Intuitive Eating

[sambo fighter]

I just logged on to netscape and one of the headlines in the news was something about the no diet diet. The concept is called intuitive eating. Intuitive eating is based on the idea that you only eat when you are hungry and stop eating when you are full. By hungry they mean stomache pain hungry. The guy who developed this said if you eat this way you can eat a fair amount of junk food and still lose weight. He said he personally lost 50 lbs and kept it off for 5 years and he still eats M&Ms all the time. Im sure if you ate this way it would be advisable to choose healthier foods though.

They really emphasise listening to your body rather than eating on a schedule. So I guess somedays I would eat 3 or 4 times and other days I might only eat once on this diet.

Has anyone tried to eat like this? Does anyone have any good information about this type of diet? Is eating like this dangerous?

 

[zdrax]

This is all fine and dandy for most people who don't want to fundamentally change the way they look at food. It's obviously a fad diet as evidenced by his promotion of junk food as "okay" if you're interesting in losing weight. Sure, eating 3 brownies and some tortilla chips a day will let you lose weight, but your performance will suffer, your body composition will suffer, and your mental capacities will suffer. In addition, "full" is a subjective term. Those interested in gaining serious amounts of muscle need to eat beyond their normal "comfort level" of full. Then, the body will adapt and develop a new concept of full. Unless healthy eating habits have already been ingrained, 90+% of people need to go through a pseudo-scientific reprogramming phase. Once that phase is completed and the person has transitioned to a new lifestyle, then intuitive eating can come back into play. But ultimately, this seems like doctor's recommendations who say "just eat less" to lose weight.

 

[desertbake]

It's a fad diet plain and simple. The Atkins diet will always result in weight loss, but it ain't healthy for someone interested in actually feeling better, and having more energy. Any diet that says "eat junk food, stay away from healthy foods, etc" is gonna be a BAD diet in my book

 

[HA-Y-N Pitbull]

Just use common sense. Eat smart, healthy foods when your hungry and stop eating when your full. Just make sure you have a couple "cheat meals" throughout the week (no more than 3) to help keep your sanity.

 

[axecutioner]

That guy was just a moron with a very high metabolism. Even if you burn those calories off it's still bad for you. My roommate is pretty slim and eats out nearly every meal which includes about 6 sodas a day. He thinks he's in good health because he works out a couple times a week and isn't fat, but it just hasn't clicked that he gets some type of illness every 2-3 weeks.

 

[sambo fighter]

Ok, you guys are more hung up on the junk food issue. I agree with you on that. My question is would it be benificial to only eat when you are hungry in opposed to eating on a schedule?

 

[desertbake]

Ok, you guys are more hung up on the junk food issue. I agree with you on that. My question is would it be benificial to only eat when you are hungry in opposed to eating on a schedule?

I went through a bout of depression about a year and a half ago where I would sometimes go a couple days without eating cause I wasn't hungry cause I was fuckin depressed...so NO, if you're going a day or two without eating then this is a BAD thing...eat on schedule!

 

[paulchu]

that could work, however, the okinawans have this saying that says you should only eat until you are 80% full. because digestion takes time, and so do signals from parts of your body to the brain, if you stop eating at 80%, in a few minutes, your stomach will be full... this is why we tend to feel to bad when we eat until we feel full only to realize we ate too much.

remember that okinawa has the most people living today that has hit over 100 years of age. and i bet a lot of it has to do with diet.

 

[Ruick]

3 of my meals are timed, same time every day. the other 3 are varied, whenever i feel hungry so perhaps a 30min-1hr difference every day. I'd assume its more healthy to eat when your body is hungry, not when your schedule says your hungry.

 

[bacon]

easy diet:
If you can't grow it or kill it yourself, you probably shouldn't eat it.
If it comes in a box, leave it on the shelf.
Eat until you're 80% full.

 

[Urban]

Thing is, a lot of people eat that way. they eat when they're hungry and eat until they're full, and we have a lot of fat people in the country because of it. I suppose if they waited until they were "stomach pains" hungry things would be different. In addition, I know a lot of "hardgainers" that eat intuitively, and they will remain skinny for the rest of their lives if they don't eat according to the clock and not their stomach.

 

[LCDforMe]

The 6 smaller meals a day every couple hours has been working for me so why mess with success?

 

[owai]

I can clearly say i used to eat like that i never used to eat till i was stupidly hungery , it's bad news i found it fucked up my metabalism and casued me to store most of my food as fat im guessing my body thought it wasn't going to eat for awhile and thought i was starving it.
i just say eat at regular times and don't eat macdonalds all day!

 

[Gringo23]

I have eaten this way for years.

I have had no adverse affects. Somedays i will eat a bit of fruit or a salad and thats it. Other days i will eat like a fatty non stop. Although i generally do have a good quality diet. and aviod junk food.

 

[Madmick]

I cant' wait to start my "I'm skinnier than you" diet.

 

[Chad Hamilton]

The diet is impossible.

Americans have de-sensitized their hypothalamus through poor diet generation to generation.
Therefore, the diet doesn't work, average Joe can't tell when he's full because his dad tought him to eat everything on his plate.

 

[cfiore6006]

No, it's doable, but only if you're looking for the best of show in the "emaciated" competition. What the hell is wrong with just eating like a normal athlete? If you're working out hard, there's no way you're surviving on "a bit of fruit or a salad and that's it". As long as you take out more calories than you put in, you're going to lose weight.

Fuck, go ahead and clean your plate, but fill it with broccoli and chicken breast, not french fries and pizza. And get on the stairmaster for an hour.

 

[Tap112]

Depends on your situation, like everything.

If you are in wrestling season or something, you are always going to be hungry and need to count your calories. So no, then you would schedule when you eat.

If you are a serious lifter you need to schedule your diet, and space out your meals, so no, then you would be eating even when you feel full.

If you are just lifting and looking to be healthy then I'd say as long as you eat at least 3-6 meals a day, eat when you want - just cut out the junk shit.