24 May 2011
The Guilt Culture Of Eating 
Love the original post and likeproust’s response.
For more on guilt + eating, read No-Regret Eating.
likeproust
hugparty:
Some women today don’t just feel bad about their size. Many who are even a size 2 or 0 feel bad about even eating. Eating! Something a human must do to live!
Don’t eat this or that, and if you do, don’t do it in front of other people - they might see you ENJOY FOOD. Don’t eat in private; only eat in front of other people so they can tell people “She eats! She eats a lot!” and you can come off as someone with “just a good metabolism” or “good genes”.
Think of the classic pathetic woman image - alone, eating ice cream and pizza, drinking wine. In movies or tv, it’s always the same. Behold the sad loser sitting alone and OMFG EATING. It’s a media portrayal that is shoved down our throats telling us that a night in pj’s with food and tv is depressing, low, to be avoided lest we be seen as a loser.
An overweight - or sometimes even a healthy weight - woman eating anything but a salad and water elicits thoughts of “put down that food and go for a run!” If you are less than perfect, better go enjoy that hot fudge sundae in a closet somewhere. And even then, don’t enjoy it because you’re a miserable failure for eating alone.
This guilt culture about eating has to stop. People eat. Some people eat a bunch of crap that is not good for them for various reasons. Some people get home at 8pm and put on lounge pants and eat crap by themselves for various reasons. Making people feel guilty about eating - no matter WHAT they are eating - is not going to solve obesity and related issues. What people eat and why is none of your damn business.
Stop making the world feel bad about enjoying and loving food (any food) just because you feel bad about eating.
Let me tell you something. When I slow down and enjoy my food - when I really taste what I’m eating, that’s when my stomach and my heart and my brain and my body are most connected.
When I revel in making dinner, that’s when I’m at my best. I go to my favorite grocery store with mounds of fresh produce - lovely, crisp, colorful produce. I pick out the best veggies and fruits. I go over to the meat counter, chat with the young guy there, flirt a little. Ask what he recommends. I pass cases of amazing cheeses, made with as much care as I’m assembling my next meal now.
And then I go home, unpack, get to work. Let me tell you, I LOVE to be in a clean kitchen, putting together a meal. I love to chop vegetables. Fuck me, my favorite thing in the world on some days is dicing a fucking onion.
What did I make last weekend?
Fish tacos with fresh tilapia, homemade mango salsa brimming with red onion and cilantro, guacamole from ripe avocados, thick with garlic, cilantro, lime juice, and onions. And then, what the hell, I squeezed some lemons, mashed up some raspberries made fresh lemonade.
In fact, I would wager that the MORE you care about your food, the better you eat. And when I say “better,” I don’t mean deprivationally. I don’t mean counting calories. I mean you eat food that tastes better, looks better, feels better going down. You enjoy it more when you care.
When I eat a McDonald’s Cheeseburger, I don’t eat it because I care too much about food. I do it because I’m in a hurry, in a jam, need something because I’m starving and I don’t give a fuck what I’m shoving down my throat.
Enjoying food is not the problem. It’s never been the problem. And for people who really care about what they eat, who enjoy food, who love making a beautiful meal for themselves and the people they care about - no amount of shame or bullying can take that away. Because I can craft a delicious, healthful meal with just as happily as I craft a delicious, decadent dish like linguine alla carbonara - and I enjoy eating them both.
Without guilt.
Fuck guilt.
(Source: alicedubs, via likeproust-deactivated20111206-)
17 May 2011
Before you read this post, catch up on past Indulging with Intention posts:
Perhaps the most important concept when indulging with intention is making a policy of eating without regret. There are two ways to do this:
- After eating something that maybe wasn’t the best option, make it your duty to not spend even one minute regretting it.
- Before eating something that maybe isn’t the best option, think about if you’ll regret it or not.
These two points seem contradictory, but they aren’t.
Imagine this scenario: Your boss brings in doughnuts for the team as a thank you for your hard work. Doughnuts aren’t your favorite treat food, but these doughnuts are from a gourmet shop and you’ve never tried them before. You think you might feel a little bloated after eating one since you already had breakfast but feel you’d probably be glad you tried one.
You just tackled the second bullet above.
So you indulge. Turns out, the doughnut kind of sucked. You feel gross after eating it because it was greasier than you expected. You’re mad you “wasted” calories on a treat that turned out to be worth it. But you stop yourself and remember that there’s absolutely no point in lingering or regretting your decision. You know that the rest of your choices for the day will be good, so why pick yourself apart about one doughnut?
And that’s the first bullet.
That’s how it works: You spend a minute thinking about if this food is REALLY a treat for you. If it is and you know you’d be glad you tried it afterward, go for it. But if things turn out differently, you have to vow to not regret it. The same thing goes if you indulge in something you KNOW you’ll regret. You have to just pick yourself up and move on.
Remember not to slash all your tires.
28 April 2011
This is the third in my weekly mini-series Indulging with Intention. Catch up on pasts posts:
Today, I want to talk about the definition of a treat. What does “treat” mean to you? Something sweet? Something rich? Something decadent? Something “fattening”? Something high-calorie?
