Food and eating have always been an issue for me. I have at times been a few pounds over weight but always my exercise and metabolism have taken care of me.
Food is a very emotional issue in our society, we eat because we are depressed, we eat when we are happy, parties are all about food and drink.
I have been thinking a lot lately about my feelings and attitudes about food and thought that I would share them now even as my weight slowly creeps lower over the last few weeks.
My Own Eating Issues
I have always had a big appetite and a fear of a lack of food. I have never gone hungry, well maybe for a couple of weeks traveling in Australia when I lived on Mars bars and Coca Cola, but I have also eaten poorly very often.
When I first moved to Calgary my wife and I were quite poor and she promised me that we would always have food, and we have. So I have to wonder why whenever I am packing for work I need about 3000 calories of food.
I used to ride a bike to work everyday but that amount of food I used to put away is crazy.
One of my core beliefs is that our body will adjust to the amount of food that we eat. If I eat a lot of food my metabolism will go up and if I eat very little food then my metabolism will go down. Of course if we overeat and make bad eating decisions often then the fuel that we eat will just turn to fat.
If I brought half as much food I am convinced that my metabolism would go down and my weight probably would not plummet.
So why with a proper thinking mind do I continue to eat so much?
I believe that there is still an emotion in me that fears hunger. I think that if I do not have a big bag of food beside me and constantly taking in calories that somehow I will suffer badly in some way.
I bet I am not the only one with these emotions of fear of loss without food.
Most people with an eating problem have that problem for one of three reasons, medical (probably only a few), eating to much, or getting not enough exercise.
If you are like me and worried that maybe you are eating to much food then maybe the best thing to do is understand that these emotions of starvation may be at the back of your mind but at the same time make conscious decisions about what you are eating and when, and as that candy bar or coke is going into your mouth try to remember that this food is not going to make you healthier or less fearful, it has no nutrients but instead it is just a waste of calories that you are eating.
Reframing the way that you look at food is critical to making better eating decisions at all times so that you don’t have to worry about your eating all the time but instead make sure you are eating only for the right reasons.