What does non-disordered eating look like (and think like)?

August 17, 2015 9:51 AM

What does non-disordered eating look like (and think like)? If you consider yourself to have no hangups about eating, and you are a healthy weight, what is your eating decision process like?

I am interested in a healthy person's internal processes around food.

In the morning: do you eat according to a habit that you've already figured out (e.g. always having the same thing)? At the same time, or when you first feel hunger? Or do you decide day-by-day?

Do you keep mental track of what you've had throughout the day so that you can keep things in balance, or do you just listen to what your body seems to be wanting/needing?

How do you decide whether or not to have a treat, such as going out for ice cream? Do you change anything in your day, or the next day, to compensate for having had a treat?

What do you do when a restaurant has given you an overly-large portion, or you're eating something where more portions are available (e.g. pizza). Do you decide in advance how much to eat and how much to save? Or does your body signal you when it's time to stop?

posted by misoramen to Health & Fitness (40 answers total)

Okay, so I have a body that doesn't gain weight as long as I don't eat, like, five pizzas a day. I would like to say, though, that many people have to diet to keep their weight and they also have a healthy attitude towards food. Obviously they'll answer differently and on the whole they probably eat healthier than I do!

honestly, I don't regulate what I eat and how much. I eat an ice cream when I want an ice cream. Though I limit it to once a day or it wouldn't be a special treat.
If I think about dietary changes it is more about eating more healthily (drink more water, eat more veggies because of poop problems etc.)
In the mornings I like to eat the same thing every day because I can't make decisions in the morning, it's too early!
The other two meals we try to decide for the whole week in advance and we go by what we would enjoy eating. We try to eat meals at the same time each day and our bodies are accustomed to it and thus we get hungry at that time. It works out.
If I get too much at a restaurant I'll eat till I am full and leave the rest or take it. There's not such a thing as a set amount of pizza. Sometimes I'll eat half or three quarters or a whole one. I also sometimes just leave two spoonfuls of something. I mean, sure, I could finish up but this is the point where I feel good and why should I exceed it?
posted by Omnomnom at 10:09 AM on August 17, 2015

ETA: I do try to keep a general level of healthiness in our meal plans - a balance of meat, veggies and carbs, and I consciously eat fruit every day. But that's the extent of control. I don't know how to count calories or something.
posted by Omnomnom at 10:15 AM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Am I healthy? That is debatable. But I am 'skinny' - people, other than my mother, have often told me I need to eat more without me asking for their input.

Morning - I don't eat breakfast. Never really liked it. It can take hours before my stomach feels ready to process food in the morning. If I am doing something strenuous that day I have to force myself to eat something early. That is preferably fruit or a fruit smoothie. Without such external influence I am totally content to eat my first meal at noon. I do drink a couple cups of coffee, sometimes with cream, sometimes black, in the morning.

I do not keep track of my intake throughout the day, mostly because it is very similar each day. So I would say I listen to what my body wants/needs. I eat a turkey sandwich, on sprouted bread, with tomatoes and spinach and mustard every day for lunch if I don't have leftovers from dinner the night before. Dinner is a meat or hefty beans/tofu & salad/steamed broccoli-type veggie & starch(rice or potato) nearly every night. Once a week it is taco night or pizza night.

I am not a sweets person. I get a craving for ice cream/candy a couple times a year and indulge without compensating. I do, however, have no qualms about eating all the potato chips I want but there is always that nagging voice in the back of my head saying I should be eating nuts instead.

75% of the time I eat out I am taking leftovers home. Restaurant portions are ridiculously large. I do not decide in advance how much I will eat off the plate served to me. I eat slowly, sip my beverage regularly, and stop when I am content and feel pleasantly filled.
posted by zyxwvut at 10:15 AM on August 17, 2015

I generally skip breakfast because I'm lazy and like to get up as late as possible, but will occasionally have cereal if I have time.

I don't keep track of what I eat. I just eat when I notice I'm hungry or at dinner. Anything I eat has no impact on any following day. There was one period in my life where I was counting calories because I was so broke I was trying to maximize my calorie/cent ratio. I couldn't keep that up longer than a few months because it was too much work for me. If I'm at a restaurant I'll eat until I'm full if they give me a lot, but don't stuff myself to the point where I feel sick.
posted by polywomp at 10:17 AM on August 17, 2015

do you eat according to a habit that you've already figured out (e.g. always having the same thing)?

Generally I have a few set 'first breakfasts' I swap in/out: eggs, or steel cut oats with fruit and/or nuts, or a cheese platter with nuts. This is based partially on what I'll be eating/not eating in rest of day; if it's going to be a low-protein day, you'll see more eggs and nuts.

Second breakfast is usually yogurt (250mL a day) with homemade granola. Lots of fruit and nut content here.

Lunch is generally reheated 'leftovers' (made to be reheated; VERY veggie-heavy). This means I'm usually eating the same thing 2-5 days in a row.

Supper is the most variable.

At the same time, or when you first feel hunger?

First breakfast: At most 1 hour after showering. Second breakfast is whenever I get hungry, usually with a snack when I get into work. So too with lunch (10:00am-2:00pm). Supper is as soon as I get home.

Do you keep mental track of what you've had throughout the day so that you can keep things in balance, or do you just listen to what your body seems to be wanting/needing?

Both? I'll sometimes ignore hunger pangs if I'm about to leave work, just because... well... I'll be having supper soon. Otherwise, I had treats and extras 'accounted for,' so I indulge if I want to.

Eat and drink more if you're exercising. Eat and drink more if it's wretchedly hot outside.

How do you decide whether or not to have a treat, such as going out for ice cream? Do you change anything in your day, or the next day, to compensate for having had a treat?

I bake in treats to my planning. People need fats; a lot of my food is low in fats (yogurt excepted). If I'm having a low-calorie day, e.g. salad-heavy, which I find hard to eat while getting enough calories, I'll actively seek out a treat just to get my calories (since eating big portions doesn't lead to a lot of happiness for my stomach).

If I know I'm not getting a treat, I'll up my supper size to make sure I'm getting enough calories.

What do you do when a restaurant has given you an overly-large portion, or you're eating something where more portions are available (e.g. pizza).

I inevitably eat too much, sigh, look up caloric and nutritional information online and re-target my meals for the rest of the day accordingly. "Guess I'm having 500 calories of veggies plus some fatty treat to help me feel full."
posted by flibbertigibbet at 10:19 AM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I do track food on an app to watch calories, but I eat what I like. I also know from experience/experiment (via logging) that my food choices will keep me full, so it's lucky that what I like works :/ I like to have a good amount of protein and fat; adding fibre (via veg) helps with satiety. This is how I shop and plan meals. I like to have three solid squares a day (that wind up being around 500-600 calories), and a good-sized evening snack (300-400 calories, usually).

AM: Mostly the same thing every day, for convenience's sake, and because again, I know it holds me over until lunch. I don't want to have to think about food too much. I eat about an hour after waking. (If I wait too long to eat, I don't feel well.)

Treats: I tend not to want them too often (I suspect because of my food choices, again - I'm just full), but I have them when I do want them, without thinking about it too much - maybe 2-3 times a week. If they're hugely calorific (e.g. poutine, which averages 1000 cals per portion), I might do some extra cardio. Otherwise, I just carry on the next day, as usual. I tend not to compensate by reducing intake on other days, because I honestly can't last longer than 3 hours feeling that I'm restricted. I need all those 500-600 cals per meal to feel functional.

Large portions: I eat as much as I want (body signals when to stop). Sometimes there's stuff left over, I sometimes take it home, depending on what it is. These days, I don't eat out that often, so I'm ok with getting something that's high in calories (because it's a treat). When I ate out daily or near daily, I made decisions at the ordering stage (e.g. substituted salad for fries, ordered a half-portion, maybe chose a grilled dish over a creamy one).
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:21 AM on August 17, 2015

I do keep track because I like to be reasonably healthy but if I stray I don't beat myself up about it (like I do other areas of my life).

FYI- 5'2 woman
Pizza - I expect I'll eat 2 pieces but sometimes I decide I am kind of full at 1, sometimes 3. I wouldn't go to 4 if I still felt hungry because I'd assume my stomach just hasn't up yet.
I eat when I am hungry and feel like eating. I don't mind being a little hungry and somehow I feel like I appreciate food more if I am good and hungry.

Sometimes if I am not really hungry but I've already skipped a meal I eat anyway because I think it may catch up with me and I'll be super hungry and someplace where it is inconvenient to get a meal.

Vacations and special occasions I eat what I want pretty guilt free. If I am at an amazing restaurant or a spectacular buffet I will eat too much so I can try lots of stuff because I like great food and not feel bad one bit.

I normally eat until I am satisfied - not full but not still hungry.

I LOVE ice cream but probably have it every 2 weeks.

I buy healthy stuff at the grocery store but sometimes I will be hungry while shoppping and buy something like fritos and eat the bag (along with my husband) over the week. Then I wont buy something like that again for a month or so.

If I do something desperate like go to McDonalds and order a meal I will feel a bit disgusted with myself but I do something like that every 6 months.
posted by ReluctantViking at 10:22 AM on August 17, 2015

I determine what to eat based on my weight.

If my weight is increasing, and I know I haven't eaten overly much or overly salty foods (both of which tend to induce short term increases in water weight), I eat less. If my weight is decreasing and I don't intend it to, I eat more. If my weight is decreasing and I intend it to, I continue whatever it is that I'm doing.

I orient my diet so that my weight decreases on a daily basis slightly so that when I have larger meals (for instance, eating out) I don't gain weight permanently. In other words, I pick a normal daily caloric intake that's lower than my caloric expenditure so that larger meals don't push the net caloric expenditure in the weight gain direction.

