My Food Philosophy and Eating Redesigned

Looking back on My Food Philosophy that I posted when I started my blog years ago, most of what I wrote is still very true today. My focus was about creating great tasting healthy gourmet recipes that help people lose and maintain weight for life. I’m still about good food, good taste and making every bite count. I’m not about fat free, sugar free yuck and preservatives. I’m about real food, good nutritious food, and foods that make your heart sing.

While this is still my passion and focus, I have adapted my food philosophy about eating and have added to it a bit this year. Eating mindfully, paying attention to what your body needs and wants, your mindset, thoughts and self care are keys to successful weight loss.

Eating mindfully

I’m shifting more to eating mindfully, nourishing myself with foods that make my body happy. I’m not worrying so much about portion control and the ww point count but rather eating only when I’m physically hungry and stopping when I’m slightly full. When I was on ww, I ate my 28 points regardless whether I was hungry or not. The normal breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks regulated what time I ate. I was so focused on making sure I finished my portions because I didn’t want to be hungry later. I spent a lot of time trying to “budget” my points – saving points for special occasions and special treats.

While all of that budgeting and saving points got me to my goal of losing 40 pounds, it was a lot of mental energy. This year I’m doing things a bit differently and more simply. I’m paying more attention to my physical hunger signals, when I’m hungry and when I begin to get full. I don’t eat if I’m not hungry and I don’t eat just because, “it’s lunchtime,” or, “dinner,” or if others are eating.

Paying attention to what my body needs and wants

Feeding my body with foods that make me feel good is my primary concern. That means really honing in and paying attention to my body – watching how it reacts to certain foods. I know I feel good when I eat more vegetables and whole grains. I love cheese but it makes me feel bloated if I eat too much. Too much sugar gives me a headache. Knowing these key things, I only indulge in small amounts of these items and not all the time. I strive for 80% healthy and 10-20% not so healthy foods.

What prompted this food philosophy redesign?

In September of this past year, I joined Cookie Rosenblum’s Freedom Group. I had been listening to her free podcasts, Weight Loss Made Real, for years while doing ww. Her ideas of how to eat, how to think and how to do self care really rang true and went well with my food philosophy on eating good food. The primary focus of her program is to become a “natural eater.”

What I’ve learned from The Freedom Group

• While I do have some emotional eater tendencies at times, I’ve learned that I’m more of a habitual eater – I eat because “it’s time,” “others are eating, so I should too,” or I’m “planning ahead so I won’t be hungry later.”
• I’m an overeater – Before the Freedom Group, I ate whether I was hungry or not. Therefore I didn’t really know when I was full, I ate until I was uncomfortable. I was always uncomfortable after eating.
• I’ve learned through her program that our thoughts control our feelings and emotions which leads to our actions. You have the power to control and change your thoughts about anything which consequently changes your actions and results.
• I need more self care and need to find other forms of self care that do not include or focus around food/drink.
• One of my favorite things I’ve learned is that food is neither “bad” or “good”, it just is. It means, you don’t beat yourself up if you have a piece of cake. You can have dessert or a small treat. It’s ok to eat bread and cheese. You can really eat anything you want but you need to pay attention to why you are eating it (are you really physically hungry?) and if it’s not something that makes your body feel good, then limit it to special occasions. I tend to follow an 80/20% guideline. 80% of what I eat is good for me and makes me feel good, 10-20% are treats and non helpful foods.
• I no longer need to track points. Tracking points takes a lot of time and brain power, especially when you’re eating out. Now there is no tracking. I follow simple rules: I only eat when I’m slightly hungry, stop when I’m slightly full. It’s very freeing!

Do I regret doing WW (Weight Watchers)?

Nope, not one bit! WW got me to goal and helped me lose 40 pounds. It made me focus on my health and how much I was really eating. It’s a great program. I’ve just evolved and now enjoy the freedom of not worrying about every bite I put into my mouth. At this point in my weight loss journey, I’m learning to be a natural eater.

Interested in the Freedom Group?

I’m not an affiliate for Cookie’s program, or get paid anything for writing about it, I just love it and I love recommending my favorite things to my readers. She opens her program a few times a year so if you’re interested, listen to her podcasts, get on her waitlist and sign up. Her program does fill up fast so be sure and get on the list if you’re interested. The next program starts January 19th, 2021.

What does this mean for the future of my blog?

It just means that I’m still focused on foods that taste great, foods that make you feel good and are healthy for you. I’m still all about taste and quality of food but for me personally I’m not so caught up in tracking and recording every bite I eat. But don’t worry, at this point I still plan on including ww points on my recipes for my readers.

Recently I purchased a flour mill and have started grinding my own flour, so you will probably see some great whole grain bread recipes soon!

Let me know what you think! Do you use my recipes because I include ww points? Or just because the recipes are healthy and appeal to you?