MFP's personalized calorie suggestions (just an example; please don't consider this to be weight-loss advice) |
MFP's "food diary" interface (just an example; please don't consider this to be weight-loss advice) |
some of MFP's forums -- lots of support, inspiration, recipe suggestions here |
obsessive measuring! |
determining the nutritional information for your recipes -- one potentially useful MFP feature |
After around eight months I found myself logging on MFP less consistently. Why? I was certainly growing tired of measuring every gram of peanut butter and each individual almond I consumed. But more so, I felt that I no longer needed to track my meals. I already knew how my go-to breakfast would measure up. I had learned how a lunch of a peanut butter sandwich would compare to granola and yogurt. I knew which brand of frozen pizza was lowest in sodium. I was ready to start eating intuitively and boy did that feel refreshing.
MFP should be considered a tool to actively learn about nutrition. It has provided me with far more nutritional knowledge than four years of medical school. From time to time I'm happy to be able to share some nutrition advice with family members and patients. I encourage others to consider protein and fibre content of foods, rather than solely calories, and take the time to learn about the food they are consuming.
So what's the bottom line?
- Use MFP not to nitpick over calories but to develop an awareness of the foods you consume (e.g. edamame is a great protein source; but eating a huge salad for lunch will likely not provide enough calories to sustain an energy-intensive afternoon).
- Don't worry too much about calories on MFP -- if you are over by a few hundred but are eating healthy, let it go (remember, calories are only an estimate anyways, as you don't know exactly how many you burn during your daily activities).
- Avoid logging meals on MFP too far in advance. The issue here is that you artificially tell yourself to consume x food at a specific time (even if you're not necessarily hungry) and then later when you really do feel hungry you restrict because you've "run out of calories". Restricting can lead to binge eating, which can lead to more restricting; clearly a dangerous cycle and about as far from intuitive eating as you can get.
- Eat intuitively (more on this later) and if you feel so inclined log retrospectively at the end of the day to see how your calories, protein, fibre, sodium, etc. measured up (I'd often be surprised how little protein or how much sodium my meals contained).
- ...and eventually let MFP go! Once you're familiar with the nutrition content of various foods, stop logging on MFP. (I just keep my MFP account now to look up the odd food every now and then; e.g. I was curious about the nutrition content of beets the other day.)
nutritious intuitive eating -- the goal |
...which of course includes treats! |
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