Not a diet but what?

amother

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 9:05 am

I have a history of very disordered eating and have not dieted in many years BH.
Due to health concerns, the doctor advised me to start focusing on a more healthy lifestyle and healthier eating. His advice due to my history is to go very slow. Make one change at a time for a few weeks and then try another thing. Ideally not cutting things out (for sure at first) but adding things in/changing eating habits.
Can you help me make a list of habits and foods to improve my health/eating quality?
- I already drink a lot of water

miami85

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 9:16 am

If you have access to Instagram/FB there's a guy name Liam Layton who addresses this all the time. If you don't I will sum up, that his basic premise is "add nutrition, not subtract"--meaning find ways to add IN protein to your diet, drink more water, add in more vegetables and not restrict calories or foods that you like. Not every suggestion will work for the kosher consumer, but he has a lot of ways of finding affordable and nutritious foods and he does not go all crazy with "low carb" and has a healthy attitude towards sweetners etc.

His language is not the cleanest, but his ideas are good.

amother

Blue

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 9:42 am

I have yo-yo dieted for many years and have come to a situation, where my metabolism has shut down and I realized that I have to do things differently. So I began to examine three things. What I eat, How I eat and why I eat. I have made changes accordingly and have seen some success. (slower than fad dieting, but more realistic and nothing is off limits.) For example, regarding how I eat. I now make an effort not to eat standing. I try not to eat out of a bag or a big bowl. (ie I will put popcorn on a plate or a cup.) Regarding what I eat, I try and ask myself, what is it I want now, ie sweet, savory etc and then figure out what will fulfill that need. I measure if I am eating because I am hungry or is it something else. I pay attention to my mood, am I eating from boredom, anger, or sadness. I also try and eat mindfully. Paying attention to what I am eating, not eating while talking on the phone. Noticing if I am enjoying the food or not, asking myself if I am full or not. Am I just continuing because it is in front of me? Of course I did not do this all at once. I mapped it out and then started making small adjustments one by one and adding to them.

hodeez

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 10:20 am

Add protein vegetables and fiber to your carbs. So if you're gonna have a cream cheese bagel, add egg and arugula. If you're gonna make pasta, instead of heavy cream use cottage cheese.
Simple substitutions can go a long way in keeping you full and avoiding extra calories

amother

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 10:34 am

hodeez wrote:

Won't adding, add calories?

amother

Mayflower

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 10:37 am

amother OP wrote:

Won't adding, add calories?

Yes and no.

It adds calories initially. But then you're not hangry and preventing a binge.
Also, you're adding healthy whole foods. Takes more calories to consume.

Remember, don't remove anything, only add.

amother

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 10:38 am

I like the idea of exploring how and what. I think the why is a bit too much for me to work on right now. It is important that I not get too worked up about all this, that's my trigger for disordered eating. Thinking about why I'm eating is a dangerous place for me I think.

Can you ladies help?
What are changes I can make with what foods I eat?
I'm not cutting anything out.

How I eat:
-eating from a plate
-eating while sitting

Any more ideas?

amother

Dandelion

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 10:53 am

Easy healthy eating hack: quarter of your plate should be a protein, a quarter a carb and half a plate of salad. Fruit for dessert. Avoid eating between meals but if you are starving eat a veggie or a piece of fruit, can dip in hummus (not more than a teaspoon). Shabbat eat 1-2 pieces of challah per meal and not more. Avoid sugary drinks , only water or sparkling water.

miami85

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 5:04 pm

amother OP wrote:

Won't adding, add calories?

By "adding" the goal is to add meaningful calories--protein and fiber which will make you full and satisfied rather than restricting yourself, feeling defeated when the scale doesn't move and then you binge and sabotage your whole day.

tulip3

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 5:51 pm

amother OP wrote:

Thanks for explaining this.
So let's say I want to have meatballs and spaghetti - what would I add?
Or cereal and milk?
Or a tuna sandwich?

Add a veggie soup or roasted veggies with the meatball dinner . Use olive oil in soup and on veggies.
Add celery carrots pickles lettuce to tuna , add ovocado mayo for a fat.

Cereal and milk- eat eggs and roasted veggies with ovocado and then eat the cereal and milk last for dessert.

zaq

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 6:00 pm

--Veggies and more veggies. Especially the kind that are mostly water and fiber as opposed to those that are mostly starch (though those, in moderation, are also good).
--Avoid foods made of white flour and white sugar. Go for the whole grains.
--Reduce consumption of all added sugars, even natural ones like honey, agave syrup, brown sugar. They're better than white sugar, but still sugar. Sweeten your life with fruit instead.
--Switch to low-fat or fat-free dairy products.
--Avoid artificial sweeteners. They've been implicated in a variety of disorders, and they don't satisfy sugar cravings. You end up eating more because your cravings continue unabated.
--Drink more water, seltzer, herbal tea. Seltzer can be bought flavored, and water can be flavored with fruit slices, lemon slices, even cucumber slices.
--Eat more slowly to give your brain time to catch up to your stomach. It takes time for the chemical signals of satiety to reach the brain and make you feel satisfied. Cut your food up small and eat one piece at a time, put your fork down and converse between bites.
--THINK before you eat. Are you really hungry or are you angry, lonely, tired, bored, using food as an anti-depressant?
--Push away from the table when you no longer feel hungry but don't yet feel stuffed.
--Visualize yourself feeling and looking slimmer, healthier, younger. Imagine yourself having more energy and being more agile.

amother

Mayflower

Tue, Jun 18 2024, 11:52 pm

zaq wrote:

This is exactly what OP is avoiding. The overly restricting mindset, lots of food rules...