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"It's rarely information that people lack when it comes to Healthy eating, it's usually motivation." |
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Would you agree with that statement?
How many people know that fruits & vegetables are
health promoting foods and that we should avoid processed
foods, red meat and too much fat? Almost everyone I would guess?
Yet why are diet related illnesses rising at an alarming rate?
Something is wrong, and in my opinion it's in how we think.
Examining why we eat the way we do
Animals eat to live first and pleasure second. Many of us
eat for pleasure first and and to live perhaps... third?
Many of us would readily agree that when it comes to making food
choices our priorities are skewed somewhat. Here's what governs
most people's food choices:
1.Taste = pleasure
2.Convenience = time
3. Health = what we need
How many people know that fruits & vegetables are
health promoting foods and that we should avoid processed
foods, red meat and too much fat? Almost everyone I would guess?
Yet why are diet related illnesses rising at an alarming rate?
Something is wrong, and in my opinion it's in how we think.
Examining why we eat the way we do
Animals eat to live first and pleasure second. Many of us
eat for pleasure first and and to live perhaps... third?
Many of us would readily agree that when it comes to making food
choices our priorities are skewed somewhat. Here's what governs
most people's food choices:
1.Taste = pleasure
2.Convenience = time
3. Health = what we need
Eating for the wrong reasons...
Do you relate to any of these:
Eating because you bored: Sometimes you're not hungry—you're just bored. How may times have we gone to the fridge later in the evening not because we are hungry but we are bored? For a lot of people, eating seems like a good solution when there's nothing better for them to do or they are perhaps staying up later than they should; the problem with this habit is that eating like this only fills a very short gap but negative effects of such a habit can last for much longer!
Eating because you depressed: This is something than many of us perhaps can relate to. When we are depressed or our mood is low we naturally seek to comfort ourselves and often we use food as an emotional analgesic. The reasons we do this are complicated and complexed but one thing is for sure it doesn't take away our problems it usually adds to them. We need to find new ways of coping with our emotions and thus dealing with our problems rather than trying to eat them away.
Eating because your lonely: Again another complexed issue but again we are eating for the wrong reason or we are trying to fill a round hole with a square peg- it just won't fit! As with other emotional eating issues this takes some real self analysis and some forging of new habits to overcome. When ever we have emotional issues going on often the problem is that we become very much inward in our thinking and we start to think in terms of comforting, rewarding, nourishing even numbing ourselves. However using food to reward or numb ourselves never works for the same reason that relying on alcohol or any other stimulant or depressant doesn't work. If we are lonely then what we are actually craving is company, love, affection or friendship. Granted addressing these issues at the core is not easy but the fact remains that these issues need to be addressed. If we use food the try to fill these holes then we are only in actual fact adding to our problems which then lead to more negative emotions and then we seek more soothing perhaps through food.
Eating for pleasure: When we polish off a slab of cake and immediately start thinking about having another, you might suspect that eating for pleasure may trigger overeating. A new study out of Italy, where they know a thing or two about good food, supports this notion. Researchers from Naples and Salerno found that eating for enjoyment (what is called hedonic eating) activates the body’s reward system in ways that eating to satisfy hunger doesn’t, and may spur us to keep eating for pleasure. The report was published online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism- see link>
http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/early/2012/03/22/jc.2011-3018 While eating for pleasure isn't wrong eating more than our body needs isn't healthy. Often eating for pleasure encompasses one or more of the reasons discussed above and once we discern what that reason is then we are best dealing with that issue.
Why we eat the way we do:
Understanding the underlining causes and dealing with those causes is the first step toward a healthy relationship with food. In this modern and fast paced world in which we live stress is often at the heart of most issues. Often by simply reducing the amount of stress in our lives we at the same time reduce the need to use food for the wrong reasons.
Do you relate to any of these:
Eating because you bored: Sometimes you're not hungry—you're just bored. How may times have we gone to the fridge later in the evening not because we are hungry but we are bored? For a lot of people, eating seems like a good solution when there's nothing better for them to do or they are perhaps staying up later than they should; the problem with this habit is that eating like this only fills a very short gap but negative effects of such a habit can last for much longer!
Eating because you depressed: This is something than many of us perhaps can relate to. When we are depressed or our mood is low we naturally seek to comfort ourselves and often we use food as an emotional analgesic. The reasons we do this are complicated and complexed but one thing is for sure it doesn't take away our problems it usually adds to them. We need to find new ways of coping with our emotions and thus dealing with our problems rather than trying to eat them away.
Eating because your lonely: Again another complexed issue but again we are eating for the wrong reason or we are trying to fill a round hole with a square peg- it just won't fit! As with other emotional eating issues this takes some real self analysis and some forging of new habits to overcome. When ever we have emotional issues going on often the problem is that we become very much inward in our thinking and we start to think in terms of comforting, rewarding, nourishing even numbing ourselves. However using food to reward or numb ourselves never works for the same reason that relying on alcohol or any other stimulant or depressant doesn't work. If we are lonely then what we are actually craving is company, love, affection or friendship. Granted addressing these issues at the core is not easy but the fact remains that these issues need to be addressed. If we use food the try to fill these holes then we are only in actual fact adding to our problems which then lead to more negative emotions and then we seek more soothing perhaps through food.
Eating for pleasure: When we polish off a slab of cake and immediately start thinking about having another, you might suspect that eating for pleasure may trigger overeating. A new study out of Italy, where they know a thing or two about good food, supports this notion. Researchers from Naples and Salerno found that eating for enjoyment (what is called hedonic eating) activates the body’s reward system in ways that eating to satisfy hunger doesn’t, and may spur us to keep eating for pleasure. The report was published online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism- see link>
http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/early/2012/03/22/jc.2011-3018 While eating for pleasure isn't wrong eating more than our body needs isn't healthy. Often eating for pleasure encompasses one or more of the reasons discussed above and once we discern what that reason is then we are best dealing with that issue.
Why we eat the way we do:
Understanding the underlining causes and dealing with those causes is the first step toward a healthy relationship with food. In this modern and fast paced world in which we live stress is often at the heart of most issues. Often by simply reducing the amount of stress in our lives we at the same time reduce the need to use food for the wrong reasons.
