+ Nutrition
and More*

By Kate Fisher

Kate Fischer, MS, RD, LD is the managing partner of Edge Performance Fitness, LLC, Portland, OR. She offers group fitness classes, and personal nutrition counseling.

503-265-8685
kate@edgeperformancefitness.com
www.edgeperformancefitness.com

*The information contained herein is not intended to diagnose or treat ANY medical condition. Always consult your physician before beginning any new exercise or treatment.

Resolve to Be Better to Yourself
Teachings from the Past to Eat More Mindfully

Grandpa's pumpkin pride.
Potatoes and apples from Grandpa's garden and orchard.

The holidays, most especially the New Year, provide us with reminders to reflect on our past, where our lives have come from, what influences us in the present, and how both the past and present shape our future. Food and our feelings toward food are strongly influenced by our past (biology, survival, familial traditions) and the present (technological advances, food availability). Food choices and food availability have shifted considerably as our country moved toward more processed, packaged, convenience-style food over time. This matched similar shifts in our lives — technology has taken the place of manual labor, the convenience of cars takes away the need for walking or biking, and our perceived “busy-ness” makes convenience, well, convenient. This is in significant contrast to what we may have found several decades ago, where food choices were influenced more strongly by seasonality, local availability, slow food preparation, and eating experiences centered more around family and connectivity than expedience.

This season, I reflect on lessons from my grandfather, originating from my memories spent on his small farm in rural Wisconsin. My grandfather was born in 1906, and saw a significant shift in food and food choices, not to mention technological advancement in food preparation, over his century-long life. Despite the growing desire for convenience in our society, my grandfather, even at the age of 100, stuck to the ways of tradition, and thus I was able to experience, appreciate, and employ such ways in my own life. My grandfather consumed much of his own produce (apples, potatoes, corn, raspberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squashes, pumpkin), and meat (either from his own animals or in his later years from a local butcher just miles away), and had very simple, traditional, and mindful ways of eating.

As food choices have become more processed, more global, and subsequently more marketable, there also appears to be a heightened preoccupation with food that manifests in overeating, eating disorders, disordered eating behaviors, and significant confusion as to what to or what not to eat. This adds a huge stressor into many of our lives. This psychological stress, coupled with the stress of unhealthy eating choices, rapidly fuels the fire when it comes to chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes.

So, how do we shift this frenzied preoccupation with food back to that mindset of my grandfather? By eating mindfully, eating to satisfy but not overstuff, and eating tasteful, natural foods that nourish both the mind and the body.

Here are a few reflections I learned from my grandfather and his farm that may help you be better to you, your body, and your mind.

1. Take time to truly experience the food you choose to eat — notice its texture, flavor, mouth feel, colors, etc. My grandfather had an eight-tree apple orchard of Macintosh apples. As a child I remember favoring these small subtly sweet yet tart treats over candy. I would eat apple upon apple, much like my friends would eat cookies or candy. Compare that to biting into the ever-present, ever-available red delicious apple. If we have shared experiences, you may find your bite to be chewy. This is often because of the time the apple spends in transit, traveling thousands upon thousands of miles before it reaches your mouth, or the time it is stored, so that apples may be available year round.

Taste the food you eat — notice if you even like the flavor of some of the foods you commonly eat. Choosing an apple over candy is great for health reasons, but if you can enjoy that apple, it’s even better. If you don’t, seek out another option and start enjoying the foods you choose.

2. Along those lines, it’s important to slow down, both to be able to taste your food, but again to enjoy and truly experience the meal. Most meals I recall from the farm were accompanied by time for gathering, preparation, and conversing while we enjoyed the foods. It was a time to relax, discuss the day, and enjoy the fruits of your labors.

Physiologically, this slowing down also allows your body time to recognize fullness, which can reduce your overall intake. Unfortunately, slow and relaxed, discussion-filled meals have been replaced with eating on-the-go, in the car, or those five minutes at home you spend forcing large spoonfuls of tasteless food into open mouths before rushing out the door. So instead, take smaller bites, pause between spoonfuls or even set your utensil down, and allow your body to recognize and connect with what you have eaten. Pause long enough and you will feel the sensation of full before you become overfull.

3. Choose local, seasonal foods and pay attention to the difference in flavor without the need for additional high fat or high sugar ingredients. My grandfather, aside from his apples, was known for his prized potatoes. Often, we would eat the potatoes without any added condiments or seasonings. They were naturally flavored by the earth they grew in and this taste was satisfactorily enjoyable without needing loads of butter, cream, or salt. Reconsider the apple — and how good that first juicy bite can be from an orchard ripe apple versus those hotel or convenience store varieties. For another example, think of how a tomato tastes in winter versus that fresh, off-the-vine taste of a local farmer’s market tomato.

4. Pay attention to how food influences how you feel. Consider the packaged sweets from the vending machine that leave your energy plummeting minutes after. If you choose higher-fiber, natural foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, the nature of the food will leave you satisfied longer, and keep your energy level up hours after.

5. Listen and pay attention to what your body is telling you it needs. My grandfather spent a brief stint in the hospital at 99 and intuitively asked my brother one day for fresh oranges. It turned out they had increased his dose of Lasix. Lasix increases potassium losses, and I believe intuitively, my grandpa requested a food rich in potassium. We may not always know the origin of cravings, and many times, they very well have emotional ties — like choosing your favorite food on a stressful day, but they may also have physiological meaning and listening to those cues may have a very positive effect on your body.

6. Lastly, it is important to be aware of the changes you want to make and be certain you are committed to them before you set yourself up for failure. The traditional Stages of Change model indicates if we are not ready to change, successful change is very difficult. When my grandfather was 99, they tried to tell him to cut back on his salt intake. He went 90 years without a prescription drug, and there was no way at 99 he was going to even consider reducing his use of salt. Be aware of why you are making a change and your internal commitment. If you are truly committed to the change you want to make you are much more likely to do so. If you are not, step back and consider the barriers to your commitment before you try to change.

This new year, let’s all step back and learn a lesson from those who went before. Let’s strive to be better to ourselves, fuel ourselves mindfully so that not only our body can rejoice from the healthy foods, but also our minds can finally rest from our negative thoughts of our body and food.