Food should not be feared
Comments: 15
You may have seen this New York Times article called You Are How You Eat by Giuliano Hazan. It beautifully sums up, beyond the simple fuel-for-survival aspect, the whole point of food.
Eating sensibly is really the best diet, and the better we can teach our children to appreciate good food and the pleasure we can take from eating leisurely together as a family, the less likely we will be to feel the need to try the latest diet fad. Savoring a good meal simply makes us feel good. Food should not be feared. It should be a source of pleasure and well-being.
At a dinner party last week attended by more than a few Atkins adherents, I was surprised by people refusing bread as if I’d offered them a thick slice of lard (or would they have accepted the lard?). It was good bread! Surely “all things in moderation” (including moderation — which sentiment I demonstrated with fearful gusto that evening and upon which we need not elaborate) is all you really need to keep in mind to eat well and beneficially? Well, it’s not my business to tell people how to eat, and I admire their conviction and staying of the course (plus they all looked terrific so perhaps there’s something to it).
Food should not be feared. It should be a source of pleasure and well-being. As well as, I might add, a source of occasional, fearsomely tremendous overindulgence (the slender pedestal upon which simplicity rests).
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Posted to General Rants • 2004.07.12 (Mon) • 12:35
Comments
Posted by Steve Gunnell 2004.07.12, 13:27
Some of the Atkins supporters get a little extreme. And they would have probably gone for the fat if it had some protien attached. I must say that I do miss the taste and smell of fresh bread liberally laced with butter. Ahhhh it is so glorious. For the last year and a half I have been under dieticians orders … that does not mean that I can’t eat bread … just in controlled quantities. However late last year my wife was diagnosed with diabetes ( late onset type 1 … but that is a story in its own right) and until her condition stabilises it doesn’t seem fair to bring things that she can’t eat into the house. It is interesting to contrast the dieticians advice with “diet programs”. Firstly the target is to have 80% of you meals under control and not pig out on the rest so you get plenty of lattitude to have a treat. Although at this time of year ( southern hemisphere winter ) I put weight on if I even look at treats. Secondly, you eat everything in reasonable proportions the guideline to reduce sugar and fat intake is to try and use products that have less than 10 grams of these per 100 grams of product. Australia is blessed with having strict food labeling laws which make this a lot easier. Thirdly, shift from two or three big meals per day to 5 or 6 mini meals. This helps a lot. If you are not ravenous then you are less likely to overeat. What constitutes eating “well and beneficially” is probably not obvious to most people. There are a lot of substances out there that are addictive in small ways (lets say saturated fat and sugar for starters) and a lot of manufacturers use these to enhance their products. Unless you are constantly reviewing labels for your bulk purchases it is really easy to consume a few hundred more calories than you intended.
Posted by Fazal Majid 2004.07.12, 14:16
In the immortal words of Fran Leibowitz, “Food is an important part of a balanced diet”.
Posted by emily. 2004.07.12, 15:28
I haven’t ever done anything to moderate my weight, and I’m a happy 140 lb, 5’ female and have been since middle school. I guess my secret is bingeing on fruit instead of candy (most of the time …).
It saddens me when I see my friends dieting to get to a target weight and then going back to their old eating habits and gaining all that weight back. I’ve always thought that they’d be much happier if they found a diet they would be happy with for the long-term. The problem is that diets are seen as methods for quick weight-loss rather than as a lifestyle to maintain.
Posted by Tim Aldrich 2004.07.12, 17:25
I heartily agree with your post, Jeremy. Atkins is a fad, and like all fads it will pass and people will move onto something else. I doubt it will be moderation, however, as this doesn’t have the extreme element that makes a fad appealing: no quick fix and no scope to wave it under other people’s noses with evangelical zeal.
Posted by puppy 2004.07.12, 23:23
I’ve just recently discovered that discussing food is along the lines of discussing politics or religion. Food may be even more volatile to discuss with people as viritually everyone has an emotional attachment to some food (whereas not everyone is passionate about politics or religion)….
Posted by Mr. X 2004.07.12, 23:48
Sorry to say, but I’m still looking for a good Italian or French restaurant in NYC. There are a lot of great things I like about the US, but food (and its president ;) is definitely not one of them.
