Recently a co-worker of mine and I were talking about my weight loss and CRON. Apparently he used to be about 170 pounds and went on what I would describe as a starvation diet to get down to a lean 140 pounds. The mental anguish of this diet was with him still. It may have been a contributing factor to his maintaining the weight loss.
His approach by the way, was that he would fill a bowl with food and wouldn't eat anything more than he could fit in that bowl for the day.
Now, this guy is a smart guy. He has two degrees and is quite successful. He certainly knows how to achieve his goals and quickly. Why didn't he know how to do this without being hungy?
Further, he couldn't imagine doing CRON as the hunger and mental anguish would kill him. I told him that I was seldom hungry. He didn't believe me.
I told him that I had learned and continued to learn (one of my favourite things about CRON - the continuous learning) about various foods that I could eat that filled me up with a minimum of calories and a maximum of vitamins and minerals. I named a bunch of my favourites like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cucumber, salads and told him I often add to these base foods with a little bit of protein or grains. He was interested but a bit skeptical about my statement that you don't have to be hungry on CRON. It was like he thought CRON was inherently unhealthy because of the increased likelihood of hunger.
The perception that CRON is synonomous with constant hunger needs to change. I certainly haven't found it to be true. Occassionally I get cravings, but I satisfy them within reason and make allowances elsewhere.
The term Caloric Restriction implies gulag prison camp like restriction of food to some people and makes them think of rationing and scarcity. When in actual fact, although calories are being restricted there is an abundance of food that can be consumed to meet both CRON and hunger needs concurrently. I certainly think that the perception of abundance needs to somehow be injected into the CR movement.
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Yep, my SO hates using the term Calorie Restriction because it has such apparent negative connotations. I try to avoid it as well when discussing my diet with other people. Just too difficult to explain everything, and usually not work the effort.
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