I am so excited! I've been talking with the folks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest
about all sorts of interesting stuff. I am fascinated by all things at
the intersection of science and food. More specifically, eating. CSPI
has been doing some research on temptation and what factors lead us to
"give in" when our goals would suggest we should do otherwise. So
without further delay, I bring you a guest post by Jessica Almy of the
Senior Nutrition Policy Council at the CSPI.
Why We Give In
Guest Post by Jessica Almy, Center for Science
in the Public Interest
I love that Michelle puts into words what so many people struggle
with. Whether we’re trying to lose weight or eat more fruits and
vegetables, we all find ourselves sometimes acting in ways that are at odds
with our long-term goals.
Why is it so hard? In a perfect world, we would set goals for
ourselves, make choices consistent with those goals, and live happily ever after,
right? There would be no late-night binges and no feelings of regret or moments
of weakness. We’d only buy the foods on our grocery lists, and when we
eat out, we’d keep portions modest and ignore the basket of chips.
In this fictional food world, there would be no candy displays at
the supermarket checkout and no tantalizing food ads on television. Food
companies wouldn’t bother to spend billions of dollars to market particular
food products to us. Instead, they would scramble to reformulate their
foods to compete with Big Broccoli.
That’s not real life though. In real life, our decisions
suffer when we’re tired, stressed out, or have had a tough day. We
respond to cues to eat that we may not even be conscious of. And food
companies bombard us with marketing, ranging from TV and internet ads to
displays at the supermarket.
Research shows that urges to eat are more frequent than urges to
sleep, drink, and have sex combined. When those urges are at odds with
what we want for ourselves - as they often are - they become a source of stress
that can make it harder to make good choices going forward.
Just as people living in poverty have a harder time resisting
temptation after they’ve made financial choices, people who are dieting have
stronger physiological responses to the sight and smell of food than people who
are not dieting. These stronger responses actually make it harder to
resist. And it’s not just dieters who are more susceptible to temptation
either. Adolescents, perfectionists,
people under the influence of alcohol, and people who are sleep deprived (like
most new parents) are too.
No one is immune though. Self-control is like a muscle that
fatigues with use. It’s one thing to pass up pastries in a bakery window
on the way to work, but it can feel entirely different on the way home, after
sitting through a meeting that required us to hold our tongues and
resist the lure of a candy dish on a colleague’s desk all day.
Simply put, when we’re tired or stressed, it’s harder to make good
decisions.
Plus, most of us cannot trust our sensations of hunger to guide us
to eat optimally. The sensation of hunger is not just the physiological
need for calories—it can result from environmental cues, the passage of time,
or the anticipation of an eating occasion.
In one study, a group of women were exposed to the smell of baking
pizza and/or asked to write about pizza for 10 minutes, while another group did
not receive any pizza cues. Afterward, researchers gave all the women
pizza to eat and asked them to fill out a survey. The women exposed to
the pizza cues consumed significantly more pizza than the other women.
The environmental factors we contend with on a daily basis
influence our food purchases and consumption, often in ways that are hidden or
beyond conscious cognition, making healthy eating a struggle.
Consider the grocery store. Retailers use displays and sales
promotions to prompt us to buy and eat particular foods. Supermarkets
don’t put candy only in the candy aisle.
They entice shoppers to buy candy they pass in the seasonal aisle, on
end caps, and in line at checkout.
We recently looked at the foods, beverages, and products promoted
at checkout
in 30 chain stores, and we found that nearly every store
pushed candy or soda at checkout. Many of these stores are not even in
the business of selling food.
We can’t even buy electronics without facing candy and soda at the
register. How can we be expected to
resist temptation every moment of every day?
Being mindful of the factors that make it harder to make good
decisions is a positive first step toward healthy eating. But it’s not enough. It’s not possible
to eliminate stress and fatigue from our lives altogether.
We also need to work together to make it easier to live in ways
that are consistent with our long-term goals. That’s basically what we do at the Center for Science in the Public
Interest. We try to make healthy eating
easier. To join this effort, click
here.
Last week I looked up meetings and found one that could fit my schedule on a weekly basis. It's a lunchtime meeting and the bonus is, it's led by Sandy (and Stan is the receptionist). Sandy is a 14 year maintainer (who also happens to run the monthly Lifetimers meeting). Stan is a fellow runner. The two of them have great, supportive, we-know-what-it's-like attitudes. I walked in with zero shame, zero anything, to say I'm here, I'm over my goal weight by 6.4 pounds, 153.4 is my current weight. By the way, that weight puts me back into the overweight category according to the BMI. Can I say I was wearing jeans? At least they still fit.
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