quote:<HR>Originally posted by teetime:
For those interested in the approach there is an older book with a similar theme, "Breaking Out of Food Jail" by Jean Antonello, that I recommend. Many years ago when I was stuck in a very rigid (and unhappy) place, this book helped open my eyes to a new (and more comfortable) way of thinking/being.

Given how close the ties are (at a neurological level) between eating, food, emotion, and memory, I don't think it's as easy as the books like to make it sound. In addition, you have to be willing to accept the figure you genetically were meant to have (if you buy the set point theory). For some people, that can be a bit plumper than their idealized self (though it still beats being overweight from dieting in weird ways).<HR>

The problem with the set point theory in my mind is that I really think some of us are genetically programmed to be very, very overweight. We are meant to respond to any visual food cues with extreme hunger, meant to feel hungry much of the time, and meant to override any feelings of "satiety" because the body doesn't know if food is coming again in a few hours or a few days. The reason prior generations have not necessarily dealt with the obesity problem is that food shortages were out of our control - we didn't purposely eat less, there was just less to eat - and we were forced by a lack of technology and a different economic system to exercise extreme amounts. I think unless we return to that kind of lifestyle, it's unlikely that our internal cues (for those of us who have trouble being at a healthy weight by eating "normally") will keep us healthy.

The last time I was thin without effort was when I emerged from the womb. I got fat quickly, on breastmilk feeding on demand alone, and stayed that way through childhood and beyond. The only way I've ever been at a "healthy" weight - and I'm not talking thin, just pleasantly plump without being obese - was when I purposefully controlled what I ate and went out of my way to incorporate hours of exercise into my day. I'm fine with having to do that because I know I feel better that way and will stay functional and healthy longer in life as a result.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by teetime:
I do think some people may have higher "set points" but the majority of people will have an average one and some people will have a lower than average weight they "naturally" maintain.

I understand your survival point. However, from an evolutionary point the body also wants to carry an optimal amount of weight. Enough to have children but not so much to threaten a healthy pregnancy.

I won't pretend this is my field or that I have any answers (I'm a social scientist with a layman's interest in this stuff). But I do think there is something to the idea of restrictive dieting leaving us no better off than if we eat on cue.<HR>

There are a lot of problems with this argument. What is average? Is average what has been deduced from generations of people really not living with abundant food sources? How meaningful is that? Isn't average in an age of almost unrestricted food choices more meaningful? That average is not a healthy weight.

The body wants to hold onto an optimal amount of weight, but it figured that out over millenia of restricted food choices. So how it responds to unrestricted choices and the constant bombardment of food images is perhaps a totally different thing.

Restrictive dieting (i.e. eating the proper amount of calories needed to maintain a healthy weight and using those calories to create balanced meals) teaches us to eat as much as any instruction on "intuitive" eating (which as many have pointed out is totally non-intuitive for most people). It also changes our cues. So why is one less real/healthy/natural than the other?

quote:<HR>Originally posted by bronwyn:
I did not mean to start an argument but see if anyone found intuitive eating to be a solution to obsessive, compulsive or emotional eating. I am rejecting the diet mentality. Different people respond differently to different things. I think arguing about theories is pointless. Some research supports intuitive eating but change is difficult in any area of life. People develop patterns and the best way to change them often vary. I just know having a healthy mealplan that I am supposed to follow just makes me crave every junk food under the sun. I have been far more relaxed since I gave up trying to control my behavior in that manner.<HR>

1! Sorry to get involved with that Bronwyn. It is pointless. If you like the approach and do want some more reading check out the book I suggested above. I really like some of the vignettes the author includes.

Another book that goes with IE is Breaking Free From Emotional Eating by Geneen Roth.

Same principals about listening to your body and rejecting the diet mentality. I find it is REALLY helping me.

I suffered from anorexia years ago and bulimia after that. I am a binge eater. I finally feel there is SOME hope for me.

IE isnt easy, but neither is starving yourself. I chose to live healthy and am trying to learn what my body needs and wants

do you think that some people naturally eat intuitively (or rather, intuitively eat intuitively) based on how "intuitive eating" is explained in the book?

I'm also interested to know how the book(s) explain how you know when you're not hungry. That seems to be the big trick I would think.