OKay, it's midnight, I hope I can articulate this properly!
Today at work, there was an opportunity to get dunked in a tank to get body fat accurately read. I didn't get the emails for it so I didn't have a suit (and I'm sure tank dunking au naturel at work would have been frowned on). I was talking to a couple of corworkers who had the test done and were talking about how they wanted to lose 10-20 lbs.
Now, my current job is interesting in one personal respect - no one knows I was heavy. I moved here about 18 months ago and everyone just knows me as the woman who weighs what I weigh, not the woman who used to be heavy. So anyway, that's just some background. In the conversation, they started talking about how to lose weight, Weight Watcher's and stuff, and I was included in the conversation (by my cube) so I just came out and said, well, I used to weigh 200 lbs and I lost the weight and have kept it off for four years blah blah.
My two coworkers acted honestly surprosed and thought I was just naturally thin and asked how I did it. So, I gave them the mile high view and we started talking about lifestyle changes and diet changes and we were talking about food and one of the women said "but food tastes SO good."
That comment just stuck with me the rest of the day. Food DOES taste good. Cupcakes with extra frosting, McDonalds french fries, loaded nachos, cheese fries, pizza - all taste wonderful. But why do we give food this special pass for tasting good? By all accounts, drugs feel good (I know it's not an exact analogy because drugs are also illegal, but hopefully you get the point) but most of us don't do drugs, no matter how good they feel. Sex feels good, but most of us wouldn't sleep with our sister's husband JUST because sex feels sooo good. The rush of gambling can feel good. Shopping and buying stuff can feel good. Driving a ferrari probably feels pretty good. Sleeping in and blowing off work would feel GREAT.
But, I manage my money, I don't sleep around, I don't skip work and I don't do drugs. Why do I so easily skip all those behaviors that feel SO GOOD and treat food like it's completely different? I know it's a personal opinion, but I think (for me) that most options at a fast food restaurant are terrible, with NO redeemable qualities except TASTING FABULOUS. But, I'd probably still eat some french fries before I'd blow off work for the day (even though sleeping in and missing work probably feels better than french fries taste).
I know I have a financial budget, I NEVER spend more than I have. Why would I EAT more than I can afford? Is it because it doesn't show up on the scale until a few days later, unlike a bounced check which would have immediate and negative repercussions?
What is it about food that is so powerful? I know food can be love, food can be companionship, food can be family togetherness, I do get that (birthday dinner with your family might include cake which tastes good but also conveys a wealth of love and emotion - I get that), but how about just the day to day stuff, why am I powerfully tempted to eat a 700 calorie muffin when there is NO UPSIDE except for how good it tastes? Is it just the genetic drive that says "HEY THIS IS A LOT OF CALORIES, YOU MIGHT NEED IT FOR LATER?"
If anyone could answer that question, they'd become multi-millionaires in the diet & food industry
If you look at this from a biological perspective, just about most of what we eat becomes sugar upon digestion-- a.k.a. our own personal crack. The trick is to find good, delish foods that doesn't trigger you to binge (or be severely tempted to binge).
Sometimes it sucks, I know But you're doing great!!!!
1) It is the first thing we associate with comfort. Babies are held when they eat, so not only are they nourished, they experience love. It isn't coincidence that we talk about "comfort food."
2) It provides immediate gratification and generally delayed consequences. I will never understand how a 4 ounce chocolate bar can turn into a pound of weight (okay, so maybe it is more than one 4 ounce chocolate bar) but the pleasure is immediate. The "pain" of the gained weight, the tight clothes, the uncomfortable body comes later, too late for us to tightly associate it with the food. Moreover, a bounced check is specific, bad eating is generic, you can't trace the specific food to the poundage.
3) Its easy. Easier than sleeping with your sister's husband! Its fast, cheap and easy. Readily available, an "on demand" system.
4) There is a ton of peer pressure. As babies we associate food with comfort and nurture, as adults it is also social. We "break bread" together, we talk about food, we get together for a meal or drinks. We're pretty oral!
