Monday, September 27, 1999
The no-diet diet
'Mindful eating' follows self-discovered path to nutrition
BY SUE MacDONALD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Mary Morrissey realizes that the idea she promotes is not what most people expect to hear from a registered dietitian.
The first time she lectured about “mindful eating” at a professional seminar, in fact, she felt she was “out in a rowboat by myself in the middle of the ocean.”
Turns out she's not alone with her message: In the name of good eating and even better health, dismantle the food pyramid.
Throw out the food-measurement scales. Quit the meticulous counting, weighing, mixing and measuring of every carb, gram and ounce of food that goes into your mouth.
While a national physicians' group is asking the federal government to revise the food pyramid on the grounds that its reliance on meat and dairy products remains unhealthy, especially for minorities, Ms. Morrissey is fine with getting rid of it altogether.
She's one of a growing number of food, diet and health experts who advocate a less rigid, more natural approach to eating, one that gives people freedom over what they eat and takes them out of the cyclical and futile trap of dieting and weight loss programs.
Honest.
When people listen to their bodies and pay attention to natural, inborn in messages about hunger, satisfaction, fulfillment and enjoyment, she says, they can develop healthy relationships with food, not obsessive and unhealthy behaviors built around it.
She's joining a growing chorus of women's advocates and food experts who feel that America's obsession with regimented eating is largely a matter of learning the difference between “head hunger” and “stomach hunger.”
“Our culture has taught us to get our information about food and eating from outsiders — the latest diet book, a doctor, a diet expert — but we're really all born with an intuitive ability about how to nourish ourselves,” says Ms. Morrissey, a registered dietitian with the Mercy Holistic Health & Wellness Center in Anderson Township and teacher of a program called “Mindful Eating.”
“I think we've been very influenced by the science of health instead of listening to our own bodies,” she says. “We're living in a very fast-food, processed-food, eat-on-the-run, Hamburger Helper kind of society.”
And quite frankly, the results are less than impressive. America is now a supersize-it nation in which every other person can be classified as overweight, and 1-in-3 is obese. There's a generation-to-generation mania about thinness, dieting and weight loss (especially among women and girls), even though studies prove that diets are a whopping failure — 95 percent of people who try to lose weight regain it.
“People still want magic, but the reality starting to sink in os that there is no magic,” says Ellen Shuman, founder and director of Acoria Center in Hyde Park, a program for weight loss and eating disorders. “Long-term weight loss is not going to come from a diet. "Mindful eating' is unquestionably the way to go, but the question is: how do you get there?”
@subhed:A big leap
@rbody:
Certainly, listening to your body's innate signals isn't going to work if those signals are seriously skewed. People who are compulsive overeaters, bulimics, anorexics or who simply can't control their cravings need help from a therapist and a nutrition counselor or dietitian to find their way to mindful eating, Ms. Morrissey says.
As unusual as it sounds, problems that people usually relate to food rarely are food-related, Ms. Morrissey and Ms. Shuman agree. People's struggles with pounds, dieting, body image, overeating and food control usually are about the emotional messages and conflicts that fuel the behavior.
What emotions do you feel every time you crave a Twinkie, a piece of chocolate or a salty bag of chips? Why does life feel so out of control that measuring every single gram and ounce of food is the only way to regain control?
Many people interested in losing weight are shooting for the wrong goal, Mrs. Morrissey says, because studies show that simple weight loss is not a good motivation for long-term success.
“People think that the desire to lose weight is a very strong motivation,” she says. “But we've seen time and time and again that it's not. When you can connect a behavior change with a core value — that's when it becomes meaningful.
What people often don't ask is, “If I lose 20 pounds, then what? What will I do and feel then? What change do I hope to come from losing weight?”
Is the goal simply to look better? To become more productive? To feel better? To have more energy? Prevent a history of disease? Be a better person? Confront the problems or feelings that food is covering up?
“Diets don't work because, for many people, this is not a body problem,” Ms. Shuman says. “It's a head problem. What you do with a diet is you hassle the body but you don't touch the head stuff.”
Dieting, weigh-ins, counting and food restrictions often give people an artificial sense of control, Ms. Shuman says, but the regimented behaviors ignore what people are really struggling with: loneliness, boredom, too much stress, anxiety, unhappiness, unrealized dreams, low self-esteem, maybe even a history of neglect or victimization.
“Most people caught in this cycle don't have a clue what is going on,” she says. “They just think it's about a lack of willpower.”
Once people figure out the emotional and lifestyle aspects behind unhealthy eating, they can begin to adopt natural behaviors that nourish the body, provide enjoyment and are rational, balanced and satisfying, Ms. Morrissey says.
“The eating disorder is never about food,” Ms. Morrissey says. “It's about dealing with emotions and beginning to trust the body's wisdom again.”
@subhed:Intuitive eating
@rbody:
“Mindful eating” is a new concept for many people, because it is intuitive and unregulated. But Ms. Morrissey often uses simple exercises to help people incorporate it into daily life.
She encourages them to pay attention to the body's signals when it's hungry and when it's full. What does your stomach feel like when it's hungry? How does the head feel? The mouth and throat? What sensations come from chewing, smelling and tasting food? What happens when eating is slowed down and enjoyed, step by step? How long does it take for the body to feel physically full? What are those sensations, and how do they differ from hunger?
In one of her class exercises, she encourages participants to compare the tastes, smells, sensations and joys of eating an all-natural orange with the experience of eating a processed, prepackaged Slimfast bar or a canned protein shake.
Simple exercises like those can help people begin to understand what “mindful” eating is.
And while nutritionists disagree about the best combinations of foods for optimum health, most agree on a few basic concepts:
• Whole foods are more nutritious than processed foods.
• Some fat is necessary in the diet, but too much is not healthy.
• There are no “good” foods and “bad” foods as long as no one goes overboard. As in everything, moderation is the key.
• Meatless diets are fine but they're not for everyone.
“For a lot of people, this idea is so far from where they are now that it's overwhelming,” Ms. Morrissey says. “Some people need to make the changes gradually, while some who make quick overhaul changes in how they eat often see results quicker and stick with it more.
“There's no one right way and one wrong way to eat,” she says. “You just have to do it with the right intentions.”
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