I think the problem with "listening to your body" to know when you're hungry is that those of us who binge and/or eat emotionally don't know how to tell anymore.  I don't know the difference between I need nutrients in my body and I need to feel better.  They are one and the same.

I definitely have a hard time telling if I'm hungry or not (and also stopping when I'm full if there's still food on my plate).  I will be sitting at work and feel the slightest hunger pang and get so excited that it's a sign I should eat.  I do wait, and drink water first to see if it goes away and if it doesn't, I will have a snack.  As far as finishing my plate, I always fix food on a smaller plate or get a smaller portion than I used to and even though I usually finish it (whether I was full before or not) atleast I know it's less than if I wasn't conscious of the amount of food/number of calories I was eating.

I definitely agree with this blog, just wish I could be a better natural eater :)

I agree with this article.  I am wondering if there is a way to break the Restrained Eating mentality? 

When you have spent decades, in my case, dieting rather than eating naturally, I'm not sure the mechanism works any more. 

For me it would probably work better to take a more behavioral approach than feeling "good" or "bad" by how much I eat.  My therapist suggested that I should think of it as having eaten more calories than I could expend rather than making a value judgement about myself as a being a good or bad person, for eating too much or just right. 

I am such a "restrained eater".  Please tell me how to break that cycle!

I am the same.  I find it hard not to eat when others around me are, or if I know it could be a long time before my next meal I tend to eat more in order to keep myself full, something I know is unneccesary, also at times I find myself leaving a hotel buffet breakfast so full that my stomach is distended (usually after a night out and too many drinks).  Treating food as a reward I think is another huge problem I am having to overcome.  I stay in hotels a lot for my job and eat in restaurants frequently as I am away from home at least two to three days a week.  I am getting better at not demolishing everything on my plate and not ordering just because some one else is, but it is a constant challenge, especially seeing as I live in the middle east where fresh produce is not the best so at the first sight of something fresh and tasty I just get too excited!  I find the best thing that works for me is to choose the restaurant carefully, never order room service breakfast (the portions are too large! I mean a whole basket of bread just for one person!) and to stay away from the buffet unless I am eating with someone else I know is more restrained than me (it helps to have a good influence around!).  Something I am finding works well is to incorporate psyllium husk into my breakfast (which I now carry in my suitcase on trips away).  This has a huge fibre punch and keeps me full for a long time so I can have more restraint when walking past an italian gelato bar or if I smell amazing belgian waffles.  I am still a good five kilos from my goal weight but every day that I avoid something "naughty" or I manage to walk away from an unfinished meal because I am full I get the greatest sense of accomplishment that I am moving closer to my goals and forming new eating habits which is key if I want to maintain this change in my life. 

I couldn't have said it better. Giving myself permission to binge at the slightest sign of falling off the wagon is the main reason I am here! The "emotional" eater sindrom fits right in there also.

One of the problems is all the "good" information gone "bad". I agree with eating when you're hungry, but how can I get it off my mind that my research always tells me "eat every 3 hours", "never wait to get hungry"? Honest to God, I put on weight when I was eating every 3 hours, while my goal was to lose it.

We have the luxury of food and indulgence here. Back home, where I was born and lived 1/2 of my life, in a poor, tiny country... hardly anyone was overweight. Not necessarily due to being poorer, but rather due to eating healthily, home-made, eating as a family, enjoying fruits and vegetables from your own garden...as well as even your own home-made yogourt, unlike here, where you go to the dairy section and you are met with 2 dozen different yogourts, and by the end of the month you HAD to try your taste buds! You just HAD to!

If you know that careful planning is what works for you, why shouldn't you use that approach?  If the restrained eaters in the study ate one ice cream cone cause they knew that's all they should have, then what's the problem?

OMG!!!  This is EXACTLY what I do!  If I am eating healthy I am perfect!  But one little slip up (a cookie, a handful of chips, etc...) and I go completely crazy and eat everything in sight even though I feel sick to my stomach from all of the food.  How can I stop doing this!??!  I try and try to restrain myself, but I have yet to succeed.

