Anyone else crossed the line from health conscious to health nut?

To preface, I'm on the verge of maintaining, and have started to ease into that mindset.  I've got more work to do on reducing my body fat %, but I know it will happen with the exercise that I do, so long as I keep my eating in check.  But, I'm averaging 1700-1900 cals most days, with a few 1400 cal days thrown in. 

Anyway - I'm wondering if anyone else who is at or very near their goal has gone through what I realize I have.

I used to be a total junk food addict - fast food all the time, ice cream, chips, etc.  Gradually over time I changed that to where I am now - a huge health nut!

I do still have the occasional treat, and I am not ready to give up my Ben and Jerry's Vanilla Heath Bar crunch which I have every 4-6 weeks.  But since their cows are bovine growth hormone free, and their ingredients are all natural, I'm ok with it.  I won't eat other kinds of ice cream that don't meet that criteria.  I will eat organic soy ice cream...

My food now has got to be preservative free, high fructose corn syrup free, of course trans-fat free, whole grain, almost always organic, hormone free, free-range, vegetarian fed, etc.  I almost couldn't eat the beef tenderloin my family cooked for Christmas, because I knew the beef wasn't vegetarian fed and hormone free - I ate maybe 2 ounces of it.  I told my mom next year I would buy the tenderloin as part of my gift - and I'll get it crazy expensive at Whole Foods. 

The thought of eating the junk I used to eat is, well, repulsive to me.  I usually won't eat things that don't have a label on them, and I never eat anything without reading the label in full first, ingredient list and all.  I won't go into many restaurants, always check for nutrition info when I do, and always make 10,000 substitutions.  I won't shop at a regular grocery store because the items are just filled with too much junk.  It's gotta be Trader Joes or Whole Foods, and I still read all the labels before buying.

Today for example.  I went to Olive Garden with some coworkers for lunch, to be sociable.  Not some place that I would even consider going if it weren't for the social aspect.  I had the salad without dressing, a dry breadstick, water, lunch sized capellini pomodoro with whole wheat linguine.  I didn't eat the andes mint.  I nearly didn't eat the breadstick because it wasn't whole wheat.  :) 

Is anyone else finding themselves this rigid - and enjoying it?  I don't feel deprived at all. 

Then, in the afternoon my company put on this little movie event as part of an anniversary celebration, complete with popcorn and movie theater candy.  I was annoyed - because there wasn't a single thing there that I was even tempted to eat.  I was annoyed because they couldn't provide fruit, or something healthy.

I like being this way, but I realize it's becoming a bit extreme, and I'm wondering if anyone else is in the same boat.  I feel a bit like the person who is vegetarian and they show up at a wedding and every dish has meat in it.  I don't understand everyone else's fascination with junk food anymore, and it annoys me when that is all that is on the menu.

Thoughts?

I feel the same way sometimes too. :-\
I live a very healthy lifestyle... and get annoyed when I see other people eating junk food sometimes, but not as much as I used to.

sometimes it's just hard because I almost wish I could eat that way {and get away with it} but I love "healthy" food way too much to give it up.

It's like being religious or fanatical. If you think your state of mind starts to create negativity in your mind about your surrounding (mind you it will show eventually and might affect others), then my thoughts on this is to try to start from the beginning again. Be open minded. Open mindedness leads to tolerance. Stay true and focus at your goal, and let others be minding theirs. :) p e a c e

HI my name is Marianne and I am an"exerciseaholic"

(others say "hi Marianne")

I admit I don't go for the health food.  I do try to watch what I eat.  I do buy whole grain only and reduced sodium foods but hubby sometimes comes home with snacks and I eat em too.

My oldest daughter used to be vegetarian - almost vegan but she liked milk and eggs too much.  She was dating a chef for over a year and started eating fish now she will occasionaly eat other meat too.,  Thanksgiving she even had turkey. Grocery shopping was a real chore with her veggie life and my husband's diabetes.  I had to read every food label lol. 

I find myself now just reading labels for the sodium / fat and calorie content.  I have to watch my sodium more than anything else.  I am almost hypertensive and I want to make sure I don't get that completely.  My risk for heart disease is now non existent since dieting/ exercise quitting smoking and losing weight.  I have  also gotten my risk for diabetes under control so now its watch my blood pressure.

Yes,
Its starting to annoy people too. I should really stop telling them how healthy some foods are, or how unhealthy they are.
Its just habit. I read all this interesting stuff on the net or in books, and it just falls out of my mouth. People say I should be a nutritionist. Others say I'm obsessed. Some say its good I care about my body and health

panda, yes at times I have to question myself too.

I'm maintaining now and my compulsive behavior is a problem to control but so far I haven't got to nuts.

Work sucks TOO!! because everyone brings in all this junk and never anything I can eat either!!  I try to stay with healthy stuff but within reason I quess,  can't get into that organic stuff yet, but i know what you are saying about looking at everything you buy.

