Haha – that title almost sounds like a 12 step admission, doesn’t it? While a big part of my blog has been about losing weight, it also is about food.
(Tonight’s dinner with the new Sea Pak popcorn fish!)
I am in a good place now as far as my relationship with food goes, but that was not always the case.
I used to categorize food as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ – meaning good for me and bad for me. So, I was either eating good or eating bad, depending on what point I was in as far as dieting went. I was either on or off a diet. The problem was, I loved to eat (still do). I felt guilty for wanting to eat food. I felt guilty for loving food. Like there was some kind of shame to be had for enjoying it. I thought I had to eat a certain way to get the weight off, which was not a way of eating that I enjoyed.
This really was exemplified for me when I went on Weight Watchers on the early Points system. Please note, I am not knocking WW, but this was just my experience when I was on it. I began to value foods based on their points value rather than their nutritional value.
I developed some rather weird habits. I didn’t want to eat bananas because they were 2 points, so I ate other fruit and didn’t have bananas for a really long time. I would try to compose point values for meals that were my ceiling. Like I didn’t want a dinner that was more than 8 points, and I wouldn’t think of having 8 points for breakfast!
I would never have eaten this for breakfast:
I was still feeling guilt about eating certain foods and then I would have days where I just didn’t count points because it was too hard to figure out and it was depressing at how they added up to a lot! So there was a lot of moving of foods around to fit into this. Then I was starting to eat the sugar-free, fat-free stuff with little nutritional value (frankenfoods).
I had that really long plateau and some regain, which was then the point I did Nutrisystem to stop thinking about food and sort of regroup.
A few years ago, I tapered off that and was thinking about how to eat on my own and, more importantly, what I really enjoyed eating that was also nourishing to my body. Light bulb moment – They didn’t have to be mutually exclusive.
I have done a ton of reading over the last few years on nutrition and kind of experimenting as I have been much more active. Here I am expressing my new found love of coconut water:
I realized that I could experiment and it wouldn’t ‘ruin’ anything I was doing weight wise.
If it didn’t work, I could just go back to what did until I tried something new.
After I got rid of processed foods and realized how real food actually tastes good and eating healthy didn’t mean cardboard, I began to experiment with more new foods and recipes. Something I never would have made, let alone eaten in my former life:
Palak chole. Who knew how good this was?
Of course, not everything I tried was something I would ever want to eat again. Like Shiratake noodles.
But I pressed onwards. 
I love to play around with recipes and to play around with ways of eating. As many of you know, I have been experimenting with a few lower carb days each week. I have eaten new foods as a result of this and enjoyed them!
Food is fuel, but food also is one of life’s great enjoyments! It’s okay to love food, and to especially love the food that loves you back. You all know I love to have the good stuff:
But always balanced with the other good stuff:
Maybe this moderation thing isn’t so bad after all.
I love this post! You make the whole process sound like fun — which it actually CAN be, if you have the right mind-set. It’s too bad that weight control is perceived by so many as a punitive thing (I did it for many years, still kind of do, but am working to change that). If it’s approached right, the way you lay it out here, you can see it’s actually possible to have your cake and eat it too! (pun intended.)
This is a great post Lori! I have found lots of inspiration from your food and recipes (especially protein waffles, yum!) and your perseverance through your plateau inspires me to keep on keeping on with this process.
Thank you!
Hello, my name is Debby and I love food LOL!
This was really great to read, Lori. I learned some of the same ways of thinking in W.W. (again, not necessarily W.W. fault) but there is a limit to what a ‘program’ can teach you. For example, currently at W.W., evidently bananas are ‘free’ but corn on the cob is 2 points…What??
I think what you said about reading and learning about nutrition, and being willing to experiment with new foods is so important. It is key to changing your eating habits permanently and for the better.
Thanks for writing this, Lori.
You’re welcome 😀
I agree on the limits a program can teach you. Again, they are just tools and the work really has to be done by the person.
Great post, Lori. I love how you share your food experiments with us.
Hi Lori, I read your blog alot and I love it. Todays post hit me hard! I’m at such a cross roads and I don’t know which way to go. I’ve done low carb, I’ve done WW Momentum, then Simply Filling, and the new Points Plus. I’m counted out – and I’ve regained the 40lbs I had been keeping off. One day I woke up and just didn’t want to do it anymore. I wish that day hadn’t happened. I’ve tried repeatedly to get back “on track”, but it’s just not happening. I’m to the point that I think nutrisystem may be my next option. I seriously just dont think I can think about food anymore. I hate it, I love it, and it really loves me.
Sorry for dumping this here…it just all finally came out.
You are very inspiring! I hope one day I can “figure” it all out too. 🙂 Kelly
That’s okay. Sometimes you just have to keep trying different things until you find something you can live with.
Oh, I love this post! Yes, I think you’ve found one of the big secrets to successful maintenance: food can nourish AND please us. (And it doesn’t have to take the Standard American Portion Size to do it – though apparently yesterday I needed to remind myself of why SAPS doesn’t really work for me anymore. Blech.) I’m finding that quest for nourishing+yummy food to be fun and it helps satisfy my “foodie” side. That aspect of ourselves doesn’t have to go away.
“They didn’t have to be mutually exclusive.”
Once that kicks in there is nothing in your way!!!