Well, maybe it’s time to redefine what you call a “treat.” A treat is just something you wouldn’t necessarily eat every day. Maybe because it’s sorta high-calorie, high-sugar, or high-carb. Or maybe just because it’s kinda pricey! A “treat” doesn’t have to be unhealthy — It just has to feel indulgent to you!
Here are some foods that feel like treats, but that I know won’t totally derail me:
Vosges Chocolate
The flavors are so subtle and exotic, a piece after lunch can make the whole meal feel elevated.
Whole Foods Hot Bar
They have great meat and veggies. It’s a treat because it breaks the bank!
Crusty bread with butter (preferably Kerrygold!)
I love this combo more than many more traditional “treats”! But huge chunks of bread don’t always sit well with me, so it’s definitely not an everyday thing.
Fried cheese
You guys know I have no problem with fat, but fried cheese (fat fried in fat) can even be a little much for me! That’s why it’s a treat in my book.
A spoonful of coconut butter
The perfect indulgent bite after a lighter meal.
The moral of the story? Treats don’t always have to come in the form of dessert or obviously decadent food. You can incorporate little indulgences that feel treat-like to you throughout your week!
19 April 2011
Welcome to another post in my Indulging with Intention series! Missed the last post? Read “How to Eat the Foods You Love — Forever” now.
I read a response to my my last post about the toxicity of sugar that argued, “Food isn’t poison.”
Well, yes and no. Is food literally poison? No, of course not. You won’t keel over and die after eating any one food.
But it is poisonous in the same way that things like alcohol and cigarettes are poisonous: one drink, or one cigarette, absolutely won’t do any damage. But smoke for 10 years? Or have several drinks a day for 10 years? You might start to see some long-term complications.
The same goes for sugar, and other foods with no redeeming nutritional qualities. One cookie or soda won’t have any affect on your overall health. But drink a soda or two every day for years, and you might have issues (and cavities!).
The effects of things like sugar, alcohol, cigarettes, etc., are cumulative. Meaning, the more you use them over time, the higher your risk of complications. But will one cigarette give you lung cancer? Of course not. Will one drink give you liver poisoning? Ridiculous. Will one piece of cake lead to Type 2 diabetes? Nope.
But does that mean these things aren’t poisonous? I suppose it depends on your definition.
And what does this mean for indulging with intention? Should you plan sugary treats like you would plan to have a cigarette or a drink? Well, in some ways, yes. There’s no reason not to treat sugary/carby/nutritionally empty foods like you would treat alcohol or cigarettes.
Indulge with intention, indulge carefully, and realize that while sugar and other nutritionally void foods aren’t exactly “poison,” they’re pretty darn close.
12 April 2011
Today, I’m launching a new weekly mini-series on Your Nutritionista I’m calling Indulging with Intention. With this series, I’m hoping to provide some insight on how you can incorporate the treats you love into your diet and still meet your weight loss and health goals.
Each week as I’m working with my Your Nutritionista Consulting clients, a theme often emerges (I’m so grateful to my clients for providing me with ample blog fodder!). Over the past few weeks, that theme has been indulging in a way that’s sustainable for a lifetime.
I recently posed this question to a client after she expressed some guilt about indulging in her mom’s homemade chocolate chip cookies after an already indulgent weekend: “Can you imagine never eating those again?”
Her answer? “No, I can’t imagine that.”
So why follow a diet that restricts a food you can’t imagine living without? Of course you’re going to feel deprived, and even a little bit resentful! When the diet “ends,” of course, you’re going to feel like you’re owed all those cookies (or whatever) that you so diligently avoided. And that’s not going to do anything for your health or weight loss goals.
The first lesson of the Indulging with Intention is to plan to indulge. If you can make a habit of setting your sights on a treat you love in advance, you’re less likely to eat something impulsively that you don’t even enjoy that much.
So right now, I want you to make a list of so-called “treat” foods you LOVE that aren’t necessarily a part of your diet plan, whatever that might be. They should be foods that you can’t imagine living a life without, no matter how nutritionally void they are. Choose five of those foods. Now, for the next five weeks, plan to incorporate one of those foods a week into your diet. Yup, that’s right. Give yourself FULL PERMISSION to indulge in a treat you adore at least once a week.
But the catch is, you need to plan it. It can’t be an impulsive stop at the cupcake shop. It has to be something on the schedule — your favorite dessert (that you always try to avoid) from a restaurant you know you’re going to on a certain day, let’s say.
If you can train yourself to delay your gratification when it comes to treats and indulgences, you won’t be as tempted to eat something just because it’s there. And when you do finally get to eat what you love, you’ll be so glad you waited. But more important, you won’t feel at all regretful!
Of course, you also have to apply the Here and Now Concept to this — If there’s a spontaneous treat that you love and won’t get the chance to eat again, you might have to be flexible.
So for the next five weeks, try planning to indulge. I bet you’ll feel more satisfied, less deprived, and be less likely to sabotage yourself at the first sign of a treat food!
