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I’ve been thinking lately about diet, more specifically, about the fuel that we put in our engines to make them go.
I’ve always been pretty good about what goes into my body. The cravings I have, my wife tells me, aren’t normal. When I feel nudgy, I crave fruits, vegetables, maybe some nuts or left over salmon. I realize that for most people, these cravings aren’t normal, but I would like to challenge what should be defined as “normal”.
There’s a series of commercials on TV right for a car company that I can’t remember that keeps stressing that we’ve been brainwashed into accepting the status quo of what car companies are producing, but HEY! Look at us, we’re breaking that paradigm and bringing you what you REALLY need! I think that train of thought can be brought into the discussion of what we eat. There has been a certain amount of brainwashing that has been done to the population as a whole. We have been convinced that snacks have to be potato chips or candy bars or candy bars. What happened to the concept of an apple or an orange?
We all know the phrase, you are what you eat. I’d like to modify that phrase a little to say you feel like what you eat. That’s because, to a very large degree, if you put good things in your body, your body will feel good. If you put crap in your body, you’re gonna feel like crap. Plain and simple. It’s pretty straightforward.
But hold on. What qualifies as good? and what qualifies as crap? and what about the things that are in between?
That’s where things get hard. It’s easy to say to people, “eat right and you’ll be fine” or “don’t eat unhealthy food or you’re gonna get fat”. How does that help people? Most people have no idea what eating right really, truly means.
For a lot of people eating right means severely restricting calories. There’s a little bit of truth buried in that, but I’m pretty sure that’s not quite right. For others, it means eating fat-free, sugar-free foods from the “health & diet” section of the grocery store. I KNOW that’s not right. And yet for others it means eating only things that taste like cardboard and taking the joy out of eating. THAT is definitely NOT right.
So what’s a person to do?
Two words:
Be. Present.
That’s it. For a lot of people, eating has become either this orgiastic festival of gluttony or a mindless process of excess. Either way, there is a detachment that has happened that doesn’t allow your brain and your stomach to work together in concert. By being present, you pay attention to what you are eating and how you are eating it. Eventually, if you are aware of every bite you put in your mouth, you will realize that you are not hungry and will hopefully stop.
For those that can’t, there is then an extra step – the food log. It takes a lot less time than you actually think – literally 60 seconds after every meal or snack. You write down what you’ve eaten and note how you’ve felt since you last meal or snack. For those who say I don’t have the time I say, Are you frakking kidding me? Almost every adult I know has enough time to check their email, post to Facebook or tweet on Twitter after a meal. Guess what? You have 60 seconds to write down what you ate on your mobile device. There IS an app for that.
By keeping a log you will have the ability to go back and discover what IS good for you and what is not. Every person’s bio-chemistry is a little different. Yes, there are broad similarities that allow lifestyle diets like Paleo, South Beach and Blood Type to generally work for a lot of people, but in the final analysis, we are all individuals who don’t fit perfectly into that cookie cutter mold.
That is why by being present, you can customize your diet to fit the needs of your unique physiology.
I love spinach. A lot of people eat tons of it. Unfortunately for me, by being present I have come to realize that I can only eat it in smaller doses without it having an adverse effect on me. Unfortunate that I can’t eat it in large quantities – fortunate that I can avoid unnecessary unpleasantness.
So, are you aware of what you are eating?
Are you present?
Run Luau Run 
Laura Foresta, RD of One Mind Body Earth (OMBE) does mindful eating workshops and individual work around mindful eating. I find that yoga helps me to be present and mindful not just while on the mat but also off the mat. What a great blog post Luau. A great reminder to focus on the process rather than the what – when we are present and practice mindful eating we will make choices that are right for our own individual bodies. Personally my favorite afternoon snack is carrots with hummus or a handful of raw cashew nuts or trail mix.
I am a huge, HUGE fan of the hummus and carrots!
Yes, mindful eating!
If you really want to blow your mind, take it the next step….not just the energy in and the energy out, but also the energy around the plants and animals that we are eating.
Are we eating happy cows? Happy chickens? We know how our own cells and bodies feel when we eat “good food” what about the animals that WE end up eating.
More food for thought. 🙂
Wow. I will have to consider that!
mindful eating– very timely post, hits home for me!
Nice post Luau. I plan to be very mindful of the beer I drink later tonight. 🙂
😉
I’ve found the Livestrong online calorie tracker to be hugely helpful in keeping track of what I eat, and thinking more carefully about it. Really helps to see the “calories” left tick down through the day, and think about whether what I’m about to eat is a worthwhile “expense” on that tracker.
Also made me much more conscious about serving sizes, which I’d argue is the biggest ignorance most of us face in trying to control our intake. Manufacturer-specified “servings” are far smaller than you’d typically like to believe.
The Livestrong online counter is an excellent option (and they have a iPhone app as well!).
You are spot on with the portion sizes Greg! It is really surprising what restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory have done to what we think should be a standard portion. The other thing that helped me was letting my food settle before going back for seconds and thirds at dinner. I found that if I just waited for a few minutes, I actually wasn’t hungry anymore.
I do use the iPad and Blackberry apps, in fact – find it helpful to be able to enter things wherever I’m at.
So I’m nervous about posting this, because I read your blog and you are so obviously waaay on the whole “we must lose weight” bandwagon, but I just read a super interesting entry about this recently from the Fat Nutritionist:
http://www.fatnutritionist.com/index.php/food-you-like-is-food-that-feels-good/
She’s coming from a Healthy At Every Size perspective (which you are may or may not know anything about, but is essentially, hey, let’s focus on eating well and getting exercise and stop assuming that fat and unhealthy must be synonymous — AND that thin and healthy must also be synonymous) but it speaks to this.
