Line One Position One CONSUME
Australia’s population grows by one person every 90 seconds. What that means is every 90 seconds we add another consumer to the list. In a recent conference I attended, a Professor was explaining the physiology of obesity. When talking about our environment, he described the battle to remain in the healthy weight range. With advertising, energy-dense foods readily available and cheap; the struggle has never been harder. Our perception of what is healthy changed along with the increased intensity of that struggle. Some research we examined throughout my nutrition studies looked at food decisions. The average Australian makes 250 food choices a day. The majority now are not about survival or where the next meal is. The majority are attempting to resist the urge to consume. The study talks about the use of ‘external cues’ used as a source of validity of hunger or satiety.?!
Translated into English, we are using our dinner plates or tub sizes of our yoghurt to tell us whether we are hungry or full. But guess what? Their increasing! Our plate size has increased by nearly 40% in size over the last 40 years. It’s any wonder our waist circumferences are going along with it. The science here is pretty simple, eat a little bit less than your body needs to function and you’ll use a bit of stored fat from around your body. The hard part is trying to eat less with everything from package size to your facebook page and plates all geared toward you consuming more!
Here are some questions for the mirror:
What food decisions am I making each day?
What decisions cause me the most angst?
How often am I preparing food from my kitchen?
Example: Breakfast is likely a less difficult decision than lunch. Why? Because you are choosing between cereal or toast. They are coming from your pantry. How can lunch become an easier decision when eating out or preparing? What information do you need to inform that decision? Where are your knowledge gaps?
How often do I eat to finish the plate instead of satisfy my hunger? http://yourfit.com.au/the-hunger-scale/
Sean
References used: (http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs%40.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/1647509ef7e25faaca2568a900154b63?OpenDocument) (http://eab.sagepub.com/content/39/1/106)
