Everyday Systems

I think my fav thing about NoS so far is being able to eat all I want. I don't mean 'allowed' - I truly mean 'able'. I have been IE for many, many years (after giving up the world of diets of all description) and I did well with it for quite some time. Using that I got over most of my disordered eating from the decades of diets, I lost the weight I had gained from dieting and maintained it easily.

But one of the goals of IE is to eat just 'enough' and for me that is very little. I enjoy cooking and I do it fairly well, so having to stop eating after just a few bites was not easy or fun.

In the three weeks I've been NoSing, I find I can eat much more at meals - at least twice as much - without feeling overfull. And as enjoyable as good food was before, it's even more so now.

I had an excellent day of eating today: Zucchini muffin for breakfast, pate on toast and a fresh peach for lunch, and toad in the hole with mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli, leeks and peach kombucha for dinner.

I ate reasonable amounts and enjoyed every bite. I feel pleasantly full without being stuffed, or feeling deprived. Not a bad way to live

Dandelion

I agree with you. It is so wonderful to truely enjoy a good meal without feeling guilty. Last week we had dinner with the in-laws which was yorkshire pudding, pork sausages, mash and peas and it was doubly delicious because there was no guilt - a nice plateful and I enjoyed every bite.

YEAH for No S

What's IE?

Oh! I did something like that back in the 1970s. I remember how skeptical my mother was about me being able to eat what I wanted (i.e. not cottage cheese and "diet" food), even though she's the one who had signed me up for the course! It was really difficult to figure out exactly what I wanted to eat at any given moment. And to figure out when to stop eating.

Now I know: when my plate is empty or I don't feel like finishing what's on my plate.

I tried IE, too and it cured me of second helpings, so I'll say that for it.

But it was kind of frustrating, not being able to eat a filling meal. And I got hungry every 2 hours. That's inconvenient.

Also, I like No-S because it's the way my family ate when I was a little girl, back in the 60's. None of us were fat, either!

Kathy

I agree. My favorite thing about No-S is how I feel after a meal - satisfied. Not stuffed, not hungry, not resentful - just satisfied. I'm choosing my meals based on what appeals to me; I'm reassured by the structure of No-S that I CAN have my favorite foods without overeating.

MerryKat wrote:
... It is so wonderful to truly enjoy a good meal without feeling guilty.

YEAH for No S

Here's one of my favorite things about NoS...
I love being able to use all the nice cookbooks that I have, along with the wonderful recipes I've collected from others over the years! This is a big reason why I'm enjoying my meals. The food is good and it keeps NoS exciting! This past summer, one of my projects was to go through my bookshelves and rid them of my collection of diet books and diet cookbooks. I took them all to our local thrift store.

Mimi

mimi wrote:This past summer, one of my projects was to go through my bookshelves and rid them of my collection of diet books and diet cookbooks. I took them all to our local thrift store.

Mimi

I did that a couple of years ago. Such a wonderful feeling! I also avoid any cookbooks with nutritional analysis of recipes. I can tell by looking at ingredients if it's something I can eat as desired or need to limit. I don't *need* more than that.

My favorite thing about NoS is the lowering of my stress level. There hasn't been a day in the last thirty-eight years when I wasn't either on or off a diet. And being "off" a diet for me meant being bad, or cheating - still basically stressing over my food intake in some way. It still surprises me that I finally got off that ride and don't need to think about it at all anymore.

For thirty-eight years, I would agonize over something as simple as a cookie or a piece of bread or a second slice of pizza every single day. It was either too carby, or too fatty, or too caloric or SOMETHING. Now there's no thinking involved. If it's a cookie, I just say "wait till the weekend", or if it's a piece of bread, I'll say "not now - it's not mealtime", or I'll put two slices of pizza on my plate and then be able to eat them both without any guilt whatsoever.

It's amazing.

My favorite thing about No S is that I am not thinking about food all the time.
Kathleen

I don't have one favorite. I like all that all of you said! I like not having to eat a separate meal from my family (NutraSystem), no chalky shakes (SlimFast), no measuring portions (Weight Watchers), no pills to swallow (Dexatrim, my first attempt!), no being ON A DIET.

