Nutrition What's Your Goal With the Way You Eat?

[Pavel Macek]

Hello,

I'd choose all of them !But I'd add pleasure of eating something good as well

Kind regards,

Pet'

My Chinese teachers always say: "People eat to live. We Chinese live to eat." And guess what - they are all lean and mean. Cantonese cuisine - good stuff.

 

[Steve Freides]

I don't enjoy food anymore and that's a problem.

Why is this a problem? I've never been someone who takes great pleasure in food - I eat when I'm hungry, and I certainly enjoy a good meal now and then, but I also have days when I graze (little bits to eat every now and then) due to my schedule and it doesn't bother me, either. It's nourishment - whether or not it's pleasurable and to what degree isn't important to keeping you healthy.

I'd describe my own eating as circumstance based. Yesterday, after leaving my weight lifting meet, I had a couple of sandwiches my wife had me in the car on the way home, and I was still hungry, so we stopped when we got about an hour from home at a diner I've driven by many times but never gone into. Call it curiosity eating, if you like, and since I was hungry, I had enough lunch for two people. It was my "splurge" or "cheat" day or whatever else you want to call it, but I haven't had a day like that in months and don't particularly want or need to have another except if it seems to happen on its own.

You don't need to enjoy food, you need to eat food. For that matter, you don't need to enjoy lifting, but you need to be strong.

JMO, YMMV.

-S-

 

[LukeV]

Why is this a problem? I've never been someone who takes great pleasure in food

My father opens the fridge and makes a sandwich (his usual meal) out of whatever he sees. The combinations are endless and, to be honest, quite stomach churning. When I ask him, "Does that taste nice?", he replies, with a quizzical look, "It's just food!"

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

Why is this a problem? -S-

Well I'll list the problems with my current eating plan below. This will go into my state of mind too about eating :

1. I still have a good deal of stubborn fat I've been trying to get off for a year or two now. I've been following the same eating style. If I want to change I have to change my eating. I want to transform my physique.
2. I'm always poking and prodding my body while looking in mirrors. Always checking my stomach to see how much fat I have. I always feel fat.
3. I'm overly restrictive with my food choices. I can't have anything during the day without feeling guilty or bad about myself. I routinely turn down lunch/breakfast/dinner with my family and friends because of my eating schedule. It's not healthy FOR ME. This kind of OCD and emotional disorder runs in my family.
4. I become obsessed with plans and routines and feel REALLY bad about myself when I deviate from them.
5. I just want to be able to enjoy a sandwich for lunch without feeling guilty about combining foods improperly or eating bread.
6. It's worth a shot to see if this coach will help me transform into something better.

I'm not saying this eating plan isn't good. Just it isn't good for me right now. I may very well return to it someday.

The man I'll be working with is close with some master instructors from here so I think I'll be in good hands.

Maybe this was too much information but I just felt led to share.

 

[Carl in Dover]

My lunch....and I enjoyed it. Sometimes I don't even order from the menu, I just order what I want...

 

[Anna C]

@Marcus Aurelius , Sounds like the coach was a good choice. One of the best things about hiring a coach (and/or getting on a program) is that you can turn yourself over to doing it, ceasing all of the overthinking about whether you should be doing more, doing less, or doing something different. Just commit to following it for a while, and save any judgments until the end or a particular milestone or decision point.

 

[Oscar]

This thread actually got me motivated to reach out to an experienced nutritional coach. I don't enjoy food anymore and that's a problem.

I agree with @Steve Freides on this respect. I think food should be tasty enough that you like it, but boring enough that you dont want to eat a lot of it.

There are some foods that you could just go on eating forever and end up eating 3,000 calories in a meal. The body just doesnt tell you to stop. IMO, this usually happens with cooked/refined food that mix carbs with fat (think ice cream, pasta, french fries, etc).

On the other hand, there are foods that your body will tell you to stop in due time. Try to eat 1000 cal of lettuce and you wont make it. Try to eat 1000 cal of bananas and you wont make it. Try to eat 1000 cal of low fat meat and salad and you wont make it.

If you are eating a food and feel "I could eat 3 more servings" then, IMO, thats not the right food

 

[jef]

I guess my cultural roots, French experience will make me disagree with some of you...

In my native country, food is not seen as a fuel for the body. It is seen as something you can and should enjoy. It is not just how we cook, it is also how we eat. We rarely come home, go to the fridge and make a sandwich to be eaten alone. We eat together, and it takes some time. It is as much a social event as it is a fueling event.

 

[Steve Freides]

@jef, that's a nice sentiment, and one I share. I would call myself a social eater - I enjoy eating with others and eat more when with family and friends, but the flip side of that is that I don't eat much when I'm by myself. It's a good combination for me. I don't find "food as fuel" and the social experience of eating to be incompatible concepts.

-S-

 

[Ivan Merl]

When I was young I was obsessed with my image in the mirror so I ate very little and always what was considered healthy for the time. This lead me to being a complete wreck, mentally and emotionally.
Then I moved on to eating for performance. I felt better this way, but again this became an obsession. I was always working on improving my cross-fit numbers and occasionally still trying to look like a magazine cover.
The best thing I ever did was stop following a diet (for mental sanity) for about a year and just try to be reasonable with my diet. "Junk food" some days or weeks and healthy eating more often than not. I gained a decent amount of fat, but I no longer obsessed over my image or performance. I also learned that eating well most of the time kept me in the ball park with looks and my performance didn't suffer at all.
I think there many reasons to eat and I eat for all of them during different seasons of my life.

 

[Carl in Dover]

If you think it might help, have a Nutritionist help you with meal planning.
In the past, Ihad my phone alarm set for 6-9-12-3-6-9
And ate the pre-prepared meals at those times. It really helped take the decision making out of the equation. It helped me through something I needed help with.

But now I just eat when I want.......

 

[Michael Scott]

I try, emphasis on "TRY" to eat healthy, but I usually get in my own way. After the Holidays, I am going back to a better eating plan, either Keto, DASH, or I might try this one: The “Hit the Target” Fat Loss Plan.

 

[The Nail]

Please explain how you eat and your choice.

I love food. I love wine.
Food nourishes the body and the soul.
I eat because eating good food is pleasure, cooking good food is a pleasure, and because high quality food improves performance in all areas of life.

Over all, my strategy is best described as avoidance - avoid: soy, hopps, processed sugar, processed foods, preservatives, eating too often, eating too much.

I keep carbs < 25%. I fast 16 hours most day with an 8 hour feeding window (Lean Gains influenced). This lets me get a big lunch and big dinner, get plenty of calories to recover from hard training, while making it difficult to go overboard with eating.