Interesting article. The results don't surprise me. I think when we start a diet and count calories we can all be classed as restrained eaters. I certainly am but I trying to become a natural eater. Its not easy and it is taking a long time.

Actually I think I became a bit obsessed with logging every single calorie - CC is one of the sites that are always open in a tab in my browser and I have the firefox plugin too! I am now trying to ease off, have days where I don't log anything at all and try and gauge when I am full.

I can say that after 1.5 years of counting calories, I definitely recognise the signals of satiety but sometimes feel I can't stop myself from eating or finishing off the portion on my plate. So I am trying to work on that as well. I mean if my natural eater wife can push her plate away after reaching her level, I should be able to do the same. At least I can resist finishing off her portion as well these days :)

I'm currently fasting (muslim month of Ramadan), so I'm not counting calories. There are 2 meals we have, one before dawn and one after sunset. I'm trying to go down the natural eating route and not counting (okay not logging it but doing a mental calculation :P ). I'm trying to listen to my body and eat the amount of food that it needs to sustain me throughout the daylight hours where we are not allowed to eat or drink anything.

If I eat a lot after breaking the fast, I try not to eat much at the pre-dawn meal and try to gauge what my body is telling me. Its going well so far.

Its hard not to lose your resolve during this time and I totally identify with what is said in the article.

Anyway I think, like all things, this will take time. We have to focus on a lifestyle change, not just dieting to lose weight. Observing natural eaters really helps.

Actually Paul McKenna has some good tips to help this process. He is the author of "I can make you thin". I think he's done a show in the US as well. I looked into this before I started calorie counting but didn't really try his techniques.

I am the opposite of a restrained eater, thank goodness. I eat ice cream, hamburgers, cookies...Not all at once of course! But it takes out that allure and mystery when it's not a "forbidden" food. If I simply allow calories for it, I can just go about my lifestyle without guilt or freaking large cravings. Even at restaurants I'm able to eat something and not think twice about it. :) And I've been losing my weight with no problem.

I think dieters need to either pick if they want to keep losing and regaining that same weight, or if they want a normal lifestyle.

I struggle with this. I do good for a week or so and then suddenly I'm off and running with my eating. My biggest thing is chips so I deny myself chips and then suddenly the craving is so strong I have a few and then before I know I've eaten the whole bag.  I also tend to go by the numbers on the scale as to what I allow myself to eat. Not a good way to diet or lose weight since I've noticed that my weight fluctuates on a daily basis. I'm new to this calorie counting thing and I need to re-learn how to listen to my body and choose healthy snacks that fill the craving instead of chips.

hmmm. Frustrating, becuase if I didn't count calories I would overeat. But I don't want to be  arestrained eater...

When I was growing up my family said I had hollow legs, I just never get full.  But I am so pleased with my self this week.  I had a few days off work and when on day trips.  I had my small bowl of sugar free cereal each morning and made packed lunch every day with plenty of fresh fruit for my partner and I to snack on.  One evening we had pub food, I was going to have Stake and a Jacket Potato but i didn't really want it, I wanted a pie so I decided to order that with new potatoes in stead of chips (fries).  I left over 1/4 of the pie! Then a few days later we went to the sea side and had Fish and chips.  I ordered a small and although I did eat all the Battered Fish I left over half of the chips.  I feel like for the first time in my life I am eating normally... I eat healthily as much as possible but if I want to eat something fattening I eat it.  When I am full I stop eating and then I continue to eat healthily.

I agree with Carrie23.  That's why I have a problem dieting, because I don't know when I'm physically or emotionally hungry? Know what I mean?

I just had to add that three years ago I lost 20lbs by limiting what I ate. Not calorie counting or keeping a food log...I would just allow myself one helping at all meals and light snacking in between and no eating after 7pm at night. I also didn't own a scale and I noticed that eventually I could tell when I was full. It was like I "trained" my brain to say I was full with what I had already ate. I need to do that again.

