The Eating Instinct: Food Culture, Body Image, and Guilt in America
Virginia Sole-Smith
Top 10 Best Quotes
“Diets don’t work because they require us to live in a constant state of war with our bodies. “Whenever you restrict food intake, you’re going to run up against your own biology,” explains Dr. Sharma. “It doesn’t matter what program you follow. As soon as your body senses that there are fewer calories going in than going out, it harnesses a whole array of defense mechanisms to fight that.” When we’re dieting, our bodies try to conserve energy, so our metabolism slows down, the result being that you have to eat even less to keep losing weight. That becomes an increasingly difficult project because our bodies also produce more of the hormones, such as ghrelin, that trigger hunger. There is even some evidence that the bacteria in our guts respond when we eat fewer calories, shifting their populations in ways that will send more hunger signals to our brains.”
“look in the kitchen cupboards of most American households and you are likely to find odd combinations of ingredients or bulk snack-food stashes that have little to do with nutrition and everything to do with childhood, memory, habit.”
“food became something to categorize—whole or processed, real or fake, clean or dirty—and to fear.”
“diets fail us, not the other way around.”
“While it may seem paradoxical, hunger also plays a key role in the development of obesity. “I often hear things like, ‘Those people can’t be hungry—they’re fat!’” says Janet Poppendieck, Ph.D., the author of Free for All: Fixing School Food in America. “But the least healthy, most obesity-inducing calories in our society are often the cheapest.” A study from the University of Washington found that junk food can cost an average of $ 1.76 per 1,000 calories, while more nutritious foods add up to $ 18.16 for the same amount. Food-insecure families may also be more prone to obesity because their bodies are essentially always in crash-diet mode, which ultimately slows down metabolism.”
“We have to get reacquainted with our own innate preferences. We must decide for ourselves what we like and dislike, and how different foods make us feel when we aren’t prejudging every bite we take. It takes its own kind of relentless vigilance to screen out all that noise. It requires accepting that the weight you most want to be may not be compatible with this kind of more intuitive eating—but that it’s nevertheless okay to be this size, to take up the space that your body requires.”
“We feel especially compelled to apologize for enjoying food, for wanting seconds, for appearing to eat even a single bite more than we think we should.”
“To the psychologists, doctors, nutrition scientists, and advocates who champion the Health at Every Size approach, just as to the disciples of Satter’s Division of Responsibility, the answer seems simple: Eat the type and amount of food you want, when you want it. Recognize that all bodies are valuable and worthy of respect. Decide you can make choices for your health without making a moral judgment about your weight. View the goals of nutrition and a more sustainable food system as worthwhile, but not so all-encompassing that they should dictate how you behave at every meal.”
“The bigger issue may be that even among clinicians who work on the mental ramifications of food, the belief is widespread that what a diet does to your body matters more than what it does to your psyche.”
“So it’s our discomfort—and even disgust—with the joy of eating that frightens us. And that’s because of a culture that tells us, in a thousand ways, from the time we first start solid foods, that this comfort cannot be trusted. That we cannot be trusted to know what and how much to eat. We must outsource this judgment to experts who know better—first to our parents; then to teachers; then to food gurus and big brands, who sell us on diets, cleanses, food dogmas, and “lifestyle changes.” We cede our knowledge, our own personal relationship with food, to an entire world built on the premise that we don’t know how to feed ourselves.”
Except where otherwise noted, all rights reserved to the author(s) of this book (mentioned above). The content of this page serves solely as promotional material for the aforementioned book. If you enjoyed these quotes, you can support the author(s) by acquiring the full book from Amazon.
Book Keywords:
