[Brian A.]

Nutritional Maturaty,

A Right of Passage

By Brian Ayers, CSCS

At a young age we begin to associate many of the wrong types of food with fun and enjoyment. Our parents, who use “treats” as a motivational tool to control our behavior, further reinforce this. How many of you were promised cake or ice cream as a reward for some job well done? Or maybe you had that favorite grandmother who loved to slip you sweets when your parents weren’t looking. Perhaps you were even on a sports team where coach or favorite parent promised a pizza party or a trip to Friendly’s after you won the big game. All of these events serve to solidify the subconscious connection between junk food and feeling good. Unfortunately for us the feelings of euphoria related to eating junk food are not just a learned behavior. There are actual chemical reactions in our brain that occur when we eat junk food that gives us a feeling of happiness. Marketing companies are well aware of this connection between junk food and feelings of well-being. This is why every fatty, sugary snack on the market is put into a fun package with bright flashy colors that tap directly into the adolescent enjoyment center of our brains. Go ahead, try to find one junk food package to the contrary, I dare you. These pied piper advertising techniques target our inner child much like the melodious tunes of an ice cream truck drawing out every kid in the neighborhood as it rolls through.

By recognizing the bright, sparkling junk food enjoyment as being born of our childhood, then beginning down the road of health and fitness can be viewed as one of the last true rights of passage in our modern world. It is, in a sense, a growth process through which we begin making the conscious decision to turn our backs to our childish impulses and take responsibility for the state of our body and our health. Maturing beyond our reliance on food to make us feel happy and comforted, we accept the mission of becoming a strong, healthy adult.

It is my not so humble opinion that a major contributor to the obesity problem in our country is that too many Americans are developmentally stunted when it comes to what they eat. In other words we suffer from nutritional immaturity. Why is it that we feel the need to end a long day at work by “treating” ourselves to a large bowl of chocolate chip ice cream? Are we suddenly six years old again being rewarded for completing our chores? I think it might be time to grow up. In some cultures, to become an adult, an adolescent must walk across hot coals or survive on his own in a jungle. The least we can do is retire the concept of dessert. If you are looking for some endorphins, try exercise. Not only will exercise make you stronger and healthier, but it will also relieve stress and release those feel good neurochemicals that people attempt to obtain from junk food.

Another major psychological issue we face in regards to nutrition is peer pressure. Once again it’s time for us to grow up and realize that the behavior of our peers is not a justification to succumb to similar temptations. The sooner you come to terms with the idea that you may have to be the one person eating salad and drinking water in a room full of people having pizza and beer, the closer you will be to achieving greatness. Your feelings and reactions when you encounter this situation are also important to consider. If you are sitting there grinding your teeth over every salad leaf, jealously loathing every bite of pizza the person next to you takes, then you have still not reached your nutritional enlightenment. A person truly committed to their goals will see beyond these momentary sacrifices to the glorious satisfaction of achieving their goals. They will experience a feeling of righteous vindication with every bite of that salad and will even look upon their fellow diners with feeling of pity. It is also part of the right of passage to not feel the need to talk down to those that are not following the same path as you at that moment. Even if they begin to attack you for eating healthy, you must realize that it is just the manifestation of their own guilt in seeing the comparison between what you are feeding your body and what they are consuming. If you can remain humble in this situation then you have passed the test. Just a small side note for those reading who are blessed with a quick metabolism; just because you can eat something doesn’t mean you should. Lean people who eat poorly are not immune to heart disease or diabetes any more than the rest of us.

Despite what you may have gathered from this article, I am not saying that you have to be the nutritional equivalent of a Zen master to get results. However, I am saying that we all need to develop a little more maturity in our eating habits. Treating yourself for reaching a landmark goal with some of the classic feel good foods is a reasonable scenario. Partaking in daily caloric rewards for doing nothing more than “going poopies on the potty” may be a bit juvenile.