I hate scrambled eggs and also french fries due to unfortunate stomach virus-related incidents. Actually, I don't hate them; when I look at scrambled eggs or french fries, my brain just says "not food." That is, I don't even register them as food anymore. In a less-gross example, my kosher friends tell me that they have the same response to bacon and shellfish. It just does not register as something edible.
Michael Pollan writes that we should call junk food (soda, Cheez Doodles, etc) "edible food-like substances" instead of food, because once we define a thing as "not food" it becomes extremely difficult to then justify consuming that not-food.
I'm working on directing my brain towards not accepting junk food as food, but as an "edible food-like substance." It's not that hard; I've come a long way from the middle schooler who (yes) ate Skittles and salt-and-vinegar chips for lunch. I don't really ever eat candy anymore and I've all but dropped chips (not tortilla ones, however) and haven't touched Cheez Doodles in years. Wouldn't it be incredible if we could harness the awesome power of the gross-out moment (not for eggs or french fries, naturally, but for bad not-food) - not in an Upton Sinclair/Supersize Me/Eating Animals sort of way- but in an extremely personal way, in which our bodies tell us, "this is not food."
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I appreciate this notion of "redirecting" or "retraining" our brains about how we think about food-- in your case, junk food, in my case, carbs.
ReplyDeleteI am a self-proclaimed "carboholic" and I have spent a lot of time and research to "redirect" my predilection for high-starch foods.
Carbohydrates are what my body craves after a long workout or when I am starving for lunch-- but the downside to processing carbs that that coma effect that takes over your body when its trying to breakdown/process the starch.
Retraining my mind (and body) to crave carbs meant finding healthy substitutes for white carbs (bread, pasta, crackers, etc.) Whole wheat and alternative grains are not only better for my body, but also much for satisfying and provide longer-lasting satiation.
I have the "not food" response when it comes to meat, although I am on fish and shellfish now because I am lactating. I think it is a very successful mental strategy.
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