To help with both of these, I have a "reference plan" for a day to keep me on-track. I almost always eat the same breakfast, and my lunches don't vary that much (and are always prepackaged lunches with similar calories). I try to limit the number of meals in a day that I eat that I have to be mindful of calories in to make things easier for me - I basically accept that breakfast/lunch are a fixed number of calories so that I only have to think about dinner.

I try to avoid eating at all due to hunger. I find that when I eat as a result of hunger outside of meals, I still end up just as hungry around mealtime and then eat the same amount of food around mealtime (and hence, gain weight). I've come to accept that constant hunger is a natural feeling and should be accepted as part of life rather than used as any sort of indicator of how much food you need. Weight is a much better indicator of how much food you need.
posted by saeculorum at 10:23 AM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Looking at title and the question--is this just an academic sort of interest, or are we talking from a recovery sort of standpoint? Because I think I'm doing recovery really well right now, but I'm not going to call myself "normal". I don't think, having had an ED, that I could ever just let myself trust whim on this score. Routines are a big part of it. Practical considerations. Two pieces of pizza are a serving because that seems like the most convenient way to package it up and reheat later. If a meal out looks like enough to be lunch tomorrow, I save about half or a little less than--or for example I might just save half the steak or chicken to go in something else. I eat lunch when it's my lunch hour. I make dinner when I get home from work. Weekends, I try to stick with approximately the same schedule. If I feel not very hungry, I don't ever skip meals, but I might eat lighter. I'm trying right now primarily to shift away from eating out as much and eating so much processed junk to cooking more. I think about portions like... I have this plastic container and it holds this much salad and that's neither grossly too much nor not nearly enough for lunch, so great, that's a lunch-sized salad. The junk I do get now, I tend to buy much better stuff, because at least for me, a few spoonfuls of really good ice cream read as "treat" as much as a large Blizzard does. I can't keep food logs and stuff very well, even mentally, without it being a problem, but the routines help a lot. If I don't have external cues like a work lunch break, sometimes I'll set alarms. The thing about routine is that once you get into it, it's surprisingly comfortable. Unpredictable mealtimes/quantities/etc when you have an ED history can be a significant source of stress. I wouldn't go so far as to have one thing all the time, but I try to keep some backup plans that don't require too much thinking about.

If you have a history of ED, some things that can work very well for people who don't, like "my pants are snug, guess it's calorie counting for a few weeks" are things that you can't necessarily adopt and have the same results, so be careful, if this is where you're coming from. But if that's not you, feel free to take or leave as much of this as is helpful!
posted by Sequence at 10:26 AM on August 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

I like food a lot, but I don't make it a focus outside mealtime or small snacks at work. Like I would rarely sit down at the tv and just eT and eat while watching a game or something . I enjoy meals and then go do a bunch of non-food oriented activities . I often eat too much when going out, but at home I do a few minor things that help: I put some chips in a bowl then put the bag away. I drink water with one meal a day (if I eat fast food I get the sandwich fries and water even though the coke is free at that point ). I eat Popsicles for dessert which don't have all that many calories.

If you put a Chicago style pizza in front of me all bets are off ...
posted by freecellwizard at 10:30 AM on August 17, 2015

I am a perpetually skinny and generally pretty healthy adult cis-man, and my thought process regarding food is as follows:

- Try to ensure that each meal has at least some variety and some plant material in it.
- Does a given food that is available to me offer any actual nutritional value whatsoever, i.e., fiber, protein, etc.? If not, don't eat (this doesn't always work; it's 1:30 in the afternoon and I just finished eating 2 poptarts).
- Where am I in terms of vegetable intake in the last 48 hours? If it feels low, next meal should try to max out vegetables.
- Where am I in terms of sugar intake in the last 48 hours? If it feels high, definitely abstain for the next few meals.
- Eff mushrooms, they're gross.

That's pretty much it. My eating used to follow a more predictable schedule, but since having a kid that's gone right out the window. I can also be weirdly rigid about denying myself treats sometimes (to my wife's eternal amusement/chagrin) but that generally has a lot more to do with money discipline than it does with the actual underlying treat, be it food or beer or what have you. Consequently I'm not the most fun guy to hang out in an airport with.
posted by saladin at 10:31 AM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Answering this from a viewpoint of someone who used to be overweight (obese), is now a healthy weight (closer to overweight than underweight, though) and who has a huge appetite.

I log everything I eat using MyFitnessPal. I don't do this as religiously as when I was losing weight, but I do it to keep track. I have developed new eating habits so I often eat the same things at the same times, but sometimes I fancy something different. If I eat more calories than I need one day I make up for it by having less for the next couple of days or doing more exercise.

In restaurants I try to order something that doesn't sound huge, or swap fries for salad, because once it's on the plate in front of me I am probably going to end up eating it. To be honest I don't really get the "full up" feeling until I have eaten way too much. I think you have to train yourself to recognise "not starving" as a cue not to continue rather than "too full for any more". Also remember that it takes a while for your stomach to tell your brain you have eaten so if you still feel hungry after one course and order a second you might not feel hungry by the time the second arrives - I tell myself that if I still want more in 15 minutes then I can have it.

I try not to think of "treat" foods as treats but part of my normal diet. I could theoretically have ice cream for every meal so long as I got my nutrients as well and made up the calories. In reality that would be far too difficult and so they only make up a small part of my diet. I try to pick food that is high in protein and low in refined carbs and saturated fat but I don't go out of my way to count grams or anything.

I wish I could just make healthy choices and stay a healthy weight without thinking about it but sadly I haven't managed to get my head round that!
posted by intensitymultiply at 10:40 AM on August 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I am definitely a healthy weight though not my most-favorite weight for me. (I mention this distinction because possibly the clearest non-disordered part of my thinking about food, nowadays, is that I recognize that my "most favorite" weight was the result of an unhealthy lifestyle and I no longer try to pursue it.)

I have a basic philosophy of eating very healthily during the week and then splurging on weekends. So during the week I do have a sort of meal plan, where I eat variations on similar things each day, but on the weekends we will usually go out, and try to find new fun foods.

In the morning: do you eat according to a habit that you've already figured out (e.g. always having the same thing)? At the same time, or when you first feel hunger? Or do you decide day-by-day?
I do have a couple of go-to breakfast recipes that I alternate between. I don't eat right when I wake up, but by the time I've fed the cat and brewed the coffee, I'm hungry, so usually within a half hour or so of getting out of bed.

Do you keep mental track of what you've had throughout the day so that you can keep things in balance, or do you just listen to what your body seems to be wanting/needing?
Lately I have been trying to hit a vague goal of "eat more fresh fruit and veg," so I'll sometimes make a note if I haven't had any in a day and try to add some in to whatever meal is next. Otherwise it's just what I have in the house and what I feel like eating.

How do you decide whether or not to have a treat, such as going out for ice cream? Do you change anything in your day, or the next day, to compensate for having had a treat?
I will have at least one kind of treat on most days, but I do try to stick to just one treat. (e.g., I will have a cocktail OR an ice cream, but probably not both, unless it's like, my birthday, or I can come up with some other good reason. ;) )

I don't compensate for this unless I start to feel gross, basically. When I allow myself to eat anything I want whenever, I find that the treats get unappealing pretty quickly. So I'll kind of informally just lay off the ice cream for a week or whatever, but it's not a stressful decision.

What do you do when a restaurant has given you an overly-large portion, or you're eating something where more portions are available (e.g. pizza). Do you decide in advance how much to eat and how much to save? Or does your body signal you when it's time to stop?

I am a fairly tiny person and restaurant portions are almost ALWAYS more than I can eat without feeling ill, so I go in knowing I'll probably have leftovers. If it's something that easily splits in half, like a sandwich or something, I might decide at the start to save half. But I also might change my mind, depending on my hunger level.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:41 AM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

In the morning: do you eat according to a habit that you've already figured out (e.g. always having the same thing)? At the same time, or when you first feel hunger? Or do you decide day-by-day?

I make breakfast and morning coffee a nice ritual to help me get up in the morning. I like having something to look forward to when I'm getting out of bed, so it's the first thing I do that day. I used to eat sugar cereals (gasp!) well into my twenties, but I found that avoiding a carb/sugar crash early in the morning really improves my eating patterns throughout the day (i.e., fewer cravings, OMG MUST EAT NOW, more self-control). So, now I've been trying to shift more towards protein-heavy breakfasts: nuts, breakfast meats, leftovers. Generally I go in waves: I'll have a smoothie every day for a couple of months, get vaguely sick of it, and then switch to something else.


Do you keep mental track of what you've had throughout the day so that you can keep things in balance, or do you just listen to what your body seems to be wanting/needing?

I keep mental track to the extent that I eat three meals a day, with a few snacks in between. If I'm eating out a lot, or not exercising, or my weight is creeping up, I'll try to implement a few loose guidelines to get myself back on track: i.e., skipping deserts, generally eating fewer carbs, not buying massive sandwiches and devouring them at lunch. Generally if I really, intensely crave something, I'll go ahead and eat it.


How do you decide whether or not to have a treat, such as going out for ice cream? Do you change anything in your day, or the next day, to compensate for having had a treat?

I do not. I can go out to dinner, I can eat ice cream, and I don't really think of these as special treats, it's just, you know, eating. But if I devoured an ice cream sundae at noon, I might try to pay special attention to how hungry I am at night, and eat a smaller dinner if that satisfies me - not to 'make up' for the ice cream, but just to ensure that I'm eating because I'm hungry and not just because I'm in the habit of eating. I also try to pay attention to patterns: one ice cream is no big deal, but if I have been getting in the habit of having ice cream after dinner every night for a week, and I'm feeling kind of gross, the next week maybe I won't buy ice cream at the grocery store.


