Monday Daily Dynamics – Health - We are what we eat (1)

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Where does the phrase “we are what we eat” come from?

1826 - Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote in Physiologie du Gout, ou Medidtations de Gastronomie Trancendante;
“Dis-moi ce que tu manges, jet e dirai ce que tu es” – translate in English it means a man is what he eats.

1920 - The actual phrase did not emerge in English until later. Victor Lindlahr developed the Catabolic Diet in the 1920s. He was a strong believer that food control health. The first known printed example of this phrase was in an advert for beef in 1923 in an edition of the Bridgeport Telegraph;
“Ninety percent of the diseases known to man are caused by cheap foodstuffs. You are what you eat”

1960 – The phrase got a new lease of life in the hippy era and was adopted for healthy eating. Adelle Davis, a leading spokesperson for the organic food movement, attributes her cancer to the junk food she had eaten at college.

2004 - You are what you eat is a dieting program aired by the BBC with presenter Gillian McKeith. Gillian is a holistic nutritionist that helps unhealthy eaters to break a lifetime of bad habits.

2023 – This is your year and only you can determine what you eat.

If we truly are what we eat then what do your eating habits say about you?

To enable you to answer this question you first need to do a bit of self-investigating by answering three questions.

· Why do you eat?
· How do you eat?
· When do you eat?

Gosh, it sounds complicated, doesn’t it? And also hard to believe that all these questions can influence your eating habit.

Why do you eat?

We all know that to enable us to survive we have to eat. Food provides energy and food keeps our bodies strong. The body knows what is needed but the problem is that we do not listen to what our bodies tell us.

We will find many reasons why we have to eat like, for celebrations, for a sense of belonging, to express our appreciation, as part of a family or religious custom, for stimulation, and for self-realization. We often also eat because we see other people eating. Shocking but true.

If you look in your diary I am sure you will find a birthday in almost every month of the year. Whatever your reason might be, stop and listen to what your body is telling you.

If you understand the reason why you are eating you can re-engineer your thinking about food and not restrict what you eat.

The most beautiful Afrikaans (my home language) word is "lekker". I don't think that there is another word in another language that can make "nice" sound so good.

To eat is lekker! Hence the reason that we should never compromise our eating habits but rather change them to suit our ways of living.

How do you eat?

The first thing that you think of to answer is that you eat with a knife and fork as it is etiquette or you eat with your hands as it is your culture. BUT, this is not what I am referring to. I am referring to your eating pattern.

I believe that people eat according to the way that they have been brought up. We learn about eating habits from a little as a toddler. What does a mother do when she feels cold? She tells the children to put on jerseys. Exactly the same principle when eating. Mom craves something nice and to not feel bad when eating it she shares it with the children. I am sure that many of you can relate to this.

Mom will cook what she likes and sooner or later you will cook the same. When we leave home and later when we have a partner the ways we eat do change.

We are no longer under mom’s wings and now have to provide for ourselves. Quickly we get lazy to prepare food for one person and we start shopping in the fast food section of the food stores and bad habits are formed.

It is a known fact that those who prefer fast foods instead of cooking their own meals consume more fat and cholesterol and less of the nutrients that the body needs to stay healthy.

Believe it or not, we all first eat with our eyes. The way we present our food is therefore of utmost importance.

When I was a restaurant owner we even had a member of staff inspecting the plates of food before it goes out. It had to be picture perfect even if it was just a hamburger. I always told them that for me as a restaurant owner location is everything and for them as waiters, presentation is everything.

I once read about a study researches conducted on the presentation of food and the impact thereof.
They took 3 groups of participants and serve them the same ordinary brownies but in different ways.

Make every effort to make your food look good even if you are on a weight-loss program. Healthy food like broccoli can look amazing on your plate.

When do you eat?

We know about meals and snacks.

A meal is known as the food served and eaten at one time. A meal is different than a snack. A meal is larger and more filling than a snack and is eaten at certain times of the day. We normally have three meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

A snack consists of a small amount of food or beverages and is eaten between meals.

Oh yah, let’s not forget that afternoon tea.
An afternoon tea, as known by the British and now also served in other countries, is a light meal eaten between 3 and 5 in the afternoon. They are those “tea and cucumber sandwich” treats.

· We eat because, with the first growl of our stomachs, we think we are hungry. This normally is a false hunger alarm and will go away. If you stick to your meal planner you will not die of hunger.

· We eat because our bodies crave to eat, well so we think. The urge to eat is normally powered by our thoughts, remembering that piece of cake that is left in the kitchen.

· We eat because we have the desire to eat. This is when your body tells you that you had enough to eat but you still find a place for dessert.

Whether you are on a weight loss program or not, you should eat a minimum of three balanced meals a day and two snacks.
Meals: 350 to 600 calorie
Snacks: 150 and 200 calories

Unfortunately, when you are overweight or obese you do overlook the set times for meals and snacks as well as the portion size.

This can be overcome when you restrain your eating. How? Hide the unhealthy food, put the healthy food where ever you can see it, and finally drink a glass of water if you feel peckish.

Now it is time for you to answer those three questions;

· Why do you eat?
· How do you eat?
· When do you eat?

See you next week with the next set of questions.

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