Who Is Striving To Be A Minimalist EATER This Season?

I am one of those people that starts every January off on a damn DIET because of the food food everywhere sydrome that starts around Halloween and to which I surcumb every year...

This year I'm determined to be less wasteful and that includes my shameful holiday overeating!! The thing is...it's not just Xmas & Thanksgiving but the whole season. Just because people give me stuff like turtles & Sees Candy doesn't mean I have to eat it!

Anyhow -- my goal is to be my driver's license weight in January which is only eight pounds away however, I usually gain that much during the holiday season so, hoping my new mindfulness will spill over into that arena as well.

Anyone who never ever even feels tempted with this kind of thing...have the good grace not to brag about it, LOL!!

I always do a lot of baking for my friends and co-workers/ clients during the holidays. Of course, one MUST sample one's own creations (for quality control, naturally). I use to buy gift baskets for family members who didn't want extra "stuff" around the holidays, but now I make the goodies myself (being true to my Mennonite roots, as well as my beliefs). Tough on the waistline though, lol!

:hi: I do a lot to cut down on really damaging to the environment food stuffs, but there's still a lot I need to work on, and one of the major things is just plain eating too much.

"CR is about eating highly nutritious foods in smaller quantity to extend your healthy years. Here is the concept: eat less but choose foods more carefully. The CR diet is a revolutionary diet that promises to "upregulate" the metabolism - what goes in is used more economically. Even more amazingly, the CR diet slows the aging process. It lengthens the periods of youth and middle age and substantially reduces the risk of virtually all the diseases of aging. "

http://www.calorierestriction.org/
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CRsupportgroup/

I totally believe that eating less (but more nutrient dense) food is the best thing you can do aging wise! I know lots of very disciplined people who are living proof of it...actresses mostly! I don't know anybody that calls it this but I do know a lot of people that weigh the nutritional content of every single thing that goes into their mouths, very scientific and professional about their eating.

A slippery slope though because I also know a 40 y/o anorexic who looks about 80, no kidding!! That's one minimalist eater I don't want to emulate.

Alas -- I love to eat. Did you say pasta? Did you say WINE? Love! Love it, love it.

What I am trying to do is control the portions and be happy with very small amounts of my decadent favorites a couple of times a week, and a couple of times a week (like today!) go on a semi-fast (a little juice, clear soup, tea and water water and more water.) If I stay really busy the day flies by and I'm shocked I don't get hungrier. I feel so much better the next day and not inclined to overeat the next day at all.

It's a nice way to balance all the EAT EAT EAT CONSUME CONSUME CONSUMER messages we get every day but I still think the most fattening thing in the house is the TV -- it's literally programming us to overeat! Count the food messages you get just watching a cable news channel. See what we're up against! I turned it off totally -- except for the Daily Show, which I love. Turn off the cable? I'm heavily outvoted in this house!

Very interesting and inspiring! The idea is to very gradually decrease your calories, over 1 to 2 years. It seems like a difficult but worthwhile goal. Think of all the food we waste in this country, both by throwing it out but also by eating more than we need.

I try to eat as nutritiously as possible, and succeed mostly, but the calorie restriction part is very difficult, esp at this time of year.

*CLINK!* That is awesome of those CR people. Pass the nuts. LOL!

They did testing on mice and other animals, and those with a calorie restricted diet DID live significantly longer. The trick is in the types of foods consumed; too few nutrious calories, and you'll end up like a vapid runway model, whose body has started eating itself!

starting to get preliminary results back from some primate tests. So far it seems to hold across species. There are human studies being done, and there are positive health results (mostly, there's always a few who push it too far), but of course results on longevity are a ways off.

I maintained the calorie level and nutrient level for 3 months this spring and summer, but flaked in a depressive fit. I did of course feel very, very healthy, although learning to time meals and adjust which foods I ate so as not to feel empty was challenging.

Working my will back up.

I think my beagle wouldn't go for it...she lives to eat as they all do, kinda interesting that they are such a long-lived breed? I had one as a kid that lived to be a fat old 18.

It's not just for the holidays, though - I'm striving to cut way back on my meat intake. I took that ecological footprint quiz in another thread and over half of my footprint came from food requirements! Yikes!