What do you do when a restaurant has given you an overly-large portion, or you're eating something where more portions are available (e.g. pizza). Do you decide in advance how much to eat and how much to save? Or does your body signal you when it's time to stop?

Yes, my body signals me. I heard once that the Japanese have this thing where you're supposed to eat until you're "80% full" and for me there's definitely a point at 80% where it takes willpower to stop, but I'll feel better afterwards (and I'll have delicious leftovers!) and then a point at 100% where it would take willpower to eat any more. I don't have a great track record of stopping at 80%, but I will when I can; I always stop at 100%, regardless of whether there's more food on my plate, which there often is.

I think the takeaway of these answers, as far as I can see, is that I try to avoid eating unhealthily out of habit, or mindlessly, and that in generally when it comes to eating healthier I try to take a slightly broader, more macro view: like, one ice cream is never a problem; I only start trying to adjust/recalibrate when I see larger patterns forming.

Oh, and for the record, because I feel like it's good to be open about these things: I'm a lady in my mid-thirties. I'm 5'4 and I weigh around 130; when I hit 135ish I usually start trying to reign things in; lower-carb & healthier eating can get me down to 125, which I prefer, but it definitely jumps up and down.
posted by pretentious illiterate at 10:44 AM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I think I have a pretty healthy relationship with food, basically I don't think about it. I know that is probably really annoying to someone that has food issues but I eat when I'm hungry (every few hours) and I stop eating when I don't feel like eating anymore. Some days I eat too much (usually enchilada day), some days I get into bed and I'm still a little bit hungry but mostly I just function.

My husband thinks about food a lot more than I do so I know how annoying I sound to you. He even gets annoyed with me because he'll ask what I want for dinner and most nights I really couldn't care less. We had a fight once where he got really angry because he assumed I had to be thinking about it as much as him so I just HAD to have an opinion that I wasn't expressing. I had to explain that no, I really just don't think about it that much. It was a pretty revealing moment in our relationship.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE food, I love cupcakes, I love pizza, I love ice cream, I love cheeseburgers, I love enchiladas, I love a good steam, I love mashed potatoes. It just doesn't consume me.

In the morning: do you eat according to a habit that you've already figured out (e.g. always having the same thing)? At the same time, or when you first feel hunger? Or do you decide day-by-day?
I eat about the same time, sometimes I skip it if I'm late that day. I don't usually feel hungry in the morning at all so it is usually something small. My work provides food so I eat from the same selection every day, usually I eat the same thing for like two weeks and then do something new because I'm tired of it and rotate through.

Do you keep mental track of what you've had throughout the day so that you can keep things in balance, or do you just listen to what your body seems to be wanting/needing?
I really don't think about food during the day unless I'm excited about something later (like enchilada day). I just eat at approximate mealtimes or when I'm hungry.

How do you decide whether or not to have a treat, such as going out for ice cream? Do you change anything in your day, or the next day, to compensate for having had a treat? Usually two questions, 1. Do I want said treat? 2. Do I want it enough to stop what I'm doing right now to go get said treat? I don't change anything about my intake or think about it really.

What do you do when a restaurant has given you an overly-large portion, or you're eating something where more portions are available (e.g. pizza). Do you decide in advance how much to eat and how much to save? Or does your body signal you when it's time to stop?
I eat until I don't feel like eating anymore and then I stop eating. Pizza is usually 2 pieces.
posted by magnetsphere at 10:48 AM on August 17, 2015

Your question got me thinking so I went to eatingdisorder.org and to quote:

"Eating disorders include intense emotions and abnormal behaviors around food and weight.

Anorexia Nervosa: Anorexia nervosa is a potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by self-starvation, excessive weight loss and negative body image...

Diagnostic criteria for Anorexia Nervosa from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-V)

* Restriction of energy intake relative to requirement, leading to a significantly low body weight in the context of age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health.

* Intense fear of gaining weight or of becoming fat, or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, even though at a significantly low weight

* Disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of the current low body weight.

Bulimia Nervosa: Bulimia nervosa is a serious disorder that involves a recurring pattern of binge eating followed by dangerous behaviors in an effort to counteract or “undo” the calories consumed during the binge. People with bulimia often feel trapped in this cycle of dysregulated eating, and there is a risk for major medical consequences associated with bulimic behaviors.

Diagnostic criteria for Bulimia Nervosa (from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-V)

* Recurrent episodes of binge eating

* Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviors (such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, fasting, or excessive exercise) in order to prevent weight gain

* The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors both occur, on average, at least 1x/week for 3 months.

* Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight."

There are many other instances of disordered eating, but these were two at the top.

I guess non-disordered eating would look like the opposite of these, in that a person does not self-evaluate based by their weight and body shape and does not have compensatory behaviors about food intake/burning calories.

It's tough stuff, for sure.
posted by kinetic at 11:10 AM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Overall my eating processes are ad-hoc rather than planned. To the extent that I plan my eating, I target types of food rather than amounts--i.e., I try to eat primarily vegetables, meat, eggs, and nuts, and de-emphasize simple carbohydrates, but I don't track amounts in any way. I find that simply following my hunger keeps my portions reasonable and my weight stable, modulo the usual fluctuations. If the stats matter to you, I'm a man in my late twenties, about 5'6" and 150 lbs.

Morning: I have a few standard breakfasts, e.g. scrambled eggs with potatoes or vegetables, yogurt with nuts and such, etc. Usually I either throw together one of these or eat leftovers--I have no problem eating a breakfast that's not "breakfast food." I don't really eat breakfast cereal unless I'm away from home and there's nothing else. Some days I don't eat breakfast at all, because I don't always feel hungry early. I drink coffee--nearly always black--either alongside or before breakfast. (Then I drink more coffee later. And sometimes more after that. I am a slave to this particular vice.)

Throughout the day I keep a rough history in my head of what I've eaten and I do use this to decide what and when to eat. As I said above, I mainly think about the type of food I am eating rather than the amount--if I get to the mid-afternoon and realize I've eaten no [carbs|vegetables|protein], I'll try to include [carbs|vegetables|protein] in a snack or meal. I try to eat more food and especially more protein on days when I lift weights. Treats are usually impulse decisions, and I don't compensate for them in any way. I trust in my fairly high level of physical activity to buffer my metabolism against things like that. So far it's worked for me.

If I get an excessively large portion I usually think about how much I will eat at the beginning, but I don't hold myself to it. If I still feel hungry after eating how much I planned, then I'll eat more. This has led, to my great chagrin, to things like baking a pizza at home with the intent of eating one third and saving the rest, only to find myself having eaten the entire thing at once. I don't worry too much about it when this happens, though, because I'm less hungry the next day. I don't find myself having to consciously offset it.

If for some reason I do need to adjust my weight up or down, I'll usually just bolt something on to the above framework, such as drinking a glass or two (or three, or four...) of milk every day if I want to gain weight, or cutting back hard on a category of food such as beer or pizza for a while if I want to drop a couple of pounds.
posted by egregious theorem at 11:14 AM on August 17, 2015

My approach is to eat when my body wants food and stop when it doesn't. I also generally eat what my body wants. The exceptions to this are:

-- If I'm feeling a lot of difficult emotions, I lose my appetite so I have to remind myself to eat when I'm not necessarily feeling hungry.
-- I know my body wants more sugar than it should have. I don't keep strict count, I just ask myself how much I'll enjoy whatever it is before eating something sweet. I also pay attention to the weird jangly feeling I get when I've had too much sugar.
-- I also know that, left to my own devices, I won't eat enough vegetables so I try to fit those into meals more than I naturally would.

Basically, I have a lot of confidence in my body's ability to tell me what it wants. I do my best to listen to it.

So, if I'm eating out and get a large portion, I eat as much as is appealing and then take the rest home or leave it.

As a possibly interesting side note: I once was on a medication that had a side effect of repressing my ability to feel full. It was the weirdest thing because I suddenly had no idea how to feed myself. I wondered why I was having stomach aches until I realized that I was just stuffing too much food in my belly trying to feel full. So, for the period of time I was on those meds, I had to just imagine what I "regular" amount of food was for me and go with that. It was like having to drive while suddenly blind and trying to navigate by memory.
posted by mcduff at 11:16 AM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

These days, I mostly eat the same thing for breakfast (a toasted bagel with butter) because it's convenient, but if there's other food around I feel like eating or if the kids want pancakes or something I may go with that. I decide that morning what I'll eat. Breakfast happens whenever I get around to it, different times every day. I'm always hungry as soon as I wake up, but not so hungry I need to eat right that second. Some days I have other things I need to do, like getting a kid ready to go and dropping her off somewhere, so I may take care of that before I eat.

I don't keep track of what I eat during the day to the extent that I'm mentally counting calories or servings or anything like that. Of course I have some sense of what I've already eaten or might be eating later and I take that into consideration to some extent. Like if my breakfast was a big piece of cheesecake, I probably would feel like it was a good idea to eat something less fatty and with more vitamins for lunch. Or if I know I'm going to have a big dinner at a restaurant I might have a lighter than usual lunch. Mostly I just base my eating decisions on how hungry I am, what food is available, and what I feel like eating.

Mostly, if I feel like having a treat, I have a treat. A treat is usually pretty filling, so I'm likely to eat less other food that day if I have a treat. I might deliberately decide to eat less or eat less fatty/sugary foods that day or even the next day if I felt like I had really been pigging out on treats, but mostly I just go by how hungry I am and what I feel like eating.

