How did we get so off course?

You all know I am not opposed to handing out strategies for holiday eating! Many of the other Intuitive Eating professionals that I correspond with are doing the same things this time of year, as well. I just logged onto my LinkedIn account to see what those professionals are saying and realized something.

Sometimes, we talk about eating (especially holiday eating) like it is a war.

"The Fight to Eat Healthy during the Holidays"

"Battling Food Addiction"

"Battling Sweets"

Why???

Unlike an alcohol or cocaine addiction, eating is something we do every day -- we HAVE to! The experts say the weight gain associated with unhealthy eating is what is driving up our rates of cardiovascular disease. Maybe it is just the stress we put on ourselves to eat "healthy foods" (as defined by the magazines in the grocery checkout lines -- and their information keeps changing).

Why is the US doing such a bad job? Why are our waist lines increasing when so is the amount of money we spend per year on diet food, supplements, gym memberships, home exercise equipment, etc? Why is all this hyper-focus on health making us sicker???

I think it is stress. Leave yourself alone. Give yourself a break.

That doesn't mean you can start an eating free for all! It means getting back to listening to your body. You understand what your body is telling you. When are you hungry? What are you hungry for? When you eat that food, how does it make you feel? How much of it do you need to eat to feel comfortable? How soon will you get hungry after eating that much of that food?

Have you taken the time to know the answers to these questions? If your answer is no, my question is why not? Most people tell me it is because they didn't know they needed to know the answer -- no one had every asked the question before.

And yet we (as a society) talk endlessly about the current "health food" craze. We talk endlessly about our weight problems, our health problems. We can dissect the number of Weight Watcher's Points in any given food. But food isn't the problem. Food just is -- it isn't inherently good or inherently bad. We are the important piece of the food equation. Every body digests each food in its own way. One person might absorb 50 calories out of a particular amount of food while someone else isn't as efficient and is only able to absorb 45 calories out of the same amount of the same food.

You are the important piece of the equation. It doesn't matter what your best friend is doing -- you are a different person. You have different likes and dislikes. You react to food differently.

Don't take someone else's word as the final authority on what you should be eating or not eating. Answer the questions for yourself! How to eat for you. And don't stress -- there is no right or wrong answer -- eating is an individual thing -- just work on asking and answering the questions.