Good morning, all. I'm dieting right now and have lost 47 lbs. I know I'll reach my goal weight, but I've lost and gained back weight many, many times. I told my sister that if I regained this time I was going to just accept it. So now my thinking is not about losing, but how will I keep the weight off. Well, there are guidelines that I will use, such as frequent weighing and daily exercise. I'm also journalling. One thing I think will be a very powerful tool is AWARENESS. I've done a lot of reading about Buddhism and meditation. Awareness is part of these "philosophies". I think that if I just "rest" my mind on what I'm doing or about to do I will not fall off the deep end. Being fully conscious allows me to really enjoy what I'm eating or drinking, and prevents me from just "trancing out". Hope this might help someone. Good luck to you.

Wow, this is such a personal issue for me and I could write more about it than you would care to read. So, I'll try to keep it pithy. After decades of dieting I have lost the (natural) ability to know when I have reached the point of being satiated. Therefore, I have been retraining myself using smaller plates, eating more slowly, trying techniques (such as Paul McKenna's), eating 'half only' hypnosis (Think and Lose), and the list goes on. All of the above have been helpful in making me more aware of what I am eating, in other words becoming more of a conscious eater. This is a major success for me. Although my weight loss has been minimal, the techniques have helped me maintain, which is another success. There are no shortcuts for those of us who are emotional eaters. Remember, it's not onyl about the food...it's about other issues in our lives as well. The best we can do is become aware of our emotional eating, identify the triggers, use techniques to start changing the patterns we have fallen into, and slowly our natural ability to sense when we are satisfied will return. An examination and reflection of our emotional lives is also necessary. Above all, we must persevere and NEVER give up! That has been my downfall for so many years. As soon as I ate something 'forbidden', I allowed myself to think that the sky's the limit and beflore long, weight loss and weight management were the last things on my mind. Once 'off the wagon', what's the point of continuing healthy eating habits?! I'm thankful that mentality is long gone, but it has taken a long time to arrive at this point. Experiment with the techniques that work best for you, persevere through the ups and downs and above all, be kind and loving to yourself. You deserve it!

Original Post by: abunaimah

Interesting article. The results don't surprise me. I think when we start a diet and count calories we can all be classed as restrained eaters. I certainly am but I trying to become a natural eater. Its not easy and it is taking a long time.

Actually I think I became a bit obsessed with logging every single calorie - CC is one of the sites that are always open in a tab in my browser and I have the firefox plugin too! I am now trying to ease off, have days where I don't log anything at all and try and gauge when I am full.

I can say that after 1.5 years of counting calories, I definitely recognise the signals of satiety but sometimes feel I can't stop myself from eating or finishing off the portion on my plate. So I am trying to work on that as well. I mean if my natural eater wife can push her plate away after reaching her level, I should be able to do the same. At least I can resist finishing off her portion as well these days :)

I'm currently fasting (muslim month of Ramadan), so I'm not counting calories. There are 2 meals we have, one before dawn and one after sunset. I'm trying to go down the natural eating route and not counting (okay not logging it but doing a mental calculation :P ). I'm trying to listen to my body and eat the amount of food that it needs to sustain me throughout the daylight hours where we are not allowed to eat or drink anything.

If I eat a lot after breaking the fast, I try not to eat much at the pre-dawn meal and try to gauge what my body is telling me. Its going well so far.

Its hard not to lose your resolve during this time and I totally identify with what is said in the article.

Anyway I think, like all things, this will take time. We have to focus on a lifestyle change, not just dieting to lose weight. Observing natural eaters really helps.

Actually Paul McKenna has some good tips to help this process. He is the author of "I can make you thin". I think he's done a show in the US as well. I looked into this before I started calorie counting but didn't really try his techniques.

I Just read abunaimah's comment about not being able to "stop myself from eating or finishing the portion on my plate".  What I started doing a few years ago was putting a paper napkin over my dinner when I am full in order to stop the earge to continue picking at it.  Its taken a long time but now I can just stop eating.

