The Pleasure of Eating

November 15, 2015 – 

Food is one of my favorite pastimes, and that might be my problem. My wife will attest to this very fact, when I’m bored, I’m hungry. Yet when I’m busy, I have no appetite at all. I think most of us are like that. As a child the lessons for eating were ingrained in me; wake up and eat breakfast, perhaps a box of milk about 10am before recess on the playground at school. Followed by training the brain for a while and then lunch and another recess after to run and play. More brain-time then a nice long walk home to begin the evening with family. Yes, just like the show ‘Happy Days’ and bodyweight was never an issue. Well, those days are long gone. Pity.

The point here is that I was busy, with recess twice a day and we did not have a lot of ‘TV’ time at night either. A balanced dinner, homework studies, then ‘free time’ to go ride a bike or “play”. Always moving. And when it did come time to eat I found lunch and dinnertime to be a pleasure. Every bite was enjoyed, thoroughly chewed, and swallowed completely. Not in a hurry, not unconsciously eating already thinking about the next thing on my ‘To Do List’. Today however I might eat between sessions, while driving, or perhaps after 7pm. I often race to eat without really savoring my meal. Bad habits! Eating should be a pleasure and should be enjoyed.

The balance between our food intake and energy expenditure is driven in large part by leptin, a “satiety hormone” released by fat cells. When fat stores are hefty, increased leptin acts on the brain to bring eating to a halt more readily; low levels of the hormone due to fasting or a very low calorie diet make hunger harder to satisfy. Thus, over-eating happens and you know what that does. This November I would like to discuss eating behavior, patterns, and habits as we move into the holidays (multiple weeks of overeating and fitness sabotage.) We need to be aware of our habits around eating. Maybe this is the week you become conscious about your nutrition; food quality, quantity, and consumption as well as your fitness habits; how often and well you move.

In good health,

Bob

Fast food is equivalent to pornography, nutritionally speaking. ~Steve Elbert