When there's more food in front of me than I need to fill me up, I stop either when I'm full or (if the food is really good and I'm really enjoying it) a little past that point. I don't decide ahead of time how much I'll eat unless I'm sharing with others and need to make sure I don't take more than my share.
posted by Redstart at 11:21 AM on August 17, 2015

I’m lucky in that I grew up with good food habits instilled in me: eat your fruit and veg, make sure you have protein, don’t eat junky foods (e.g. fried foods, chips) because they will make you sick. Drink water if you do eat fried foods/chips. I’m also lucky in that I don’t like to eat a lot of junk food like candy and sweets. I do like chips though. I’ll have ice cream rarely and I don’t really love chocolate (don’t hate it either though).

I’m a woman, mid thirties, around 5’3” and around 125-130 pounds (I’ve never really gone over 130). Also vegetarian.

In the morning: do you eat according to a habit that you've already figured out (e.g. always having the same thing)? At the same time, or when you first feel hunger? Or do you decide day-by-day?
I believe having breakfast is important. For me it’s oatmeal and frozen fruit, or a smoothie. Sometimes I’ll be rushing out the door and get a muffin at the coffee shop instead (I know, not very healthy, but at least it’s something, because otherwise I’ll get hungry). Breakfast is just part of my routine: wake up, washroom, breakfast, get dressed, get stuff and leave. Breakfast really is the easiest meal because I don’t have to eat a lot, and it’s pretty simple. I feel like there are way more choices for lunch and dinner. You can get away with having the same breakfast everyday, but having the same lunch and dinner everyday probably wouldn’t work.

Do you keep mental track of what you've had throughout the day so that you can keep things in balance, or do you just listen to what your body seems to be wanting/needing?
Not really. Or kind of. For lunch and dinner meals, I’m always thinking, does this have veg and protein? I try not to eat too many carbs. At work, the cafeteria always does a stir fry of choose your protein and veg, with a different sauce each day to mix it up. So I like to get that and always ask for only a little bit of rice/noodle (otherwise they will pile it on). If I don’t get that, I’ll try to avoid the pizza (too much carbs and greasiness) and burger places (too much processed foods) and get something that has veg (e.g. falafel, Subway sandwich, veg sushi). If I’m on top of things, I’ll bring in lunch (again, has to have veg, protein and minimal carbs).

How do you decide whether or not to have a treat, such as going out for ice cream? Do you change anything in your day, or the next day, to compensate for having had a treat?
For me, chips are my treat/vice. So it’s easy for me to get a bag from the vending machine/coffee shop/corner store. I’ll get it if I feel like it. Generally I limit myself to one bag when I’m eating otherwise I won’t feel good if I eat more (again, I’m lucky in that way). Since chips make me feel “hot” I’ll just try to take in more liquids and avoid other fried foods that day (e.g. if I eat chips, then it’s not a good idea to make crispy fried tofu for dinner that day, which is one of my staples).

What do you do when a restaurant has given you an overly-large portion, or you're eating something where more portions are available (e.g. pizza). Do you decide in advance how much to eat and how much to save? Or does your body signal you when it's time to stop?
At restaurants, at some point, I will get full and I’ll stop and will take the rest out as leftovers. I don’t decide in advance how much to eat/save.

Basically I'm really lucky in that I generally don't like unhealthy foods, my body tells me when I'm hungry/full and I grew up with good food habits.

Do I eat perfectly all the time? No way. I haven’t had lunch yet and it’s 2:30 pm. :D
posted by foxjacket at 11:27 AM on August 17, 2015

I usually don't eat breakfast; I'm just not hungry. I eat what I please (usually pretty healthy), when I please, as much as I please. It would never occur to me to re-adjust anything elsewhere apropos of a treat. 'Treat' stuff is sometimes a thing I dole out to myself as a present for putting up with a bad day, sometimes a thing I have just because it's delicious. With something like a pizza, I would choose when to stop eating based on how hungry I was, and how good the pizza tasted.

The only thing I pay attention to is if my clothes start getting tight; this lets me know I have overdone it a bit lately, and then I pay attention to taking more modest portions until clothes are fitting as they used to.
posted by kmennie at 11:30 AM on August 17, 2015

I had a very mild eating disorder about 15 years ago but nothing that I was ever in treatment for. It lasted about 2 years maybe, and by the end I just kind of figured out that having headaches all the time and feeling like shit was not worth weighing 118 pounds (and I also got out of a terrible relationship), and started eating more normally.

For me (female, 5'6", about 130 pounds), I would say that now I have a very healthy relationship with food, although I do probably think about calorie counts and the like more than most people who've never had an ED. For breakfast, I eat the same thing every day on work days -- berries, Greek yogurt, small glass of juice. I'm not terribly hungry in the morning but have found that this breakfast works for me and helps keep me satisfied until lunch. I've also gone through phases where I eat oatmeal and juice every work day morning, but I've been doing the yogurt breakfast for probably about 3 years now and it's working fine for me, and it makes it easy to figure out what to buy at the grocery store! On weekends, I usually skip breakfast or occasionally eat a bowl of cereal or get a donut. Breakfast is just not a favorite meal of mine, and greasy food in the morning upsets my stomach, so I limit how much food I take in before noon.

On work days, I usually bring lunch to work, mostly leftovers or sandwiches. I try to eat an apple every day at work but that doesn't always happen, and I rarely visit the vending machines. My rule is if I didn't lug it into work, I'm not gonna eat it. I make an exception maybe once a month for a candy bar or something if I'm really really craving it.

The bad time of day for me is when I get home from work. I am a world-class snacker, and have been so my whole life. I can easily down 1/3 of a bag of chips, a bunch of dip, a full-sugar soda, and a handful of nuts before I even realize what I'm doing. I think it's more habit than hunger at this point, but I really love to snack on garbage when I get home from work. If I start feeling like I'm gaining weight (usually when my pants get too tight, since I tend to gain weight in my love handles), I'll consciously knock off the snacking for a week or two and can usually drop 2-3 pounds from that alone. That's usually enough, as I never let my weight get above maybe 132-135.

I eat dinner late (8-9pm is standard), and my partner and I plan out a list of meals on the weekend and then just pick one that sounds good. We eat mostly vegetarian but will occasionally have some chicken or bacon, maybe once or twice a week. We try to eat a lot of veggies at dinner. Last night we had part of a rotisserie chicken, white rice, and giant salads. Sometimes we have pasta with a side of broccoli, veggie burgers with homemade fries, baked sweet potatoes with salads, BLTs with corn on the cob, etc.

My body usually tells me when it's time to stop, but since I generally make my own meals at home, I have a good idea of portion size and am always willing to stop eating so that I have leftovers to take in to work. When I do eat out, I try to eyeball my meal and figure out right away if I should just save half to take home or just eat til I'm satisfied and have them toss the rest. If I do eat a giant meal out (usually lunch on weekends, something like a burrito from Chipotle and half a bag of tortilla chips), I might just have cereal or something small for dinner. And I'll eat ice cream or cookies or whatever whenever I want them, but limit myself to a small serving if I've eaten a lot that day.
posted by jabes at 11:43 AM on August 17, 2015

Breakfast every day, right after I wake up. Always whole grain cereal with limited or no added sugar and 1% milk.

Mental track, always. If I eat a donut at work, I eat less the rest of the day. Fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, whole grains, and dairy every day.

I plan ahead for big meals - if I know I am going to a buffet, for example, I will eat less a few days before, or exercise more. But I don't do it too much.

I always order food with the thought of leftovers. I am pretty good about just eating half, or three quarters, because otherwise I'll have to cook an extra meal. If i go home a little hungry, I'll have a snack.

The main thing I do is weigh myself everyday and stay conscious about what I am eating. I also rarely eat until I am full - just until I am not hungry.
posted by umwhat at 11:49 AM on August 17, 2015

More anecdata from a thin person (on what non-disordered eating "thinks" like)--

I just want to put out there that I used to think (and others used to tell me) that I just had an incredibly fast metabolism where I could "eat like a pig" and burn it all off just by existing day to day.

The truth turns out to be a slightly different story (and still nothing I can take credit for): once I started counting nutrients (which means I was also getting a total calorie count) it turned out that no matter how much I (or other people) thought I was eating, it actually all averaged out to about 1600 calories a day. Which is exactly what my body requires to maintain the size I am.

So it's not that I was born with a "fast metabolism," or that I'm incredibly well-planned and virtuous about food intake, I was just born with a robust satiety switch. This means I'm really only hungry when I need/still need food, so it's not a horrible guessing game as to whether I'm really hungry or is it emotional eating, etc. I have the luxury of "listening to my body" because doing so still leaves me at what's considered a healthy BMI (that also doesn't get me abuse from peers, strangers, etc.).

This, incidentally, is why I don't feel like I have meaningful advice/preaching/teaching/judgement to drop on those who struggle with weight and disordered eating.
posted by blue suede stockings at 12:26 PM on August 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

I am a recovered anorexic/bulimic. It's been a decade since my hospitalization and about 7 years since I had any symptoms, so I do consider myself fully recovered and healthy.

In the morning: do you eat according to a habit that you've already figured out (e.g. always having the same thing)? At the same time, or when you first feel hunger? Or do you decide day-by-day?

Yep. During the week I have a protein bar and a banana post-gym, which is when I feel hungry, and I usually make bacon and eggs during the weekend whenever I wake up.

Do you keep mental track of what you've had throughout the day so that you can keep things in balance, or do you just listen to what your body seems to be wanting/needing?

I keep a mental log, sure. I 100% do not count calories, though I keep very loose track of my macronutrients about 85% of the time just to try and keep balanced.