Some times I have a hard time telling if I am hungry. During those times, I always grab my water and take a very healthy and long drink. If, after 15 minutes, I am still having hunger pains, then I'll eat something. By drinking water, I am ensuring that I satiate my thirst first and not eat when I'm really not hungry. And the best part of that is I am feel fuller before I finish my meal.

One more point: we need to stop looking at foods as 'forbidden'. Once we have the green light to eat whatever appeals to us, often times the 'excitement' of eating that forbidden food dissipates and we are able to enjoy it and not overconsume.

To all these people TRY HYPNOSIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Hypnosis does not make you skinny but it retrains your brain to understand being satisfied. Hypnosis alone will NOT help you lose wait but with the consious and subconsious working together, it will help. Individual hypnosis is a bit pricey but there are group hypnoisis that run for about $50.00, check your local paper. Also, I know there are books and CD's out there. If anyone has ever tried them, let me know.

Thank you so much for posting this today! For the past four days I've been so bad! I start out great and on target in the morning and by the end of the day and all the stress of complicating how much needs to get done I absolutely binge, WAY past the point of comfort! On the road to food-baby belly! 

Thanks again, this article has really helped me put things into perspective and work on getting myself back on track!

Original Post by: janettelyn25

To all these people TRY HYPNOSIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Hypnosis does not make you skinny but it retrains your brain to understand being satisfied. Hypnosis alone will NOT help you lose wait but with the consious and subconsious working together, it will help. Individual hypnosis is a bit pricey but there are group hypnoisis that run for about $50.00, check your local paper. Also, I know there are books and CD's out there. If anyone has ever tried them, let me know.

I have tried 'Think and Lose' and highly recommend it. I agree that it alone does not make you lose weight, but it is such a wonderful tool to use in becoming aware of what you are thinking and doing and incorporating it into a lifestyle change.

I think that one way to get out of the "restrained eater" mode is be more aware, like nafabird1 said.  For instance, not just paying attention to the food going into your mouth but when you are making food choices ask and answer yourself "why do I want to eat this?"  I read somewhere that if you ask yourself that question everytime you feel a compulsion to eat something the answer will help you make better choices.  If it's because you're truly hungry, or because you're feeling down or angry or whatever, tuning in to your motivation will eventually start to make you more of a natural eater.  It's not an instant fix or magic bullet technique (I'm still trying to make myself follow it more regularly) but it will help over time.

I wish I was a natural eater... I totally fall into the restrained category though. I'm glad I'm not alone, but I wish there was some way to truly become a natural eater, and not have to think so much about every meal and every snack of the day. I try to not put myself into situations where I know the menu will be out of my control... But, as we all know, that sometimes goes out the window during social situations. And I like to be social. This article helps me know and understand a little of the 'why' behind the loss of resolve I sometimes feel after I've made an eating mistake, and maybe knowing really is half the battle.

Sorry, I'm calling BS.  Like many of the commenters, I simply cannot rely on my body's cues to tell me when I'm full.  Or, for that matter, when I'm hungry.  I have no doubt that the lack of this ability has contributed to my weight, and my chronic overeating has probably dulled whatever sensation I may have been born with.  For me, it has to be about discipline and planning and counting calories, using caloriecount and similar applications, which have helped me take off about 75 pounds in the last year.  But, even now, I can pretty much fast for a day and not feel hungry, or eat three meals with snacks between and seconds and dessert, and still not get cues from my body that I am full.  It has to be mental, because the physical cues simply do not exist.

I've always said that this is the main problem with a lot of the diet gimmicks like the "Fullbar" and diets based on drinking shakes in place of meals. There are so many of us who eat not because we're hungry, but because food is delicious (and because we're bored or whatever). If you've already drunk a shake or eaten a bar for lunch, but then have the urge to snack, not only are you downing the calories from snacking but you've also packed on the calories from the shake or the bar.  

I don't know that I am an emotional eater or not.  I don't think so.  I just like the taste of things and can eat whether I am hungry or not if it tastes good.  I am able to eat a few of something like cookies or chips and not the whole bag, but add that to the other calories I have eaten that day and it's probably pushing me over my 1200 calories.  I do great during the day, but evenings bring my craving for chocolate!

