Question of the Day!

I think it's a bit of a false dichotomy, and part of the problem lies in the "solution" to both the non-problem of eating just because something tastes good once in a while, and to the more problematic only selecting foods that are high in the dopine-releasing greatest hits: salt, fat, sugar.

Interestingly, out body's own cannabinoid production and receptors play a big part, too.

Anyway, the reason I don't like the typical solutions is because they focus on "stopping hedonistic eating". Even if the allow you to occasionally indulge, it comes with a layer of guilt built in.

Legitimate disordered ordered follows the same chemical, neural and psychological pathways of drug addiction. Prescription guilt hasn't helped anyone I know with that specific concern.

So, when the solution is "stop eating for pleasure", I shake my head. Nutrition doesn't have to be boring and eating for purpose doesn't have to taste like shit. Except nobody *really* teaches us that. They say it, but it's such a profit-driven area that every expert wants their own set of scare tactics and rules-based approach to be the answer. And it never is.

I've kicked sugar before, and spent two years on a (mostly) no-sugar healthy-fats added diet. But it took 5 months to reduce my added sugar levels to that point and a full year before I fully grasped cooking in a way that demonstrated healthy food could be pleasurable . So even though I was eating for fuel and nutrients (and the timing was prescriptive) I was still eating for pleasure and was eating MORE than before. Healthy foods be like that when you're taught to use them properly.

I fell off that wagon, and I've been discussing getting back on it with a therapist, because it's honestly the best I've ever felt when I was on it. The food was great (I'd have to relearn at this point) and plentiful, and it didn't cost any more (and a lot of times was cheaper) than how I eat now. I think not would still hold true in today's economy.

I didn't know you could build a soapbox this high. Must have been carrying those industrial size containers of Oxiclean or something.