“Treat yo self!”
Donna Meagle and Tom Haverford
Parks and Recreation.
I used that quote as number one, how many times have you uttered something along those lines yourself in regards to rewarding yourself for a job well done? And number two, it is one of my all time favourite shows.
By the way, there is absolutely nothing wrong with rewarding yourself for something you have done well with. The topic for me with you today is reframing our views on food as a reward mechanism.
There is some pretty strong societal conditioning around lots of things we do and can be made to feel guilty for, not least of all is how we treat food and in the long run, how we see it for ourselves.
We have all heard, ‘oh c’mon, one slice won’t hurt’, or ‘you’ve worked hard, you deserve a treat’. And in the big scheme of things, one slice of whatever or a little treat somewhere along the line won’t be a major setback or even detrimental to you. But it is the view that certain foods can be used as a reward for a period of maybe extreme diet and exercise.
I have been guilty of advocating what is known as ‘cheat day’. The idea being you are great and really strict six days a week, and on one day, you just go all out! While for some people this can be amazing, for a lot of us, the vast majority, it creates a pretty unhealthy relationship with food.
We begin to see this cycle of restriction and complete freedom, which is just not a good long term solution.
You are now nodding along, but also thinking, ‘well Jim, what is the answer then???’.
And it really is like I said it is a reframing. Yes this will take some work, but oh it is so worth the effort.
Food should be used, and seen as, support for your day to day efforts. As fuel for your tasks at hand, for your efforts. It isn’t a punishment to eat well. To consume lots of veggies and fruit, to eat good protein and carbohydrate sources is far from punishment, it is essential for a good life, it is a foundation for overall great wellbeing.
Culturally when we gather round it tends to have food as the focus point of a social meeting.
There are morning tea meetings, dinners for birthdays and religious observations, all steeped in deep rooted traditions. These events should be celebrated and enjoyed. They are after all the exceptions to day to day life, not the norm.
I want you to think about the tales about Christmas dinner, and how everyone has this huge dinner, and it is followed by dessert and maybe plenty of alcohol too. And how we talk about old Uncle Percy falling asleep in front of the TV by mid afternoon.
Do you think all that indulgence and such is really the best fuel for everyday life?
If you are training in the gym or not, the fuel you provide yourself should have you feeling energetic, not sluggish, not bloated, nor upset in the stomach.
The big point here is that you need to notice and note. Take notice of when you eat something, how do you feel afterwards? How do you feel performing your daily activities? Then make note of it. This will take a little effort but it is worth it!
Does sourdough bread have you feeling great afterwards, no bloat, and a good steady stream of energy? Good! Here is something you can include in your nutrition regime!
Do chickpeas have you feeling bloated and incredibly flatulent with a slightly upset stomach? OK, maybe ease back on them (for yours and everyone’s sake haha)
Once you have worked out which foods you enjoy and give you a good steady stream of energy through the day, then you can set about making up some amazing meals with them. Always remember that herbs and spices are your friends! They really can help make even something considered super bland an incredibly tasty dish!
And that slice of cake/pizza? Enjoy it at the party, or at your friends place watching footy/movies, it isn’t a treat or a reward, it is just an enjoyable occasion with friends and family. But do the notice and note afterwards too. How did you feel? Were you fueled well?
I really don’t like to compare people to things anymore, but a half decent analogy is comparing a tractor to a formula 1 race car. Both are single seater vehicles, both have four wheels and a lot of horsepower. But, both have very different tasks, much like two different people.
If you were to put diesel in the formula 1, it would not actually run at all. And if you put E10 in the tractor, it would run really hot to start, and then likely blow up the engine.
And two people can be similar to this. Two different foods (fuels) can have two different outcomes on two different people. For an extreme example, a marathon runner would have a very different regime to a 50m swimmer. And even with similar goals, ie weight loss, increased performance in the gym, two people will have differing regimes.
However they will both succeed when they see that they are refueling themselves, not rewarding themselves.
When we switch our minds over to fuel and not comfort or reward we can see that what we eat supports us day in day out. If we are feeling sluggish, tired, heavy in the stomach etc, then we aren’t really rewarding ourselves anyway, are we?