A Question

A Question

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 02:54 AM PDT

Do you spend more time questioning what you're going to/what you should eat?  Or questioning if you're hungry at all?

My guess -- you spend more time questioning the food.  Why?  Because we assume we're hungry every time we eat.  Otherwise we wouldn't be in the kitchen, in front of the vending machine, standing in line at the convenience store or drive-thru.

This is an approach that is patently not working for us, though.  And not to point fingers but I feel relatively safe in saying it isn't working for you, in particular.

Science doesn't understand the ins and outs of food composition.  Just a few years ago, everyone "knew" iceberg lettuce to be perfectly worthless in terms of nutrition.  And then researchers found that it contains a compound that promotes brain health.  Well duh!  It's tasty and grows in the ground -- it probably has some redeeming value.  If you watch the research coming out, situations like this occur all the time.  We love headlines about new "super foods".  And we feel frustrated and cheated when the something we like to eat is labeled bad for us (but we don't stop eating it!).

All of that labeling though, is a moot point when it comes to weight management.  The super food du jour still has calories and if you aren't physically hungry, those calories are still going to be stored as fat -- no matter what kind of food they come from.  If you are malnourished, "what kind of food should I eat" is an important question.  If you are overweight, that question is not relevant -- and we use it to justify our choices.  "Healthy food" is the cover we use to justify our overeating -- and it's making us gain weight.

I think we need to learn to ask better questions of ourselves!  What do you think?