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Why I feel guilt is fattening not food?
Food is not fattening, guilt is . We have all at some point in life felt guilty of eating some food we had planned to avoid or over- indulge in. This is a well-known game of will-power. Something, that people continue to play on various fad diets in their pursuit of weight loss, even today.
Weight loss is one common ambition in life that unites people, with majority of the population not being happy with the way they look. The food and health industry further encashes on this feeling of inadequacy by targeting people into eager consumers of their products and promises that they offer.
Every thing is about ‘self-control’, ‘deprivation’, ‘giving up on favorites’ and when you do ‘cheat’ its always followed by guilt.
Science has now proven this and drawn linkages
I have been there, done it all. When my partner used to tell me that the guilt is more fattening than the ice cream I would eat once in 3 months, I would laugh him off. But, guess what, today we have Science backing this exact prophecy!
Science has proven that food guilt negativity affects health. Your metabolism is greatly influenced by your state of mind. The key player in this is the hypothalamus, the part of your brain that harmonizes mental inputs (emotions) with biological functions and processes like body temperature and digestion etc.
When you eat your food with all senses and enjoy it, your hypothalamus releases pleasure signals that not just stimulate your digestive juices and enzymes, but also enable proper breakdown of food and burning of calories by increasing your metabolism!
But all this aside, the whole concept of ‘cheat meal’ has a negative connotation to it. In our Indian culture, there is a window to eat special food every 15 days on Ekadashi. Then there are so many festivals, rituals and religious practices where we always eat food away from regular. So, what does this signify?
It signifies that if we are eating fresh, home cooked, seasonal food 80% of the times, we can of course indulge 20% of the times. But the question we need to ask ourselves is that are we eating in this manner or are we eating packaged, processed, convenience food 80% of the times and then when we want to indulge, we are over powered by the guilt?
5 Steps to preventing food related guilt
If you follow the guidelines I suggest, you will never feel guilty with the occasional indulgences:
- Eat real food, eat majority of the times out of your kitchen. This way you are aware of what has gone in to making of the dish and have better control over it. This element of control of selecting the best grade ingredients is completely lost when we eat from outside. Restaurants and food joints focus on profit making and mostly compromise on choice of oil or other ingredients. Regular intake of inflammatory oils can lead to inflammatory disorders like CVD, Diabetes, Obesity and more.
2. To include variety, eat seasonal foods and recipes. Our cultural wisdom has many seasonal recipes that that are not just tasty, but loaded with nutrients and high on health benefits. You can have kokum/ bael sharbats in summers, kanji in winters; ghia raita in summers, carrot halwa in winters, chai pakora or bhutta in rains. This way we don’t ‘crave’ for variety, its inbuilt in our culture.
3. When you do want to order a dish of choice from outside, make it your lunch or mid evening snack. So if you are craving pizza/ pasta etc, it could be a lunch menu. If you want to have a pasty or doughnut, have it by 5 with your tea or coffee. This way it does not come later in the day and with you being active, the body can burn the calories off. When we eat an indulgent dinner and then go straight to bed , we ensure fat storages.
4. Now just as the choice of food and time of eating is important, the ‘act of eating’ is crucial too. Eat mindfully. Eating with all your senses helps you engage with your satiety signals. The body always tells us when to stop, but with our distractions we often miss this call of the body and over eat. Over eating is a downward spiral. Not only do you feel heavy, gassy, bloated. You end up skipping your next meal and then feel extremely hungry later and end up eating huge portions! Learn to stop at the right time.
5. Food is fuel for the body. Understand this and remember this. If you have got this right, you will always aim to ‘nourish’ your body and not ‘punish it. Many say don’t associate emotions with food, but food is definitely connected to our emotions and memories. I would rather say that eat with the emotion of gratitude and not greed, then there will never be guilt!
Incorporate eating everything in moderation. Follow the five points mentioned above and choose sustainable ways of eating over fad diets. This will help ward off the deprivation that comes with fast weight loss promises and is often followed by feeling of failure or guilt. This way you can please your taste buds without compromising on your health goals.
Here are some Healthy, tasty and Immunity boosting recipes for your indulgence
Confused by the misinformation about potential health problems with traditional Indian foods ? Get in touch with the Best Dietitian in Delhi Madhavi K Sharma is a strong advocate of the holistic, wellness benefits of fresh, local, and traditional Indian foods.
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