This is a guest blog submitted by psycho_bob Somewhere along the line, while I was so obsessed with calorie counting and losing weight, I forgot what it was like to eat a truly satisfying meal.
Yesterday, I went to lunch with my mom at
Bob Evans, and she told me I could order anything I wanted since she was paying for it. I ordered the savor-size cranberry pecan chicken salad with oil and vinegar dressing, along with dinner rolls and green tea.
I left feeling awful. Don't get me wrong, it was a great salad, but I should have had more. I needed to eat more.
When I got home, I wrote it down in my food diary, and then later, I looked up the nutritional content.
That salad had a mere 344 calories; my saving grace that meal was the dinner rolls, containing 200 calories each.
The obsession didn't stop at
Bob Evans, either. I cooked up a box of whole-wheat rotini with a vegetable sauce for 6 servings and that only tops out at 360 calories each. Even topping it with grated Parmesan cheese didn't help much.
Finally, I was so bitter and so frustrated that I looked at the jar of
Nutella in the cupboard and decided that I've eaten healthy enough for the day, and that it was time for a chocolate treat.
Spreading that chocolate hazelnut goodness on two slices of flaxseed toast hit the spot before I went to bed.
And after I went to bed, I looked at a few passages in the Bible, mainly from Ecclesiastes. The Bible says to "eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, because it is now that God favors what you do. (9:7).” Mealtime should be a joyous occasion, not something fraught with disappointment, anger, and loathing.
So how do I restore the joy of cooking and eating? Have you ever stopped enjoying food? Why?
Comments (13)
Yeah I have when it becomes something that I have to labor over in any way. Sometimes the whole idea of eating is a nuisance.
I started enjoying food a lot more once i started eating organic foods. The difference in taste is substantial, and I don't worry about how much I eat because it is all good for me! And, I am usually satisfied with less food than I used to be because of the amount of nutrition over conventional foods and I think also taste has something to do with it. For instance, I ate a lot during the 2 years at an internship where all the meals are mass-produced, fatty, and lacking in substantial nutrition. I was never satisfied, I ate even when I was full and i think it was because my body was craving something REAL.
i love to eat and i'll eat balanced and healthy, but never obsess over it. i love to exercise and i love to eat, they both make me happy. besides, no matter how healthy you are... you still die eventually. might as well enjoy what life gives you.
"I cooked up a box of whole-wheat rotini with a vegetable sauce for 6 servings and that only tops out at 360 calories each"
What the hell? ONLY? If you're counting calories you're counting them in the wrong direction.
You seem to indicate that you think you're depriving yourself... you're not. Unless I'm misunderstanding your wording or something. So I don't really know how you can improve your enjoyment of meals, except maybe add more flavor or more interesting ingredients. Or maybe instead of eating 6 servings of plain-ish pasta you can have something that takes more time to prepare, but may sound "unhealthy" - like steak and potatos or something. Either way it's no less healthy than eating that much pasta.
great post. I think there has to be a balance. I've been on a pretty strict diet (under 1800 cals a day) for about a month now. I've messed up occasionally, but most of the time I stick to it. and I;ve been enjoying eating healthy for the most part.
but tuesday night my best friend made whole wheat spaghetti with homemade spaghetti sauce with ground turkey and french bread. I ate a smaller portion, but the bread was so amazing i had 2 pieces. I hadn't had bread in 2 weeks. all that starch was heavenly.
which is a nice side affect of dieting - when I eat something I'm usually restricted from, it's even more satisfying and yummy than when I was indulging every day. decadent foods lose their abillity to satisfy when they are overeaten, and healthy foods lose their ability to satisfy when we don't allow ourselves to indulge on occasion.
when you are trying to lose weight keeping your meals under 500 cals is a good idea. but if you aren't trying to lose weight, then you might want to rethink what you are doing.
also a lot of it's mental. I can enjoy a salad with as much gusto as a steak, it just depends on what I'm craving. I've had to CHOOSE to enjoy the more healthful options I've selected lately.
i've tried calorie counting a few times. i'd only be allowed 1200 if i wanted to lose weight. it's so hard tho. i was limiting myself to 100 calorie snacks (which are disgusting btw). you can't even go out to eat cuz all the meals have loads of calories in them. i know they say the only way to lose weight is to limit calorie intake but i think as long as you're not eating crap it really doesn't matter how many calories something has. i don't know how to cook but if i could, i would definitely make japanese cuisine. that's supposed to be really healthy.
Besides counting calories, make sure you're looking at trans and saturated fat. I've recently become obsessed with health foods. I'm really grossed out by the poison I've been consuming. I definitely recommend a serving of dark chocolate a day. That's not going to hurt you and it makes you feel better. Seriously. Dark chocolate can calm you down.
I love this post and I love the verse. Thank you!
Basically, you need to remember that people used to enjoy food in the old days when very few people ever got fat.
Try old fashioned recipes and maybe look into the art and science of making your own healthy and delicious foods and then see how you can turn on your new "food-vision" to outside the home.
Healthy doesn't automatically mean the exact number of generalized calories...it's the type of good stuff that your body needs that day in the food.
It's OK to eat things that're normally considered bad for you if you've done alot of strenuous activities or have been doing alot of running around being stressful since this burns more energy than you previously consumed.
In the winter, you need more of this stuff in order to keep warmer.
So all year 'round you can have what you enjoy and it can be good for you too.
There doesn't have to be a disconnect between YUM and healthy. And honestly? There shouldn't be.
It's all about your own personal balance. Once you get your balance, there'll be no need for obsession or stress about it and you can just relax and be laid back about it.
So how do I restore the joy of cooking and eating?
Stop looking up the calorie content of everything. You probably have a rough idea of what things are now. You don't need to nit-pick every last calorie. That would certainly take the fun out of eating for me, if it had to become a numbers game.
Have you ever stopped enjoying food? Why?
Yes. Food intolerances. It's no fun to eat stuff that makes you feel like crap. It's not even fun to "cheat", because I know I'll pay for it later.
I always find I enjoy food better when I know the food is healthy for me. It seem so cliche, but eating healthy food actually helps me feel better.
I notice whenever I eat a bunch of junk food I feel more run down. It makes me actually want to eat healthy food, just to feel better.
Counting calories is rubbish.
Selective eating is what I do, and portion control, and it's worked all my life.
Then again, i also don't have the tendency to gain weight.
But yea, stop counting calories, do portion control and the selective eatign thing, and bloody hell, ENJOY YOUR FOOD!
healthy living is amazing. its just so expensive and its a hassle to take the time to prepare it.