I am finding that I can be just as full by eating lower calorie foods than eating junk.  I just have to tell my brain that being full is the goal, not the taste of it going down.  I'm not saying a low calorie food tastes bad, just not as good as a cheeseburger, and therein lies my problem.  So I have to condition my self to DECIDE to eat the lower calorie food and be just as full!

When I was a child and eating "naturally" I overate and was overweight.  As I matured I had to learn to "restrain" myself.  This worked most of my adult life.

I guess I'm saying what is "natural" for me (and others with weight problems since childhood) will put weight on.  So telling people to listen to body cues and eat naturally is too simplistic.

This article was so eye opening.  We "restrained eaters" count calories, but where is it written that we need to eat all the calories on our plate? I think that I am going to start cutting the food on my plate in half, eat half then be picky about what I eat from what is left until I am no longer hungry, then stop

I never knew that there was a term for this feeling.  It has been frustrating all this time thinking that I am the only one who feels this way.  I just turned down a nice lunch date at an Asian restaurant I really wanted to try in favor of my measured and weighed lunch from home.  I just couldn't handle saying no to dessert - especially going out with three men who have no issues with eating. 

I am unable to feel full, unless I eat a really large quantity of food.  I graze a lot during the day and end up looking at the clock to determine whether it's time to eat versus listening to what my body says. 

Today I tried a new breakfast idea to try and keep myself fuller.  Instead of my beloved cherrios, raisins and strawberries (I eat these every day) I had two eggs and two pieces of whole wheat toast with a little jam.  Apparently there is evidence that over the long haul, women who ate this breakfast so many times a week lost more weight than those who ate a bagel for breakfast.  The idea is that the protein keeps you fuller longer.  So I am trying to listen to my body today - me and my two eggs.  So far, I am not craving my 10 am granola bar and it's 10:30.  Can I make it to lunch?

We'll see...

Thanks for the interesting information and for everyone who before me has left comments.  It's heartening to see how many of us there are. 

I can SO relate to previous posters.  It's VERY hard to listen to your body telling you whether it's full or not when you've been told you HAVE to eat 3-5 meals (small ones) per day.  I've heard speakers say that you should have protein at all meals and snacks whether you feel hungry or not.  And THEN add in the baggage of a childhood where you've been a good member of the "clean plate" club!

How do I listen to my body when I can't even HEAR it?? 

How do I listen for hungry signals when I've been told to eat and get enough calories or my body will go into "starvation mode"?  I'm afraid to miss a meal (even if I'm not hungry) because I feel like I HAVE to get my protein!  (And of course, I don't stop at just a scoop of cottage cheese - I have a whole meal, hungry or not!)

How long does it take of waiting to actually FEEL hungry before it really happens?  What if I wait too long?  How long does it take before "starvation mode" kicks in?

Wow.  I didn't realize I was so frustrated until I started writing.  Help!

My "diet" is whatever I eat.  I just track my calories and eat small portions of whatever I want. 

This is not easy, this is a learned behavior that I have worked on for years.

Please remember, the harder the task, the greater the rewards.

The mind set I take is I'm not punishing myself by eating smaller portions, I'm rewarding myself by being thinner and healthier.

Much Luck to yous

Ha ha .. first of all i like the contrast in pics : ( broccoli & ice-cream !!!).

Even i feel that restrained eating is not the right way to go if you are looking at maintaining weight. But may be that is the only option for people with serious weight issues. Personally I prefer to eat naturally, & be dictated by hunger.

The word "diet" itself initiates negative stimulus in many minds.

My friend has written a beautiful article called " lighten up". I am sure you will enjoy it too.

