Food-Positive, Body-Positive, Meditative Nutrition/Diet Advice
March 4, 2016 11:32 AM Subscribe
Can you point me to some good resources for developing a better diet, given my particular situation and my very persnickety preferences regarding tone?
I've never had a very good relationship with food. I'm fat, and I've been fat most of my life. I was put on diets as a child (some of which were ridiculously stupid -- imagine a 10 year old on a diet of two Lean Cuisine meals a day!) Over the past few years, I've developed extreme reactions to hunger: I never felt hungry, really, but would regularly (but without warning) fall into pits of exhaustion and emotional upheaval until food got stuffed in my face. I have craved sugars and sweets so fiercely, it has felt like an addiction to me. In short, my life has been structured by an unhappy relationship to food.
And then something miraculous happened: a few months ago, I went on antidepressants. Suddenly, everything is different. I can feel hunger. I can be hungry without it turning into an emotional emergency. And a huge revelation: food feels good! I had never realized that, when you eat, it's supposed to send "Mm, I am satisfied!" signals to your brain. There is pleasure to eating salad--there's a sense of fulfillment, gratification, satisfaction! And I don't feel obsessed with sweets and easy carbs. It's like, for most of my life, there was a part of my brain that wasn't getting any signals from my digestive system, and so it was constantly screaming at me, "EAT! EAT! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE IF YOU DON'T GET CALORIES INTO YOU IMMEDIATELY!" But now that part of my brain is getting the signals it should! Now that part goes, "Hm, yeah, cake is delicious, but actually you don't need it right now!" I have cried from the joy of feeling full. It is amazing.
So, I'm in this weird position where, for the first time in my life, I feel like I can have control over my diet. For the first time in my life, I can recognize the physiological and emotional benefit of good food--of healthy, hearty, body-benefiting food. I want to feel that more. I want to shape my regular diet to appreciate just how good it feels to eat healthy, good foods. You know that hokey advice, "Treat your body like a temple"? I want to do that.
Can you point me to good resources (books, blogs, whatever) to help me do this? Specifically, can you point me to resources that have the attitude and tone I'm looking for? Resources that celebrate food and the joy of eating, but are built around an appreciation for a diet that is good for your body? Whether it is more theory based ("Here's how to approach the experience of a meal" or "Here's a way of entering the supermarket" or whatever), or collections of recipes, or... anything. I'm new to this world!
There are some things, in particular, that I strongly (desperately) want to avoid:
--Calorie counting. I have no interest in doing this. I had a childhood built around calorie counting. It doesn't work for me, and it leaves me feeling angry and annoyed. I want to eat from intuition, not from a spreadsheet. I'm not trying to lose weight; I'm trying to get even more in touch with my body and give it the foods it deserves.
--Any emphasis on deprivation, or what to avoid. I don't want to be told what not to eat. I already know that hamburgers and pizza and ice cream and all those other things are high in fats and sugars, etc. It's very easy for me to hear advice about avoiding crappy foods as, "These foods are bad, and you should feel bad for liking them." Do not want.
--Anything like "healthy substitutions." I mean things like this: "Next time, try making tacos with lettuce leaves rather than tortillas!!!!!" or "Try this ice cream, where instead of cream, we use bananas, and instead of chocolate we use carob!!!" No thanks. I want resources that will help me enjoy lettuce, for its own sake, or bananas-frozen-with-carob for its own sake. Whenever one type of food is presented as a substitute for another, it feels to me again like a form of deprivation: "You really want tacos and ice cream, but no! no! you can't have those!" Foods presented as a substitution for another kind of food always seem like weak imitations, sad and unsatisfying. Give me food that is satisfying, as the type of food it actually is.
--Any sort of emphasis on getting the max out of your diet. Like, "Here's a way to PACK YOURSELF WITH EVEN MORE PROTEIN!!" or the like. Again, I want to eat what I eat because it feels good to eat those things. I don't want something that emphasizes developing a rationally-produced, rather than intuitively accepted, diet.
--Rules. So, anything like, "Here's the rules to eating well." That feels like restriction to me. It feels like confinement. I don't want my diet to be dictated by some set of guidelines that I follow for the sake of following them. I want my diet to be dictated by what tastes good and feels good.
--Really, I guess, anything that could be interpreted as inviting shame, self-hatred, restriction, or an unhappy attitude towards food. A lifetime of bad experiences has left me pretty touchy.
I feel like I'm ruling out a whole lot of things that are central to pretty much any nutritional advice, but I'm hoping you still might have some suggestions! Given my history, my circumstances, and my wants, where do you think I can get the sort of diet and nutritional advice that will help me rejoice in healthy, hearty foods?
