Making peace with food
By Jeremy Peppas
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LITTLE ROCK — Good food. Bad food. It is all just food.
Seems simple enough, but that was the concept that Katie Cobb, the University of Arkansas extension agent in White County was teaching this week in her healthy living class.
“We made peace with food by giving ourselves unconditional permission to eat,” she said. “There are no good or bad foods. Eat what you really want.
Forget about food ‘deals’ like exercise more or skip meals to have something forbidden.” The key, Cobb said, was to make peace with your food and to do so, two things needed to be done:◊Increase knowledge of ways to make eating more satisfying and pleasurable,◊Increase skills in making lifestyle behavior changes that promote healthful eating choices.
Cobb had the class make a list of the foods they enjoyed.
“We journaled about the foods we love,” she said and, “the foods we think are ‘off limits.’” She added, “we legalized food - a process to eliminate guilt and deprivation. Not bingeing or eating out of control but being aware of our bodies’ nutritional needs and hunger signals.” The rules of food were also discussed.
The class had to complete the sentence, “If I legalize food, I am afraid I will ...”
Cobb had answers to choose from: Lose control, gain weight, waste food, harm health and find it gone.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BREAK
Cobb discussed the three gears of walking, and each has a pace. But Cobb said that the best gear isn’t one or the other, but the one that made the person feel most comfortable, the goal being to “walk more and when you are ready, walk more intensely more often.”
◊First gear - easy strolling pace. Equivalent to light gardening.
◊Second gear - medium intensity walking at 3.5 miles an hour. Equivalent to energetic yard work.
◊ Third gear - High-intensity, brisk walking. Equivalent to cross country skiing.
THIS WEEK’S HOMEWORK
Break the rules and buy the one food favorite you selected. Then:
◊Enjoy it when you want it.
◊Focus on the food.
◊Note in your journal how it tastes and how you feel when you eat it.
◊Replenish supplies as needed.
Make your Smart snack bag, see the tips on what goes in it, and increase your daily twominute walks to daily five-minute walks (or increase what you are already doing). Record all changes in your journal.
- jpeppas@ arkansasonline.com
This article was published Sunday, March 16, 2008.
Three Rivers, Pages 121 on 03/16/2008
