I think it’s easier for most people to conquer the exercise side of the equation versus the healthy eating side. When I say most people I also refer to myself.
I don’t want to make excuses but how you are raised and “conditioned” to eat can have a profound effect on your dietary habits later in life.
If you were brought up on raw foods, I envy you. Your parents have essentially taught you that healthy foods are the ultimate way to nourish and reward yourself.
The way most of us are brought is unfortunately the complete opposite.
We are brought up eating in a way in which we choose foods that “make us full”, “make us feel comfortable and loved”, and “reward us” for certain things.
Using Food to Feel Happy
The easiest example is food-based conditioning is that of a birthday celebration. We take this yearly opportunity to celebrate by eating cake and other foods that may taste “good” in the moment but don’t provide any value to our body.
Over time, birthdays become Friday nights, or achieving a certain goal, or any other excuse to celebrate something.
It’s no wonder we turn to decadent sweet foods when we want to feel happy. We use food as a trigger for a particular emotion that we want feel. Unfortunately, this never ends well.
Using Food for Full Instead of Fuel
The fact that so many of us eat to feel full could be attributed to a survival mechanism that is inherent in the human condition. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, our hunter and gatherer ancestors never had the certainty that they would have 3 square meals each day. In fact, they probably had 2 if they were lucky.
With time, that inherent uncertainty could have led to dietary behaviours like bingeing. After all, if they didn’t know when their next meal was going to come, they needed to stock up and fill their stomachs with as much food as possible – just in case.
I know it sounds crazy but I believe that we still behave the same way.
Human physiology and behaviour has evolved little since those days. The only thing that has changed is our environment. Perhaps some day we will become better suited for our world.
So our current reality is one in which people are busy and on the go all the time. This is just another reason for people to “fill up” on food. It’s like taking a long road trip where you need to fill your car with a “full tank” before you get started.
You wouldn’t want to feel hungry, now would you?
These type of behaviours means that we eat for FULL instead of FUEL.
Before choosing a food, it is important to ask yourself whether this food will fuel you (or energize your body and do it good) or simply fill you up with calories.
The tough part is that most foods do one or the other.
Eating foods that make you feel full drain your energy.
Conversely, eating foods that fuel you, energize you, keep you alert, and provide incredible nutrients for your body.
But no one wants to feel hungry. That’s a scary thought! What if we never ate a food. What would we do?
Just considering those possibilities probably makes a lot of people nervous.
We eat for security. We eat to feel connected and loved. We eat constantly because we think we need to.
But What If…
We started considering our bodies as the most expensive and luxurious sports car. Let’s say a new Bugatti that retails for $1.2 million dollars!
If you owned this car, would you fill it up with anything but the best gas?
Would you ensure that it had regular maintenance check ups and oil changes?
Wouldn’t you have your car washed and waxed as often as possible to keep it looking shiny and immaculate!
Well, here’s the kicker…
Our body is far more valuable than any sports car!
But why don’t we treat it as such?
You know full well how good you look and feel when eat well (especially if you follow a raw food diet) and exercise each day.
So why is it so tough to eat for health instead of hunger and happiness?
Well, as I’ve mentioned, I think the problem is that we have been conditioned to BELIEVE that healthy is boring, doesn’t taste good, and in a lot cases painful!
Eating cake is pleasurable, eating salad isn’t.
Curling up on the couch with a hot chocolate is comforting, working up a sweat for 45 minute in the gym is not!
That’s what the majority of society has been conditioned to believe.
But deep down, you know what you need to do.
Listen to your intuition and follow the path the works for you!
*******
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Let’s a get a good discussion going in the comments.
Related posts:
WOW! So TRUE!!!! Even when I started your rawfood diet I was so scared i’d be hungry… I prepared raw nut mixes to leave in my office drawer just in case & thought i’d never have enough proteins… but I was sooo wrong! I was able to follow your meals and feel great & fueled! I’ve just completed week 10 now and plan on continuing forever:) It made me smile when you said that you would envy someone who had been brought up on a raw food diet because my boyfriend & I have been talking about that a lot lately. We don’t have kids yet but we’d love to hear feedback about couples who do & follow a raw food diet. Would anyone like to tell us how it’s going? Do you know anyone Yuri? What do you think? Thanks a lot & once again congrats for your great work, articles, newsletters & more!
Thanks Marie. I personally don’t know anyone who was raised raw but I do know a few people who were brought in a healthy vegetarian atmosphere. I think in their cases they are much more aware of healthier food choices. Anyone been raised raw? Thoughts?
i was certainly not raised raw (grew up in a sicilian home – pasta and bread….daily staples), and therefore my “conditioning” has been extremely hard to rework. i certainly equate certain foods with comfort and have been working on this reconditioning for over a year now. but it is amazing how quickly stress can trigger emotional/comfort eating (at least for me) and how difficult it is to break that cycle. as you have mentioned, our bodies are much more valuable than any luxurious material good, and yet we do not treat them as such. part of the problem i think is that our bodies are resilient, and we rely on that. unfortunately, many of us are walking around in a very acidic state, looking and feeling seemingly healthy, but harboring an internal environment that can easily invite disease.
the reconditioning of our relationship with food really does have to start at our core – and that is finding contentment within, being truly centered and feeling “full” of life, versus feeling the need to fill voids. and learning to manage daily stress through exercise, and also activities like meditation, is so important.
thank you Yuri for this article, it is so relevant for many of us that struggle to detach our emotional hunger from true hunger. would love to hear more on this topic in the future.
That’s a good point you made Sharon about the fact that our bodies are resilient. It is really amazing how resilient they are. When you consider how poorly most people eat and still are alive, it’s pretty amazing. It’s too bad it takes most “humans” a serious scare in order for them to improve their dietary and lifestyle habits. Thanks for the great comment.