Article in today's New York Times: Why do we not eat healthily?

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/04/15/do-we-need-more-advice-about-eating-well/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120416

A major point I don't see in the discussion (granted I sped read here) is that we don't eat well because we are running around stressed and are too scared to slow down.  And for good reason--chronic economic and emotional stress can make it feel like there's no time for slowing down, and faster is better.  It's easy to wolf down a meal of any sort if we are wolfing.  But what would it be like to eat slowly and mindfully at McDonald's?  That would be an interesting experiment--to slow down fast food and see what happens to those who partake.  I would imagine the nutritional value of the food would improve dramatically. 

Author Marc David shows research in his book The Slow Down Diet that if we eat food with enjoyment, connectedness to others, and a sense of relaxation, we are significantly better able to absorb the nutrients in the food.  Conversely,  if we are worried about anything, but particularly about the harm our food might do to us (Is it fattening? Am I cheating on my diet? Is this going to make me sick?, etc.) the cortisol running through our systems will do it's job well.  It will shut down proper digestion as an adaptive response to danger.  If we are stressed, we save energy for fight or flight and the blood will move out of the gut to the arms and legs in order to respond to the danger. 

So the next time you eat (are you eating now?), slow it down, enjoy your food, do what you are doing while you do it, and notice the results.   For more support, come to our Mindful Eating Group Tuesdays, 5:30 to 7p in Downtown Boulder.  For more information: http://www.greatblueheron.org/how-we-eat-group

Mindful Eating Group Begins Tuesday, April 10th

Enjoy Eating Again!!

Mindful Eating Group

• Practice being totally awake while eating, enjoying all your sensations
• Feel your creativity and motivation to change
• Share your experience with others
• Join a community of others building support around eating
Please bring your own dinner or snack to eat.
Tuesdays 5:30 to 7 p.m., ongoing, begins April 10 2012.

Investment: $150 monthly for all meetings that month or $45 to drop-in anytime.
1628 Walnut Street, Boulder, CO 80302
To register and for more information, contact:
Jenny Epstein Kessem, MA, LPC, BC-DMT
jepstein@greatblueheron.org | 303.847.5356
www.greatblueheron.org

Satisfied

Some comments from people at the end of yesterday's How We Eat event, exploring Addiction, Motivation and Reward:
"Peaceful."
"Content."
"Relaxed."
"Satisfied."
Thanks to all for such a nourishing event.  We meet the first Sunday of every month for How We Eat events.  Next month's event, July 3rd, will focus on What our Culture and the Media Teach us about Body Image.   August 7th's theme will be Food Politics.  September 4th's theme will be Trusting the Body/Sensation: Reconnecting with Hunger.   Until then, I am looking forward to continuing the conversations here.

Addiction, Motivation and Reward

How We Eat workshop this Sunday, June 1st, 1-4pm

Nomad Community House, Boulder

more info: greatblueheron.org/how-we-eat-group 

I am a mushroom hunter.  Not the magic mushroom variety, mind you, but delicious edible mushrooms used for cooking.  In the late summer in Colorado, there is a wild edible mushroom that grows in very specific environments.  It's called Boletus Edulis, otherwise known as porcini, and it is beautiful.   My yearly hunts for this delicious mushroom have taught me something about addiction, motivation and reward.   How can this be?, you may ask.

You see, it is not so easy to find this mushroom, and it cannot be cultivated.  It is only found in the wild, and in Colorado for only a few weeks of the year under the right conditions.  When I do find one, it is an exciting and gratifying moment--the sight and smell of a porcini mushroom is unbelievable.  As soon as I find one, I am hooked.  The animal parts of my brain record the light conditions, temperature, soil condition, and smells of the zone where I found the mushroom, and I immediately set off to find similar zones nearby where more mushrooms might be growing.   It is very hard to stop looking once I have found one.   The more I find, the more I want to find.   I have found myself picking more mushrooms than I could possibly use, just because the hunt is so much fun.   I have felt totally out of control, unable to stop even though it's getting dark or I am hungry or have somewhere to be.

Does this sound familiar?   I understand this process to be my dopamine pathways at work.  Like other animals, we have evolved with a system that encourages us to repeat behaviors that give a reward.  If we find a wild mushroom (or other good food, or cigarette, or gambling win, etc), we get a hit of dopamine, a neurotransmitter related to reward.  It feels good in a stimulating kind of way. 

Once this dopamine hit begins to wear off, we want to feel this good again, and will look for more of that thing to have the same feel-good experience.   But the brain quickly acclimates, and will need more and more of the thing to get the same feel-good response.  This is how we are wired for addiction.  It works for similarly for food, substances, gambling, sex, exercise, shopping, and anything else that might addict you.

What gives you a dopamine hit?  How does it hook you?  Can you have more control over this cascade of events?  How can you make this system work to your benefit?  

Come to the How We Eat workshop this Sunday, 1-4pm, to find out more.  

 Click here for more info on How We Eat

How We Eat event this Sunday, May 1st, 1-4pm, Nomad Community House

I am proud to say I have just created my first blog, and I am excited to begin the conversations about How We Eat. As I created the blog, I sat in Pekoe teahouse in Boulder and ate roasted macadamia nuts. Although I had lovingly roasted them this morning, I did not really enjoy them as they went down. How can we be plugged in to technology and also really experience our food at the same time. Is this possible?