Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat
Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat: What It Is
It almost sounds too good to be true -- Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat. And it gets better: In the book, author Michelle May, MD, says that eating what you love is good not only your waistline but also for your mind, heart, and spirit.
Anyone who has lost weight and then regained it -- something May, a recovering yo-yo dieter, refers to as the "eat-repent-repeat cycle" -- knows the frustration of failed diets. That's why Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat focuses not on dieting but on a healthy approach to eating. The idea is that improving your eating behaviors and your relationship with food can allow you to manage your weight without restrictive diets.
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"Diets don’t work, so the sooner you realize that it is not about being on or off a diet, you can begin to take control over what you eat and realize that you really can eat what you love and love what you eat without guilt or emotional eating," May says.
That doesn't mean it's OK to eat as much as you want of everything you want. The secret is learning how to get in touch with your hunger -- becoming more mindful about what you put in your mouth.
“No one eats perfectly all the time, but when you start to pay attention to the taste of food, you can be satisfied without going overboard," May says. "And when you do overeat, compensate by eating a little less at the next meal or do a little more physical activity."
Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat: What You Can Eat
Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat uses the 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines and Food Guide Pyramid and Institute of Medicine recommendations as guidelines to help readers make wise food choices. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, healthy fats, fat-free dairy, and lean meats are the foundation of a healthy, satisfying diet plan. Alcohol, sweets, and treats are also part of the plan, but in small quantities.
In fact, all foods can be part of this non-diet plan -- but first, you need to stop obsessing about food and start enjoying it.
Most people overeat eat not because of hunger, but because the food tastes good or because they're eating to satisfy emotions. May focuses on food's role as nourishment for the body and helps dieters slow down, eat instinctively, avoid emotional eating, and savor the pleasure of foods.
What you won’t find in this book is any discussion about calories. May believes it is not natural or effective to count calories.
"Once you start eating instinctively, you can begin to trust yourself and not have to worry about calories," she says.
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