I've never had a very good relationship with food. I'm fat, and I've been fat most of my life. I was put on diets as a child (some of which were ridiculously stupid -- imagine a 10 year old on a diet of two Lean Cuisine meals a day!) Over the past few years, I've developed extreme reactions to hunger: I never felt hungry, really, but would regularly (but without warning) fall into pits of exhaustion and emotional upheaval until food got stuffed in my face. I have craved sugars and sweets so fiercely, it has felt like an addiction to me. In short, my life has been structured by an unhappy relationship to food.
And then something miraculous happened: a few months ago, I went on antidepressants. Suddenly, everything is different. I can feel hunger. I can be hungry without it turning into an emotional emergency. And a huge revelation: food feels good! I had never realized that, when you eat, it's supposed to send "Mm, I am satisfied!" signals to your brain. There is pleasure to eating salad--there's a sense of fulfillment, gratification, satisfaction! And I don't feel obsessed with sweets and easy carbs. It's like, for most of my life, there was a part of my brain that wasn't getting any signals from my digestive system, and so it was constantly screaming at me, "EAT! EAT! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE IF YOU DON'T GET CALORIES INTO YOU IMMEDIATELY!" But now that part of my brain is getting the signals it should! Now that part goes, "Hm, yeah, cake is delicious, but actually you don't need it right now!" I have cried from the joy of feeling full. It is amazing.
So, I'm in this weird position where, for the first time in my life, I feel like I can have control over my diet. For the first time in my life, I can recognize the physiological and emotional benefit of good food--of healthy, hearty, body-benefiting food. I want to feel that more. I want to shape my regular diet to appreciate just how good it feels to eat healthy, good foods. You know that hokey advice, "Treat your body like a temple"? I want to do that.
Can you point me to good resources (books, blogs, whatever) to help me do this? Specifically, can you point me to resources that have the attitude and tone I'm looking for? Resources that celebrate food and the joy of eating, but are built around an appreciation for a diet that is good for your body? Whether it is more theory based ("Here's how to approach the experience of a meal" or "Here's a way of entering the supermarket" or whatever), or collections of recipes, or... anything. I'm new to this world!
There are some things, in particular, that I strongly (desperately) want to avoid:
--Calorie counting. I have no interest in doing this. I had a childhood built around calorie counting. It doesn't work for me, and it leaves me feeling angry and annoyed. I want to eat from intuition, not from a spreadsheet. I'm not trying to lose weight; I'm trying to get even more in touch with my body and give it the foods it deserves.
--Any emphasis on deprivation, or what to avoid. I don't want to be told what not to eat. I already know that hamburgers and pizza and ice cream and all those other things are high in fats and sugars, etc. It's very easy for me to hear advice about avoiding crappy foods as, "These foods are bad, and you should feel bad for liking them." Do not want.
--Anything like "healthy substitutions." I mean things like this: "Next time, try making tacos with lettuce leaves rather than tortillas!!!!!" or "Try this ice cream, where instead of cream, we use bananas, and instead of chocolate we use carob!!!" No thanks. I want resources that will help me enjoy lettuce, for its own sake, or bananas-frozen-with-carob for its own sake. Whenever one type of food is presented as a substitute for another, it feels to me again like a form of deprivation: "You really want tacos and ice cream, but no! no! you can't have those!" Foods presented as a substitution for another kind of food always seem like weak imitations, sad and unsatisfying. Give me food that is satisfying, as the type of food it actually is.
--Any sort of emphasis on getting the max out of your diet. Like, "Here's a way to PACK YOURSELF WITH EVEN MORE PROTEIN!!" or the like. Again, I want to eat what I eat because it feels good to eat those things. I don't want something that emphasizes developing a rationally-produced, rather than intuitively accepted, diet.
--Rules. So, anything like, "Here's the rules to eating well." That feels like restriction to me. It feels like confinement. I don't want my diet to be dictated by some set of guidelines that I follow for the sake of following them. I want my diet to be dictated by what tastes good and feels good.
--Really, I guess, anything that could be interpreted as inviting shame, self-hatred, restriction, or an unhappy attitude towards food. A lifetime of bad experiences has left me pretty touchy.
I feel like I'm ruling out a whole lot of things that are central to pretty much any nutritional advice, but I'm hoping you still might have some suggestions! Given my history, my circumstances, and my wants, where do you think I can get the sort of diet and nutritional advice that will help me rejoice in healthy, hearty foods?
I really like Heidi Swanson's blog 101 Cookbooks. She focuses on healthy foods and healthy eating within your guidelines. Her images are gorgeous and everything I've made from her has been delicious. I recommend Double Broccoli Quinoa and the Salt Kissed Buttermilk Cake.