"Click here to read the article"

Having found and read the article, I will highlight some of the points for those who cannot access it:

• Non-dieters eat less when stressed due to the appetite suppressing sympathimimetic effects of stress (this is reversed in dieters)
• Clinical depression was associated with weight loss in non-dieters (but with weight-gain in dieters)
• Alcohol suppresses eating in non-dieters (but increases eating in dieters)
• Therefore, any disinhibitor may disrupt a dieter's restraint
• The researchers hypothesize that binge eating as a result of dieting is the body's attempt to restore weight to a more "biologically appropriate level"
• Mechanism hypothesis: That the overeating in self-starving humans  is caused by hormone secretions and psychological pressures
• Evidence: Restrained eaters salivate more in the presence of yummy food (cookies, pizza)
• Dieters also displayed depressed insulin levels and pancreatic polypeptide responses
• Authors discuss evolutionary reasons for responses (historical episodes of scarcity among populations)
• More a matter of energy disposition than energy acquisition (if little food is available, it is better to make the most of what IS available, i.e. a thrifty metabolism, than to try to find more food)
• This promotes lethargy which has been previously documented
• rats who fasted and lost weight over 1-3 days  were able to regain the weight by eating the same amount of foods as normal rats who were simply maintaining their weight
• This supports the notion that food deprivation produces changes in the metabolism (also seen in anorexia patients)
• As previously mentioned, cognitive cues play a role as well as physiological factors
• Restrained eaters ate more following a forced pre-meal that they believed was high in calories, regardless or whether it was or not
• Unrestrained eaters were not effected by "high" or "low" labelling of the pre-meal
• Dieters were still affected by the palatability of foods (they did not over-eat on bad-tasting ice cream)
• Also, restrained eaters whose restraint was intact still ate less (highlighting the importance of cognitive restraint)
• Since dieters are consciously dieting because of cognitive reasons, and not physiological ones, the fact that dieting leads to binging must be because dieting causes the substitution of cognitive controls on eating for physiological ones (i.e. when you choose to diet, your body's responses take over and out weigh your desire to diet)
• Successful dieting requires dieters to ignore their body's regulatory pressures (hunger and satiety)
• Successful dieting demands that physiological controls be replaced with cognitive controls (need to have even stronger will power)
• But this means that the physiological cues are stronger and this leads to unregulated eating (the price paid for nonregulatory undereating) when the inhibitory cognitions are interfered with/overruled
• May be caused by ignored physiological pressures or by new ones caused by the dietary restrictions (frustration)
• These factors exaggerate overeating once begun, but do not trigger it
• Weight-loss and self-starvation lead to an increased preoccupation with food (i.e. food, eating and weight begin to dominate the dieter's thoughts)
• This forms the two-sided discrimination of "good" (diet) foods from "bad" and "good" from "bad" (diet-breaking) amounts
• These strict rules increase the dieter's struggle with food so they must continue to increase their cognitive controls (because their body is not satisfied with these arbitrarly created rules)

• Some studies indicate that cognitive manipulations might work (for instance, self-consciousness as a result of having an observer watching you)
• However, this lasted only as long as the observer was present
• When eating with a fellow (planted) subject, restrained eaters ate less when the other ate less and more when the other ate more
• In the absence of self-awareness/self-consciousness (visibly seeing the candy wrappers or actively counting the cookies), dieters overate
• Therefore, the solution seems to be to alter the "cognitive field" of the dieter, atleast over the short-term while the food is available

I am totally a restrained eater, and I can't tell when I am hungry or full.

This has worked for me though. I fasted for one day so I could (feel again) when I was hungry and full. But I didn't really fast I took all my vitamins in the morning with benefiber in my water, then listened to my body when it started to whisper I'm hungry, I slowly ate some sugar free jello very slowly so I could feel and be aware of my body and how I was feeling, and drank some water, then when lunch came I waited till i felt hungry and slurped on some organic tomato soup (slowly so I could feel what was going on with me) it's probably not healthy to do this more than once a week, but it does help you get back in touch with your own body and how to feel your way around again and it helps you remember how important it is to listen to your self and your own body, if you can't even do that how can you listen to others and make them happy or help them? The trick is for one day out of the week give you r body just enough food so you can feel all the changes that happen through out the day to get in touch with your self.