How do you decide whether or not to have a treat, such as going out for ice cream? Do you change anything in your day, or the next day, to compensate for having had a treat?

For me this is the key to feeling "healthy" from a mental standpoint. I do not need to earn my food, and I don't compensate for "treats". If I have something I normally wouldn't (I'm not a huge fan of sweets to begin with but let's say, like, pizza for example), it's just food. I eat it, enjoy it, and move on.

What do you do when a restaurant has given you an overly-large portion, or you're eating something where more portions are available (e.g. pizza). Do you decide in advance how much to eat and how much to save? Or does your body signal you when it's time to stop?

I don't decide in advance (though I used to). Sometimes I overeat, sometimes I feel full and stop.

The thing about having a non-ED brain, and one of the things that signaled to me that my brain is healing, if not healed, is that I just don't think about food that much anymore.
posted by picklesthezombie at 12:34 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm overweight, but fairly healthy. My weight fluctuates by about 3 pounds but otherwise hasn't changed much.

For breakfast, I have a smoothie. It's part of our getting ready routine in the morning. Though normally I wake up feeling a bit hungry.

I do not really keep track of what I eat. I eat when I feel hungry and stop when I no longer want to eat. Sometimes, it's because I'm full. Sometimes, it's not very tasty. Sometimes, I eat more than I should because it's delicious. So at a restaurant, I'd eat until I'm no longer interested in eating it.

But if I eat too much one day, I'll usually naturally not want to eat as much the next day. So in the end, I don't really gain weight (or lose weight).

One thing is that I never eat low fat, low sugar, or buyer substitutes. If I want juice, I'll drink "real" juice. Or I get water. If I want cake, I'll buy a high quality piece of cake (or bake it myself) rather than get something cheap. I've found that this means I only want to eat one cookie instead of like 15, since it's exactly what I want.
posted by ethidda at 1:46 PM on August 17, 2015

I'm a 30-year old cis woman, muscular build (5'4" & 130 lbs). I was overweight in middle school/high school, had some unhealthy eating habits, and now have what I'd say is a pretty healthy attitude towards food.

I'm currently trying to lose some body fat (from ~26% to ~20%), but in a very slow, sustained way. I'm a rock climber, so less weight -> easier time going up the wall, and the fat isn't doing anything for me the way the muscles are. I definitely view my body as a tool to do fun things, and I want to keep it fed well and in shape to keep doing fun things like climbing, backpacking, running, yoga, etc. I try to put healthy things in because that makes me feel better in the medium run (even if sugary things are awesome in the short run), and lets me stay active in the long run.

In the morning: do you eat according to a habit that you've already figured out (e.g. always having the same thing)? At the same time, or when you first feel hunger? Or do you decide day-by-day?
Weekdays: I eat the same thing almost every weekday, because it's delicious and easy to make at the office: full fat organic greek yogurt + frozen wild blueberries + some broken up nuts for crunch. (Breakfast is possibly my favorite meal of the day.) Breakfast is whenever I get to the office, even if I wake up feeling a bit hungry. If I'm gong to do a serious workout before work, I'll eat a couple of bites of a bar or have a banana to keep from getting ravenous before breakfast.
Weekends: breakfast is some sort of eggs dish, often with some cream cheese, sausage, avocado, greens, etc. Basically whatever's in the fridge that goes well with eggs, and can be made directly after rolling out of bed. Occasionally my husband and I will go to the bagel shop to get breakfast and a couple of weeks' supply of bagels, or to the coffee shop for a pastry. If I'm getting something full of carbs and sugar for breakfast, I don't sweat it, but think about balancing it out with more fats & proteins for lunch.

Do you keep mental track of what you've had throughout the day so that you can keep things in balance, or do you just listen to what your body seems to be wanting/needing?
I try to stay relatively balanced on a fat/protein/carb mix (I'm relatively low carb, very pro fat & protein) throughout the day, mostly because I've noticed that I get grumpy and hungry otherwise. I try not to eat too much sugar in any one day (since that stuff's addictive and not that great for your body), so, for example, if I have a pastry for breakfast, I might skip on the random cookies in the office kitchen. I also keep a very vague sense of how much veggies I've eaten recently (past couple of days), and go for the salad for lunch or dinner if I feel like I've been missing out on the greens lately. I find that my body very rarely craves a salad, but I feel awesome and energized after having one, so I make them even if a burrito bowl sounds like a better choice at the time.

How do you decide whether or not to have a treat, such as going out for ice cream? Do you change anything in your day, or the next day, to compensate for having had a treat?
I focus on moderation, so keep a sort of vague running mental tally, but nothing super strict. For example, this past weekend I indulged way more than normal for a weekend (a friend's birthday party with three different cakes to try, and then a BBQ at my place where my friends brought ice cream + pie + smores + bananas foster + fruit salad plus a bunch of alcohol at both events), so I'm feeling a bit sluggish today, and am focusing on eating very cleanly. Not in a "have to punish my body for eating tasty things" way, but in a "I just put a ton of empty calories into my body, but my body needs actual fuel for going running this evening, better eat well" way. That being said, I'll still probably have a few squares of dark chocolate with my afternoon coffee.

When I do have a "treat" (i.e. calories that aren't helping me towards my fitness goals), I pay attention to what I'm having and think about sunk costs. For example, if I'm really craving ice cream, I'll have some ice cream for sure, but I'll get a gourmet brand, eat a serving, and then stop and think about if I really want some more, or if I'm satisfied with what I have. I'd rather have a bit of really awesome ice cream then a bunch of mediocre ice cream. And if the ice cream I ordered isn't hitting the spot? I'll stop eating it, even if that means ice cream going to waste. Yes, I've spent money on it already, but my having spent money doesn't change the fact that I'm not actually enjoying the ice cream - so why keep eating it? It's no longer a treat if I'm not enjoying it.

What do you do when a restaurant has given you an overly-large portion, or you're eating something where more portions are available (e.g. pizza). Do you decide in advance how much to eat and how much to save? Or does your body signal you when it's time to stop?
It takes awhile for my body to signal when I'm done, so just continuing to eat while waiting for that signal would mean that I'd keep eating beyond what I need. Instead, I have a general sense of how much food I can comfortably eat in a given meal (e.g. I normally eat three smaller slices of pizza, maybe one more if I'm coming from climbing), and I'll stop/slow down a little bit before I get there to let my sense of fullness catch up. So I'll eat the first two pieces quickly, and then nibble on the third, which gives me plenty of time to decide if I want another piece or not.
posted by Jaclyn at 2:23 PM on August 17, 2015

In my twenties, while putting on weight and frustrated, I decided I was not willing to starve myself to thinness. Cutting calories had never worked for me. In my mid thirties, I was diagnosed with a serious medical condition that significantly impacts gut function. Armed with that information, I was finally able to start figuring out how to eat healthy for my body.

I have a list of things I avoid because they negatively impact my condition. I do not count calories. I tend to go with what I crave. If it persists, I try to determine what is driving the craving. It usually is a craving for a specific nutrient. Getting enough of the right nutrient can stop my cravings.

It took a long time to get here. I first had to undo a lot of damage from not having a diagnosis.

I tend to eat a light breakfast. Lunch is typically my largest meal of the day. Some days, I have an afternoon snack and some days I don't. I typically have a light dinner and then another snack in the evening.

I am healthy enough now that I can sometimes just go with habit/known safe foods I typically eat. But my condition is very serious, so some days I think hard about what I need to eat to deal with my health issue. But none of that is neurotic or overthinking. It is very reasonable for the situation I am dealing with.
posted by Michele in California at 2:59 PM on August 17, 2015

I am a healthy weight, and I have had a healthy relationship with food for nearly a decade. I've had a handful of brief lapses here and there because we're all only human, but in general I don't have trouble eating healthy and eating appropriate portions. This is all a development of my 20's and was not reflective of my teen or early college years. In other words, like you, it was something I had to learn.*

It helps, however, that exercise is a large part of my life as well - it allows me to indulge here and there without any real guilt. Furthermore, it reinforces the need to eat nutrient/protein-rich foods because my workouts (as well as post-workout recovery periods) will otherwise be a disaster.

What works for me is focusing on what I "should" eat versus what I "should not" eat. It's having a positive or "pro" approach as opposed to a negative or self-denying approach. (Many diets, or diet theories, are very "should not" focused.)

For example, I should eat oatmeal for breakfast because it has soluble fiber, potassium and a low glycemic impact that will be good for energy during my afternoon workout. I should eat a banana as a snack because the magnesium and potassium are good for my muscles (helps to prevent cramping) and the Vitamin C boosts my immune system. I should eat baked salmon or chicken on a bed of fresh spinach, because I need the iron, B6-12, protein, etc. I should snack on an apple because it's sweet and tastes good, plus it contains fiber, and Vitamin C, and the crunchiness of it will help me to eat slower and allow me to 'fill up' before I have a chance to over eat. And so on.

This versus "I shouldn't eat that cupcake. I shouldn't eat anything with butter. I shouldn't have chocolate. I shouldn't have pizza." That approach to food will only depress you. It also seems to reinforce the false belief that the only foods that taste yummy are the "taboo" foods that are high in processed sugar or saturated fat. This is not so. I can mix up a tablespoon of organic almond butter with my oatmeal, and toss in a sliced banana or blueberries, and pow - now it's even more nutrient-dense, and pretty luxurious. If you get bored with oatmeal you can trade it out for another power food like quinoa. If you look at something like The Runner's World Cookbook, that's proof right there that you can eat really, really delicious food and still be healthy. (Of course, that cookbook is also written with the idea in mind that you have an active lifestyle and will use all of the calories you're consuming.)

