Grazing?

After talking with a friend of mineabout our eating habits they had brought up the issue of grazing.  Now grazing is one of the things that helped get many of us to the point we were prior to surgery, and for some it is an worry and or battle in post op life.  Now I don't feel I graze because my intake fits with my plan, and I know others in fact most people can't or shouldn't follow my plan, but my plan is not so different than others just on a different scale.

So for those who graze why and when do you feel yourself grazing?  Because you are truely hungry, because you think you are or are you simply bored and do it out of habit.

Also lets discuss what are effective ways to avoid grazing.

I'll answer in a follow up.

Ok Paul, call me a renegade but this is my honest opinion.

Only developed countries are really neurotic about grazing. In developING countries folks graze all the time and aren't half as big as we are. Why? Because they move!

They walk instead of driving, they play sports instead of watching tv, in tribal cultures they forage instead of getting food from grocery stores.

To me this says a few things:

1. We should eat more natural food
2. We should move our asses
3. We should pay attention to how often our bodies are REALLY hungry

So in that respect some of my food behavior COULD be classified as grazing and, no, I'm not trying to prevent or stop it. When I move a lot I eat more frequently because I get hungry more frequently. When I move less, I am less hungry and eat less.

So far so good for me. I've maintained the same weight for two years.

All that being said, I think the key is having stuff to do. I know it makes a big difference for me. I KNOW when I'm eating from appetite and when I am eating just to eat. When it's the latter I go out and take a walk or call someone or find something to do far, far away from food.

I also eat decent sized meals. Yesterday Hala remarked on how little she thought I ate during the day, saying she'd be biting her nails if she ate what I ate. But they were both decent sized meals and I wasn't hungry until my next meal time. So I think for me those are the keys to only eating when appropriate (which is what I say instead of "no grazing").

This is the reason I said I don't feel I graze is because it fits into my plan.

As You kelly and myself have said in the same or different ways if you fit it into your plan then it really isn't grazing. For people who are newer and trying to stick to the I can only eat 3 meal mentality and then feel guilty when they eat a snack or something they feel they shouldn't it becomes and issue.

I define grazing as randomly eating without reason.  You have a jar of nuts on the table and you eat a handleful everytime you walk by.  These are the behaviors that add the unplanned calories, but buy moving to smaller meals more frequently you are still getting the same calories but just feeding your sense of hunger more frequently.

I know all about the eating because you are truely hungry and as long as I work the numbers I don't feel any guilt when the numbers are inline.  Hell I had a great Hot Dog Saturday after running the 5K with my son then marching a parade!  I had earned it!

Yes, and I’m saying that even outside a plan, we in the developed world are about the only ones worried about grazing.

 

You ever watch shows on Discovery Channel where they go to Africa or Asia and see how people eat? They are always eating. And not particularly because they are hungry but because food is there. And they don’t gain weight.

I’m not suggesting we do that because we aren’t as active and there is our respective addictions to worry about. But it makes me think we should stop demonizing the term grazing. It’s not a bad thing depending on your cir****tances.

 

Thankfully, we live in a nation where food is plentiful so I suppose our metabolism probably is different from a person who lives in a developing nation whose body, both unsure of its next meal AND desperately in need of calories to keep up activity levels, probably burns everything it gets.

Just me being all existential. Don’t mind me.

Well, first of all, I don't think grazing is necessarily bad.  I know we hear all the time how we shouldn't do it and it will make us gain weight, but that depends on what we graze on and how much we also eat at meals.  It seems I need about 1500 calories to maintain my weight.  I can't see how it makes any different if I divide those calories up into three meals or six meals or three meals with enough left over to graze between meals.

Grazing becomes a problem when we don't work it into our plan.  It becomes a problem if we are grazing on candy or chips.  It becomes a problem if we end up taking in more than we mean to because it's so easy to say one hershey kiss won't hurt and if you say that ten times a day, you end up with a lot of calories you didn't plan on taking in and you might not even realize how many calories you really got because even if you normally log all your food, you might figure you don't need to bother logging one hershey kiss.

I don't graze when I'm truly hungry.  If I'm truly hungry, I sit down and have a snack.  I graze because I just feel like tasting something yummy or because something is just there in front of me so I find myself wanting to eat just one.  Lately I've been chewing sugar free gum when I feel the urge to graze.  It gives me something good to taste and if I have gum in my mouth, I'm not going to take a bite of food.

Great topic Paul, and one I'm currently struggling with.

I'm fine all day at work, have my food and plan and follow it fine.  But when I get home, I'm drawn to the kitchen and just want to keep grazing.  Part of it is habit.  Part of it is boredom, and part of it is avoidance, grazing to avoid doing something that I know needs doing but don't want to do it like paying bills.  I also have a bad habit of grazing late at night when I should go to bed, and when I'm on the computer at home.  I'm aware of my bad habits and mostly what the underlying causes are and am working on ways to combat them.  It's a constant struggle and will be with me the rest of my life.

Jan

I do admit that at times I do graze although not often.  I graze mainly when I am hungry or know my caloric deficit or protein intake is lower than what it should be, or I have skipped meals.  When I graze it is typically nuts or protein bars which is why it fits in my plan.

My plan that typically keeps me from grazing is that I eat frequently between 8-10 times.  I know when you look at this it sounds like a lot and if you look at my food journal it looks like I eat a ton but my calories typically are still in the 2000-2300 range which is where it should be and on gym days I could probably go higher if I wanted.

My plan consists of 3 main meals a pre and post workout snack then 3-5 more snacks. Standard Meals being breakfast, lunch and dinner typically account for about half of my calories with breakfast being the smallest calorie wise. Lunch and dinners are typically 3-4oz of lean protein and a 1/4 of veg, with breakfast being the smalles meal of the day typically 2 eggs on non gym days or english muffin on gym days.

My Pre workout meal is typically more carbs than protein, got to have fuel for 2 hour workouts.

The rest of my meals are protein rich and very small typically a protein bar or some cheese and lunch meat.

I have found that by eating more frequently I am able to curb the hunger issues that would cause me to eat without regard for what or how much I was eating.

Since I started running again if I'm awake I'm eating or drinking protein and cannot stop loosing weight again. I think it all depends on your activity level. I eat out of pure hunger that cannot be helped. My activity level requires about 4000 cals a day and I couldn't eat that if I never stopped eating. In a month I have went from size 32 jeans to probably 28's but just keep tightening the belt. Hopefully when marathon training is over I put some weight back on.

You definately log more miles than I do but my body hasn't kicked in and started dropping weight again, but I am seeing an increase in muscle tone and my body fat% isn't going up so thats all good.

Maybe if I listened to Chocolate Rain while I ran I would run faster and start dropping again.


What are your long runs up to?

chocolate rain cures everything !!!!!!!!! I'm crying as I post this.......... I lift hard and run slow ..... not much else to say!!!!!!!!