The Psychology of Nutrition: PART 1

You wake up one morning and get on the scale.  It’s higher than usual (let’s say by 10 pounds.)   It’s been several weeks since you’ve weighed, but you certainly didn’t think it would be that high!  You knew you’re clothes were feeling a little tight though.  How do you respond to this?

You’re going to grab a banana for breakfast that morning instead of eating the bowl of cereal you’ve been eating.  In your mind you know you need to eat less to get the weight off.  So, let’s start with breakfast.  Then, even though you’re hungry by 9:45 a.m., you hold out until 11:15 for lunch by drinking diet coke or coffee all morning.  Your co-workers are going across the street to Chili’s.  You think, “Oh, I can handle this…I’ll just order a salad.”

You eat the entire salad because salads are good for you right?  You’re not hungry for the rest of the afternoon, but you do start getting sleepy around 3:00 p.m.  You always wonder what causes that.  In the past, you go get something off of someone else’s desk to eat like candy or chocolate.  That always does the trick.  So you do that to wake up a little.

Dinner comes and you eat your normal dinner whatever that is.  This goes on for a few days.

Now, it’s Thursday and your friend’s birthday.  You all go to Mellow Mushroom for pizza.  In your mind, you’re thinking one slice of pizza can’t be that bad.  But, to get ready for the evening you eat your banana for breakfast but bring a lean cuisine for lunch.  You’re trying to save up all the calories you can for the evening.  You get out of Mellow Mushroom with only 2 slices of pizza, a dinner salad (I guess to undo the bad), and a beer.  Their beers come in schooners.

The next day you get on the scale because you weigh on Fridays.  All the hard work you thought you did that week did nothing for you.  You’re up 1.3 pounds.  You’re frustrated so you eat your banana and take your lean cuisine to work Friday.  That night after dinner you’re super hungry.  You start eating popcorn because you heard it was healthy.  But a spoon full of peanut butter sounds good too.  After a bag of popcorn, 3 spoons of peanut butter and a bowl of cereal, you feel nothing but guilt.

To be continued….