I no longer much care how quickly the weight comes off. I just want to eat like a normal person again. I am so grateful that I can cook whatever I want to cook and I can eat it. Not only that, but I can eat a full, normal person's portion, not a skimpy diet-prescribed mini-portion! No more counting out seventeen grapes and trying to find the biggest ones to make the most of my serving!

I wonder how much of a role diet food has in obesity. All those chemicals surely must play a role in it. I know they say that artificial sweetener mimics sugar in the blood and the body treats it as such. I wonder what else we will know twenty years from now.

Christmas Cheer wrote: I wonder how much of a role diet food has in obesity. All those chemicals surely must play a role in it. I know they say that artificial sweetener mimics sugar in the blood and the body treats it as such. I wonder what else we will know twenty years from now.

Probably quite a bit. Most diet food is highly processed and devoid of nutrients (unless they're added after the fact). You eat more trying to get the nutrients that are absent. This addresses it:
http://losingweightafter45isabitch.blog ... -food.html

There is a *lot* of evidence that diet food and diets in general (you know the kind) contribute to obesity.

I agree with you Christmas Cheer - I could make a whole list - but last night I was so happy just to be able to eat a grown-up sized plate of one of my favourite meals I had to share.

TunaFish - I was thinking the other day about my 'dieting past' and remembering occasions in my life that should have been totally happy - but instead I was worrying about what I should/shoudn't eat

To clarify about IE - it did a LOT of good for me. Before that, I'd been dieting for at least 20 years so I had no idea anymore what 'normal' was like. I stopped dieting and started eating when I was hungry and stopping when I was full. I lost 25 pounds in two months (all the weight I'd gained 'dieting') and it stayed off.

But now that I get full so quickly, like you said Kathy - it's frustrating not to be able to eat a filling meal - and getting hungry every two hours! It was definitely time to try something new - but there was no way I could go back to traditional 'diets' after my experiences. This may call itself a diet - but it doesn't feel that way to me.

As a stay at home mom of a toddler, No S is a great structure for me! I can eat three satisfying meals and be full for hours at a time -- so I can concentrate on my son, and not on food.

clarinetgal wrote:As a stay at home mom of a toddler, No S is a great structure for me! I can eat three satisfying meals and be full for hours at a time -- so I can concentrate on my son, and not on food.

Oh yes that's a good one! There is actually time in the day to think about - and do! - other things, and the structure is very grounding, especially for children. The first thing "Supernanny" does for the families she helps is to set up a schedule.

Christmas Cheer wrote:I know they say that artificial sweetener mimics sugar in the blood and the body treats it as such.

NOTE from one who views Splenda as a Gift From God.
I don't know who "they" are in your "they say" above,
but all of the research information indicates that the artificial sweetener, Spenda,
does not mimic sugar in the body and does NOT raise blood sugar at all.
This result is on "liquid" Splenda which is used in processed products,
the dry packaged Splenda commonly sold is in a powder/binder
which has a small amount of carbs--
--and those binder carbs (not Splenda)
might make eating a very large amount raise one's blood sugar slightly..

TunafishKid, Yep, it's definitely a good structure for kids. I've put my son on a fairly strict eating schedule, just because it works well for both of us. He eats three smaller meals and two snacks, and he doesn't eat a lot of sweets (he doesn't seem to like them all that much).

My favorite thing (so far) about NoSdiet is I feel healthier (literally). My acid reflux is gone! My cholesterol is down. And I'm not hungry AT ALL. Looking better is a plus too ...

One of my favorite things is the support from everyone on this site! When my friend told me about this plan, I laughed! But had to eat crow (but only one plate!) when I actually tried it. This is a great place to see that every problem that might be faced by a newbie has been faced and addressed by a band of noS followers. And then there are the "off topics"...I even gave bread baking a try (and continnue doing it) after reading about Artisan Bread and getting specific answers to my questions! Reinhard has designed a site that is so easy to use...even a 66 year old Grammy can do it! How wonderful to join such a diverse group of people in a common cause!

My favorite thing about no-s is threads like this.

It's so immensely gratifying to see an idea I came up with actually helping people in so many ways. I feel amazingly lucky that it popped into my head.

Thank you all!

Reinhard

I love all of this!