When we’re focused on waist management,
sooner or later we must address the question of why we consume more calories than
our bodies burn on any given day.
Our environment is a minefield. We have continuous
access to quick meals from fast-food restaurants. Refrigerators at home and
vending machines at work are stuffed with a variety of temptations. Adding a
sedentary job and a disinclination to exercise regularly could explain those
extra pounds.
I don’t think, however, our environment is
the underlying reason so many of us are overweight. As Shakespeare wrote, “The
fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves.”
Were I to categorize my overeating, I’d begin
with recreational eating. How fun it is to dine out with friends and enjoy a
special meal. And I found that vacation eating is a kissing cousin to
recreational eating.
“How can I resist,” I ask myself, “the hula
pie?” I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve researched which restaurant serves the
best. I’ve spent hours hiking, ocean bobbing and playing tennis, so I should be
able to eat what I want, right?
Another favorite is convenience eating—as I’m running errands, I realize I’m starved
and buy whatever is handy at whatever store is nearby.
Comfort eating is also high on my list. Items
in this category include my favorite foods, like garlic mashed potatoes and
homemade bread.
Preventive eating is also important—that is, I’m about to go out the door and
realize I won’t be home for several hours. I’m not hungry, but I think I’d
better eat something just in case I get hungry. How crazy is that
rationalization?
Craved foods represent a particular
temptation. Nothing calls my name as loudly as chocolate-covered raisins
sitting in a jar on top of the refrigerator do. And I can’t forget starvation
eating which occurs when I exercise heavily, go too long between meals and
become hungry enough to “eat a horse.”
My most common mistake, though, is to eat for
energy. Geneen Roth, a regular contributor to Prevention magazine, asserts that “rest is a
basic human need, like food and sleep and touch.” I run myself ragged, thinking
I’ll rest when I get everything done. That moment, of course, never comes.
Instead, to keep going, I fight fatigue with food.
Geneen recommends an alternative approach—to
become a “steady rester.” Her approach requires us to give up the notion that
each moment must be spent accomplishing something worthwhile.
Geneen also suggests borrowing the McDonald’s
slogan You Deserve a Break Today. But she suggests a nonfood break-taking time
to relax, putter, experience stillness or gaze out the window. A successful
break renews our sense of self and well-being. Inner peace, rather than a piece
of chocolate cake, is what we crave.
I must learn to be a
human being instead of a human doing. Otherwise, my next book will be titled
From Fit to Fat: How I Turned Myself into
a Weapon of Mass Expansion.
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