Have you ever stopped to ponder how much our culture affects our eating, from what we eat to when we eat to how we eat, even where and why we eat? Think about it. we don't just eat; we're trained to eat the way we do.
I recently saw a movie where a character who grew up in a big city and was visiting a small town for the first time wanted to go somewhere nice for dinner. She was shocked when another character informed her the town had just one diner and nowhere that could be considered fancy. She asked, "Then where do they eat?" "At home. They eat at home," came the reply. Regularly eating dinner at home was a pretty foreign idea to her. Her cultural norm had taught her differently.
Let's take a couple of minutes and look at some ideas that are so culturally ingrained in us we may not ever have thought to question them.
1. FOOD IS FUEL AND OUR BODIES ARE MACHINES.
In America, "I'm full," is a common thing to hear someone say at the end of a meal. In France, "That was delicious," is more likely to be heard. And? What difference does that make? Consider the attitude each conveys. Full is exactly the same word we use when we tank up our vehicles. Ask most Americans and they'll say food is fuel. And I get that idea. But what else is food?
In his book The Culture Code, Clotaire Rapaille says, "In many other cultures, food isn't a tool, but rather a means of experiencing refinement. In France, the purpose of food is pleasure, and even a home-cooked meal is something diners savor for a long period. ("That was delicious," shows that attitude.) ...
"In Japan, the preparation and enjoyment of food are a means to approach perfection. ...The Japanese consider the best sushi chefs to be masters--artists of the highest degree."
Pleasure and perfection are completely different takes on food than most Americans have.
The American idea that food is fuel is tied to the view of our bodies being machines. Again, while I get the analogy, it's not accurate. Our bodies are living entities. They're so much more complex than the most complicated machine that the comparison is all but useless.
Food is so much more than just fuel and our bodies more than machines. When we look past our cultural conditioning, we develop a broader view and deeper appreciation for the purposes of food and these amazing, living, breathing vessels we live in.
2. THE FASTER THE FOOD, THE BETTER.
As a whole, in America we like to fuel up and be on our way. Have you thought about how many food and gas station combos we have? That's not coincidental. The astounding number of fast food restaurants we have is another sign of our overall attitude toward food. Often we don't even get out of the car the buy or eat our food. Even when we eat at home we often opt for whatever we can make in the shortest amount of time.
And the problem with that is?
What message are we sending when we eat like that? If you think about it, it's actually disrespectful. When we eat so quickly and often such low quality food it's like we're saying to our bodies, "I'm going to do as little as I can as fast as I can to keep you going." As for the food itself, it's really hard to show the appropriate gratitude for the privilege of having the sustenance we need so consistently available when we're chomping it down so quickly and mindlessly that we don't even remember at the end of the day what we ate. (Not to mention, the effects on our digestion from eating too fast and often too much.)
Can we buck the cultural trend and slow down long enough to show a little more respect and gratitude for our food and our body?
3. MORE IS BETTER.
More food for less money is a better value, right? Well, that depends on how you measure value. If you're talking strictly money-wise, then yes, more is better. But if we step back and broaden our perspective to include out physical and emotional health, then no, more isn't usually better.
The marketing people know what they're doing. It's challenging to get past feeling like it'd be stupid to get the twelve ounce soda when we can get thirty-two or even sixty-four ounces for a few pennies more. But seriously, it's hard to imagine a scenario where drinking that much soda would be a good thing. We often fall for it though because it's clearly a better deal.
But is it? Really?
I share these ideas not point any fingers or induce any guilt. I only hope to offer an invitation to have a curious, questioning mind, one that will make the time to identify how our cultural conditioning impacts our actions and decide for ourselves what works best for us.
This week's post is the first of a twelve part series on intuitive eating. Next week we'll talk about exactly what intuitive eating is then follow up with practices and attitudes we can adopt to help us have a healthy relationship with food and our body.
THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE - Notice what, when, how, and why you eat and consider whether your choices are serving you well.