The notion of eating "naturally" is just another idea that will fall by the wayside.  Trying to be always aware of your body's hunger or satiety cues is just another way to "restrain" your eating.

Our society has so many food cues that we are constantly being bombarded.  Anyone with a naturally larger appetite will have to practice restraint.

(I guess this study hit a raw nerve, lol)

Original Post by: rufus_k

When I was a child and eating "naturally" I overate and was overweight.  As I matured I had to learn to "restrain" myself.  This worked most of my adult life.

I guess I'm saying what is "natural" for me (and others with weight problems since childhood) will put weight on.  So telling people to listen to body cues and eat naturally is too simplistic.

Exactly. They weren't studying cause and effect. Would any of us be 'restrained eaters' if eating 'naturally' didn't end in our being overweight? OK, yeah, a few, but addressing why those people were restrained eaters was not part of the study.

It is important to continue to tell myself that one bite doesn't mean eat the whole thing, one dish doesn't mean the meal is lost, one meal doesn't mean the day is lost, etc. It obviously doesn't come 'naturally' to me!

Original Post by: chris1208

Original Post by: rufus_k

When I was a child and eating "naturally" I overate and was overweight.  As I matured I had to learn to "restrain" myself.  This worked most of my adult life.

I guess I'm saying what is "natural" for me (and others with weight problems since childhood) will put weight on.  So telling people to listen to body cues and eat naturally is too simplistic.

Exactly. They weren't studying cause and effect. Would any of us be 'restrained eaters' if eating 'naturally' didn't end in our being overweight? OK, yeah, a few, but addressing why those people were restrained eaters was not part of the study.

It is important to continue to tell myself that one bite doesn't mean eat the whole thing, one dish doesn't mean the meal is lost, one meal doesn't mean the day is lost, etc. It obviously doesn't come 'naturally' to me!

Actually, they sorta were.  See my post above.

Feeling like failures because we are not "natural" eaters is a disservice to us all.  Seems to me there are a lot more of "us" than "them."  Maybe it's not natural.  Historically if you stopped eating when you were full and then food became scarce, you would be the first to die of starvation.

Maybe we should accept that the motivation to eat is a basic life force.  Yes, it's our job to make it a healthy force.  But, we cannot magically become "natural" eaters.  (The article does not answer the question of whether it is even possible to "become" a "natural" eater.)

Be who you are and be healthy in your own body and mind.  Don't try to be someone else! 

nanuq, Thanks for posting that. It was still in process when I was writing. I think 'sorta' is a good way to put it. The why's are speculation (hypothesis) and it's not too hard to imagine other possibilities. I don't discount their theories but still question if they are coming at it from the right angle. Lots of interesting stuff in there, though.

So instead of a phantom police car, we need to imagine phantom diet police.

Guys can we get away from saying we've been bad when we've eaten a cream cake or something.
For goodness sake being bad is murdering some one, cheating on your spouse, scratching a car and not leaving your insurance details. Eating a food that afterwards you'd rather you hadn't is a choice, not a particulary good chioce for you, but a choice all the same. And it definitely is no reason to give up on your diet and attempts to improve your health.

Wow I really can identify with this blog. I am definitely a restrained dieter. I set up a certain amount of calories to eat each day and the meals I should be eating. And it works most times because I have a busy work schedule and I can make little time for food on my breaks. But when I am out with my friends, it becomes more difficult because they like to eat and I like to eat too! So I end up overeating and regretting it with the promise of cutting back majorly on the calories for the next day. I really need to learn how to control my love of fatty foods, start eating healthier, and a "natural" eater.

:)

I recently read a book that dramatically changed my attitude about food:

The End of Overeating:  Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by Dr. David Kessler (former commissioner of the FDA)

This book explains conditioned overeating, how "since the 1980s, the food industry, in collusion with the advertising industry, and lifestyle changes have short-circuited the body's self-regulating mechanisms, leaving many at the mercy of reward-driven eating." Dr. Kessler explains the obsession many people have with food--"hyperpalatable" food--and how powerful combinations of fat, sugar, and salt have hijacked our brains.

