The majority of us do not suffer from serious eating problems. However, it may feel as though everyone has food issues because dieting and food anxiety is such a prevalent part of Western culture. Dieting is often the first place people turn to for help when trying to break their mindless eating habits. In an effort to gain control over their mindless eating, Americans spend approximately fifty billon dollars annually on diet products.
So many people worry about their mindless eating habits that deciding to go on a diet can feel a little like joining a very large social club, fraternity, or sorority. Anyone can join and members can come and go as they please. In fact, members can quit and rejoin the diet club every day if they wish. Eighty percent of students admit that they have tried dieting to lose weight and 32 percent had dieted six or more times.
Dieters invite roommates, friends, and family to join the "club" with them. They entice people to join by preying on the universal wish to be more attractive. "Hey, I'm trying this new diet . . . . Wanna give it a try? I lost weight and so can you." You can almost feel the adrenaline rush starting to pulse through your veins with the very thought of being thinner. Who wouldn't want to join in?
Once a would-be dieter has signed up for this club, dieters seem to follow unwritten rules of social etiquette. Club members speak in the universal fad diet lingo of self-judgment, self–dislike, and fear. Eating distress and body loathing has led millions to consider joining this so-called club of chronic dieters. According to one statistic from the National Eating Disorders Association, approximately 45 percent of American women and 25 percent of men are on a diet every day.
Pretty scary. Not only is dieting considered a "normal" behavior it is at times even admired and taught in magazines. We honor people for dieting through our actions and comments like "Wow, you really have a lot of willpower sticking to that diet."
Fad dieting is not a mindful behavior. It doesn't fit the bill for several reasons. First, reading about fad diet can make mindless eating worse. The more you know about carbohydrates and fats, the more dependent you are on nutrition labels, which turns you away from your internal awareness or paying attention to your own stomach.
We've all witnessed people who happily pick up a single serving snack, turn over the package, scan the nutrition label, and put it back with utter dismay. Fad diet articles often teach consumers what to fear on nutrition labels rather than showing them how to use the information as a positive, helpful tool.
Diets can be very judgmental. Take, for example, magazine articles like "Ten Foods You Should Never Eat." In an article like this, a variety of foods are judged to be "bad." The tone of the article implies that the person who would even consider eating these taboo foods is not wise.
It's not rocket science that we should eat when we are hungry and stop eating when we are full. However, when we are dieting, we start to forget what those experiences feel like. Hunger becomes a muddled, confusing sensation. If you ignore your stomach, after a while your body isn't going to bother telling you when it is hungry. It already knows you won't answer.
Mindful eating doesn't make you any promises like diets do. It's not short-term. It is intended to be a plan you can live with forever. You may or may not lose weight. There aren't any firm or steadfast rules. No foods are cut out or off limits. You aim for moderation and balance in all your food choices. You have a healthy awareness of what you eat.
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Katherine Foyere at
12182010
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