*The household I grew up did not value exercise, and only somewhat valued nutrition but not nearly as much as it valued gigantic portions of food. My parents also spent way too much money on food, and so while many other children grew up having barely enough to eat, we were fortunate to have had an abundance of it. The problem with that steady abundance of food, however, is that my parents (who also refused to waste food) were always shaming us with "This food is about to go bad. Eat it up! Eat up all of this food!" and so we were being asked to eat even when we weren't hungry. (In other words, the whole 'sunken cost' fallacy.) So I began to tie food to guilt over not letting food go to waste; I also started to think of eating food as something you just "did" as opposed to something you needed in order to have energy and maintain good health. I was a kid so I pretty much had to do what my parents asked of me, but as an adult I can't believe they couldn't realize that maybe they just bought way too much food.
posted by nightrecordings at 4:04 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm in my late 40s and have never been overweight; I have fluctuated between 105 and 112 lbs but am almost always exactly 107.

I have to wait half an hour after taking a pill in the mornings so I eat as soon as that time has elapsed. I eat whatever I can get my hands on. Leftover dinner, yogurt, bread, a fried egg, fruit, whatever. If my pantry was perfectly stocked I'd have some little carby thing with my coffee and then something with protein and vegetables after, but it doesn't often work out that perfectly.

Actually that pattern of scrambling for whatever I can get my hands on holds true for all meals. I'm a good cook but I don't like to buy a ton of food at once (and am not a brilliant menu planner when I go shopping) so usually I'm having to get creative to make something out of nothing.

There are a few things that I occasionally overindulge in and then feel gross. Pizza and ice cream mostly. A couple of days of that and I bloat up and feel gross and fat and then just lose the desire to keep eating that way. It's only fun for a little while and then the bloated blob feeling makes it not fun anymore.

I think there are a few reasons I've never had weight problems (although I certainly don't pretend to know how these factors would affect another individual, I'm just saying that I feel like these are what keep my own weight down):

1) I'm fairly particular in terms of quality of food. If it's a choice between McDonald's and starving, I starve. If I'm at some kind of function where they bring in Subway or crap pizza or something, I just can't eat that and would rather go hungry. Grocery store cake, cookies, etc., no thanks. Also, I don't eat any low-fat or artificially sweetened products.
2) Owing to the aforementioned lack of organization, my house is not normally stocked with tons of food, and the food that I do buy tends not to be convenience items but rather things that need to be cooked. Ingredients, not premade things. So there's very little that you can just pop into your mouth. Carrots, fruit, etc. But I practically never buy chips or that kind of thing.
3) I just can't eat that much at one sitting. Half of a pizza is about my max.
4) I hate the way I feel when I start gaining weight so I always do something about it (i.e., knock off the ice cream) before it gets very far. It normally only takes a few days to lose any weight I've gained.
posted by HotToddy at 4:18 PM on August 17, 2015

I've always been naturally skinny, which is definitely genetic in my case. I'm also vegetarian. I generally skip breakfast, because I feel vaguely queasy in the morning and not hungry at all, but I have a big cup of tea with half and half. If for some reason I feel hungry in the morning, i go ahead and grab something quick on my way out the door, like a PB&J, but usually I don't end up eating until lunch.
I don't keep track of calories, but I try to make sure I get enough protein. I don't really like to cook, so I've figured out six or eight simple things that I can make without much effort — fancy ramen, tacos, stuff that's basically combining a bunch of easy ingredients and includes complete protein and is reasonably healthy (healthy determined by lots of good stuff for you and fairly unprocessed, not low fat). I eat those things on a fairly steady rotation, most of the time, and I rarely go out to eat; when I do, I don't worry about what I eat at all, and go until I'm full and then take the (inevitable) rest home. Restaurant portions are way too big for me unless I'm eating somewhere really fancy.
I try to eat at approximately the same time every day, but I also eat a snack or something if I get really hungry and I don't have a meal coming up soon; I take that as a sign that I didn't get enough to eat at my last meal, or that I'm exerting myself. My body tells me if it wants something salty or something proteiny or something sweet, I pretty much roll based on what I feel hungry for at any given time.
posted by you're a kitty! at 5:17 PM on August 17, 2015

It's really hard to explain how I know what I want to eat. I've noticed I feel best if I eat what my body wants most, not what I mentally think I want. But it's hard to describe that process of introspection. Basically, I imagine the food I think I might want to eat in detail and then observe my body's reaction. If I do this with a couple foods in a row, I get a stronger reaction out of one than the other. You can also compare your own reaction to the same food over time. For instance, if I ate pizza and cake for a week and thought about eating a plate of brussel sprouts, it would probably feel pretty good and delicious, whereas if I've been eating nothing but salad it would probably feel dull, and I might want steak and potatoes instead.

Sometimes if I can't make a decision, I'll do a rough estimation of what it would make sense for me to eat based on a) what I've already eaten and b) what's easy to prepare.

A couple of other examples - I thought today I wanted chocolate in the afternoon, but I realized I just had a bad taste in my mouth and that the sugar would make me jittery. I drank some water instead. Or, I just finished five days worth of chicken dinners. For my next few dinners, instead of using the chicken I'd bought and planned around, I ate a can of beans instead.

I do make an effort to avoid weird modern foods. Generally no soda, no industrial snacks, microwave things, or prepackaged foods. Dessert's okay, but it's got to be good. Sometimes I notice I've gained a little weight and I'll cut back on bread and dessert and change up my exercise routine, which brings things back in balance.

Importantly, there are no foods I tell myself I can't eat, and I don't count calories. Everybody's different, but for me, those two things are crazymaking and never have a positive outcome. I've always been a normal weight and am decently athletic, if that matters.
posted by hyperion at 6:02 PM on August 17, 2015

The main thing I do is to listen to my hunger and differentiate between "I'm bored," "I've got heartburn," and "I'm legitimately hungry." I found that if I eat too much refined carbohydrate, like bread, my stomach gets acid and says HUNGRY FEED ME FEED ME, but it's lying. If I eat fewer refined carbs and more fat, my stomach is far less acid and I just get normal hunger, at mealtimes. Once I figured that out, I stopped needing to snack.

I was fit for most of my life because I was really active. Now I'm in my pudgy 50s, sitting too much and losing weight by tracking everything I eat with MyFitnessPal (MFP).

Mornings: Often a bowl of veggies cooked in olive oil, eaten about an hour after I get up, when I'm legitimately hungry.

Keeping track: I track with MFP and my own intuition. When I'm hungry, I'll consider what I have available and how many calories I have left in my allotment, and I'll check in with my body to see what it wants within those parameters.

I eat a small breakfast, a biggish and late lunch, and a small dinner, because that fits with the local culture. I wait to eat until I'm clearly hungry but not starving. This often works out to breakfast at 8:30, black coffee slowly sipped for hours, a big lunch at 2, and a small dinner at 7 or 8. I cook big batches of food that's easy to freeze, so there's always something healthy that just needs to go in the microwave.

Treats: I no longer like sweets. I went a long time without eating them and when I tried them again they were disgustingly sweet. Instead, I'll occasionally have something with lots of lovely fat, like some brie. I plan ahead and cut back on other food that day to make caloric space for the upcoming fat party, and looking forward to it is almost better than actually eating it.

Portions: When a restaurant gives me too much food, which is basically every time, I immediately separate half of it, pushing it to one side of the plate. Then I eat "my" half and wait a decent chunk of time before deciding whether I want the other half as well. I'm not shy about asking for my leftovers to go.
posted by ceiba at 7:15 PM on August 17, 2015

So it's not that I was born with a "fast metabolism," or that I'm incredibly well-planned and virtuous about food intake, I was just born with a robust satiety switch. This means I'm really only hungry when I need/still need food, so it's not a horrible guessing game as to whether I'm really hungry or is it emotional eating, etc. I have the luxury of "listening to my body" because doing so still leaves me at what's considered a healthy BMI (that also doesn't get me abuse from peers, strangers, etc.).

This, incidentally, is why I don't feel like I have meaningful advice/preaching/teaching/judgement to drop on those who struggle with weight and disordered eating.

I've never thought about it in exactly these terms before, but this is probably a good description of how my body works as well, and I do wonder if it is possible to generalize from it if your body works in a different way.

In the morning: do you eat according to a habit that you've already figured out (e.g. always having the same thing)? At the same time, or when you first feel hunger? Or do you decide day-by-day?

On work days I eat cereal (non-sweet) because it is about all I can stomach that early. On weekends I prefer to go out to a diner for bacon and eggs and hashbrowns, or to have a late breakfast of either leftovers or some other savory option.

Do you keep mental track of what you've had throughout the day so that you can keep things in balance, or do you just listen to what your body seems to be wanting/needing?

Not at all. If I am hungry, I eat; if I am not, I will eat later. I try to mostly eat real food (meaning less processed) but I'm hardly rigorous about that, either.

How do you decide whether or not to have a treat, such as going out for ice cream? Do you change anything in your day, or the next day, to compensate for having had a treat?

I don't like sweets very much, so most desserts aren't a treat for me. But I do try to keep treats (whether of the sweet or savory variety) rare enough that they remain special, rather than an everyday item. I listen to my body and try to give it what it is craving; once in a while that is ice cream, and other times it is some kind of fruit or maybe a big steak.

What do you do when a restaurant has given you an overly-large portion, or you're eating something where more portions are available (e.g. pizza). Do you decide in advance how much to eat and how much to save? Or does your body signal you when it's time to stop?

