Diet Survivors™ newsletter April 2007
The newsletter for normal eaters
What is normal eating?
Visit our Diet Survivors™ group on
Yahoo!
Subscribe to this monthly newsletter
Mindless eating—an entitlement?
Do you eat popcorn while watching television? Do you munch on a can of peanuts while playing or working at your computer? Do you overeat for fun? Perhaps you rebel at the idea of placing restraints on your fun eating. If you chow down without thinking, you're in good company.
Much of the western world has grown to view mindless eating as an entitlement, based on a set of assumptions. Do you recognize yourself in any of these beliefs? Perhaps you can add your own to the list.
- I shouldn't have to think about what I'm eating or how much.
- I'm a busy person, and I eat on the run—I can't possibly be so attentive.
- It's okay to eat as a backdrop to some other activity.
- My life is stressful. I eat along with television-watching to help me unwind.
- It's artificial to pay attention to your food intake.
- I shouldn't have to curtail my eating.
Not everyone thinks this way
Did you know that not everyone in the world thinks this way? Consider the residents of Okinawa, Japan. They are known for living past one hundred years of age. In a recent report from CNN, some interesting facts about Okinawans were disclosed which are connected with their long life. One of those traits is called "Hari Hachi Bu."
What is Hari Hachi Bu? It's the Japanese word for "eat until you're eighty percent full." No kidding! Can you imagine a community of people who so highly value eating small portions that they actually have a word for it?
Now imagine an Okinawan woman saying, "I shouldn't have to think about what I'm eating." Or picture an eighty-year-old Okinawan man chowing down on too much Yan Yan (don't worry about what Yan Yan is, just picture the guy overeating it). You can't imagine that, can you!
Dispute entitlement to mindless eating
Let's examine the above beliefs, ask ourselves what basis they have in fact, and dispute them.
- I shouldn't have to think about what I'm eating or how much. Where do we get this idea? Perhaps it's quite old, maybe so old that it resides in the unconscious part of our minds, and is passed that way from parent to child. Wasn't there a time in the long distant past when humans did not have access to so much abundance? Picture the early settlers of America. They worked long hours for the food they had, and probably only overate when celebrating the harvest. They couldn't just go into their kitchens and grab a Pop Tart any time they wanted. So the truth is that humans, until recently, did not have to think about every mouthful. But now, clearly, we do. We need to change our beliefs to match our circumstances.
- I eat on the run—I can't possibly be so attentive. Eating on the run also seems to be a phenomenon of Western Civilization. Consider this: for many years, Japanese cars have been known for their high quality and low repair rate. But in consumer tests, they always tested poorly on their design of cupholders. Why? The Japanese are not drinking fast food shakes while they're driving. They've caught on, however, and now do a better job at accommodating the rest of us. But let's face it—eating on the run isn't going to change, nor does it have to. Even preoccupied drivers and other busy folks can apply themselves to the simple matter of learning to stop at the eighty percent mark. You see? You can have your cake and eat it too.
- It's okay to eat as a backdrop to some other activity. You're right. It's not so awful. Eating, after all, is fun. But happily, you don't have to take the fun out of eating. You can still eat as a backdrop to good conversation, unwinding over a game of Scrabble, or watching your kids put on a skit. But you can learn how to stop your hand from reaching into the bowl of corn chips the moment you sense fullness, and you can even learn to continue enjoying the skit.
- My life is stressful. I eat along with television-watching to help me unwind. This belief begs a whole newsletter. Suffice it to say here that an extensive study done a few years ago showed that television-watching actually stimulates people, and does not help them unwind at all. That's why television-watchers, after a hard day of work, find themselves sometimes channel-surfing—they're desperately seeking their elusive peace. The truth is that folks who do this often come in to work the next day tired and unrested. And what do they talk about at the water cooler? Last night's episode, of course. So we see that "television to unwind" is a false belief. Now consider the possibility that "food to unwind" is also a false belief.
But there's another way to look at it, too. Any binge eater will tell you that overeating dulls the nervous system, shutting down or at least toning down feelings. Had a frustrating day with a co-worker that drives you crazy? Or did you embarrass yourself to death today? Perhaps you're seeking to shut off those ugly feelings so that you can sleep. There is another way to deal with feelings, which is addressed more extensively on our emotional eating page of this Web site.