With my high end excersising I still keep my calories at or above 2500 a day and some days as high as 4000.  Have been holding pretty steady at 140-142 and feel real good.

Oh no, you are not the only one!  I have been what some would call "obsessive" about food for years.  So much so that I quit my job of 8 years to work a lesser position at Whole Foods.  That was long before I joined CC and, although healthier than most, I was way overweight.  I'm sure that my habits annoy a lot of people but, I don't really care.  I think that it's important to stick by your beliefs about food.  Slowly but surely the world around us is changing.  Just look at the organics/health food options at major supermarkets.  Only a year ago they were tiny little sections and now they are full isles and huge produce sections (although, working at Whole Foods taught me that organics from Kroger are likely not as organic as they claim-explaination upon request).
Final thought.  Last week I was out of town and the hotel where we stayed had a free continental breakfast complete with:

• make your own waffles
• donuts
• sugary cereal
• fruit-type juice
• milk-non BGH free
• and coffee with non-dairy creamer and white sugar-yikes!

Good thing I brought some Luna bars!  But, we also went to Disneyland and I was pleasantly surprised to see vendors with carts full of fruits and veggies.  So $2.50 is a bit excessive for a pineapple spear but, the options were there.
Stick to your guns.  Hopefully our actions will play a roll in changing the way grocers and restaurants work.

Your not the only one....

i used to very liberally eat what i want and drink all the artifical sweetners.. etc.

now i tend to avoid anything with a ingreidient list longer than the package, not to mention avoid sodium.

i Refuse to eat or drink anything with artifical sweetners in it, especially aspartame.

and it ticks me off when manfactueres sneak these dangerous sweetners into normal things without stating it first. Once such example is all bran yogurt bites ( has sucralose in it..)

while i wouldnt call myself a health nut, i am very much addicted to exersize, and i feel like im missing something without 30 minutes on the elptical bike. Maybe im addicted to the rush of energy afterwards?

I am getting really bad again. I call it health concsious, but it's just old ED habits manifesting themselves in disguise. Everything has to be just so or I can't eat it. I think I am giving myself "valid" reasons to deprive myself of certain things.

yeah, dont let your self do that. i know im still battling my OCD issues, i wouldnt call what happend to me a ED, but it was very compulsive eating and exersise. While i have returned to rather normal eating, my exersize is still just as intense.. i have to gain weight too.. so i gotta work on that.

I develop extreme guilt if I splurge a little, even if I stay within a normal calorie amount. I think I hold myself to impossible standards.

*Raises hand*  Yep, I'm there.  I really find it revolting when people eat certain foods around me.  Like my BF still does the fast food thing (I try not to nag about that too much) and the smell and watching him eat it sometimes turns my stomach.

I also made a comment a bit ago when we were grocery shopping about a mom with 2 kids who had the cart filled with sugary cereals, cookies, soda, artificial fruit drinks, microwave meals, etc and I said to him that I thought feeding children like that should be considered child abuse.  He said "you're not going to want to not let our kids have sugar or fast food are you?"  Should be interesting when (if) we have kids.  I told him Hostess cakes may be yummy, but I just wouldn't be able to put poisons into the mouths of my children and be able to live with myself.  I may as well hand my kids a beer and a cigarette at that point...why not some heroin and crack too?  At least I have a few more years before this becomes and issue to fight over.  Not looking forward to it though.

People get annoyed/weirded out that I won't eat refined carbs either.  When I'm around my family/BF and they offer me something that has to do white bread or white rice or something and I say "I don't eat that, remember?"  I get some eye rolls.

People also tell me that I'd save so much money if I didn't shop at Whole Foods.  I contest that this isn't true if you shop the right way, but even if it was I feel like I can't put a price on my health.  I'd rather sacrifice material stuff and drive a cheaper car or live in a smaller house than sacrifice my body.  I can always buy a new car if the beater fails me, but I only get one body.

Wish I had someone to hang with that shared my views though :( 

well the sad part is to eat naturally now adays it costs your entire pay check. however back say 150 years ago, to eat normally was easy, everything was homemade and natural, just like nature intended. Its sad how we are more or less "forced" to eat unnatural and altered chemicals in our foods. i mean our bodys wearnt intended to eat aspartame or monosodium glutamate.

I'd rather sacrifice material stuff and drive a cheaper car or live in a smaller house than sacrifice my body.  I can always buy a new car if the beater fails me, but I only get one body

Thank you!  That's a whole other rant of mine.  Every time I hear/see people talking about how they cannot afford to eat healthy, I wonder how much their house payment and car payments are.  How much they pay in cable every month, and how often they eat out.  More often than not I'll be it's not that they couldn't afford it, it's that they prioritized their money differently, went with the material things instead of health.  Which is fine, do what you want, but don't complain about how you cannot afford health food when you simply de-prioritized it.

Please know I do not count those who truly have a lack of income in that group.  I just know that most of us only have money troubles because we spend it too liberally, not because it doesn't come in frequently enough.

