Food

Confession:  I just brushed my teeth.

Normal, you think?  But wait. There’s more!

I brushed my teeth to keep me from eating my favourite snack, which just happens to be sitting next to the computer as I type this. I am about 99.9% less likely to eat the Snyders of Hanover pretzel bits, simply because I have a very strong dislike for any flavour combined with toothpaste.

Still think that’s normal? There’s still more!

I brushed my teeth to keep me from eating my favourite snack even though I’m totally not hungry.  In fact, I’m rather full at the moment. Too full, even.

I have a bit of a problem.

I really like food.  In fact, if you want me to like you, or if you want me to do something for you, all you really need to do is promise me food and I am like putty in your hands.  Unless, that is, someone else has beaten you to the punch… then, I’m sorry, you’re out of luck.

Ooo… punch… with fruit in it!

I think what I love are the flavours, not so much the full feeling in my tummy.  This is a problem, because truth is, if I keep wanting to taste something, I need to keep putting it in my mouth.  If I keep putting food in my mouth, it eventually ends up in my stomach. And if food keeps ending up in my mouth, eventually I end up feeling full.  Too full.  Much too full.

And that’s not a fun feeling.

But sometimes it’s like my eyes are bigger than my stomach. Or I anticipate how good something will taste.  Or else the part of my brain that controls my taste buds manages to bypass the smarter part of my brain that tells me that I’m full and sends a message to my arm to grab whatever is in front of me and bring it up to my mouth. Over and over and over again.

Or I can just call it what it is: a lack of self-control.

Here’s where it gets worse: in our society, we generally do not put out healthy finger foods.  Chips, dips and anything with chocolate in it rule the day.  Because that’s what everyone wants. 

It just tastes better. 

But hang on. This overeating thing is not solely my fault.  Sure, I’m the one who shovels it in all the time – I learned how to feed myself years ago, in case anyone was wondering – but restaurants give huuuuuge portion sizes. I’ve paid for it – sometimes too much – so I feel I have to eat it –  even when I don’t like it.

Then there’s the issue of waste. Many of us have heard the phrase “There are starving children in Africa!”  Because of this, we simply cannot chuck what we cannot eat. So riddle me this: how does overstuffing myself help those children?  In reality it doesn’t.  And until someone figures out how to send them the food I can’t eat before it goes bad, telling me about kids on another continent who don’t have enough to eat is silly and irrelevant. 

Lastly, there’s the issue of health.  Starvation obviously has some serious consequences.  But so does overeating. Our bodies know how much food we need and are very good at communicating that. 

And I don’t know about you, but I’d rather listen to my body tell me it’s had enough for the time being rather than listen to a doctor later in life tell me that there’s something wrong. 

So methinks I have some work to do.