I'll admit that I am not completely perfect.
Letting go of disordered eating patterns has been a challenge for me. However, I wanted to share my recent experiences.
After all of this blogging, all of the reading I'm doing, and learning to overcome some ideas, I changed some of my ways at the supermarket. My previous pattern was to choose the low-fat or fat-free variety of anything and everything I purchased. I would say to myself, "As long as I'm getting this product, and the lower fat version is the same price, why not get the low fat version? It's better, right?"
I did this for almost every food product that had low fat analogs, using "why not" as the reason. I've retrained myself, however, because I've learned that fat in the diet is not evil. It is not unhealthy. It is necessary, and it is satisfying.
The results of this have been very interesting. For one thing, the foods are more satisfying. I eat fewer of them, with greater satisfaction (not that I was eating a lot in the first place, but still). For another, I seem to be less hungry between meals than before. But the most interesting thing is that I seem to be getting a little smaller. I'm not promoting weight loss by any means, but if people are looking to lose weight, my experiences indicate that the products being marketed to them for that express purpose appear to do the exact opposite.
I am currently reading this, which was published
twelve years ago. He was ahead of his time, and he espouses what I have described above: Eat Fat.
3 comments:
That's a wonderful book - so warm and humanistic. I think you will find it encouraging.
Fat in the diet is *not* bad! I have been making a lot of changes the past year too, and find that I have felt much better after eliminating most white flour and white sugar (especially baked stuff like pastries, cookies, etc.) After about a year, I can safely say that I don't miss them.
Most "diet" products are either full of sugar or artificial sweeteners, both of which I've tried to mostly eliminate.
I remember when "dieting" that I used to avoid nuts, butter, cream, all that. It didn't do any good, and I was missing all the nutrients too.
Good luck to you!
I've got this book also and really enjoyed it. I'd love to hear Richard Klein interviewed on what he thinks of today's 'crisis'. Anyway I am constantly trying to discuss the some of the possible implications of what you've said, the belief that healthy eating; low-fat high in veg and fruit and complex carbs, leads to you being at your slimmest as well as your healthiest is not always the case at all. I'm not saying it's not the healthiest way to eat, I'm not sure one way or the other, but it is undoubtedly the case that it can encourage as much 'overeating' as so-called junk food or high fat food, for the reasons you described lack of satisfaction- which means it's not 'overeating' as such in my view as you are responding to your hunger. It doesn't necessarily make you feel at your best, overall either. Yet more complexity we are supposed to pretend doesn't exist.
It's kind of funny - I've always bought the full-fat (and full sugar) versions of everything for pretty much the same reasons. I tried the low or non-fat versions of things, but they taste like shit. And so long as I'm paying for something, often MORE for non- or low-fat, then I might as well get the whole bang for my buck and get something that actually tastes good. I mean, I could buy a quart of skim milk and literally choke it down, hating every second of it because it's vile, or I could buy 2% and do the same thing, or I could buy whole milk and actually enjoy it on some Cheerios. With sugar, thanks. I could buy a diet soda and get headaches and taste the loathsomeness of it, or I could get a soda I actually like. I saw some asshole on a show called "You Are What You Eat" on BBC, and it was a Vicar she was after, whose elderly women congregants would always give him homemade fruit jam, homemade cookies and pies, and home cooked food. She took the fruit jam from the cupboard, in its pretty little jar with the gingham handmade top, and was appalled. I was like what in the HELL is wrong with pure fruit jam someone made from wholesome ingredients, you arrogant bitch?
Well anyway I said all that to say this - she sent him off to make "carob-fudge brownies - no sugar, no butter, no flour, no chocolate." I was like - What. the. ???!! There's no FOOD in that FOOD, I hate you with every fiber of my being right now! He brought it to the church, and the poor old women were like "No flour, butter, sugar or chocolate...what's IN them?" They all pretended it was good while choking into their napkins but at least one man had the courage to say it was pure shite. Then he said he was depressed and lonely because he wasn't going to eat at the parishioners' houses anymore. So she made him have them over and eat some disgusting nonfood brew she concocted. They pretended it was good. Then she gave him a beautiful bike and made him give her his car keys.
There are no words for how much I hate that show and that nasty woman. One episode was more than enough. Oh, and I just love that other one "Honey, we're killing the kids!" where she makes them all eat hideous things that have nothing in them except grossness. What the hell has come over people that they want to eat food with no food in it anymore??? Forget it. Opt out!
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