It’s been a tough week, food-wise, with nobody but myself to blame. All best intentions were pushed aside as my wife’s re-organisation of the left over Christmas chocolate stash did not prove sufficient deterrent to my grasping hands and sweet tooth. Quite sensibly, my wife chose to put the surplus chocolate into sealed lid, opaque containers. Out of sight, out of mind one might believe. No such success in my case. Even without being able to see the sweet delights I knew where they were and what they would taste like. And so, even in the midst of re-enforcing to myself the desire not to want to partake, I have been surreptitiously been downing 2 or 3 Cadbury’s Heroes during regular visits to the kitchen during the week.
As I mentioned on Fat of the Land #1 I believe that an individual has a relationship with food and it is this that acts as the key to understanding our eating patterns, and thus being able to change that relationship. We all know that relationships can be abusive and our relationship with food is no different.
The first question to ask ourselves is ‘are we the abuser or the abused?’ This is not always an easy question to answer. On the face of it we can always perhaps argue that we are in the box seat; after all, it is us humans who make choices regarding what we consume, in what quantity we consume, and when and where we consume. This model of response does not take into consideration the complexities of food consumption and the external influences of consumption as either learned behaviour or forced behaviour.
A study into the early development of human flavour preferences by Julie Menella and Gary Beauchamp (1996) argue that ‘functioning chemosensory systems and their feeding and expressive behaviors are modulated by taste and smell stimuli’ from the stage of fetus into the stage of new-born child. In simple terms our eating habits begin to be pre-programmed in the womb.
Once in the active world social influences take precedence in our developing relationship with food. The primary transference of social norms and values centered on food consumption comes from adults (in most cases parents) to their offspring. In simple terms part of the make up of our relationship with food is learnt behaviour.
As the father of a 5 year old I take this aspect of developing a healthy relationship with food very seriously. Shared family meals are well planned and take into consideration our daughter’s developing relationship with food. For instance, vegetables and fruit play a large part in our shared family meals. Now she is at school our daughter is beginning to build some aspects of resistance to food. Drs Capaldi and Privitera (2008) contended that children are pre-disposed to sweet over sour, having little tolerance for the latter. Furthermore the conducted research that determined that children who were exposed to sour or bitter food in juxtaposition to sweet tastes build a tolerance of bitter and sour much more quickly than children fed on a predominantly sweet diet. An extension of this hypothesis comes from Dr Gwen Dewar (2009) who believes that children may be ‘pre-wired to select the most energy rich foods available’. Inevitably these foods contain those high in sugars and fats.
I’m afraid I do not practice what I preach. My own relationship is one has long been complex. Let me explain some decisions I made this week. On Monday I returned to work, after a two week break from teaching. I try to regulate food at work but time and again I fall foul of my own imposed regiemes.
Breakfast is usually fine. Monday to Thursday I have 2 Weetabix, a small handful of bran sticks, a splash of golden syrup (I know, but it is my gesture to my sweet tooth and takes away the feeling that I’m eating simply for the sake of taking on fuel), moistened by semi-skimmed milk. My New Years resolution was to try and forgo lunch. Monday lunchtime I went into town and bought a cheese sandwich. Tuesday I managed to abstain but by Wednesday I was making a lunchtime beeline to the local chippy for a chip butty. Thursday lunch was a microwavable macaroni cheese. As soon as I had finished each of these I felt a sense of revulsion that I had chosen to eat incredibly unhealthy fayre.
So, were there any achievements this week? Well, for the past 18 months I have regularly (at least three times a week) stopped off at a local supermarket near my school and bought either 3 doughnuts (rarely does one see broccoli advertised as a 3 for 2 offer) and bottle of diet Pepsi or even a full blown sandwich, to pass the time on the journey home. This was absolutely eating for the sake of eating, empty calories on a car drive. If I can maintain this break, I’ve done it by taking a different route home, hopefully, quite soon, I will begin to find a difference, as I was taking on an excessive amount of calories via this practice.