"I develop extreme guilt if I splurge a little, even if I stay within a normal calorie amount. I think I hold myself to impossible standards"

omg I am exactly like that. I'll make some super healthy gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, whole-grain cookies, and I feel like a monster if I eat one. It's getting out of control, I feel guilty for eating healthy stuff now.

well first of all, one thing thats reassuring about healthy food, or even homemade food is that its usually all natural and doesnt contain any weird chemicals. Granted you can still get fat from it, but.. you should feel good about eating naturally, to over eat naturally, is well... the lesser of the two evils.

star1020 and pandajenn19

You are reading my mind!!  It is by far the best investment you can make. 

Really folks, it doesn't have to be more expensive.  Just shop smart.  Whole Foods has a line called 365.  It's their private lable (like spartan) and it's very reasonably priced.  If Whole Foods and Trader Joes aren't your thing, check out your local Big Lots.  Here's a clip from a journal entry of mine:

I guess the only other excitement of the week was my Big Lots finds.  There are 2 within about 10 miles of my house.  The one I usually go to has a lot of the cereals I like but I felt like checking out the other one this time.  Oh man, the deals!  I scanned the isles very carefully and was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of organics and natural products.  Annie's, Kashi, Clif, Zoe's, Simply Organic, etc.  I have this rule that if I find something of that sort on any trip to Big Lots, I have to buy it.  Because they have closeouts, it will likely not be there the next time around.  I bought a ton of stuff the other day and went back today for more.  I now have about 30 bars, 5 or 6 varieties at the ready.  This makes me very happy.  Normally I would just go to the health food store because I know that by purchasing at BL I'm not really supporting the companies in the way that buying them by SKU at another store would.  I know that they get them as closeouts and that the actual sale doesn't really make the social statement to the bad guys that I would desire but, I'm on a tight budget.  For now, if I can get Ryan's clif bars for $.70 or a mega sized box (2 large bags) of Kashi 7 Grain crackers for $4.00, I'm gonna, damn it.  I've vowed to continue the tradition of stopping there before the weekly grocery store visit.  I've spent very little money and my cupboards are stocked with all of my favorite things.

I m a dabbler in the health nut area depending on my location interesingly enough.  I find people come to me for nutrition advice and thats what keeps me into it.   I love it!

I'm totally am into the best money I can spend on making to the choice to putting healthy things into my body. I've recently taken on a modified Macrobiotic diet. It's made a world of difference. I don't care if people in my real life snicker and call me a "Health Nut" because I am a healthy nut!  

I don't run around out there and try to convert the masses, because I believe that everyone has to make their own choices for their own body. If someone in my social life think my choices are weird, well, weird works for me! I don't ask them to join me in my weirdness, just to leave me to it. =)

haha yep that's me. I mean, how much further into crazy health nut can you get than going vegan/ on the verge of raw foodist. I can't eat anything without proper proportion of protein/carbs/fat (if they are good fats). They have to be nutrient rich. I can't eat any animal products, I read labels always always. I would rather not eat than have to eat out and not know what I'm eating. I only buy products I know have a good reputation, no chemicals, etc. I even do research. When I do eat out, I have to make sure it wasn't cooked in animal products and even so, have to ask what's in the sauces/ broths. I have to know everything to feel comfortable eating anything. BUT...I feel like it's my body and I'll be living in it for the rest of my life, I won't pollute it or damage it with foods I'm not comfortable eating or types of foods that are just plain useless to my body.

hey all, although I am no where as strict when it comes to food, although I am becoming more vigilant by the day, I was hoping for some advice. I love junkfood, and I'm not sure I will ever not love junkfood, mainly because when I was fat, my entire diet consisted of fast food, junk food and soda (shudder, I know). Going into a pharmacy is still hell for me because they have isles just devoted to processed junkfood that I have not touched for months, maybe years. I am hoping I will eventually not want it anymore, although it feels less than likely right now. Anyway, I was wondering if any of you had some tasty, healthly, natural snack suggestions? Up until now I was big on sugar free snacks like sugar free jello. I thought, "Score! only 10 calories for 1/2 a cup!" it also, helped me keep my sweet cravings under control sometimes. Unfortunately, I've been reading up on artificial sweeteners and the dangers of using them, and the jello has aspertame in it (the most harmful one of all! eeck!) also, the sugar free jello pudding that I loved secretly had transfats in them! I also use sweet n'low in my morning tea! acckk! no escape! Know any alternatives? Maybe I should just stick with natural sugar?

anyway, I'm trying to be more healthy, and was hoping for some low calorie snack advice. I want something that is not fruit and vegetables, only because most of my diet consists of them already!

I wish I was able to do all of my shopping at whole foods! Unfortunately, I live really far from the closest one and my father refuses to shop there. Still, the first time I went in one, I was walking around with this big silly grin on my face and didn't want to leave. The produce section looked simply divine.

anyway, I'm hoping to hear from any of you. Advice would be greatly appreciated!