- It's artificial to pay attention to your food intake. There's some truth to this belief. Certainly in agrarian times, we were too busy growing and harvesting food to be able to overeat. But we don't live in a natural world, so perhaps we should address the "artificial" part of this belief. Isn't much of our life artificial? That is, we eat on schedules, we fake our way through important projects, and our daughters play with virtual dolls in cyberspace. It's also artificial to stick to one spouse, and to keep your mouth zipped when you'd really like to tell off your brother-in-law. So, yes, it's artificial to pay attention to your food intake. And doing so will also help you move toward your "natural" weight.
- I shouldn't have to curtail my eating. Did somebody tell you this? Perhaps when you were a child, you were offered extra food as comfort when you had a boo-boo or when you were teased at school. It's no wonder you have all these "shoulds"! Now ask yourself, are these beliefs helping you?
Moving toward mindful eating
You might be thinking that now you'll have to change yet another habit in your life. Now you'll have to switch from mindless eating to mindful eating. The news is better than that. All it really takes to succeed is a willingness to be moving in the direction of mindful eating.
But for many of us, that's precisely where the problem lies—in the "willingness" part. It's not so awful, though, and it's not hard work. Instead, ponder for a while the fact that when people live in the land of excess, their beliefs sometimes change accordingly, and not always for the better. The belief that we're somehow entitled to all this excess can be our undoing.
Okinawans are not people who starve themselves. Neither do they spend hours working out at the gym. They are ordinary people with ordinary lives, who think it's just plain good sense to practice Hari Hachi Bu.
So now let's try on some new beliefs. Don't forget that you can print this newsletter, and read these new beliefs again and again. It takes lots of good words to dispute irrational ones, and taking a little contemplation time each day to meditate on them will help you.
New beliefs
- I live in the land of abundance, and have access to food any time, any where. Therefore, I'll need to adopt the belief that I can't just eat whenever I feel like it. That belief contributed to my overweight, and is not serving me well at all. Instead, I'd like to think in terms of self-restraint.
- I don't have to become a stranger in my own culture. I can still eat on the run. But I'd like to learn how to stop when I'm eighty percent full. I believe I can learn how to do that.
- I can go right on chowing down while I'm watching my favorite television show. But the idea that I'll stop enjoying the show when I put the bowl down is ridiculous. I'll push the bowl away from now on, and I'll go right on watching my show.
- I'd like to find a new way to cope with ugly feelings that I bring home from the day. There are alternatives to numbing them with food. I'll read about emotional eating and stress eating.
- I recognize that beliefs about food are strongly ingrained, and take time to change. I'd like to move in the direction of some new beliefs, such as "It's okay to be artificial about curtailing my eating."
- "I don't have time to eat right" is a poor excuse. Now I realize I don't need a lot of time to eat right. Rather, I just need to be willing to think about fullness a little bit.
Conclusion
You don't have to change your lifestyle in order to achieve mindful eating. You don't have to join the Slow Food movement, whose members have rebelled against western culture, and place a whole new emphasis on growing food, planning meals from scratch, and lingering for hours over meals. Instead, just a slight technical change and a slight adaptive change are in order.
The technical change
Our suggested technical change (or external change) is to learn the word "Hari Hachi Bu" and start using it. Explain it to your kids or your friends. Find opportunities to bring it up in conversation with other strugglers. Words are powerful. Often, concepts, virtuous goals, or ideas are not enough. We need a new word to help us move toward change.
The adaptive change
Our suggested adaptive change (or internal change) is to test your own beliefs about mindless eating. Interrogate yourself. What are you holding onto? Do you believe that something else in your life will fall apart if you move toward mindful eating? Contemplate some new beliefs. Begin to ask yourself whether your stubbornness is bringing you happiness.
Discuss this newsletter
You can talk about this newsletter with other readers. Visit our Diet Survivors™ group on Yahoo!
Learn more about the new book, How to Survive Your Diet, available now!
What is normal eating?
Visit our Diet Survivors™ group on
Yahoo!
Subscribe to this monthly newsletter
Copyright © 2007, Linda E. Moran. All rights reserved.
These Web pages provide sensible advice on healthy diets, nutrition, and weight loss. However, no advice given here is intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor when deciding to make significant dietary or lifestyle changes.
Direct all technical questions and comments about this site to webmaster
Last Modified: Wednesday, 06-Feb-2008 07:13:03 PST Betterway Press
All rights reserved.
Betterway Press