Photo by Becca Tarter on Unsplash
Clean, healthy, super. Sinful, decadent, indulgent. What do you imagine when you read those words? I’m willing to bet you thought about food.
Have you ever splurged on treats and then done penance the next day with grapefruit or apple cider vinegar (or an extra mile or two on the treadmill)? Or have you ever rewarded a day or week of abstinence with a dish of exactly whatever you’ve been avoiding?
How does food make you feel? If it makes you feel anything, you’re giving it power over you. It turns out that how you think about food has at least as much power as the food itself. You will digest a steak or a cupcake differently depending on how you view it.
Weight loss experts claim weight loss is simple: burn more calories than you take in. Except of course if you have thyroid problems; genetic mutations; hormonal fluctuations (hello, everyone, every day); don’t eat enough; don’t get enough sleep; have too much stress in your life; don’t drink enough water; or eat the wrong kind of food (and the definition of “wrong” seems to change at least once per decade). Simple, right?
Here’s a non-scientific study with a population of exactly one: every time I vacation in France (which is as often as possible), I lose weight. Nothing major, likely because I’m never there for more than three weeks, but every time, I come home 2–4 pounds lighter.
While I’m there, I eat baguettes, croissants, and every other fabulous baked good available. I drink thick, rich, hot chocolate with plenty of cream stirred in. I consume all kinds of cheese by the kilo. And I enjoy plenty of other gorgeous food. I don’t binge — that’s not my thing — but I certainly don’t starve myself.
Why is that? Is it the quality of the food? Am I sleeping more? Have I left the stresses of everyday life behind? Or is it just because I’ve come to expect it? Maybe; maybe it’s all of the above. Confirmation bias might lead you to seize any one of those as the reason for the success of my patented “Paris Diet.” Look for the book coming soon!*
The placebo effect in food and exercise is real, as is the fact that guilt has weight. You body adapts to food much faster than you may have been led to believe. Why do so many people start out a diet with “success?” It could be the placebo effect. But the fact remains that 97% of dieters regain the weight they lost within three years.
Let’s stop demonizing (or canonizing) food. Let’s banish the guilt and the smugness. Let’s take back our power and live our lives. When you find yourself obsessing over anything food-related, take a deep breath and tell yourself, “Food is a delicious gift that gives me energy.” Enjoy it with gratitude — and then find ways to share it.
End your war with food and start spending that energy figuring out how to help feed someone else. Americans spend $60 billion per year trying to lose weight. The United Nations estimates that it would cost $30 billion per year to end world hunger. Let’s turn that around.
*NOT.