Experts say food and guilt bad mix
- posted: 02 Oct. 2007
- scrolllifestyle@byui.edu
The stake president stands at the pulpit and speaks on the Word of Wisdom while a pan of brownies mocks the audience from behind. An internal battle ensues, where potential munchers weigh the brownie’s satisfaction value over a lean figure, and they are not alone.
About 66.3 percent of all American adults over age 20 are overweight or obese, according to www.cdc.gov.
Intuitive Eating, a book by Evelyn Tribole, M.S., R.D. and Elyse Resch, M.S., R.D., seeks to dispel common misconceptions about food and to restore proper respect for one’s body. According to this book, peace between mind, body and food allows a higher quality of life.
Resch and Tribole offer several key principles for conscious eating, including a warning not to listen to false weight-loss promises and honoring hunger.
“Learning to honor this first biological signal [of hunger] sets the stage for re-building trust with yourself and food,” according to Intuitive Eating.
Resch and Tribole further say that deprivation of food leads to uncontrollable cravings, even bingeing.
The book advises readers to be less strict on themselves and not label themselves “bad” or “good” depending on dieting successes or failures.
People should eat consciously, taking time to pause and assess fullness levels. When the body signals it is comfortably full, one should stop eating, even if it means leaving half of the mashed potatoes uneaten.
Although people should watch what they eat, eating can be a pleasurable experience. “When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting and conducive, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content,” say Tribole and Resch.
Assessing emotions is important, since eating out of anger, anxiousness or boredom can be damaging.
The body needs to be spoken of positively, which is more easily accomplished when it is not given unrealistic expectations. “Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of eight would not expect to … squeeze into a size six, it is equally as futile (and uncomfortable) to have the same expectation with body size,” say Tribole and Resch. 
