Psychosomatic Nutrition Part 1

I’ve talked about the mindset of diet and nutrition for ages. I’ve discussed the relevance of The French Paradox – and how the French adore and enjoy food but simply do not obsess over it. And the result is even though they eat substantially more “indulgent” food, and smoke far more on a person to person basis – they are in fact far healthier than their North American counterparts. Yes, I’ve discussed this in several of my books and Blogs. People read them with interest, give them a quick nod of ‘that’s interesting’ and then go right back to internet searches for the next wonder-diet or wonder-supplement.  

But the fact of the matter is that the way most of you think about diet and nutrition is what is causing the most trouble for you with your diet and nutrition. I mean it’s ridiculous when you think about it.

It’s like most people want to be sick. They want to be food restricted.

This is what they tell themselves. So, when they can find something with a completely general and vague symptomology – they latch on to it. Yes, “I’m gluten intolerant” or “I’m dairy-sensitive.” Whatever. Most people consider themselves both or even consider other food-sensitivities as well.

“Don’t you know that sweetener you are using causes cancer?” And on it goes. 

 People just don’t get it. Oh, but the nutrition and diet industry get it just fine. They want you to be afraid of food or food-stuffs. They want you to depend on them for your information for “what is ok to eat.” And this is ridiculous to the point of being farcical. That is to say, YOU, and the way you have allowed your mind to be manipulated by marketing – YOU have become ridiculous and farcical, in all your nonsense and obsession over anything and everything food or nutrition-related.

We are now a completely consumption-based society. On that front we “want.” And our “want” knows no ends. Ironically enough we also now consider that all answers to all issues are matters of “consumption” (there must be a pill for that) 

But our obsession with Body Image and nutrition, combined with food is a marketer’s paradise. Once you are told you can’t eat a certain thing, that is exactly when “want” kicks in and you can’t seem to go without it. But if you stand back and consider the absurdity of it all, the way the French do – does it make any sense? 

So, you have gluten-free pasta, gluten-free bread, flour-free bread, cocoa-free chocolate, sugar-free chocolate, dairy-free ice-cream, fat-free ice-cream, sugar-free ice-cream, caffeine-free coffee, sugar-free cookies and candies, fat-free everything, and yes of course even meat-free hot dogs and hamburgers. And don’t even get me started on low carb, carbs-foods and low-sodium everything. Can you not see how ridiculous and contradictory it all is? 

Your obsession with food is sick - hilarious, but sick. 

Oh people like to play down how important food is in their life. If I asked you to make a list of 10 things that really matter to you in your life, I doubt “food or diet” would make the list – Yet, if you are truly being honest with yourself, and listed what “matters” – as a statistical reflection of how many times per day you think or worry about it – then food/diet would be near the top of that list and for all the wrong reasons. 

It’s time people stopped walking around like zombie-lemmings. You need to get truly conscious about diet and food so you can let go of this psychosomatic hold it has on you. First you need to start observing how often you think about food, diet, and nutrition. Then observe and become aware of what goes on when you think about these things. Combine how often you think of food/diet/nutrition with how you feel when doing so. How are you when you are eating? How do you feel when you are eating food that you label as “good for you” vs. how you feel when eating food that you label as “bad for you.”  This begins acknowledging the psychosomatic hold this all has on you. 

After a while, can you even know which is the chicken and the egg in this equation? Maybe all this focus and tension on food and diet, maybe that is the problem. Maybe that is what makes you “feel” sick. Maybe that is what makes you think you can’t tolerate this or that food. One of the key indicators to eating disorders or potential ones are when people get more focused on “food limitations.” They like to focus on what they think they can’t or shouldn’t have, over what they can have and enjoy. But this is another paradox because our brains are wired to enjoy food. (see my book, Beyond Metabolism) Trying to pretend you can’t have or enjoy certain and a specific food is not going to work for long. Hence the industry steps in and gives you “faux” versions of anything and everything. 

Listen if you’re ill or prone to illness and you’ve got the diet-mentality then more than likely you think diet has something to do with it – whether it’s true or not. Then you end up with a gluten-free, meat-free, sugar-free, salt-free, dairy-free, calorie-free approach to diet which is anything but “FREE.” That my friends is imprisonment. It’s humour-free, it’s enjoyment-free, and yet it never seems to be guilt-free or shame-free, does it?  And yet, I’ve had many people hire me to write them diets that cater to the above limitations of gluten-free, sugar-free, carbs-free, meat-free, sodium-free blah, blah, blah. It’s ridiculous, and it’s sick and its part and parcel of psychosomatic nutrition. 

You live in fear of what this or that food may do to your body, internally and externally. Many people also use this as the backdrop to what is really going on. They want food restrictions. They want to be told certain foods make them sick – not because this is true – but because eliminating these foods, they think, will give them that better body. Oh, they never say or admit it – often even to themselves. But underlying all of this “food-intolerance” is really a body-image issue. But you seldom have a happy body by getting there with a mindset of denial and self-deprivation. (See my Phantom Menace project for more on this.)

So, along with the fear-based diet-mentality the result can only be “emotional tension.” The exact opposite of the French who cannot imagine or fathom the word “tension” associated with eating and food. But in the fear-based mindset you eat something indulgent and then feel guilty or sick – again, psychosomatic. If you think and tell yourself you can’t tolerate a certain food, then just the worry about “knowing” that means when you eat it, of course you are going to experience physical symptoms. 

The whole issue and problem of the western world is in making all of nutrition and diet such a big thing to begin with. I mean, really, consider the popular name “Weight Watchers.” What does that actually mean? It means people whose focus is on food and weight, weight and food, food and weight, weight and food. Well that certainly sounds worry-free, doesn’t it?

 And to answer all of this with “well yeah but it works” means you still live in the diet-mentality. No it doesn’t work! To create worry and concern over something as trite as food/eating and diet – shows how messed up the mindset must be to begin with.

Much of modern nutrition is mental or marketing manipulation producing a psychosomatic result. And of course my position is not the popular one. You can’t “sell” my position and you can’t “consume” it either. But with psychosomatic nutrition you can create pills, potions, magic water, cleanses, supplements, all the faux food categories mentioned above. Therefore everyone is happy and “free.” The product manufacturers are certainly happy – and as consumers, you get an answer to literally “consume” - for every single psychosomatic nutrition “issue” you think you have. And yet, are you more free and happy diet-wise? Is your food/eating/diet no long an issue- no longer a big deal- no longer something you think much about?

No, the French have the right idea. For all of you who think you have all these nutritionally related restrictions, good thing you don’t live in France. Oh, the sacrilege of waking up to a full baguette and block of cheese in the morning! Don’t they know that stuff is made with flour and with gluten, and with dairy? 

Ah yes, they know. And they are happier and healthier than YOU ARE.

Too bad psychosomatic nutrition in North America doesn’t lead to wellness but to all kinds of phantom ailments.

Some of you will get it – most of you will not.  To be continued.