Ditto on the post. I’m still a work-in-progress in finding my “balance” with food. I’m on my way up, but I still tend to connect emotions a lot to food, and that usually brings about negative feelings. I really hope that I can get to where you are at, b/c it sounds like such a good place to be! 🙂
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Woman, you are an inspiration to me. So glad yahoo made me meet you. I talk about you all the time when discussing weight issues with friends. I have a document with the food that you eat that I named ‘Lori eats’. It is helping me come up with my own thing based on what I have around me and can afford. I lost 2cm on my hips last week! I enjoy food too and its good to know that you can be healthy and fit without eating cardboard. Thank you so much!
Thank you – and congratulations on figuring out your ‘own thing!”
Great post – I have been working to retrain my brain into not thinking of food as “good” or “bad” too – it’s a challenge, but I’m getting there. Funny what you wrote about bananas…I never would eat them, either, because of their higher calorie count. But it’s a healthy fruit! So crazy – I wouldn’t eat that, but would eat, as you put it, Frankenfoods. No more of that nowadays! 🙂
I love that you love food, Lori. I do, too. I also love exercise (which I know you do). I figure as long as I indulge in both, it’s all good 🙂
Great post Lori! I definitely love your approach of food. Something I’m still learning and working on. I have the same opinion on food as you do.
When I was doing WW I didn’t avoid foods because of the high Points but I was getting frustrated how the Points added up when I was eating something high in Points and stopped counting then too.
I still can do better on food, make better choices. I usually don’t eat processed food except for a pasta sauce every now and then and I like it too.
I’m happy reading your blog because I can learn from you how to make choices in food. Thanks for that.
I adore this! on all levels and it is such a great reminder that what works for you may not work for others.
I spend so long trying to find my metaphorical shirataki love because EVERY ONE ELSE seemed to have found hers.
OK, just loved this post Lori! I had to learn the hard way too to include all kinds of food & not just salad or that long period of time that fat was bad…. and yes, we all have to find what works for us!
Lori, you’ve taken EXACTLY how I feel about food and put it in a post! Thank you for that. I’m always trying to explain why I don’t believe in “good” or “bad” and now when I need to, I’ll just hand out your blog address lol!
Plus, it’s easy to get obsessed with food in all the wrong ways when trying to lose weight, even if one doesn’t believe in limits. So this was a great reminder for me.
Love the photos in this post, especially the Shiratake Noodle one!
This is a great post Lori! So true that what may work for one person doesn’t work for another, and that we just have to stick with it and try different things.
I don’t believe in depriving myself of stuff that I love, but the key is moderation and balance, especially if you want it to be a lifestyle change.
I also can’t wait to try your Magic Rolls! I think it just might go onto my goals for March. :))
I love this post, Lori! Totally agree that WW can make you think of food in weird ways. I still do that – figuring out how many points I want to have for each meal. The new plan is WAY better though and bananas are free! I have one every single day.
We have a wonderful WW leader who keeps stessing that your points have to be based on the healthy food guide lines – obviously I could have 29 points of cookie dough ice cream, but I wouldn’t be getting my servings of fruits and veggies in.
I finally went to the grocery store after two weeks – and have a giant bowl of fruit and veggies in the fridge – stuff I was severely lacking when my husband was in the hospital.
Hope you have a great Monday!
I totally agree with you about the old WW points system. I relented and gave the new system a try and im glad I did because its getting me to make smarter choices.
Im forever starting a new DAY 1. But my downfall is i dont find the balance. Im either REALLY good or REALLY bad. And Im fighting to find balance so i can enjoy the luxuiries and a still continue to lose weight.
Another great post. I really enjoyed this one. So true. I feel like I’ve been experimenting with what works and doesn’t for a while now.
I liked what I read in my insulin resistance book (since I have to eat this way for my health): no food is off limits. Moderation. It’s ok to plan splurges. An unplanned splurge is called a binge. Don’t want to binge. Always want control.
Fellow coconut water lover here. 🙂
Hi Lori, I LOVE this post. You have such great insight!!! You are a true inspiration!!!
After being on a lot of diets and thinking that this or that is bad it does take a long time to get where you can eat all foods in moderation but once you get there it’s pretty awesome! 🙂
I like your website because I can really relate to your story and struggles…plus you eat good food without denying yourself. I think that balance is excellent!
Thanks Lisa – we are all a lot more alike than we think!
I agree that it is a great post and an important point – demonizing food, habits, or anything else with moral judgments is counterproductive to healthy food attitudes. There are choices that are healthy or moveus in the direction we want to go, or choices that are unhealthy and move us away (in a million tiny increments) from our goals. And just because a choice (like chocolate) doesnt move us toward our goal, it isnt necessarily BAD.
Balance and health are self explanatory, and yet quite a difficult set of outcomes to achieve. You seem to be doing wonderfully with them, I’m a positive work in progress 😉
Love this! (You knew I would, though, didn’t you? 🙂 ) When I moved away from following other people’s diets and began eating the healthy foods I liked (and would, therefore, eat repeatedly), I felt better. When I learned how to eat those healthy foods in the right portions, I began to lose weight. When I re-introduced the occasional cupcake or brownie, I didn’t die–or worse, gain weight. 🙂
It’s an evolutionary process and a whole lot of fun! Not to mention, usually quite tasty. LOL
Ding, Ding, Ding! Moderation of key. Points and calorie counting would make me crazy. Moderation, consistency, and regular sweaty workouts is the way to go. Thanks for showing me how it’s done.
oops…meant “IS” key