There are some shocking statistics about the average weight of adults now compared to fifty years ago. All the commercialized food that is so readily available in our society is pushing us to eat, eat, eat. "These persistent psychological and sensory stimuli lead to what Kessler terms 'conditioned hypereating,' which he believes is a disease rather than a failure of willpower."

After reading this informative book, I've put myself in "food rehab." When I see baked potato bar at my work cafeteria, or I see a billboard for a juicy hamburger at McDonalds (they make them look so good on the ads!), I ask myself, 'Why do I want to eat that?'

Do I want food for the taste? The fat? The salt? The texture? Am I really hungry? Am I sad? Am I bored?? In the process, I'm becoming more aware of what I eat and learning more about what satisfies me... both my hunger and my cravings. I'm substituting healthier foods that satisfy my craving for the tastiness-factor while also filling up my belly. Hunger/satiety AND craving/fulfillment.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a restrained eater, anyone looking for a change, anyone who has mowed down half a pizza and wondered, 'Now why did I do that?'

If you know certain foods are bad for you, why can't your brain stop you from eating them? Read this book and find out.

BTW... I do not know nor have I ever met Dr. Kessler. I just reread my post and get the feeling that I could be mistaken for his publicist. Ha ha. I actually saw him on Real Time with Bill Maher this past summer while the doc was promoting his book. I was fascinated and picked it up at the library. One of the most eye-opening books I've ever read.

I enjoyed the comments as much as the original article -- this really struck a chord here at CC!  Personally, I am attempting to "restrain" myself to lose weight slowly while "retraining" myself to eat more naturally so that I can maintain my loss once I am at goal.  A difficult balancing act, but so far, so good!  The best tool so far is to ask myself each time I eat the following questions:

1. Am I hungry?  If not, why eat?
2. If I am hungry, is this a good (nutritious, healthy) choice of a food to eat?
3. If this is a good choice, how much should I eat?  If it is a mediocre choice (high in calories, low in nutrition) will just a bite satisfy me?

I am hoping that these questions will become so ingrained that by the time I am at maintenance I will "naturally" be eating like a thin, healthy person.

I agree with Rufus_k.  I must be a restrained eater.  I recently ate my evening meal late, and was entirely full, but because I still had calories left in my daily allowance, I ate a Weight Watchers Toffee ice cream bar simply because I love the taste!  I love good food, and sometimes continue to eat because of it.

This website has helped me reach my weight loss goal.  Went from 188 to 158, and my goal was actually 160.  Tracking my calories, foods, and excercise was the answer for me.  I hope to continue using these tools to maintain, but I still have to make conscious choices on what and how much to eat.  I don't think "natural" will work for me.

Good luck to all!

I'm a restrained eater who is trying to become a natural eater.  I picked up a book several months ago called "Naturally Thin" by Bethany Frankel.  (sp?) Her theory is that there is a naturally thin person inside everyone and for those who are overweight it's dying to get out.  She has 10 rules for how not to let food rule your life and she's got some great advice.  One thing she talks about is being a natural eater.  Eat when you're hungry, stop when your full, make good choices most of the time and it's ok to splurge once in a while.  One of the phrases in her book is, "check yourself before you wreck yourself," which deals with binge eating.  Eating a cookie isn't going to make you fat, if all you eat is one cookie once in a while.  Eating an ice cream cone isn't going to make you fat, unless you eat one every day.  If you do slip up and have a couple of cookies, that's no reason to eat the whole bag.  What has been done cannot be undone so get over it and move on and make better food decisions next time.  I have noticed that since I've started making wiser food decisions, like eating whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies, and cutting out a lot of processed foods, I am very rarely super hungry.  And the best part is that when I'm eating the "real" food, I still have enough calories that I can have a splurge when I want to.  I just try not to do it every day.  It was very hard to change my mindset about food, but after 6 months I feel like I'm making progress and I don't think about it all the time.