Diets - structure vs. intuition

[UnXmas]

I was going to make this a thread on weight gain (yes, I know, another one, but I'm still desperately trying to figure out how to get my weight up) but I think it could apply to weight loss too, or even a diet aimed at managing your symptoms rather than gaining or losing.

It seems there are two main ways of going about a diet - follow a set plan; at the extreme, this could be devised by a dietician, make use of supplements rather than real food, follow a set timetable of meals, with everything calculated to get the required number or calories and/or required nutrients from what's consumed. This controlled approach could also be applied to weight targets - aiming to gain or lose a set amount each week or whatever. Especially if you're in hospital, it might also incorporate NG feeds, TPN, vitamin pills, etc. (When I was having TPN, they individualised the nutritional content to the patient's needs, not just giving me a set amount of calories, but taking daily blood tests to check my nutrient levels, with the following day's feed being adjusted accordingly.)

Then there's the other way, where eating is more intuitive. You may have some guidelines, especially if there are foods you want to avoid for health reasons, but you choose what to eat, when you feel like it, with the idea in the back of your mind that you are trying to eat more, eat less, or consume more healthy foods and less unhealthy ones. And maybe you have some ideas about goals, but you just reassess as you go along how your weight is changing or how your eating has affected your symptoms.

Has anyone tried one or both or these, or (more likely) something in between? Have you found one more successful than the other? Have your doctors or dieticians wanted you to try a structured approach to diet? Can you rely on your intuition to guide you towards the best diet for you? Have you tried a strictly planned diet but found you just can't eat like you intended?

 

[Axelfl3333]

I think from reading unxmas previous posts empty calories to bulk up is req,d,if you can tolerate it domino,s meateor pizza is way good!

 

[UnXmas]

I think from reading unxmas previous posts empty calories to bulk up is req,d,if you can tolerate it domino,s meateor pizza is way good!

Yes, even empty calories will help get my weight up.

 

[UnXmas]

Which diets have you tried?

A long time ago - giving up lactose, gluten, sugar, eating only organic, etc., etc., etc. Did me no good at all, just made me very sick.

For a while I've been eating low fibre, which helped before I had a stoma. With my first two stomas, I still ate low fibre, avoiding anything that could cause blockages, as my stomas blocked easily. The surgery for my current stoma was done around six weeks ago, so I am just beginning to test some fibrous foods and hoping this one doesn't block so easily.

I've also used supplements like Ensure a lot in the past, but now I often prefer to eat real food as they're not exactly the nicest things to eat.

 

[UnXmas]

The problem is we don't have the sense to determine whether the nutrients are actually in the foods. And 99% of the food in the super market is devoid of nutrients. Other animals have this sense.

Of course there are also animals who have no sense about what they should eat at all - dogs who will eat til they're sick, horses who will eat so much grass they get laminitis, or eat so much food they get colic and die.

At the moment I sometimes try to plan what I will eat, but when it comes to it, sometimes I'll feel much better eating what I feel like in the moment. The problem is when what I feel like isn't enough to allow me to gain weight.