The change in my relationship with food is under discussion. It is a relationship I am determined to change but it will require a whole change of lifestyle and wholesale changes to diet and mindset.
Today I am 44 years old. I am 5 feet 8 inches tall. I weigh 17st 13lbs.
As I mentioned on Fat of the Land #1 I believe that an individual has a relationship with food and it is this that acts as the key to understanding our eating patterns, and thus being able to change that relationship. We all know that relationships can be abusive and our relationship with food is no different.
The first question to ask ourselves is ‘are we the abuser or the abused?’ This is not always an easy question to answer. On the face of it we can always perhaps argue that we are in the box seat; after all, it is us humans who make choices regarding what we consume, in what quantity we consume, and when and where we consume. This model of response does not take into consideration the complexities of food consumption and the external influences of consumption as either learned behaviour or forced behaviour.
A study into the early development of human flavour preferences by Julie Menella and Gary Beauchamp (1996) argue that ‘functioning chemosensory systems and their feeding and expressive behaviors are modulated by taste and smell stimuli’ from the stage of fetus into the stage of new-born child. In simple terms our eating habits begin to be pre-programmed in the womb.
Once in the active world social influences take precedence in our developing relationship with food. The primary transference of social norms and values centered on food consumption comes from adults (in most cases parents) to their offspring. In simple terms part of the make up of our relationship with food is learnt behaviour.
As the father of a 5 year old I take this aspect of developing a healthy relationship with food very seriously. Shared family meals are well planned and take into consideration our daughter’s developing relationship with food. For instance, vegetables and fruit play a large part in our shared family meals. Now she is at school our daughter is beginning to build some aspects of resistance to food. Drs Capaldi and Privitera (2008) contended that children are pre-disposed to sweet over sour, having little tolerance for the latter. Furthermore the conducted research that determined that children who were exposed to sour or bitter food in juxtaposition to sweet tastes build a tolerance of bitter and sour much more quickly than children fed on a predominantly sweet diet. An extension of this hypothesis comes from Dr Gwen Dewar (2009) who believes that children may be ‘pre-wired to select the most energy rich foods available’. Inevitably these foods contain those high in sugars and fats.
I’m afraid I do not practice what I preach. My own relationship is one has long been complex. Let me explain some decisions I made this week. On Monday I returned to work, after a two week break from teaching. I try to regulate food at work but time and again I fall foul of my own imposed regiemes.
Breakfast is usually fine. Monday to Thursday I have 2 Weetabix, a small handful of bran sticks, a splash of golden syrup (I know, but it is my gesture to my sweet tooth and takes away the feeling that I’m eating simply for the sake of taking on fuel), moistened by semi-skimmed milk. My New Years resolution was to try and forgo lunch. Monday lunchtime I went into town and bought a cheese sandwich. Tuesday I managed to abstain but by Wednesday I was making a lunchtime beeline to the local chippy for a chip butty. Thursday lunch was a microwavable macaroni cheese. As soon as I had finished each of these I felt a sense of revulsion that I had chosen to eat incredibly unhealthy fayre.
So, were there any achievements this week? Well, for the past 18 months I have regularly (at least three times a week) stopped off at a local supermarket near my school and bought either 3 doughnuts (rarely does one see broccoli advertised as a 3 for 2 offer) and bottle of diet Pepsi or even a full blown sandwich, to pass the time on the journey home. This was absolutely eating for the sake of eating, empty calories on a car drive. If I can maintain this break, I’ve done it by taking a different route home, hopefully, quite soon, I will begin to find a difference, as I was taking on an excessive amount of calories via this practice.
The change in my relationship with food is under discussion. It is a relationship I am determined to change but it will require a whole change of lifestyle and wholesale changes to diet and mindset.
Today I am 44 years old. I am 5 feet 8 inches tall. I weigh 17st 13lbs.
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