If you want more of a dialog around food and nutrition, the Fat Nutritionist has some very thought-provoking posts (though she posts very infrequently) and is good at policing the comments. Her about page emphasizes getting to a friendly place with food and your body.
posted by carrioncomfort at 11:52 AM on March 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
If you want more of a dialog around food and nutrition, the Fat Nutritionist has some very thought-provoking posts (though she posts very infrequently) and is good at policing the comments. Her about page emphasizes getting to a friendly place with food and your body.
posted by carrioncomfort at 11:52 AM on March 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
The Vegan Experience at Serious Eats is really good for this--just really good recipes, focused on flavor, but which incidentally are plant-based and lots of chatting about how to make things taste good as themselves.
posted by crush-onastick at 11:55 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by crush-onastick at 11:55 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
In addition to diet-focused books, I recommend reading books, memoirs and biographies of chefs.
The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen
Heat: An Amateur Cook in a Professional Kitchen
The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection
Why? These people looooooove food. It's in their souls. You will completely rethink something as humble as a hard-boiled egg when you read about how Pepin learned the recipe from his mother.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:05 PM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen
Heat: An Amateur Cook in a Professional Kitchen
The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection
Why? These people looooooove food. It's in their souls. You will completely rethink something as humble as a hard-boiled egg when you read about how Pepin learned the recipe from his mother.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:05 PM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I love my Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Lots and lots of delicious vegetarian recipes, many different ways to use fresh produce and legumes. Even if you are not a vegetarian (I am not, but I try to use less meat) there are a lot of great ideas in this book. (I love, love, love the red lentil dal with coconut milk.)
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:05 PM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:05 PM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oooh! I get so excited to go to a real market instead of a grocery store. Get ingredients and produce, and make what you want to eat.
I know you're adverse to rules so instead of saying, "No processed food" just say "More fresh food" or "Fresh = yes." Eating homemade doesn't have to be a chore - in fact, fruits and veggies and stuff are just as easy to eat as garbage-food. They're little snack miracles!! Berries??? Nuts??? Awesome!
posted by Dressed to Kill at 12:06 PM on March 4, 2016
I know you're adverse to rules so instead of saying, "No processed food" just say "More fresh food" or "Fresh = yes." Eating homemade doesn't have to be a chore - in fact, fruits and veggies and stuff are just as easy to eat as garbage-food. They're little snack miracles!! Berries??? Nuts??? Awesome!
posted by Dressed to Kill at 12:06 PM on March 4, 2016
Congratulations! What a good thing.
I've just watched Michael Pollan's Cooked on netflix - there is a book, too. In general, I find his thoughts on food and culture really inspiring.
Also, anything by/with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is easy to follow and both philosophical and practical. There are both TV-series, books and the linked articles.
With both authors, the main message is that real food is not complicated or mysterious. Fearnley-Whittingstall has great very simple ideas for meals.
posted by mumimor at 12:07 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've just watched Michael Pollan's Cooked on netflix - there is a book, too. In general, I find his thoughts on food and culture really inspiring.
Also, anything by/with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is easy to follow and both philosophical and practical. There are both TV-series, books and the linked articles.
With both authors, the main message is that real food is not complicated or mysterious. Fearnley-Whittingstall has great very simple ideas for meals.
posted by mumimor at 12:07 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think you will get a lot from Geneen Roth's work. Some of her stance is not about food and eating only -- it is about multi-layered relationships between women, food, bodies and deeper senses of deprivation and hunger -- but her overall message is to feed yourself well, to accept your appetite and be in touch with your body, to give your body what it needs, to love food as nourishment and pleasure.
Susie Orbach's classic Fat is a Feminist Issue has this at core, too.
posted by flourpot at 12:17 PM on March 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Susie Orbach's classic Fat is a Feminist Issue has this at core, too.
posted by flourpot at 12:17 PM on March 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Budget Bytes is such a wonderful site for food loving, I'll recommend it for you because it bursts with love of a lot of different kinds of wonderful foods. If you read the FAQ you can see that it's really not trying to dictate what's healthy or not. The author is eating all of the food she cooks and tries to eat what she considers a well rounded and balanced diet that does include indulgences here and there.
The other reason it could be really useful is it shows that you don't have to spend a ton of money to have really interesting food to make. It's also really good at showing how you can turn a couple of grocery trips into a week's worth of food, how to manage leftovers, how to use the same ingredients for different dishes over the course of a week. There are wonderful recipes all over the internet, but making one recipe can be very different from scheduling a week of meals while avoiding a lot of waste or one off purchases, and Budget Bytes excels at giving you a sense of how that works.
She photographs all of the recipes and their stages beautifully and also photographs grocery trip hauls during the weekly recaps.
posted by foxfirefey at 12:25 PM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
The other reason it could be really useful is it shows that you don't have to spend a ton of money to have really interesting food to make. It's also really good at showing how you can turn a couple of grocery trips into a week's worth of food, how to manage leftovers, how to use the same ingredients for different dishes over the course of a week. There are wonderful recipes all over the internet, but making one recipe can be very different from scheduling a week of meals while avoiding a lot of waste or one off purchases, and Budget Bytes excels at giving you a sense of how that works.