I don’t see how you could teach your “children to appreciate good food” when you have no idea what good food can actually be. Americans reading this might get pissed, but I lived in France for 18 years and US for 10. I’m NOT stereotyping…
btw, I eat almost only Japanese food in the US. I don’t think I could live in the US if it wasn’t for Japanese food… But I probably won’t even know what Japanese food is really all about until I move to Japan… :)
Posted by richard 2004.07.13, 01:12
the world has gone crazy! yesterday i got some taco seasoning, and as i tore the pack open i realized it looked a little different.. there was a circle in the bottom left hand corner with the carb count on it. NOOOO! not the taco seasoning! will i find one on my milk next week?
Posted by Liz 2004.07.13, 02:52
you may admire their conviction and staying on course, but if they had willpower and self-control they would not be riding the diet wave in the first place. i heard 98% will gain back the weight [if not more] after 5 years. you’re right, a diet in moderation is best. on my vacation to Europe, i was surprised with their food portions…a large for them is a medium [a very smallish medium] for us, and there is no such thing as super large. i admire them and their sensiblity. as for the US, we should adjust the size of our food portions, maybe then we wouldn’t have to spend $40 billion a year on fad dieting
Posted by MacDara 2004.07.13, 04:21
I’ve been sticking to the Weight Watchers points plan for the past year or so. The weight loss isn’t rapid, but it’s steady (between 1lb and 3lbs per week) and it’s more about training yourself to eat sensibly so that you can maintain your goal weight once you reach it. I can still eat everything I used to eat before (bread included - can’t live without starch!) but I just eat less of it - and I weigh over 30lbs less than I did a year ago, too.
Posted by MacDara 2004.07.13, 04:28
And in reply to Liz’s comment regarding food portions: I thought that large portions here (Ireland) were indeed large, until I was in South Africa last April. South African portion sizes must be on a par with those in the US; I had a plate of nachos there that I couldn’t bring myself to finish. There was just too much to eat, and this was only a starter! I don’t know how people could eat that much, and then top it off with a full-on steak dinner half an hour later!
Posted by Peter Asquith 2004.07.13, 08:09
Ours is a similar story to MacDara’s in that my wife and I have been sticking to the WeightWatchers points system for 18 months having both reached our goal weights within 6months of starting. I was a healthy 115kg at the start and now have been maintaining at around 90kg for the past year. We’d got into the habit of eating portions that were far too large and having no idea of our kiloJoule intake. I was initially sceptical of the WW programme but have been convinced! Now we’re enjoying our food much more, being a lot more creative in the kitchen and still able to enjoy eating out. I sometimes feel that I’ve started ranting about healthy eating like a reformed smoker but I honestly wasn’t aware of how ignorant I was of the food I was eating. Education and moderation!
Posted by Joshua Zika 2004.07.13, 09:42
People should consider. I don’t know… maybe… being a bit more proactive. Take a walk, ride a bike, be more active. Not eating bread is a really silly solution to an easily solvable problem. People have become so lazy.
Posted by stacey 2004.07.17, 00:23
MacJara and Peter have it right. WeightWatchers program causes the user to “unlearn” their unhealthy eating habits, including those that result in “all or nothing” dieting. (i.e., low-fat, no-fat dieting, or low-carb Atkins style extremes) The biggest shock in going on the plan was realizing that my calorie intake was enough for three people, on average. I was over 210 pounds this time last year, way too much for my 5’6” frame. I was on my way to being as big as the three people I was eating for. I’ve lost 40lbs in 12 months. That’s a slow, steady rate that I can maintain. But I’m not starving and I eat bread and drink beer and I like a little olive oil on my pasta. I just eat less of it.
Posted by jomerc 2004.08.17, 12:04
It is not the food you eat but the lack of using the energy your body is taking in. I ride my push bike 20km to work and 20km home and eat intelligently but not frugal and I am still droping grams and kilograms so get off the couch and off that chair and out of the car and off the train and out of the lift and do not use the escaltor walk the kids to school and run the dog at the park don’t stand and chat and just do things with your body use the energy you are putting into you body
Posted by yummy_bingham 2006.01.21, 02:35
people should eat alot more CANDY
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