These donuts recently headlined a newspaper story in which the dietitian author described an email exchange. The e-mailer had proposed the concept of using “food only as fuel” as a way to overcome food addiction.
The dietitian “respectfully disagreed” and then disparaged the “food as fuel” approach as diminishing the intrinsic pleasure of food.
In this blog, I develop the reasons we should temper our romantic illusions about unhealthy food, similar to our restraint in offering our favorite wine to a recovering alcoholic.
The incidence of extreme obesity in US adults has skyrocketed from less than one in a hundred in 1960 to nearly one in twelve in 2016. This is an unbelievably tragic loss of health.
Extolling the pleasures of unhealthy food “in moderation” in the midst of this epidemic seems unkind for those suffering the consequences of a toxic food environment. “Toxic?” you might ask. Yes.
Just six Devil’s Food Cake Doughnuts pack enough calories to satisfy a woman’s daily energy needs. These six donuts also contain twice her maximum allowance for saturated fat. However to achieve her daily requirement for protein, she would need to eat fifteen donuts.
This measly nutritional value of donuts is unlikely a surprise to anyone. However, it is sobering to learn that despite our sincere desire for health, on average Americans eat two donuts a day.1
The challenge of making good decisions in the midst of our high fat and high sugar cornucopia is significant, but not impossible. Let me share one woman’s success.
Ann is a 70 year-old woman who had suffered for years with joint pain, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Although she had previously failed with numerous diets, over the last two years she has turned her life around. She is off all medicines, has shed her excess pounds, and feels fantastic!
Ann contributes her success to a fundamental change in mindset. With this change she overcame her inner turmoil around food.
Before the mindset change, she felt enslaved to the multiple environmental factors that triggered overeating. She now views food “only as fuel and not as a way to celebrate or to wallow”.
Ann has been able to substitute her previous total desperation concerning food with the intrinsic joy of eating. She celebrates her renewed health and finds it so much more rewarding than the momentary high of one hit of salt, sugar, and fat after another.
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Two thousand years ago, the Roman citizen Publilius Syrus wrote, “Good health and good sense are two of life’s greatest blessings.”
In a world where marketing screams – “You can eat whatever you want and still be healthy” – good sense gets crowded out.
A modern Publilius might suggest, “The blessing of good sense is good health”.
It’s worth reflecting how we might change our food environment to extend a sincere “bless you” to all those who come into our lives.
Breakthrough To Better,
Carl
1The average American eats 63 dozen donuts a year by Elizabeth Large
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Switch Conversations designs healthcare solutions for self-insured employers.
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ALL POSTS:
Edition 1 – Solving a Well-Entrenched Problem
Edition 2 – A Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Edition 3 – Best marketing tagline of all time?
Edition 4 – Post-Truth Killed a President
Edition 5 – What’s an employer to do?
Edition 6 – Profiting From the Opioid Epidemic
Edition 7 – The Keys to Unlocking Better Decisions
Edition 8 – When Difficult Things Need to be Done Well
Edition 9 – Fixing Healthcare
Edition 10 – Beware of a Singing Cow
Edition 11 – Wise Reflections
Edition 12 – Warning: Reader Discretion Advised
Edition 13 – Can AI save healthcare? (Part 1)
Edition 14 – Can AI save healthcare? (Part 2)
Edition 15 – Can AI save healthcare? (Part 3)
Edition 16 – Embracing Reality to Improve Healthcare
Edition 17 – Everything I Needed To Know…
Edition 18 – The Eighth Circle of Hell
Edition 19 – So… What’s Our Solution?
Edition 20 – Protecting Integrity as a Core Strategy
Edition 21 – An Unadorned Legacy
Edition 22 – Time to Grow Up
Edition 23 – Against All Odds
Edition 24 – When Everyone Has Stopped Listening
Edition 25 – Focusing on What’s Important
Edition 26 – Don’t Give Up Your Shot
Edition 27 – Join the Goodhood
Edition 28 – Fixing Healthcare (Recycled)
Edition 29 – Taming the Healthcare Beast
Edition 30 – Leadership
Edition 31 – Better Health Requires Good Sense
Edition 32 – Little Decisions With Big Consequences
Edition 33 – Transformational Courage
Edition 34 – Transformational Courage – Part 2
Guest Post – Happy Thanksgiving! By Jeff Novick, RD
Edition 35 – Transformational Courage – Part 3
