To Eat Less, Love What You Eat

By Ashley McIntosh, BPsyc, RHN, CPC • September 13th, 2010 • 7880 Views

“We overeat not because we enjoy food too much, it is because we don’t enjoy it enough.” (Charles Eisenstein, The Yoga of Eating, 2003: NewTrends Publishing Inc, Washington, DC; page 45)

Sound familiar?  While working on the computer a hunger pang strikes.  You grab a snack, an apple, and sit back down to continue your work.  You take your first bite and notice how sweet and juicy it is.  Then an email comes in.  You open it and read it – it’s important – so you reply.  Immediately after you press send, you realize that you are now holding an apple core and only have apple seeds left to chew on….disappointing. 

Did you even remember eating the apple?  How often does this happen to you?  How often do you really enjoy what you eat?  How often do you eat more than you wish you had?

In today’s hectic and multi-tasking world, this scenario is all too common.  How do we expect to be able to take the time to eat our snacks and meals without getting something else done in the process?  Checking email, talking on the phone, making to do lists – there’s just so much that can be taken care of while eating.  And even if we didn’t have anything to do, isn’t it boring to just…eat?  The lure of magazines, newspapers and the internet is powerful. 

But what effect is this detachment from the eating process having on us?  The amount of food on our plates has increased – and we are eating it.  Not only have portions increased, the flavours in our food are becoming stronger.  Labs are constantly producing new and improved smells and flavours to titillate our taste buds.  Salt and sauces are covering our meals.  Fundamentally, it’s taking more and more to satisfy us.  Eating lunch while reading a magazine often leaves us full of food and pictures but only partially satisfied by both.  We haven’t given either our full attention – and where does that leave us...searching for more!

Let’s go back to the apple scenario: say you were to actually pay attention to the fruit – noticing the crunch as you bite through its skin, the sweet juice as it bursts into your mouth, and the feeling as it slides down into your stomach to fill it up and gradually diminish those hunger pangs.  Say you were to actually remember eating the apple in the first...

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Location:  Vancouver, CA

Ashley McIntosh is a certified life coach and nutritionist who has been studying nutrition and the psychology of eating for over 10 years.  After suffering from years of dieting and disordered eating herself she became deeply passionate about the...