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September 15, 2005
Healthy In Mind As Well As In Body
Okay, this one has been bugging me for quite a long time.
On the CR Society website, there is a very nice piece by Liza May, MS, about the differences between anorexia and CR. Overall, I really like it, and I've referred several friends who had questions to it. But there's a part that bothers me. It's in the part about paying attention to the kitchen scale, not the bathroom scale.
Successful, long-term practitioners of CR, healthy in mind as well as body, try to unleash themselves from the kitchen scale once the initial logistics of practicing CR are worked out and the number of calories in different portions becomes second nature.
Uh, huh?
Why?
If tracking your calories makes it easier for you to keep your calories low, especially if eating a consistent number of calories is important to you, then why would you want to "unleash" yourself from the scale?
In my experience, it is easier to do CR when I know how many calories I am eating. Now that may seem obvious, but clearly it's not obvious to everyone. Yes, it's a bit of a pain to weigh food, but I find that it's much more of a pain to wonder what I'm eating, and then to wonder why I'm hungry or why I'm gaining weight when I'm eating foods of indeterminate calorie value.
This came home to me Monday night when I was finally able to come home and cook for my darling Orange One, instead of eating at a Denny's or a Ruby Tuesday's. It was such a relief to DWIDP our dinner, weigh his, and cut the portions in half for mine. He gets 300 grams of mushrooms, I get 150. He gets 200 grams of tomatoes, I get 100. You get the idea.
I find that when I weigh my food carefully, or eat foods of predetermined calories like my cottage cheeses and yogurts and frozen veggies, it's much easier to stick to my calorie goals. I don't have to worry about a hunger freak out because I've accidentally gone too low, and I don't have to worry about accidental calorie creep.
Does this somehow make me a nutcase?
I doubt that Liza meant to imply that there's something "unhealthy," mentally, about weighing one's food. After all, her good friend Mary, aka Little MR, weighs her food at home. It has been my experience that almost no one can measure portions accurately without the aid of a tool, whether that's a scale, a teaspoon, or a measuring cup. Maybe there's someone whose spatial relationship skills are so good that he can know six ounces of chicken just by looking at it, but that person can also parallell park an eighteen-wheeler. I am not that person.
So doesn't it make sense for me, and my fellow spatially-challenged brethren, to weigh and measure my food?
Our society's ideas of what is "normal" are so screwy that it seems odd to actually want to know exactly what one is putting in one's body. No one questions the person who knows how much money she makes, or how much she spends. It is quite routine to meet a woman who knows how much she paid, on sale, for every pair of shoes she owns. But to know how many calories you ate for dinner: that's unhealthy!
Again, with apologies to Liza, whose work I think is brilliant other than this one point, I don't think the CR Society should be encouraging the labeling of those who weigh their food as "unhealthy in body and mind." There are many styles of CR, and for those who don't like to weigh and measure their food, that's fine. But those of us who do just put a higher value on precision. It doesn't make us obsessed, compulsive, or insane. I prefer to think of it as using the tools available to reach a goal. No one would consider it nuts to know how heavy each dumbell that one lifts is, if building muscle strength is the goal. Why is it unhealthy to know the weight of your salad?
I venture to say that MR's style of hardcore CR would be impossible without constant vigilance with the kitchen scale. MR rarely weighs himself: he understands that it's about CALORIES, not about weight loss. But he never eats a morsel of food that isn't calorie counted. His style of hardcore CR isn't for everyone (though I happen to find it incredibly sexy), but if maximum life-extension is your primary goal, then it sure makes a lot of sense to do maximum CR with maximum ON. It's awful hard to do that with guestimating.
Food is a wonderful, life-giving, pleasure-producing thing. Its enjoyment is not decreased at all by careful measuring. I would say that food loves to be weighed, except that I'm afraid one of my readers would say, "Objects hate to be anthropomorphized!"
There are many ways to practice CR, and many tools that people find helpful in their quest for the healthiest life possible. I find that CR is a lot easier if I know how many calories I am eating. So much so that I am downright downtrodden after these four weeks of being trapped in a calorie un-controllable food environment. The scale is a helpful tool for me, as are my pink measuring spoons and my trusty measuring cup.
Does that make me a big freak? Maybe so, but I'm getting smaller every day.
Posted by april at September 15, 2005 9:08 AM
Comments
For me at the moment measuring food is something I have to do, otherwise I'm pretty sure i'd go under my calorie limit. I really don't suffer from any hunger. It's quite difficult for me to get 1800 calories per day as it is, so for me personally I couldn't trust myself not to do some adding up of calories with measuring on a scale or whatever.
anorexia :
There was a program on the T.V not long ago called "Doctor Doctor" in the U.K and it described some things that parents or relatives should be aware of. coincidentally just before the program I had a few people mention to me how thin I look now and thought I was ill or something... then the program comes on and gives a few indications of what to spot in Anorexia and some of the stuff they mentioned was things like weighing yourself, counting calories, preparing small foods, watching what you eat etc...
Anyway, this got some of my family members thinking of me and how my habits changed because of CR. So they think I'm ill or something and I'm constantly trying to explain the whole situation but they don't believe me. I said to them that they should start worrying about themselves rather than me, I've got people like my mother complaining about my eating habits while all she lives on is chocolate biscuits!... seriosuly.
I really don't mind explaining myself to people but they don't seem to take in anything I say and they are convinced that there is something wrong with me... Haha.
I don't know if anyone else around here experienced the same kinds of worrying from family members? It's kind of annoying at times.
Posted by: Matt at September 15, 2005 11:27 AM
Yes - I love my scale. I bought a new one that is easier to read. I have two at home and one at work. Yet, I don't use them all the time. Just off and on. I am okay with guessing and daily weighing of myself for 90% of my food. I find that if I don't weigh things on a regular basis, my guessing abilities fade away. I actually enjoy guessing and then weighing. I am usually "close enough".
Liza May eats very little and very healthy. She eats tons of herbs and vegetables and small amounts of lean meat. She probably doesn't need to weigh. She also has been thin forever.
I am recently enough overweight and fought weight gain most half my life. I am not to be trusted without a scale!
Posted by: Little MR at September 15, 2005 5:35 PM
As MR's mother & a Zone convert (but not a CRON practitioner), I'd like to speak to Matt's comment. MR, a true ectomorph since early childhood & vegetarian since age 20, has always been thin. However, once he commenced his CR practice, his naturally thin body became skinny. We were really worried about him, which led to arguments and closed ears on my part. I didn't want to hear about the science and frankly thought CR (and maybe MR himself) was nuts. We feared he would damage his health. However, over time, I came to understand the basic concepts and now believe (with the help of MR's impressive test results and incredibly good health) that CR with optimal nutrition can be a very healthy way to nourish oneself. Its longevity benefits are obvious. Take a look at who's in better shape among the elderly -- the skinny, spry ones in their 90s or those in their 70s who have to be lifted into their wheelchairs with a mechanical hoist.
As for the scale issue, for those who would rather guessimate, using a scale would be seen as a nuisance and therefore a deterrent. For those, like MR, who enjoy precision, the scale is a must. Neither approach is, in my opinion, inherently wrong.
And as to who's truly nuts, SAD gak-eaters win hands down! JD
Posted by: Judith at September 17, 2005 2:05 PM
I feel that someday people will understand. So far all tests that I have got done are coming back really good and much better than average persons. It's not like I even want to be skinny or anything... as I initially started 05 off wanting to become quite big by doing weight lifting and stuff.
I guess family and friends worrying probably happens to quite a few that does CR.
Posted by: Matt at September 19, 2005 12:58 PM