Foods and What They Can Tell Us About Our Current Mentality!
By: Gorphy Sanon
Tags: Choices, Food, Psychology, Emotional Intelligence, Perspective

We’ve all heard the saying “You’re what you eat!”, but is there more to it than meets the eye? It’s true we are meant to enjoy food and I encourage people to enjoy the foods they eat. I’ve yet to mention that sacrifices are meant to be made when it comes to anything you want to strive for. The same thing goes with your food choices and making decisions based off of what you want for your health in the long-term.

It’s true that making changes isn’t always easy when we have environmental factors to take in. Many people today order fast-food because they don’t have enough time to cook or they simply enjoy the taste of a McDonald’s Meal. It may be easier or harder for people to make better decisions with their food choices based off of their circumstances.

The Power of Perspective

When I was working a night-shift temporary job, I was able to make better food decisions based off of what I was learning and the circumstance I was in to make money to buy whatever foods I want and not be at the mercy of anyone’s payroll which could possibly dictate my food choices for the worse. I did go to fast-food restaurants from time to time when I lost 20 pounds, but I tried not to make it a habit.

I’m guilty of following the trend of looking for a quick fix just like anyone else who tries to lose weight and that influenced my food choices for the worse. If there’s anything I got from that, it’s that mindset matters and it can have a heavy influence on our food decisions.

After watching Ed Mylett’s Interview of Dr. Ian Smith, I learned that realizing certain things can influence our mindset for the better. Dr. Ian Smith recognizes that quick fixes are an issue, but the way he goes about talking about it is that he brings an insightful perspective on someone wanting to lose weight, but gets them to realize that it took them years to pack on the weight that they want to get rid of. So slowing down and realizing that it takes time for results to come in, then you’ll deploy more patience in whatever you’re doing and make sound decisions with your choices.

Weighing Pros and Cons of Decisions

Even though perspective is important in gaining insight into something, it’s just as important to weigh in the pros and cons of whatever decisions you make and see if they’re worth executing on.

For example, if you have a $5 meal from a fast-food restaurant and you plan to only eat that for the day, the chances of that happening will be very low due to its low satiety factor. You’ll probably eat more food at home afterwards, which will cost you more money factoring in cost per serving of the foods and how many you consume everyday.

Making the decision to go grocery shopping for healthier food products will end up being cheaper than eating out most of the time since healthier foods will have a better time making you feel fuller for longer and you’re much less likely to overeat. The foods you shop for at a grocery store are far less likely to get used up in a single day and could last you up to a couple weeks without spoiling too quickly.

Each decision can have hidden pros and cons that aren’t immediately recognizable and may require research on your part to find out how certain decisions can affect your results whether it may not matter right now or may have immediate consequences.

Habits and Addictions

Adopting certain habits can lead to addictive behavior if it isn’t corrected in due time. Consuming sugary foods and drinks every day can lead to you doing it by habit since changing or forcing yourself out of a habit can be too much for those starting out and most people are comfortable with the path of least resistance. Should you try to break out of a habit, try to find something that you know will enjoy and benefit from at the same time and take one step at a time to build up habits that will build you up.

I mentioned how I enjoy eating healthy foods because it didn’t come natural to me to eat fruits and vegetables. I found ways to make it enjoyable for myself and try new things because the worst that could happen is that I don’t like it and trying something that doesn’t taste good wouldn’t kill me. I didn’t try to restrict myself when I ate vegetables, so it became much easier for me to enjoy when I ate them with other non-sugary foods that I enjoyed.

Building habits should be something you can benefit from and also enjoy, because too many people quit doing things that would benefit them when they do them in a way that is bound to make them very unhappy. We can change how we do things, but we can’t run away from what makes us happy as individuals. There’s an exception as everyone may not know that an activity they never did and first tried out may be what makes them happy.

Junk Food vs Health Foods

Junk Foods can be a good indicator that you could be the type of person that likes tasty foods, so eating healthy may come as a struggle as a result of the mentality of having a reward system that thrives off of flavor over the essential health benefit of fruits or vegetables. I’m not saying this to beat anyone up, but it’s about being self-aware and owning up to what you may have an issue with. The good news is that there’s ways to satisfy that while eating health foods.

Those who mostly eat fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods may be used to delayed gratification and as a result have built their food psychology on optimizing their health rather than making everything they eat taste good. I spent up to two weeks without consuming any foods with processed sugar and my food psychology changed tremendously and made it massively easier for me to avoid sugar unless they came from fruits (not fruit juice).

Those who may prefer junk foods while being surrounded by those who strictly built habits for health foods may cause unspoken pressure on each other based on the mentality they adopt in making their food choices. A person who likes junk foods may stay away from health foods because the person who strictly follows the mindset of only eating fruits and vegetables may not encourage you to enjoy foods your way to be able to happily adopt healthy food choices.

A one-size fits all approach is what gets pushed out in society and is a norm despite how much of a failure this tactic is. This gets used in the school system, food choices, and other activities. The sooner we can get this notion of everyone having to follow a blueprint verbatim, the sooner we can adopt a system that works for everyone and takes their circumstances, their likes, and other factors into consideration to better serve society.