She photographs all of the recipes and their stages beautifully and also photographs grocery trip hauls during the weekly recaps.
posted by foxfirefey at 12:25 PM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
The Five Contemplations from Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition of buddhism are a form of "grace" that people say before meals. I have it in my kitchen at eye level where I do food prep. It's a nice way to connect to the food and be mindful about consumption:
posted by headnsouth at 12:30 PM on March 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
· This food is the gift of the whole universe: the earth, the sky, and much hard work.There is a newer version that addresses the environmental impact of food production but this traditional one works for me.
· May we live in a way that makes us worthy to receive it.
· May we transform our own unskilled states of mind and learn to eat with moderation.
· May we take only foods that nourish us and prevent illness.
· We accept this food so that we may realize the path of understanding and love.
posted by headnsouth at 12:30 PM on March 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
I think you would like Sarah Jenks's approach to food, and although she has a (very expensive) paid program, there are also a ton of free resources on her site.
posted by rainbowbrite at 1:03 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by rainbowbrite at 1:03 PM on March 4, 2016
Marc David's Institute for the Psychology of Eating might be interesting for you. He's got a great book called The Slow-Down Diet. He has an expensive program, but he also has free videos and podcasts.
posted by FencingGal at 1:08 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by FencingGal at 1:08 PM on March 4, 2016
Mic Eats
That's my sporadically updated blog about what I eat. I don't count calories. I accidentally lost weight by just getting healthier (which probably sort of lost me the guy friend who was into BBWs, which was why I honestly had no goal of losing any weight, cuz I really liked him bunches at one time).
Like you, my body just didn't work right and I spent years forcing myself to eat so I could keep functioning. Then, with getting the right diagnosis and getting healthier, at some point I suddenly began enjoying eating instead of viewing it as a necessary chore to get through. And it was AMAZING and I am turning into a foodie because I can eat without it torturing me.
So, I talk on the blog about researching stuff to better manage my condition by getting the right things into me, but there is absolutely zero calorie counting, food shaming, etc.
I started it just for me on my 50th birthday last year, but you are more than welcome to see if speaks to you.
posted by Michele in California at 1:09 PM on March 4, 2016
That's my sporadically updated blog about what I eat. I don't count calories. I accidentally lost weight by just getting healthier (which probably sort of lost me the guy friend who was into BBWs, which was why I honestly had no goal of losing any weight, cuz I really liked him bunches at one time).
Like you, my body just didn't work right and I spent years forcing myself to eat so I could keep functioning. Then, with getting the right diagnosis and getting healthier, at some point I suddenly began enjoying eating instead of viewing it as a necessary chore to get through. And it was AMAZING and I am turning into a foodie because I can eat without it torturing me.
So, I talk on the blog about researching stuff to better manage my condition by getting the right things into me, but there is absolutely zero calorie counting, food shaming, etc.
I started it just for me on my 50th birthday last year, but you are more than welcome to see if speaks to you.
posted by Michele in California at 1:09 PM on March 4, 2016
The Namaste Nutritionist has helped me. She is against calorie counting and pro adding things to your diet that have health benefits instead of taking things away.
posted by Pearl928 at 1:49 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by Pearl928 at 1:49 PM on March 4, 2016
Intuitive Eating is exactly what you're looking for.
https://www.intuitiveeating.com
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 3:52 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
https://www.intuitiveeating.com
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 3:52 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
It hasn't started yet so I can only go by the description, but since you mentioned meditative approaches, Depak Chopra and Oprah are starting a 21 day free meditation program on March 21 called Shedding the Weight, Mind, Body, and Spirit.
posted by cecic at 4:34 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by cecic at 4:34 PM on March 4, 2016
You might like Angelo Coppela's stuff over at Humans Are Not Broken. He is sort of "paleo" but don't be put off by that. His approach is guided exactly by "what tastes good and feels good." His process toward his current approach to eating was iterative and intuitive, and he freely notes that what works for him may not work for others.
His podcast is a nice mix of book reviews, documentary previews, discussions about topics in the news, interviews, and talks from others. It is long (hour plus), but he's very engaging to listen to.
posted by jeoc at 7:35 PM on March 4, 2016
His podcast is a nice mix of book reviews, documentary previews, discussions about topics in the news, interviews, and talks from others. It is long (hour plus), but he's very engaging to listen to.
posted by jeoc at 7:35 PM on March 4, 2016
Reading your description, I think Intuitive Eating is exactly the approach that you want - learning how to listen and respect your body's feelings of hunger and fullness.
posted by metahawk at 10:51 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by metahawk at 10:51 PM on March 4, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ukdanae at 11:50 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]