Picking the correct food for the job

How well do you pick the correct food for the job? Have you ever given it any thought?

When I was in college (the first time -- a long time ago when I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up) I took a nutrition class. Along with my rudderless self, most of the rest of the class was composed of people looking to become dietitians when they grew up. One of the questions that was posed by the instructor was "What nutrition advise would you give a homeless person who told you he mostly eats hot dogs and peanut butter sandwiches?"

Okay -- seriously? Is nutritional advice our first line of help for a homeless person?

But back to the story -- biting back my above retort, I listened to a future Dietitian tell the class that she would advise the homeless client to reduce his intake of hot dogs and peanut butter sandwiches because both are very high in fat. (Seriously -- this person has more to worry about than eating a diet too high in fat!!) The job of food, in this case, would be to keep the man alive so that, hopefully, he has the energy to take care of himself in other ways (like finding shelter).

There was a study conducted by Paul Rozin where he showed a picture of a chocolate cake to groups of French people and American people and asked them to say the first word that popped into their minds.

The Americans top response was: Guilt
The French top response was: Celebration

Rozin also did a study that asked people "Assume you are alone on a desert island for one year and you can have water and one other food. Pick the food that you think would be best for your health."

Your choices are:
Corn
alfalfa sprouts
hot dogs
spinach
peaches
bananas
or milk chocolate

So...which one would YOU choose?

The most popular choice was bananas (42%)
spinach (27%)
corn (12%)
alfalfa sprouts (7%)
peaches (5%)
hot dogs (4%)
milk chocolate (3%)

But here's the deal -- what is the purpose of this food choice? To keep you "healthy"? Nope. This foods job would be to keep you alive. So...to meet that purpose, the right choice for survival is Hot Dogs or Milk Chocolate.

So give some thought to the purpose you are trying to fulfill next time you eat. If you are physically hungry -- the purpose is to get rid of the hunger. So the goal would be to pick something that would get rid of your hunger.

But...if you are in need of comfort food (it is cold and gray outside, you have had a really bad week, and you are feeling a cold coming on) that might require a much different kind of food. Maybe something warm, thick and hearty. Now would not be the time for me to put together a garden salad for myself and expect it would satisfy me. I might eat the salad but I would be on to something else (something warm, thick and hearty) and the salad calories would be those 9 bites I should have left uneaten.

The right food for the job matters but if you don't know what you are trying to accomplish, how are you going to choose the right food to fit the job?