What about health?
Does eating what you want - what your body desires at the current
moment, - put aside the health quotient?
After my mom died of cancer, I became obsessed with
health. Why had she gotten sick? How
could I and everyone I loved learn from this and keep from getting it?
So I did some research. They (you know, the ubiquitous “they”) said:
·
Sugar causes cancer; avoid it at all costs. I
went sugar-free (well, except on the ‘off’ days).
·
Sugar-free products, such as aspartame, cause
cancer. I stopped the sugar-free gum, “no sugar added” pudding, chocolates, ice
cream (man, the sugar alcohols contained in these were killer on the stomach!)
·
Meat causes cancer. I went vegetarian.
·
All animal products cause cancer. I went vegan.
·
Foods cooked at high temperatures, and cooked
foods in general, are not good for you. I went raw.
·
Absence of whole grains and fiber in your diet
is bad for your intestinal tract and colon. I went back to rice.
·
Fish eaters in Japan get less cancer. I put fish
back in.
·
Mediterranean people don’t get cancer. I ate
Greek yogourt.
·
Excess weight is the ultimate culprit. Do whatever
you can to eat less – maybe try high protein, low carbohydrate. Back in goes
the meat, out goes the rice. Also, it’s all about calories in, calories out. I
went to Weight Watchers.
·
Man didn’t die of cancer a million years ago. I
went primal.
·
Gluten causes lots of problems, maybe even
cancer. Bring on the potato flour.
·
Juicing can cure a host of diseases, including
cancer. I bought a juicer. Oh, and make sure the juice is consumed immediately,
before it oxidizes, and the produce should not only be organic and grown
locally, but also in your own garden, in compost soil.
Is anyone else as exhausted as I am???
Signe Darpinian, a marriage and family therapist with a
certificate in eating disorders, runs a clinic in San Francisco counseling
people in mindful and intuitive eating.
She wrote “Knock Out Dieting”, a useful workbook for shutting out the
noise and putting the teachings of people like Geneen Roth into practice. She says that you should eat for the health of
your “future self”. She believes that if
you present yourself with a smorgasbord of choices, you will ultimately gravitate
toward healthy foods. But she says to start out by considering every food to be
equal on the nutritional playing field, as in broccoli = cake. She actually advocates keeping a stack of
chocolate bars on hand at all time, and purposely bringing your “off limits”
food into the house. The thinking is
that once you know they are there, that you can have them if you want them,
they lose their power. Interesting. I did start buying my favourite cookies
again, and take great pleasure in having a few every day.( I can’t see me
keeping carrot cake on the counter, though.)
Here’s the difference I have found. I now go past the BK
drive-thru and say to myself – you can go
there if you want, if you are hungry and desire this food. The other day I had
my usual (chicken sandwich and cheesy-fries), but I only had about half,
because I was full, and because I know that I can go back tomorrow if I really
want to. A few months ago I would have
driven by, fiercely berating myself as I remembered my past offenses.
I once had a trainer (I've had a lot of trainers) who told
me the following about the two foods with which I've been having a love affair
for years – cheese and peanut butter: Do
not let cheese or peanut butter pass your lips. Do not let them into your shopping
cart. Do not even go to the aisles that contain them at the grocery store. If you
see cheese or peanut butter, run immediately in the other direction. If I hear that you've been eating cheese or peanut butter, you're in trouble.
I was living with my sister at the time. No, I did not keep
any cheese or peanut butter of my own. But I sure did bust into hers every
chance I got. Like, way too much. She used
to get quite angry. She wanted me to just buy some of my own, but I knew that I
“couldn't be trusted”.
I like this one: Signe also says that no food is ‘bad’, unless you hit
someone over the head with it. Mindful and intuitive eating means eating to nourish your body. We all know what nourishes our bodies - fruits and vegetables, whole grains, proteins, healthy fats. A mindful eating practice lends itself to better nutrition on the whole, as we pay attention and act upon how foods make us feel.
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