attitudes about food
Source: Vitality, 1997, 2(4)
Food, glorious food
The luscious, full smell of turkey floats through the house. Time limps until the sumptuous bird lands on the table. Eyes widen at the first cut — juice streams onto the gleaming, white china. An eager poke into the crisp potato unleashes a puff of steam. Warm rolls collapse on touch. Feverish chewing, a quick shuffle of plates, now dessert. From the shock of cold vanilla through flakes of crust to the warm ooze of blueberries. Dinner is done.
Good holiday food seduces our every sense. We anticipate the ceremony; we await our savory reward. Certain colours, textures and aromas mark our memories. Food captures our feelings about the holidays. The lucky remember warmth, comfort, drooling anticipation. The unlucky look back on burnt skin, congealed grease, bitter cranberries.
Holidays accent our feelings about food. Guilt-free eaters revel in the feast. Anxious eaters indulge, then regret. The 1997 Wild Turkey Bourbon Survey of Holiday Gobbling Habits finds that 42% of people will admit to gaining weight over the holidays. Untold others expand in secret. For many, these extra pounds are yet another spike in a long-suffered war with food.
How is it that we find ourselves on the wrong side of food? As babies, our attitudes about eating are uncomplicated. Food is life. We cry when we need some. We stop when we're full. For a blessed few, food remains simple. For more, however, it becomes a beloved enemy. We pore stiffly through articles: 'Crash Diets Don't Work'...'A Little Fat Won't Kill You'...'Eat More Carbohydrates'... 'No More Carbohydrates'...'Young Girls Starving Themselves to Death'. How did it get so complicated?
Food does more than fill our bellies. It exerts a strong physical effect. Food is a drug; food is a cure. The tryptophan in turkey tires us. The caffeine in chocolate stimulates us. The carbohydrates in pasta release endorphins which make us feel good. It is how we think about food that determines just how strong these effects will be.
Our parents launch our childhood attitudes about food. If they fill the house with junk food, we are much more likely to become obese children and adults. If they banish it completely, we are that much more tempted. Children crave the forbidden, and no chance it's fruit. "Eat every last brussel sprout and then you can have dessert." Parents who use food as reward and punishment encourage strong likes and dislikes. Children look to their parents as eating role models. A stressed parent who turns to Cheetos produces a child who will likely do the same. A parent who is always dieting creates a child with an undue concern with food.
Psychologist Ruth Striegel Moore found that parents criticize their children's weight more as they grow older. Girls are more harshly criticized and become more preoccupied with their bodies. "You don't want to get fat, do you?" a parent says. "I may not love you if you gain weight," the child hears. Teenagers develop even more problems with food. The National Centre for Disease Control & Prevention estimates that 21% of teenagers are actually overweight. Those who become obese are inviting illness and an abbreviated life span.
Others, reeling from hormones and peer pressure, look at their growing bodies and see fat where none exists. They are surrounded by messages — from people they know, from the media — that thin is better. For an unfortunate few, an eating disorder takes hold. These teens are possessed by food. A concern with weight is aggravated by perfectionism, low self esteem, feelings of helplessness, depression or other psychological burdens. A trigger — a boyfriend spots cellulite, a dance mistress chooses a thinner lead — can set the bulimia or anorexia in motion. A ravaged body, even death can result.
More teenagers settle into a cycle of dieting, indulgence and reproach. They become adults who are looking for a foolproof rescue from food. January they are picking lettuce with Scarsdale; February — eating steak, steak, steak, March — dwelling in The Zone. Many are, in the meantime, becoming more stressed, more disheartened. Ironically, they may also be slowing their metabolisms and making it more difficult to lose weight.
How can we save our children from this self-destructive battle with food? First, we can look at our own body image and eating habits. What kind of pattern are we setting in our children? What are we saying? Are we too critical of ourselves or them? We need to temper what we think, say and do about food. We also need to talk to them about unhealthy messages they may be gleaning from others.
Next, we need to create a healthy eating environment. Study after study shows that it is better to offer children a variety of foods, moderate portions and regular meals. Let them take some control by offering them a choice between healthy alternatives. The most effective thing we can do is to exercise with our kids, to invite them into a healthy lifestyle.