How to Eat

Shawn Perine
Mon, 12 May 2014 21:00:00 -0700
Lifestyle

The title of this week's column is intentionally simplistic because the information I'm about to give you is simple and should most likely replace your current nutritional doctrine.

The fact is, the majority of us simply don't know how to eat, and I'm not talking about spooning food into our mouths and chewing. That, we're excellent at doing.

What I'm referring to is the way we should be nourishing our bodies and the relationship we should have with food. Right now it's a dysfunctional one, to say the least. Well, I'm here to dole out a little tough love. Bear with me as I dole it, because it all ends on a soft note.
Updated: Wed May 14, 2014

The title of this week's column is intentionally simplistic because the information I'm about to give you is simple and should most likely replace your current nutritional doctrine.

The fact is, the majority of us simply don't know how to eat, and I'm not talking about spooning food into our mouths and chewing. That, we're excellent at doing.

What I'm referring to is the way we should be nourishing our bodies and the relationship we should have with food. Right now it's a dysfunctional one, to say the least. Well, I'm here to dole out a little tough love. Bear with me as I dole it, because it all ends on a soft note.

I'm sitting at Chicago O'Hare International Airport as I type this, and as I look around me I see lots of good people sidled with lots of bad fat. It's a shame: They deserve to be at the peak of health, ready to handle every obstacle life throws in their path and enjoying every moment as fully as possible. But when you're weighed down with an extra 20, 30 or more pounds of adipose tissue, you can't.

Of course, the largely terrible food options in airports make matters worse, as I see these same people carrying bags from fast food restaurants and sucking down sugary drinks — staples at airports and malls and most public eateries. Still, no one is grabbing them by the collar and forcing them to buy this junk. There are other options, limited though they may be. But herein lies the crux of the problem: When it comes to food, we have no willpower.

We are a nation addicted to food. We eat every chance we get, whether we're hungry or not. How do I know this? I've worked in enough offices where, when free donuts are put out they're swarmed in a ravenous frenzy by people who you'd swear hadn't had a bite in days. When we go to the movies, we are compelled to pay outrageous prices for popcorn, soda and various sweets, as if we couldn't possibly go more than three hours without eating. We eat in front of the TV, eat in transit, eat at the game and even in the middle of the night when we can't sleep. We canonize chefs, turning them into celebrities for cooking food. We slap the backs of those among us who are capable of consuming far greater quantities of food than we are able. All this adds up to an addiction.

So, if the above is how we shouldn't eat, how should we eat? I think you already know the answer. You eat when you are hungry, not to reward yourself. You eat when your body needs nutrition, not when you're bored. You eat things that taste good, but not at the expense of them being good for you. You eat to live, rather than live to eat.

This is by no means a profound concept, but it is profoundly important if you want to maintain optimal health. In fact, it's so important, that all of the training stuff I discuss in this column pales in comparison. If you don't have a handle on your relationship with food, you're going to be treading water with your training.

So now that we've gotten the tough love out of the way, here's the soft note: Change doesn't have to come all at once. You can effect it in steps. Showing self-control just one day a week can easily lead to two, and then three, and so on. The feeling you get from that act of inner strength is self-perpetuating. Soon, that one day can become five days, which is all I ask of you. Five days a week of a healthy relationship with food, reached over the course of a 60-day span will signal a quantum shift in your relationship with food — one that will leave you healthier, thinner and more energetic. Trust me, you'll be glad you made the change.