The pleasure of intuitive eating
Loving your food is ... surprise! ... good for you, Carrie Dennett writes.
We are genetically hardwired to seek pleasure, because that’s what helped our species survive back in the day.
In today’s health- and weightcentric culture, however, pleasure gets a bad rap — ironic, given that the modern food environment heavily promotes indulgent and less-nutritious foods. When we feel conflicted or confused about our food choices, rush through our meals or eat while distracted, we deprive ourselves of food pleasure and eating satisfaction. This can have negative consequences for health.
You can — and should — eat for both nutrition and pleasure. The reality is that true pleasure leads to healthy choices, because ultimately we want our food to both taste good and make our bodies feel good. Feeling sluggish or overly full is the antithesis of pleasure. What makes a food pleasurable? Taste is obviously one factor, but it’s also about what would feel good in terms of temperature, texture and substance. The juiciest, most flavourful apple in the world won’t bring you true pleasure if you’re hungry for a warm, filling meal. Similarly, if you are craving a big salad but all that’s available to you is a burger, you’re not going to take a lot of pleasure in your meal.
Most people find a variety of foods pleasurable, and some of those foods are going to be more nutritious than others. Marrying pleasure and nutrition often takes some thought, both about what you would like to eat and where and how you are going to procure it. This is true whether you are cooking at home or sleuthing out restaurant options. A good place to start is to experiment with some tasty new vegetable recipes at home or check out farm-to-table-type restaurants that are doing interesting things with seasonal vegetables.
In their book Intuitive Eating, dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch point out: “When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content.”
One of the principles of intuitive eating is to honour your hunger. The reasons are twofold:
Eating when you are moderately hungry makes it easier to eat in tune with your body’s true needs. When you eat when you’re not hungry, you may be eating mindlessly, to stave off boredom or to soothe emotions. When you delay eating until you’re ravenous, it’s easy to overeat because you feel as though you have a bottomless pit to fill.
Eating when you’re not hungry — or are too hungry — will diminish your pleasure no matter how otherwise appealing the food is. Have you ever eaten enough to take care of hunger, yet not felt quite satisfied? It’s probably because your food choices for that meal didn’t provide enough pleasure or otherwise “hit the spot.”
A balanced, varied, nutritious diet allows for both pleasure and health. A rigid, restrictive, rulesbased diet does not. Rigid diets also tend to lead to struggles with food guilt, further contributing to a lack of pleasure in your meals.
Denying yourself foods you really enjoy because you’ve labelled them as “bad” can lead to overeating or out-and-out binging on “forbidden” foods. If you love real ice cream but try to substitute a low-fat, sugar-free frozen concoction, you may end up eating the whole pint but still be far less satisfied than if you ate a single scoop of the good stuff, slowly and mindfully.
Cultivating true mindfulness — in eating and in life — takes practice. Try the “eating one raisin” exercise to experience how much more you notice when you slow down. Or start tuning in at two key points in each meal — pay attention to the flavour and sensory qualities of the first few bites, then pause mid-meal for a check-in. Are you satisfied yet, or still hungry? Does the food still taste good?