I think that especially for women, who have spent their entire lives being bombarded with the message that if you aren’t “on a diet”/hating your body/trying to lose those last 10 pounds, it’s so helpful to divorce the notion of eating the right things for your body from being “good”.
First off – no need to be nervous! Seriously! My approach to the “we must lose weight” bandwagon is more about reducing the risks that are associated with large amounts of excess weight. You are absolutely right that women in this country have been subjected to a horrible message of you must be “on a diet”/hating your body/trying to lose those last 10 pounds. As the father of two girls I find that message scary. I personally don’t believe in “going on a diet”. Moderation is the key to just about everything, but I fear that as the Cheesecake Factory Restaurants increase what we perceive as a normal portions, we lose sight of what moderation truly is.
Not everyone has the supermodel or pin up model figure. We come in all shapes in sizes and that is what makes us all beautiful and unique. Each and every one of us has a slightly different chemistry and therefore we each react differently to the same foods. I do believe though, that through healthy eating and regular exercise (and I stress the regular) that as a nation we can be a healthier nation.
I will check out the link you posted. I am interested to see what the Fat Nutritionist has to say.
Thanks for posting. I always appreciate comments.
I’ll add a few more things:
•I am not a fan of losing weight for the sake of losing weight. There are a lot of unhealthy skinny people out there.
•There is a whole psychological issue for many people that I didn’t touch on here, due in past to the bombardments you mentioned above. For some it’s real, for others it’s a crutch.
•I subscribe to the idea that food should make you feel good, both mentally and physically, but too many people turn to food for an immediate rush that, after a short time turns to self loathing. By being present we can overcome those moments and find the foods that make us feel awesome in the long term.
I absolutely agree with you that we can be healthier if we eat healthier and exercise more regularly. I think it’s a real shame that figuring out what “eat healthier” even means has been so distorted by the Must.Lose.Weight message.
I love your thought about being “present” with respect to food intake. I would extend it, too, to include being aware of your body all the time. For example, my brain tells me all the time that I really really really need sugar. Really. And frankly, I could eat straight sugar at every meal and after I ate it, I would feel just fine. HOWEVER. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I know that if I continue this behavior — eating, as a TOTALLY HYPOTHETICAL example 🙂 conversation candy hearts for breakfast and lunch for a couple of days — I will begin to notice that I have an unpleasant mild headachy feeling and my mood deteriorates. AND the only food that sounds the least bit palatable is more sugar. So for me, it’s so much more effective to say, wow, I don’t want to feel like that, so maybe the conversation hearts, though a fabulous bargain at 90% off, should stay at Target. Please note that I had no luck with this argument while I was busy saying to myself, “those conversation hearts are BAD BAD BAD. if I buy them and eat them, I am BAD BAD BAD as well.
I don’t know if that makes any sense to someone who has VEGETABLE cravings (!), but there it is. 🙂
P.S. I should have guessed you wouldn’t be all judgy and stuff about it, but the internet can be a hostile, hostile place!
Great post Luau.
I have recently read Blue Zones by Dan Beuttner – a look at the pockets of population around the world where people are living the longest.
One of these areas is Okinawa, Japan where the tradition at meal-time is to say ‘Hara hachi bu’. Which translates to ’80 per cent’. Stating your intention to eat until you are 80% full.
This is a very effective way to control calories but also makes a lot of sense as it allows time for the message to be sent from your digestive system to your brain that you are approaching being full (a process that takes 15-20mins).
This approach totally links in with your idea of being present or mindful when we eat and is worth trying out.
Also, keeping a food log is essential to tacking what’s going into your system, and the quality of it.
As they say, ‘What gets measured, gets managed.’
I have to get a copy of that book. I like that – hara hachi bu!
It is literally like you are in my head because recently my struggle has been food. I just have not been in control of what I’m eating. My cravings have literally taken over me. Just this week is the first time I have really made sure to be especially mindful. I have a long way to go but am doing better. Your post could not have come at a better time!
Thanks Erin. You know I’m a firm believer in letting the lion out of the cage once every week or two. Occasional indulgence is the key to successful moderation. I know you can and will get things under control.
I totally agree with you. Isabelle has been fixated on this “dessert” thing for a while now.. I honestly don’t know where it came from b/c we don’t have a lot of sweets in the house (we still have more than half of her Halloween candy). I was giving in once or twice a week and letting her have one piece of candy, an old Girl Scout cookie, or some ice cream (Breyer’s that my parents left in the freezer when they were here last). But last week I said “NO! I’m not going to do this anymore!” And all week we’ve had fresh fruit for “dessert.” Strawberries, Blueberries, Bananas, Pinappple and tonight we had Star fruit (which she LOVED btw). And you know what? She hasn’t complained once. She’s even excited by it even more than she was Candy and cookies and ice cream! She hasn’t once said “Hey! Can I have Candy (or ice cream or cookies) for dessert tonight?” Love it.
Exercise and healthy food has greatly increased the quality of life for my husband and I. We now have two sons under the age of two and they primarily eat bright colorful raw or lightly steamed veggies. They love it. I have a lot of posts about healthy kids food. Also, love your vibrams.
I made numerous changes, like ending my soda habit, once I began to “feel” how my body reacted to poor food choices. My body responds much better to fruits and veggies and has rewarded me through increased energy and better athletic performance.
I asked myself a question – am I eating to get the taste or the fuel. We have to think about the things we eat once they pass our tongues.
I agree Logan, but I also believe we don’t need to sacrifice the joy of eating to reap the benefits of healthful fueling.