Restaurants tend to provide ridiculously large portions, much larger than even I (a large, physically active man) am interested in eating. I either take the leftovers home or just make my peace with sending back whatever I don't finish, but I don't let their portion sizes determine how much I eat. I try to avoid the restaurants (the chains are the worst) that emphasize huge portions, because I never finish it and that just seems wasteful to me; I'd rather go to a place with small portions that are made from high quality food with distinctive flavors.

Overall I think about food a lot because it tastes great and has really complicated social signifiers, but I don't think about it in terms of morality or worry about how much I have or haven't eaten.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:58 PM on August 17, 2015

I go to the farmers' market Saturday morning at 8:30 and buy whatever they have. I trytrytry to buy just what I'll eat and not too much so that I end up throwing food away. I frequently fail, but less and less. I come home, I (try to) start cooking right away. I put some in the freezer and make lunch portions for three days or so and pack them all nicely so I don't have to deal with anything weekday mornings.

Along about eleven or twelve what with all the cooking and the pottering about the house I start to get hungry so I make an omelet, usually, usually with onion and pepper and chipotle powder and chevre from the farmer's market. If you whisk in full fat yogurt or cream, the eggs fluff up insanely. I love to make omelets. I just like watching the egg fluff up higher and higher and higher. I also like butter. Like... okay, I like butter a lot. Like to the extent that as I'm waiting for the omelet to be ready, I might eat a teaspoon of butter. Or three teaspoons of butter. This is probably disordered eating but to hell with it.

I make the same thing every time for worklunch. Fry onion in a pan with bacon or coconut oil or olive oil til translucent and then add whatever veg. I bought, stir it around a while, jam in steel lunch containers, wait 'til cool, refrigerate. Maybe I might add garlic at the end or cut up some fresh tomato or maybe I dump some curry powder on it and announce to myself that it is a curry.

I normally will make spaghetti sauce from whole tomatoes once a summer (it takes two days and it's a ton of sugar and I'll eat it right out of the pot by the cup it's so good, so I'd gain fifty pounds if I did it every week) and once or twice will make corn pea salad with field peas. Will buy cantaloupe once, strawberries a few times, peaches once or twice, blackberries once, blueberries probably weekly, pineapple every single time I see it, much as I can carry. I plant my pineapple tops and grow new pineapples. They're very forgiving of neglect and fun to grow. Salad every day because it's so easy. when it's too hot for lettuce just cucumber, pepper, tomato. I have a massive bottle of olive oil at work and one of vinegar. I cut the stuff up in the morning and put it in a big tupperware bowl, then dress it at work. I don't want my lettuce marinating all day and getting limp and sad. I have a hotplate at work, heat up the little steel lunch containers.

Weekdays same as saturdays, I start noshing around eleven or twelve when I'm hungry. I don't buy that nonsense about how if you don't eat within an hour of getting out of bed you're doomed to eat snickers all day. This is not my lived experience.

I drink coffee from the moment I get up 'til around 2:00 when my work cup runs dry. If it's a particularly annoying day, I might make another cup with the work aero press but usually that seems like too much of a PitA. I usually have a big thing of mixed nuts at work so thaqt if I run out of lunch and am still hungry I can eat that. Work has the usual stupid endless donut fairy bs and I usually abstain just because the stuff is bad. If it were worth eating I would eat it, but it's supermarket cake and no.

I finally realized that there are six flights of steps within a short walk of the workplace. So instead of taking an hour to eat all my lunch, i take a twenty-minute break every two hours and go walk those steps, and I graze all day. I'm so glad I figured this out, because before I would sit in one spot typing for eight hours straight. Now I perhaps will not die in the next two years plus I get umpty more work done because getting out of there keeps my energy from plummeting. I'm usually full from my all-day lunch so I don't usually eat dinner unless I go out somewhere or I'm just starving for some reason. I normally don't eat after dark.

Supposedly I go to sleep with the sun, having turned off all screens hours earlier as recommended by the National Sleep Foundation and every expert known to man but actually I stay up til forever reading Metafilter. At restaurants I eat 'til I'm tired of it or 'til the food is gone.

Basically I just do whatever. Some people might hurfdurf at my weekend butter eating or recoil in shock from my breakfast-and-dinner skipping or claim I eat too many eggs but I say to hell with them people. What's a little butter now and then? At the very most a quarter of a cup at a sitting! I mean, hello, I could be shooting smack. (it has to be Chimay butter or I won't bother.)
posted by Don Pepino at 8:29 PM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I think you've got to have an internal dialogue where you can assess yourself in a safe, non anxious mind frame and deny or grant yourself things without fear either way. In my head every once in a while:

"You've had a ton of sugar lately, do not reach for that donut/'Dessert, sir?' No thank you, just coffee."

"Leafy greens are wonderful things. Been so long since I've had any. Salad today for lunch sounds good."

"Ohhh these ribs won't eat themselves."

I think the key is to take the pressure of yourself and understand you will have over eat days and under eat days. The key is that your behavior in aggregate over time looks like a stable, healthy lifestyle.
posted by incolorinred at 8:37 PM on August 17, 2015

This is an interesting question to me right now. I am a life-long binge eater and carbohydrate craver, now on a low-carb diet, and amazed at how different my eating behaviors have become.

My eating on a non-restricted diet is terribly disordered. The more carbs I eat, the more I want. I try to get protein and fat in there to balance things out, but if I eat sweets or potatoes or pasta, I will be looking for food constantly in between meals. I've been known to hit the vending machine three or four times a day; whenever I'm stressed or bored I really want that pleasure-hit of something sweet. Poptarts, cookies, a candy bar... or if I'm trying to stay away from sugar, I'll eat chips, crackers, a cup of ramen. Just a constant cycle of eat-crave-eat, all day long.

I am diabetic and have a weight problem, so for the past month I have been following a low-carb diet pretty successfully. The first few days were miserable but once I got past that, my body made some kind of adjustment and all kinds of wonky health stuff started to straighten out. The most amazing thing to me is the continual cravings have gone away. I can go hours without eating and not even really care. I am somewhat indifferent to food. I don't have the physical cravings for sweets and I don't pine for it mentally either. I do get hungry but now I find myself toughing it out for periods of time because figuring out what I want to eat when I'm not craving something specific is annoying. In the past, being hungry was usually a welcome opportunity to figure out what delicious, probably unhealthy thing I would most enjoy stuffing into my face right now.

So I kind of feel like I am experiencing "normal eating behavior" for the first time in a long time.

On weekdays I like to eat breakfast at work, but sometimes I find I am hungry if I wake up early so I might drink a glass of almond milk or have a protein shake at home. Once in a while I will fry up some eggs at home before work if that is what happens to sound good. On my diet I am allowed to have 5 grams of carb every five hours, so I will have a third of a cup of reduced-carb orange juice along with my eggs. (Just a couple of swallows of juice is enough now... in the past I would have had a big glass full along with eggs and toast.)

I buy bags of ready-made peeled hard-boiled eggs to take to work, as well as turkey bacon, cottage cheese, v-8 juice and Atkins protein shakes. Breakfast at work will often be two eggs and half a cup of v-8. For lunch I might have a cup of cottage cheese, and a protein shake. Or I might go to Burger King and get a Whopper without the bun. Or to the diner across the street for half an avocado stuffed with chicken salad.

If lunch was small, I will have a handful of nuts in the afternoon if I get hungry, and/or some turkey bacon if I feel a bit munchy and need a treat, maybe another half a shake if I want something sweet to go with it. Or maybe celery and cream cheese if I happen to have it. I eat normal quantities of food now, and rarely find myself overly stuffed like I did when I was eating carbs.

Dinner is usually some kind of meat and a vegetable. Sometimes just meat if I'm feeling lazy. I do have trouble eating enough vegetables and often have to remind myself. I love tomatoes, celery, radishes and cucumbers, and to a lesser extent broccoli and green beans. But I am lazy and don't like the washing, peeling, dicing and all that, so there are days when I don't really eat any veggies at all. After dinner I often have a diet root beer to which I've added a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream. It tastes enough like a root beer float that it seems like dessert.

I eat smaller portions now, because even though I generally like what I'm eating I quickly become indifferent to it as my hunger is satisfied. So I often don't eat enough to hold me all night. I often have low-carb toast with Splenda and cinnamon before bed, with a glass of almond milk. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and about the time I am ready to go back to bed I realize I'm hungry. This annoys me so I'll often drink a glass of almond milk to stop the hunger pangs so I can get to sleep.

Eating out... in the past I have tended to overeat when we go out, frequently not stopping until I felt uncomfortably full. Things just tasted so good I didn't want to stop. Nowadays I usually order low-carb when we go out. I almost always manage to stop when I've had enough, and I have the leftovers boxed up to take home. I never plan ahead how much I will eat, I just eat until I feel satisfied and at some point I get a feeling where I realize my hunger is gone and it's not hard to stop eating now at that point.

As far as treats go, I haven't really planned ahead to have something. There was one day I spontaneously decided to have one sushi roll with rice in it, because I can only tolerate just so much plain raw fish and salad. Another time at an Indian restaurant I ordered non-carby stuff for my meal and enjoyed it, but at the end I couldn't resist eating a couple of bites of my husband's rice pudding. That was just enough to satisfy. These treats (or slipups, depending on how you look at it) were minor enough that I didn't feel the need to cut back anywhere. I just got back on plan with the next meal.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 12:33 AM on August 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm the healthiest I've ever been but I am overweight by traditional standards. But I have shaken off a LOT of negativity re: food and I do not have disordered eating anymore.

