Love over Logic
We eat with our hearts but diet with our minds.
Writing this line in my book, it hit me why the scientific approach to eating and losing weight doesn’t work. Science is rational, predictable, logical. A formula of do x to get y. But eating is not just about refilling the tank with fuel. As humans, we are not machines and eating is a sensory experience.
We use all our senses, not just the taste of food but the smell, the look and the texture. Even the sounds of cooking, crackling, crunching, squishing, munching, evokes sensations in our bodies. Eating arouses so many pleasurable sensations to induce satisfaction and fulfilment. ‘Food porn’ has become an expression as people share glossy photos of what they are having for dinner on social media.
Think about how toddlers experience and experiment with food. They literally wear it - smearing it in their hair, licking their hands lovingly and spitting out anything that doesn’t please them. Children epitomise embodied eating before we teach them table manners and they start mimicking our habits.
Feelings will take you back to where logic has forbidden you
Eating is so much more than just providing energy. We crave nourishment and comfort from each mouthful. The experience is tied to social engagement and interpersonal interaction. Eating together around the table is very different to mindless munching on the sofa alone.
We also turn to food as a response to experiencing different emotions. Why do we eat (or not) when we are upset? What do we reach for when we feel depressed or angry? Which foods do we share at celebrations?
Understanding this, has helped me realise why the rational approach of dieting is so unappealing. Reduced to counting the number of calories or points, being limited by the type of food or hour that you are “allowed” to eat it. Its not just the stringent rules but the prescriptive nature that we are denying what our body craves and trying to override our intuition with logic about what it needs.
So why do we allow the dominance of someone else’s head overrule the wisdom of our hearts?
The head is bigger but the heart is infinitely more powerful.
Embracing embodied eating and actually enjoying the foods we eat is what our body tells us to do. We also need to tune into the signals that indicate we need to slow down and stop eating pass the point of satiation. We have an abundance of food in the western world - we are literally spoilt for choice. Can we regulate ourselves more effectively using out inner wisdom rather than external influences?
