A lot of people see food as an enjoyable experience. As we should! If I had to spend the rest of my life eating shoe leather I’d be pretty upset. Of course even if you eat “well,” you will always binge eat the things you know are satisfying; candy, pizza, ice-cream, you name it. The problem with always eating because you enjoy the taste of something lies in these three problems:
1. You don’t know what’s in it.
Let’s assume you wind up at a restaurant and feel like eating “well.” In your mind, a salad may be it. Or better yet, grilled chicken and seasoned rice! When you choose the type of salad or meal, you pick… ranch or honey-barbecue. It tastes heavenly. You’re satisfied with your choice because it was not only a “good” choice, but it also tasted like a little drop of sunshine.
The only problem with this is you may assume it’s a clean option, or the menu may say it’s “below 500 calories.” However, these are generalized guidelines for how that meal may be prepared, and not exactly what’s happening in that specific kitchen. Butters, sauces, dressings, and portion sizes all swing your meal upwards of 800 calories or more! So when you buy a meal that’s not prepared by you, overestimate what’s in it.
2. Processed food dulls the taste of real food.
Most individuals buy what’s cheap and quick when it comes to food. Loaves of bread, chips, or granola bars are quick snacks, and little sweets like candy bars and baked goods are “desserts.” Let’s be honest; free cookies and brownies at the office lunch-room are hard to resist. But they’re there, you eat them, and real food just tastes bland.
Because of these sweeteners, higher salts, and higher sugars than most whole foods, when it’s time to eat less of those sweeteners it tastes like you took a bite out of cardboard. As awful as this is, it’s a huge reason why people stray away from eating whole food; it’s just not as good as the stuff we cook up in the lab. We seem to forget that way back in the day, the only rich people were fat people because they could get their hands on limited supplies of these “rich” foods. Now they’re in abundance and here we are (in America) with one of the highest obesity rates than most other nations in the world. If you don’t believe me, check out this info:
http://obesity.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004371
3. You are always attracted to high-calorie, sweet foods.
“Don’t go grocery shopping while hungry.” This is never a false statement. Ever. To me, it’s on par with famous rules like, “Measure twice, cut once,” and “don’t eat yellow snow.”
When you’re hungry, your body is craving easily metabolized food. The quickest macronutrient to digest is a carbohydrate. And even quicker digestion comes from simple sugars-- simple sugars in candy, soda, and processed carbohydrate sources. Your body literally screams at you, “QUICK BEFORE YOU DIE, EAT THIS SHIT RIGHT HERE.” It’s almost impossible to ignore it because how can you ignore that crippling, spine crunching ache in your belly? You can’t. Your body won’t let you.
You can get all of your caloric needs from whole foods. If you stay relatively satiated all day instead of spiking through highs and lows with your appetite, you’ll eliminate those cravings and it will be easier to steer clear of the junk. You can’t let your body control you, or it will do exactly what it’s naturally supposed to do; survive. By making you fat.