. It supposedly helps with getting things back in order, as well as normalizing weight distribution. I would personally try to figure out the hormones and not stress. I agree that eating a potato-egg diet is not sustainable. Maybe try being healthy but adding in veggies, fruits, etc. I'm sure it will just take time for the hormones to balance.
I'm late to this discussion, but I intuitively eat, and it is very different from mindless eating. I eat whatever I want, but pretty much only real food. I don't eat much dessert and never have junk. I have almost no veg. oil (but do eat it if I'm dining out. I'm not restrictive). This is very different from eating whatever, but it's pretty nonrestrictive and it works for me.
As someone else said, you need focus on other things than food. That's huge. Actually, this is pretty much the only food blog I even follow now, and I'm sporadic on it checking a couple times a week only. I find Matt's stuff extremely interesting, but get bored with others now. I would say once you find yourself getting bored with food blogs, then it's a good sign that you're more interested in other stuff.
Why is a potato and egg diet not sustainable until she reaches her desired weight?
amy, didn't it take you 4 years to heal your metabolism?
Amy, I like your thoughts. That is basically how I eat too. Real foods, I pretty much make it all from scratch, lots of veggies, fruits, whole grains, dairy. I'm the same with food blogs. Used to read as many as I could! Now I read this and check The Nourished Life occasionally. What is maca?
Kirk, I think they just mean its not sustainable for life. But the point is to do it to lose weight while NOT screwing up my metabolism in the process. If it works to that end, why not?
Jenny the Nipper, LOVE that quote!
Ela wrote:
"AS–I lived in a treehouse for a while when I lived in HI!"
Musta been awesome. I'd love to (and plan to soon) live anywhere tropical. So a treehouse somewhere like HI sounds like the perfect dream home, to me :-)
Jenny,
Thanks for sharing Emma's letter to herself. Brought tears to my eyes. I know many can totally relate.
And I'll add #3 to that list…
3) When he says you're beautiful just the way you are. Believe him. You are.
I used to be a Nourishing Traditions nazi. But then due to circumstances (pregnancy and a new baby) I was forced to let it all go. I noticed a lot of the problems I had while on the strict diet were gone when I ate what I wanted when I wanted. It was scary to completely let go like that, but I had no choice really. My children have had the same freedom and they are lean. The only one that isn't skinny, has my body type. If I let her eat intuitively, she would eat goldfish crackers and juice all day. But then she will also binge on fruit and broccoli,lol. I have to give her choices, but then regulate them a bit. For instance, she can't stand eating oatmeal no matter what, but she'll eat some toast and fruit instead.
When I can have what I want when I want, I don't eat as much in one sitting and I don't eat as much junk. If I'm restricted, then I want as much as I can have!
The only thing is my body is still overweight. So I'm thinking I will need to help it want more healthy foods.
I can verify that the majority of the struggles I've had with food over my life are mental. I can also say that low carb diets are the devil for me, as they have never ever done anything profitable for my health- ever. The only diet that helped me in any way, was a very high carb and low fat diet. (primarily raw and cooked veggies and fruits with some whole grains etc.)
Welcome back, AS! Nice to have you here again. :-)
Good discussion everyone. I'm thinking of Brock's post about throwing in the towel on the TXNIP experiment, and conceding how tenuous this whole bodyweight regulation/health thing is. Good points all around- the body does seem to have a wisdom that is deep and trustworthy, and we live amidst all sorts of novel options that can throw us off. It's hard for me to clarify exactly what intuitive eating means as opposed to emotional eating. Like you, JT, I know folks I grew up with who were ripped as teenagers who ate fries and ice cream, and even now by mid twenties are putting on fat. They're not paying attention to diet.
Maybe there's a middle ground somewhere between not caring and orthorexia that works well. 80/20 rule or something. Mostly nutritious real food, and a modest amount of treat food when you want it. (Good word choice, Ela!)
Also, as AS and others pointed out, there are others factors not addressed often when food choices are changed or not. The whole discussion of stress and cravings for lousy food makes me wonder about the people I know who are putting on weight nowadays. Mainly they're not thrilled with their lives- which came first? Can you effectively disentangle all that? Obviously we're not foragers living in intact low-tech cultures in vibrant ecosystems anymore. Even if they did have good health, how much, if any, of their lifestyle do we need to emulate to attain that health? Is it all in our heads? I think after getting convinced about becoming a hunter-gatherer, I thought that was the minimum requirement I'd need to meet to feel healthy and happy. But that's tricky to do, and may have been a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is, once I convinced myself that I'd not gone far enough in changing my life to attain happiness, no surprise, I didn't find myself happy.
So again, how to separate this out? Matt's post about Don Gorske had him wondering whether just appreciating and enjoying your food makes it healthy. How does that interact withthe placebo effect,and people convincing themselves of their health, at least for a while (raw vegans, low-carbers, whoever), only to face a moment of reckoning later? What's real there, what's not? How much do these all matter?
Anyway, just riffing. Great ideas everyone.
@Jane, yes it did take 4 years
@Chanelle, Maca is a supplement made from a peruvian tuber. Make sure you get the gelatinized version, not raw maca. Google it and you'll find all sorts of info.
I think it makes a lot of sense, and it's funny how many of us trying to pursue a healthy diet has come on a huge roundabout, from being enlightened about the problems with this/that, to realising that it's time to stop cutting out any food group and demonise the carbs or the fats and just eat and ENJOY it. I went to Rome last week and saw the way the italians eat, and just thought of this video again.
http://mummyicancook.blogspot.com/2011/06/when-in-rome-eat-as-romans-eat.html