Those of us in the severely obese and above categories are a bit like alcoholics. The whole world has the same challenges, but somehow we are more sensitive to loss of control about food. I don't really understand why alcoholics can't stop or limit their drinking...just as lots of folks can't understand the difficulty many of us have with food. (I sometimes think it would be easier to never eat again rather than to always have to actively work to eat healthily.)
Glory, fascinating post, well articulated for midnight!
It's really made me think. I understand all the things that Pandora says and agree with them but I still agree with you that we allow a permissiveness around food that we don't allow to other behaviours. I shall think about this some more today as I do my weekly food shop!
Very interesting post. And its so true!
I think a problem we have here is that it is SO EASY to eat like crap! From fast food to most eat in restaurants- it is hard to get a REAL healthy choice. Even when you're home, its easy to pick up a boxed meal and throw it together in 20 minutes than it is to make it from scratch with less calories, sodium and other things.
I look at the calories of what I cook and then find calories of something similar in a boxed meal and a lot of the time there's a HUGE difference!
Eating is a natural and vital behavior; we *have* to eat, and should eat at least a few times a day. Thus we are constantly forced to make tough food choices. We aren't forced to go shopping very often. It's harder to constantly keep actively choosing to avoid temptation (and people as a whole who are exposed to more marketing do spend more, which is why marketing exists). Since most people fail to make the healthiest choices consistently, we cut each other some slack.
I expect the desire to choose tempting foods is hard-wired. To the extent our ancestors ever had any luxury to be picky about their food sources, yummier meant survival. Sweeter foods meant fruits that were ripe and fattier foods meant more energy to survive and propagate. Anyone choosing to eat just leaves when nuts were available probably didn't contribute much to the gene pool. (The original poster already made this point, but I think it is an important piece of the answer).
Eating also involves a lot of senses -- the sense of taste is pretty much devoted to eating, but who can deny the smell of a fresh baked bread and Pavlov would be proud of most people's reaction to the sight of gooey brownie. The food industry is well aware of the importance of "mouth feel" in products. My point is that since so many senses are involved with eating that the temptations and immediate rewards are greater for eating yummier foods.
Also, taking Pandora's points a little further, we build a lot of traditions around food. I have particular difficulties with holidays. Even the "tradition" of buying GS cookies every year is tough to break!
This is a great thread Glory. I am not nearly as articulate as the previous posters but want to add a few personal comments.
Food is required to live - alcohol, cigarettes, drugs (recreational) are not. The relationship is such a strange and powerful one. Love/hate if we choose. I try to take some of the emotion out of this relationship and make it a more practical one - what does the car take to operate - fuel, air and water. What does it take to operate my precious machine - the same. It certainly doesn't always work or I would not have weighed nearly 350 pounds. It is an ongoing process.
My DH is trying to become a non-smoker. He is struggling in a huge way and has gained a new respect for the food issues I have. He finally gets that some trigger foods for me are like the alcoholic having "just one" drink.
Unfortunately I had a phone call and lost my train of thought - I will attempt to elaborate more eloquently later.
I have actually thought about this probably a million times. Sometimes, if I want a brownie or something I'll replace the word with "beer" and I instantly see that this is addiction, not hunger.
There are two things that I've come up with when thinking about it. The first is that food is accepted. If you eat a big meal no one is going to be shocked or stunned. If, like in Glory's example, you sleep with your sister's husband, well, there will be shock, anger, and some other consequences that are unpleasant. It doesn't hurt anyone but us if we eat something bad or too much and, like Pandora said, the consequences are so far out that we don't tightly associate them.
The other thing that I've come up with on the subject is the idea that I don't do much for myself. If I buy a new purse or shoes, I feel like I am spending money that could be spent on things for my kids. But I have to eat, so if I "pamper" myself with a Big Mac, I don't feel badly about it. It's a cheap, and in a way, necessary way to indulge. I think that when you look at overweight people as a whole, most are caregivers or people that are very busy making sure that other people are cared for. I know for a fact that I can track our financial situation and my weight issues. When we don't have the extra money for me to do things that make me feel good (my pedicure habit or clothes/shoes/purse shopping), I will eat to feel good.
Just my 2 cents, but a great topic that I have thought about so many times on my own.
