Obviously I am different than most people in our society- as I love to move, exercise and eat real food as I feel better when I make healthy choices. When I travel on airplanes I am always fascinated on our “Standard American Diet” when I walk around the food areas of the airport and then watching people’s eating habits on the airplane. I know vacations are often thought of a time to “splurge” and eat whatever you want but do people really pay attention to how they feel after they consume processed foods, sugars, grains and alcohol?
I find that so many of us, myself included some days, eat so quickly that we are not aware of what we are eating or how the food tastes! Plus we often are multi-tasking and not focused on enjoying the food we eat- often just eating because food is in front of us, boredom or it is free!
Do you ever get an opportunity to sit in first class where you often are given a meal and free drinks? I sat by a friendly kind man on my early flight on Friday. He was definitely overweight- large belly, stressed and tired. His job requires him to make day trip every two weeks to San Diego from Seattle. When we were seated- the flight attendants offered us orange juice or coffee then a meal was served during the 2:45 hour flight. This man had the orange juice (sugar), coffee with sugar then ate everything on his plate plus the biscotti cookies that came with the drinks. Did he really taste the food? Did he feel good after the meal? Was he even hungry when he ate the food? How well did the food digest? Did he chew his food enough to help in the digestion process? I notice many people drink alcoholic beverages on the plane just because they are free but they don’t really need it. Do we eat and drink just because it is in front of us and even more because it is free? Or do we know how to say no thank you- I am not hungry and I feel good now?
This is an example of what is the new normal for our “SAD” eating habits- we are not aware of our body signals when we are hungry (grenhlin hormone) and when we are full as well as the taste of foods and how our body reacts to certain foods. Do you know which foods gives you a bloated belly? Gas? Indigestion?
Then I was at a hotel Friday night that included free breakfast. I stopped by the breakfast buffet after my walk/run and noticed what everyone was eating- again the “SAD” = Standard American Diet. Even though the breakfast buffet had eggs and sausage (not the best source or quality) everyone seemed to eat the cereal, toast, bagels, muffins, and oatmeal plus with fruit juice and coffee. Carbohydrate addiction! Blood sugar roller coaster! We are not training our bodies to burn fat at rest and low intensity exercise or movement when we eat these processed high carbohydrate manufactured foods.
Slow our pace in life- including how we eat and drink. Enjoy our meals and taste of the foods. Real food tastes better as well as eating the right amount (see podcast on Metabolic Typing) of healthy fats, clean proteins and real carbohydrates! Plus we can teach our bodies how to burn fat and get off the blood sugar roller coaster if we eat right for our type!
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