Socialized to be Fat: Our Love Affair with Food

The other day I was at a restaurant ordering take-out. “A small greek salad with grilled octopus, hold the feta cheese please.” Delicious, moderate in protein, fat and low in carbs - it was the type of meal I usually ordered. The owner responded by asking me if I would like to try something else. “Like what?”, I asked. When she showed me the wide assortment on the menu, I declined saying that it did not meet the needs of my diet. “Diet!, why do you need to be on a diet?”, she asked. “Fitness is a big priority in my life and what I eat plays a huge role in maintaining that level of fitness.”, I explained. “Hmmph”, she responded. I noted she was a very beautiful young lady, who with striking Middle Eastern features, was probably 30 pounds more than her ideal weight. “Are you into fitness?”, I asked. “Not when it gets in the way of eating what I love.”, she responded. I then noticed a sign on the wall that stated, “There is no more a sincere love, than the love of food.” It then dawned on me in a different way, why people have difficulty maintaining a dietary lifestyle that will maintain their ideal body weight. It is our love affair with food.

Many popular diet books advocate a cheat day once a week, where you follow a diet Monday through Saturday and then on Sunday you are allowed to eat anything you like. Many of my readers may hate me for saying this, but I liken this approach to the alcoholic being good all week only to binge on Sundays. Granted one day a week will not alter things calorically much in terms of weight loss, but it will psychologically. I remember Sylvester Stallone being interviewed years ago when he was very lean and in the best shape of his life. The reporter noted that his diet largely consisted of chicken, tuna, and broccoli. “Don’t you ever want to breakdown and eat a juicy, fattening hamburger?”, the reporter asked. “Sure I do”, Stallone responded, “but I have gotten used to eating this way and I don’t want to break it.” Well put Sly! When people ask me why I refrain from eating high fat, high sugar, high calorie sweets, I typically respond by telling them that even though I enjoy such foods every bit as much as they do - I have conditioned myself to avoid the temptation of eating them because I have “forgotten” in a sense how good they actually taste. I also know that after I eat these foods, how bad I feel because I can actually feel this food being converted into unwanted fat.

It is known I train amateur and professional boxers. Part of my job as a trainer is to determine my fighters optimum fighting weight as well as ensuring they are at that weight come fight night. A lot easier than said! One of my fighters who fights at 154 pounds - loves caramel machiattos and regularly walks around at 180 pounds. His ideal fighting weight is 147 pounds, but typically competes at 154 pounds. In order for him to comfortably achieve a fighting weight of 147 pounds, he will have to change his walk around weight to the mid 150’s. How can he do this? Hunger is associated with pain. In our society we have grown accustomed to satisfying our hunger with foods that are high in fat, sugar,and calories instead of satiating that hunger with nutritious foods limited in calories that will sculpt out the hard body we admire on the leading fitness magazine covers. The decision is there for us to make the choice on how we satiate our daily “pain” of hunger. Which is why I do not encourage cheat days per se. Instead of accommodating a love of food, I try to instill a love of health and fitness as a priority and food as a means of achieving that priority.

If you have any questions about diet or getting a hard body at any age, please do not hesitate to email me at coachcraig@lifesource.com

Best in health,

Coach Craig