It wasn't until a coworker introduced me to someone as a "health-nut" that I really considered how seriously I take nutrition and health. But I have decided to embrace it full force.
We are bombarded daily with commercials, billboards, radio spots, news and magazine articles all pushing food as a commercial product. A commercial product, not the vital nutrition providing life that it should be. On the other hand, the USA has made food completely and utterly unimportant in our lives. By this i mean we never truly think about our food. The average United States household spends a smaller portion of its income on food than any other nation in the world. We are also prone to (and encouraged to) multitask in everything, including eating. Drive throughs make it seem so normal to eat and run, or eat and work, or eat and do any other number of things at once.
What's so wrong with that? Well it breaks a cardinal rule for eating within limits. Following are what I consider to be the cardinal rules:
- Do NOT multitask when eatting. If you want to eat less then you must focus on what you are eatting to realize how much you have been eatting. Turn the TV off, turn the radio off, put the paper away. The one exception to this rule is that you can (and should) converse with others. Food is a very human activity, and should not be disconnected from humanity.
- Put your fork/spoon/knife/finger food down in between at least every 2-3 bites. This forces you to slow down, appreciate the food, TASTE it, and for your body to recognize when it is getting full. There is a psychological lag time from when your stomach is full to when it registers in your mind.
- Since there is that lag time, wait 10-15 minutes before getting seconds! Now THIS is the time to turn on the TV for a minute, read a chapter or an article, get into a heated discussion. Let yourself be distracted from food when you are not eating. Many times when we think we are hungry, we are really just thinking about food.
- My dad always told me, never eat anything bigger than your head. I think that is quite self explanatory, since your stomach is anatomically smaller than your head.
- If you are still feeling hungry, drink a full glass of water. No calories, just life nurishing water to fill your stomach. Many people have become so out of tune with their bodies needs, that the physiological signs of thirst are confused with those of hunger.
- Eat naked when you can. You really think about where that food is going to end up.
- Eat nutrient rich foods over empty calories. We are often still hungry simply because the foods we just ate do not contain the nutrients we require, thus our bodies did not even register that we ate. I will go into much more depth on nutrients in later posts.
~Respect
