I’m back from ten days of gorging myself on paella, tapas, and Iberian ham (and not gaining even a pound). I know it sounds like a bougie statement of the obvious, but the noticeable absence of obesity in that country astounds me. Even the most rural towns have a patisserie on every block. I guess people don’t overindulge in them because they subconsciously follow a rule that a very smart lady once taught me: “Treats live at the store.”There’s something very invigorating about enjoying every meal and walking 10 miles a day without counting, thinking, or stressing. If only there was a way to live that way here in the USA… oh wait… there’s somebody teaching a course on doing just that!
That's the thing that keeps me 'sticking to the plan.'
Total enjoyment.
[Real] food isn't complicated. It's not scary. No one has to be afraid to satiate their hunger or, god forbid, experience pleasure from eating.
Taken a step further, your body doesn't need apps or drugs (in most cases) to figure out how much to eat. It just knows. We've evolved a nearly perfect system of hunger, satiation, and food that speaks to both.
Nowhere is that more visible than when an American goes to Europe. I can talk until I'm blue in the face about the role of real food, processed food, and the availability of sufficient movement, but one quick trip across the pond makes the case pretty elegantly.
The realization that living in another culture fixes a problem you attributed to willpower/hormones/carbs is often profound.
What if we've got it all wrong?
How is it possible that other cultures eat, live, and maintain a healthy weight (with the occasional patisserie)?
Europeans eat well and often.
I know, because that's how I eat. I loooooove mealtime. It's not uncommon for me to do a little chair dance at a restaurant as my dish arrives. I eat two breakfasts, a late lunch, a big snack, dinner, and fruit to finish off the day. I have zero care about eating late or too early. My hunger is my guiding force.
Get this: https://www.notanotherdiet.co/thehungerpractice
But!
There are constraints, not on me but on what I choose to be around or bring home. Moderation or constraints aren't dirty words if they don't leave you at war with your body. Eating too much or too little is self-injurious.
Rhythm is the goal.
To do that, the primary constraints are diet quality (real food) and an environment that limits exposure to anything else. It's simple but not easy, but the lack of ease has nothing to do with you and everything to do with how you live.
- How does your life make it hard to walk?
- What's your attitude about moving your body to get somewhere or do tasks?
- Is your diet based on whole or minimally processed foods?
- Why does a life with no time to make food feel normal?
- What are people eating around you?
- Are you chronically stressed?
Your reality is only what is now.
The obesity crisis is a little more than 60 years old, but humans have lived for 300,000 years. It's tempting to think that the problem is simply abundance. There's just too much of everything available at all times. While that's true, what's available matters far more. If grocery stores were mainly produce, meat, legumes, and whole grains, it wouldn't matter how vast the quantities are. It would still be pretty easy to have a healthy weight.
It's important to take a bird's-eye view of chronic, widespread problems.
- It's not you.
- It hasn't always been this way.
Freedom comes from relieving yourself of the burden of becoming a different person and instead, changing your circumstances.
Two good options: go to Europe, or stick with me.
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Yours in joyful eating and living,
Rebecca ✌️
