Turning Dieting Failures into Food Management Success….(Part 2)
In this post I’ll talk about my new attitude towards food and its purpose in my life.
What is food anyway? Whether it comes from a plant or an animal, food is just different combinations of chemical compounds, chemicals which are made up of all of the elements that make up the planet (remember your introductory chemistry?) We need food because the body needs the chemical compounds to produce the things it requires to sustain its functions and improve itself. Now, I haven’t studied biology so I’m probably doing a poor job in describing why the body needs food and what it does with food, but I’m hoping you get the message I’m trying to convey. The body needs food just like it needs water and oxygen. If it’s as basic as this, why do we form such an emotional attachment to food? Now, I’m not a behavioral psychologist, so I can’t explain it from a scientific perspecive. I can only draw on my own experiences and observations with food, so here goes!
I used to love food, especially the food that gave me instant pleasure and comfort. What else in our daily lives gives us such instant positive feelings as that? It’s also easy to get, treats us the same every time, and never asks for anything from us in return. On a physical level it’s all about chemical reactions in the brain of course, but on an emotional level its all about experiencing positive emotions with no perceived short-term risk or price to pay. We enjoy food so much that we make it a central part of many of our social gatherings, and cultural and religious traditions. If you are gathered with people who are all enjoying the same food, doesn’t it make it easier to interact with everyone since you instantly have something in common and have a shared experience that you can instantly relate to each other with, which of course is eating the food that is enjoyable. Think about sitting at a table with a stranger at a social function. What is often the prime topic that gets conversation going? The food. From a societal perspective, in our cultures and daily interactions the role food plays to sustain it all is deeply ingrained and unchangeable. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that food is bad because we use it this way. In my view the problem is with the type of food we are eating, how much of it we are eating, and what we are doing (or not doing) during all the other times of the day when we are not eating.
When we have a positive emotional attachment to something, either a societal, cultural or personal attachment, how difficult is it to give up that attachment? Extremely difficult. We need a damn good reason to justify giving up something that has been a part of our identify all our lives, something that helped define us as a person. I’m not saying that we should change our cultural traditions or diminish the social role of food! Nor am I saying that one should stop eating any particular food, that’s a personal choice. Rather, I believe we have to change the emotional attachment that we have towards all food. Food can still be a central part of our society and we can participate in partaking of food with others. What I am saying is that we have to become knowledgable about the impact that a particular food is having on our body. If you don’t care about what your body looks like or aren’t concerned about possible long-term negative health impacts, then I guess it doesn’t matter. If you do care, and most of us do care as evidenced by the multi-billion dollar diet and exercise products industry, and if you want to be able to really influence your appearance and health, then you have no choice but to gain at least a minimal knowledge about the impact the food you are eating is having on your body.
Food is sneaky. It gives us instant pleasure and comfort, and we come to see it as a dependable friend. What do we turn to when life gets stressful? Our favorite comfort foods. Oh yes, food will give you what you are looking for every time, but what else is it doing to you that you don’t realize? Food is just chemical compounds. Your body has no choice but to accept the food you put into it and then has to deal with the chemicals you’ve given it. The body is glad to get the food since it probably needs some of the chemicals right away, others it can partially use, others it stores for later use. Some of the chemicals have short-term positive or negative impacts, others have long-term positive or negative impacts. As an example, if you eat a large bag of potato chips, do you really think that your body needs all of the chemicals you have just put into it right away? No. The chemicals that are in those chips will have some negative impact on your body. In many cases, unless other things happen to intervene, one impact will be the creation of body fat.
In extreme cases, the emotional attachment to food can become so strong that it becomes addiction to food that can take over a person’s life. I believe that being emotionally attached to any food is dangerous for both the body and mind. It clouds our judgement and distracts us from our goals. That’s the type of relationship I used to have with food. I’ve eaten for distraction, comfort, pleasure, reward, peer pressure, and I’m sure other emotional reasons. And where did it get me? I was an unfit 38 year old with rolls of fat who was headed down the road towards high blood presssure, diabetes, heart disease, and Lord knows what other health problems. I thank God that weight lifting came into my life and changed the path I was on. I’ve taken control of my body through exercise and finally, in the past year, through eating right. Taking control of food was the hardest challenge for me.
So here’s how I view food now. Food items contain nutrients that my body needs for proper function and muscle growth. In other words, food is merely fuel for my body. Food is a tool I am using to help achieve my goals. Nothing more, nothing less. I have taken all other purposes for food out of my life. Any emotional need that it once satisfied has been replaced by other things, mostly being my physical activities. I would not put water into my car’s gas tank. By the same token, I will not put any fuel into my body that is not going to contribute positively to my body’s functions and my bodybuilding goals.
Food equals fuel. We all know this. I believe that keeping this the one and only purpose of food in your life allows you to assume control over your relationship with food. I’m not saying this is an easy thing to do. It sure wasn’t for me. I’m also not saying that I will never again in my life eat something that has some kind of negative impact on my body. What I am sure about is that the good things I am eating on a daily basis will far and away outnumber the things that have a negative impact. Understanding how different foods impact on the body is crucial to practicing food management. You can’t manage what you don’t understand. I have gained a basic understanding of nutrition over years of reading and from my Weight Watchers experience. My knowledge is minimal compared to a nutritionist, but I know enough to be successful at food management in my own life. I know it’s working because I can see the results when I look in the mirror and put on my clothes!.
To sum up the key points from my first 2 blog posts on ‘Turning Dieting Failures into Food Management Success’:
- I do not follow a diet. I practice FOOD MANAGEMENT.
- Food is nothing but fuel for my body and a tool which I control to help me achieve my bodybuilding and health goals.
By thinking about eating and food in this way I have been able to arrive at the state of mind necessary for me to achieve success. In my next blog post on this topic I’ll get specific over how I’ve learned to manage food and talk about the management strategies that work for me on a day to day basis.
