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Nutrition: October 2008

Have you ever wondered why many “health conscious” individuals think of foods such as diet soda, artificial sweeteners, and TV dinners – with names like “Health” or “Lean” as a part of their brand name – to be “healthy foods” despite their ingredient panel containing a long list of unnatural or artificial ingredients?

Since the 1950’s, America has seen a tremendous growth in its food supply. In the mid 1980’s, this country saw an enormous increase in the number of available diet and artificial foods, intended to promote weight loss and “health”. However, since then, our country’s population has been getting heavier and increasingly wrought with chronic disease. We are consuming food that truly is not food, and our bodies do not know how to process these many foreign substances!

Slow Food is a breath of fresh air. Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat: where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.

Slow Food members around the world work to build relationships with producers, campaign to protect traditional foods, organize tasting and seminars, encourage chefs to source locally, nominate producers to participate in international events and work to bring taste education into schools. Most importantly, they cultivate the appreciation of pleasure and quality in daily life.

Slow Food is good, clean and fair food. Slow Food members believe that the food you eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or your health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.

Carlo Petrini, an Italian journalist dismayed by the opening of a McDonald’s in Rome, stated, “Pleasure is a way of being at one with yourself and others.” Slow Food recognizes that the best place to preserve biological and cultural diversity is not in museums or zoos but on our plates.

Slow Food is a great adjunct to Mindful Eating, which you may have heard about recently as a way to slow down and appreciate what you are eating. Mindfulness is being aware of what is present for you physically, emotionally and spiritually in each moment. Mindful Eating is:

• Allowing yourself to become aware of the positive and nurturing opportunities that are available through food preparation and consumption by respecting your own inner wisdom.

• Choosing to eat food that is both pleasing to you and nourishing to your body by using all your senses to explore, savor and taste.

• Learning to be aware of physical hunger and satiety cues to guide your decision to begin eating and to stop eating.

If weight management is primarily your interest, bringing awareness and attention to how and what you are eating can help you eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. If everyone in this country practiced this rule, weight loss diets would be obsolete! Here are some other ways to practice mindful eating:

• Bring the palms of your hands over your food, and notice if you feel anything from it. With your palms here, give thanks for the food and the experience.

• Journal what is coming up for you at this moment

• Begin to eat. Again, appreciate the food with all five senses. Chew slowly and completely, keep your eyes closed. Can you chew each mouthful 30 or 50 or even 100 times? Explore the full flavor and the variety of tastes that make up this food.

• Explore the food with all of your senses:

Sound – Does the food have a vibration or sound?

Smell – Odors, familiar smells that bring up memories, feelings

Visual – Color, presentation

Taste – Describe taste

Texture – Describe all sensations

How can you support the Slow Food movement?

• Reduce your intake of processed foods

• Eat lower on the food chain

• Eat locally grown and organic produce as much as possible

• Cook more meals from scratch vs. dining out

• If cooking is not your forte’, try the “meals to go” in whole and organic food stores

A “slow” approach to dietary changes will pave the way to long-term changes. The “slow” approach to making life long dietary changes involves a comprehensive nutrition assessment. This assessment is an important first step in order to peel back the layers and pave the way for a successful nutrition counseling experience.

Many individuals expect to transform themselves in one meeting with a registered dietitian. They want to learn and internalize everything in less than an hour of time. Just like any other credible healthcare profession, you are not healed in one visit to your healthcare provider, whether it be your physician, psychotherapist, physical therapist, occupational or speech therapist.

Learning how to make healthy and wholesome food choices, over time, will give you much more clarity vs. loading up on sugar and junk food. This is how you create balance and move away from the “all” or “nothing” approach.