Wow, you bring up an excellent point, Glory! If I choose to not buy that new pair of jeans or shoes and save the money instead, I'm being financially "responsible." If there is temptation to sleep with someone's husband, and I choose not to - I'm being "mature, responsible, the better person, making the right choice, etc." If I choose to go to work when I'd rather stay home and sleep, I'm being "dedicated, committed, hard working," and so on. And we pat ourselves on the back for making these kinds of decisions every day (as we should!)
But we do not see food this way. And I would venture we don't see living a healthy lifestyle of diet and exercise this way, either. I have tried to tell myself "Losing weight and exercise will reduce my risk of heart attack, cancer, diabetes, stroke" and a whole host of other health risks, but I still don't seem to "buy into it" as my motivation for doing this. Wouldn't it be responsible of us to maintain a healthy lifestyle? Wouldn't it be the mature, committed, right decision for us to live this way normally? Instead - at least for me - I feel like at least once a week I stomp my feet like a child and cry, "This is too much sacrifice and hard work! It's not worth it!" If we save money, we're responsible (positive). If we choose not to eat junk food... we're sacrificing (negative).
VERY interesting way to look at it. Thanks for this post, Glory!
Glory and Fat Pants, excellent analogies. You are both so right about this and discussed it in a way that really offered insight and provoked thought.
I have thought on this same matter too. When I choose food now--whether I am at the grocery store or eating out--I try to choose according to the value they have for my body--not my tongue. It isn't difficult really because healthy eating and living can be awesome, decadent, delicious and exciting!
fascinating. i can't believe i never thought about it this way... i'm sure it's been in the back of my mind but to see you lay it out there just boggles my mind. you're right in every point. food is the one place where i can just throw caution to the wind and act senselessly but (in my mind) the consequences are just as sever as if i was to in fact do drugs or sleep with my sister's husband.
food is magical. and evil. i wish we could harness it's evil powers and use it for good. we might finally have world peace...
I think there are a number of important factors, many of which have already been mentioned. Food is necessary, we're wired to seek it out... we're also conditioned to celebrate it from a very young age. Food is an important part of all of our life events, from birthday and wedding cakes to last suppers and seders, as well as the more mundane things like office donuts and business lunches.
Food activates many of the same brain circuits that other pleasurable activities do, but unlike illicit drugs or promiscuous sex, eating is socially acceptable, and even encouraged. It doesn't violate any moral code, and you probably wouldn't lose your job or get divorced over eating a single cupcake. And tasty food is not only pleasurable and acceptable, but cheap, easy, and always available when we want it.
Another factor may be that the consequences are far removed. Taking a bite of a thick, fudgy brownie delivers instant pleasure but no immediate punishment. Years of unhealthy eating may go by before the adverse health effects become manifest. And we know from mountains of research that delayed consequences are ineffective. Furthermore, during those intervening years, habits and other conditioned associations that motivate us to eat can develop. Just think of the way people salivate when they see the golden arches, hungry or not.
Basically, it's a combination of a lot of things... our biology, socialization, the stimuli in our environments, basic behavioral economics... it's everything.
If we save money, we're responsible (positive). If we choose not to eat junk food... we're sacrificing (negative).
Absolutely fascinating.
Don't know what it's like in the States but here in the UK any TV advertizing for online bingo or gaming sites has a 'gambleaware' logo on the bottom. Any advertizing for alcohol, in bars and so on, it's not allowed on TV any more, has a 'drinkaware' logo on it. What we need are 'eataware' logos.
We are starting to get some advertizing about cutting fat in our children's diets but it's very jolly, it totally pulls its punches.
In Scotland, they're talking about taxing chocolate, to cut obesity. Don't know why they think that'll work, taxing alcohol and tobacco hasn't cut consumption radically.
What we need are proper education programmes, right through school and beyond, done in a matter of fact kind of way, the same way as they teach maths, so that healthy eating becomes a matter of being responsible. At the minute it's all about being patronized by the government, being faced with the very cheapest deals in supermarkets being the trashy kind, being treated as something shameful for being fat but totally insufficient data as to how to improve.
Why does food have power other things don't?
But you're doing great!!!!