I pay a lot more attention to what my body wants rather than what I think I want, think I should want, or whatever. I do sometimes eat thoughtlessly, but stop when I am full. I used to keep eating even when I didn't want the food, out of some kind of compulsion; I don't do that anymore. Basically my one food-rule is I can have whatever I want, and however much of it I want.

In the morning: do you eat according to a habit that you've already figured out (e.g. always having the same thing)? At the same time, or when you first feel hunger? Or do you decide day-by-day?

In the morning I always have a big latte from the overpriced coffee place near work and may or may not get a breakfast sandwich which has egg/bacon in it. Depends on how I feel.

Do you keep mental track of what you've had throughout the day so that you can keep things in balance, or do you just listen to what your body seems to be wanting/needing?

Not really - it's not at the top of my head.

How do you decide whether or not to have a treat, such as going out for ice cream? Do you change anything in your day, or the next day, to compensate for having had a treat?

If I feel like it and it is accessible, I will get myself a treat. I love ice cream. I definitely don't think in terms of "compensating" for it. Sometimes however it may fill me up in which case I won't be in the mood for a heavy rich meal soon afterwards, which is a kind of compensation, I guess; but I have issues with the concept of "compensating" for rich food, like it's a sin that I have to count a bunch of Hail Mary's for.

What do you do when a restaurant has given you an overly-large portion, or you're eating something where more portions are available (e.g. pizza). Do you decide in advance how much to eat and how much to save? Or does your body signal you when it's time to stop?

I never think these things in advance. I'll stop when I'm full and take away the leftovers if there are any, and sometimes I polish everything off.

Reading this over, you can sense a theme: I don't think about it much. And I think that is a key to eating in a non-disordered way. I accept this may be a pretty annoying answer to someone who struggles with overeating. I've been there. In fact, I've posted similar questions to this myself. Dieting and intentional food restriction got me to a very bad place.

Now that I have permission to eat anything, I really don't think about food at all anymore, and I feel so much more at peace. Almost as a by-product, I eat less than I used to, and never binge-eat anymore.
posted by Ziggy500 at 2:39 AM on August 18, 2015

So, I wasn't really aware of any 'differences' between me, and what disordered eating would look like, until I lived with someone who did struggle with their weight, and I realised that a lot of the differences might just be down to habits I have? These are the differences I noticed:

* They based their meal around a carb, not around the protein.
For me, this may be a by-product of growing up vegetarian, but when I'd ask for ideas for what to have for dinner, I'd ask if we should have something with beef mince, chicken, beans or chickpeas. They'd pick the carb first, say potatoes or pasta or rice. Not incidentally, it means that they'd often make a meal that just had carbs - pasta with some pasta sauce etc.
Whereas, I always have a protein, and sometimes have kind of all-protein meals (beef mince and chilli beans with peas etc).

* Carbs don't fill either of us up. I hadn't really paid attention to what was proteins/carbs til this point, but I've realised that I base meals and snacks around protein, because I just don't feel full otherwise. I'll keep eating and eating and just not feel full. They confessed to me that sometimes they'd eat so much it hurt and still feel REALLY 'hungry', like this was something really strange and broken in them, and I had to ask them if this happened in really proteiny meals, or with stuff like bread and pasta, and they'd just never realised that the difference was in what they were eating. I mean, I have the same thing. When I was a kid I'd get home from a birthday party and ask my mother for dinner, and when she'd ask why I hadn't eaten enough at the party, I'd struggle to explain that it was all junk food (chippies, cake, icecream etc), and I needed some real food now, aka a bowl of lentil curry - yay protein!

* They skip meals, a lot of meals, and then binge on a lot of food. Actually, I might be a little hypoglycemic? No way could I skip meals without being a failboat all day. Breakfast and lunch and two snacks are pretty much the same thing for me each day, with a few variations. They all have protein in them. When I was depressed and lost interest in a lot of things, I just continued eating the same regular meals, which helped me cope.

(Depressed Elysum's standard meal: Rice noodles with boiling water and nuked, a sachet of miso, a protein - a can of tuna, or cooked chicken, or and egg or two; with some frozen veges poured in and optionally 1/3 a can of chopped tomatoes. Often a hunk of butter, because it turns out that recipe is maybe a little too healthy.
This was my pretty standard breakfast. I'd pour water over the rice noodles the night before, so I only had to nuke the ingredients to heat in the morning)

* They weren't a breakfast eater, and didn't get hungry then, and then we happened to have a regular breakfast for awhile, and suddenly they were, and did. So, I think these things are more habit than anything. Whether you do, or don't have breakfast, the common thread seems to be having a regular pattern of meals, and your body will adjust somewhat *to* that.

* I set things up so I don't have to use willpower to stop eating? If I'm in front of a bowl of chippies (potato chips), yeah, I'll keep grabbing for some til I eat the whole bowl. If I have the 'munchies', I might keep filling my bowl of chilli. But eating so much I feel uncomfortably full seems like a waste? So just sit at parties so I can't see the chippies, or make sure I've got a couple of servings of chilli, then put the rest in containers in the fridge and freezer for future meals, before sitting down to eat. Also, I guess I just have a personal limit for eating up to 1/2, maximum 2/3rds of a pizza in a sitting, but see no reason to buy more than that, or not put it aside for another meal. Whereas my friend would fail to eat much of the weekend, then order 3 pizzas and sides. And... yeah. I honestly worry more about the skipped meals, the binge just seemed like the natural side effect of doing that.

* Oh, and fizzy! Yeah. I don't really drink fizzy/soda drink. That seems to be a big thing by itself. It is another of those things that you'll drink when you are thirsty or hungry, which does not fill you up?

* The food I have is almost all real food, dinner food. I don't really buy or eat snacks randomly, I have yoghurts and muesli bars and cheese and nuts or hardboiled eggs, and other things like that for morning and afternoon tea (they all have around 5 grams of protein! I realised this later!). They're kind of not really 'snacks' in the way some people think of them, though, so much as already scheduled meals, because I get cranky otherwise. If I am hungry, then they are what I reach for, obviously.
I think I basically eat before I get really hungry, if that makes sense, and with things that will fill me up, not appeal to a sweet tooth? Again, this is possibly the mild hypoglycemia thing, I think other people can get by without eating every 3-4 hours, but the point is I just fell into a regular eating habit that makes that not a problem for me. Which is great, because I'm really ADHD in other areas of my life!


I rambled on a bit, but it basically comes down to:
* Regularity - meals and snacks at the same time, of usually the same size.
* Protein - If I'm hungry, I don't eat 'anything', I eat something with protein.
posted by Elysum at 7:07 AM on August 18, 2015

I'm on the low end of a healthy weight. I won't say I have an indifferent or general relationship with food (I love it so very hard), but I think my approach to eating is pretty balanced.

In the morning: do you eat according to a habit that you've already figured out (e.g. always having the same thing)? At the same time, or when you first feel hunger? Or do you decide day-by-day?

I eat as soon as I start to feel like I can stomach something. Since my belly is tetchy in the mornings, what I can eat is pretty limited. My standard breakfast is one of: shredded wheat with milk and honey; bananas in yogurt with mixed seeds thrown in; or nuts (lately dark-chocolate almonds, bit of a treat) and fruit. I've sometimes also done toast with pb. I eat as much as I can, which isn't very much. I'm not an active person in general, but if it's a more active day and I'm feeling hungry or low on energy, I'll snack on something before lunch. I almost always have an afternoon snack.

Do you keep mental track of what you've had throughout the day so that you can keep things in balance, or do you just listen to what your body seems to be wanting/needing?

Both. I try to eat healthy foods in general, and try to have a good overall balance through the day. For me that means trying to squeeze in fruits and veggies where I can (I shoot for 50%), getting enough protein (I don't eat much meat, so I have to work a little at it), and filling it in with legumes and/or (usually whole) grains. I don't limit fats at all, but I do try to stick to ones that I consider healthier. I don't actually have to put much thought into meals the day of because I prepare a menu at the beginning of each week.

If I have a craving for something, I think through what other things also sound good in order to pinpoint what I need (protein? fat? carbs? or something weirder, like magnesium or salt?), and I pretty much always go with it. I try not to cave to sugar cravings because sugar makes me feel like utter crap, and it's usually my body telling me I haven't eaten enough, period. Sometimes I do binge a bit on sugar or a bag of chips, spend some time feeling physically icky, and move on.

How do you decide whether or not to have a treat, such as going out for ice cream? Do you change anything in your day, or the next day, to compensate for having had a treat?

At home, treats are small and usually eaten after a meal for steadier blood sugar levels. They're a small, enjoyable thing, but also pretty much a non-event. I might decide to do dessert/apps with a friend every once in a while, but the point is that I'm with my friend. I eat as much as I want.

I don't try to 'make up; for anything unless I've had a run over a 2 or more days of crappy eating. I usually end up wanting veggies, so I eat a bunch of veggies.

What do you do when a restaurant has given you an overly-large portion, or you're eating something where more portions are available (e.g. pizza). Do you decide in advance how much to eat and how much to save? Or does your body signal you when it's time to stop?

Restaurants always serve more than I can eat. I tend to eat until I'm a little over-full at restaurants - going out is for splurging! I don't eat until I'm sick. I pretty much always have plenty more to take home.

-----

Generally, I eat until I'm satisfied or full. I eat what makes my body and mind feel great, and I think I eat pretty tasty, luxurious (to me) things. The only thing I try to restrict is processed sugar treats, and that's because it has nasty effects on my health.

Oh, and I do try to avoid eating too much of what I consider to be unhealthy fats, which means steering away from a lot of processed foods. I do this because I'm shooting for a better O3/O6 ratio.
posted by moira at 8:24 PM on August 18, 2015