Everyday Systems

I been doing No S for over two years. I'm a slow loser, and have seem be idiots beyond losing weight. NoS changed my focus from controlling my eating, which I am deeply grateful for, to thinking about my levels of stress and joy. I'm trying to decrease one and increase the other. I have the job I have, and have the usual amount of challenges, sole breadwinner, long commute, financial ups and downs. I've become aware of some deeply rooted anxiety.

I'm trying to walk more, for stress relief, but also to do more fun things, maybe an art class, a little yoga, a little meditation. This is a big change, food used to be my stress release, it calmed my anxiety, helped me sleep and relax. With my stomach overful, it was like taking a sedative. No S stopped that, it took a while, but slowly my plate size and number of slips reduced.

This year, I'm trying to work some daily fasting in, using a smaller window of time where I eat. I have high cholesterol and signs of metabolic resistance, both of which are rumored to benifit from longer fasting periods each day. We will see where that takes me, but it seems like a simple mod to continue to enjoy the NoS freedom while trying to improve my health.

Thank you Reinhard. I'm down 10 pounds in a year and enjoying meals with my family. I appreciate this gift you've shared so generously. I have your book and have given copies to friends too. Happy 2017 everyone!

wow! thank you for this beautiful testimonial!
exactly what i want from noS!

especially this:

tlingit wrote: NoS changed my focus from controlling my eating, which I am deeply grateful for, to thinking about my levels of stress and joy.

life is too short, beautiful and challenging enough to make it all about food control!
thank you!

I love this.

Puts No S more in the company of yoga and meditation than traditional "diets," and I think that's altogether appropriate.

On one level, it's a form of re-ritualized eating, with a zen-minimalist aesthetic.

It's not surprise that it can be calming and grounding, apart from its direct physiological effects.

Congratulations on your success in sticking to it, on the "results" you've achieved, and most of all in your greater self-awareness -- and thank you for this thoughtful post detailing them all!

Reinhard

tlingit wrote:

I'm trying to walk more, for stress relief, but also to do more fun things, maybe an art class, a little yoga, a little meditation. This is a big change, food used to be my stress release, it calmed my anxiety, helped me sleep and relax. With my stomach overful, it was like taking a sedative. No S stopped that, it took a while, but slowly my plate size and number of slips reduced.

Thank you, tlingit for this post. Using food as a sedative, or a distraction from pain. I've struggled for many years with long periods of clinical depression and food feels good. When I'm depressed if something brings me even a few minutes break from the black dog, I repeat it and repeat it often.

Now my depression is complicated with grief (my Dad passed away in October, and I had another shocking personal loss right before and another right after) Food numbs the pain, but only temporarily.

Your post gives me hope that while my adherence to No S will most likely be imperfect in early days, I just need to keep going with it, and it will get better.

My husband, a naturally thin person, who eats when he's hungry, doesn't when he's not, always likes to remind me that "Perfect is the enemy of the Good"...which describes my drifting from No S, over and over and trying to go back to a more "ideal" way of eating. Crazy (disordered thinking around food) is so familiar to me, and sanity so unfamiliar, that even though it's painful and exhausting I keep going back to that crazy place. I think because, I can fail, blame the diet and go back to my comfort/escape eating for another year or two. *sigh*

Your post has made me examine my motives behind once again, planning to abandon No S and return to "ideal way of eating" when my depression slipped a bit darker this past week, and given me a bit of hope. And a bit of permission to let go of the perfect and stick with the good.

tlingit, thank you for catching us all up. Maybe you know that your odds of relapse have gone down quite a bit with passing the two-year mark. I affirm that you will be able to continue to make the adjustments to meal-timing and your plates to support healing your conditions. In my book those kind of limitations are entirely appropriate. It can add joy to know you are not stressing out your innards any more than you need to.

I'm happy to hear of your success, thank you for sharing this with us