Food is Fun

When was the last time you opened up a restaurant menu and had guilt-free excitement while looking at all the choices open to you?

Let's face it -- food is fun! But we spend so much time worrying about nutritional content, whether it has high fructose corn syrup (isn't that what my mom had in her cupboard while I was growing up? Right next to the molasses? It tasted good -- are we really sure it is going to kill us dead just as effectively as cyanide??) Anyway...We spend a lot of time worrying about what is in the food we are eating -- whether it is calories, fat, or genetically modified food products, the worry of it is killing our enjoyment of the food.

Worry is an energy waster and joy stealer. And I don't know anyone out there who has so much energy or joy that wasting some of it is an okay thing.

One of the most fun moments I have had with a client was when we were talking about how she was going to handle eating at a particular restaurant where she loves the desserts. I suggested she order the dessert (and eat the amount that tasted fantastic) first -- as in main course. As the thought dawned, she started to get excited. There isn't any reason NOT to do this --

she isn't going to be malnourished after one meal.

the calories she was going to eat for a main course would have been wasted since she really didn't want them, she wanted dessert.

and she felt excited to be able to have permission to have what it was she REALLY wanted (dessert).

The meal, for her, went smashingly. She ordered her dessert for her main course. She made a mental half line in it when it came. When she reached the mental half line, she decided that it was still tasting good but not tasting fantastic, so she stopped eating it--Had it boxed up and ordered a small appetizer to finish her meal.

Viola! Freedom and satisfaction. And most importantly -- fun and joy! (and she didn't eat extra calories because she was feeling deprived) Carpe Diem.