Feature
Take back the pleasure: Five ways to recapture the joy of eating
Five ways to recapture the joy of eating
By Martha Coventry
Originally published on September 11, 2004
Before one-third of us became obese--and another one-third
overweight--we once did things right in this country. In those
days, we balanced the food we consumed with exercise and hard work
and the average person ate moderately, except on holidays. Eating,
for the most part, was a pleasure. And not a guilty one.
Ben Senauer is a University of Minnesota professor of applied
economics and an expert on consumer food patterns. During his
research and teaching around the world, he's seen habits and
practices that remind him of how Americans used to live and eat.
Below, Senauer tells us five ways Americans could recapture the
pleasures of food and good health.
Moderation and portion size
All foods have a place in the healthy diet. In Italy, for example,
where dinner is typically around 9:00, you'll see a lot of people
walking around in the late afternoon eating an ice cream cone. But
they have a small scoop, by American standards. In our country,
portions have ballooned. A one-person serving in a typical American
chain restaurant used to serve two or three. Even portions in the
home have increased. If we could reduce portion sizes and be happy
with one delicious helping, we could begin to shift our
relationship to food.
One thing we can learn from abroad is to slow
down and really take pleasure in what we eat and the experience of
sharing it with others.
Quality vs. quantity (eat less, but eat
better)
We've given up quality for quantity. Many of the traditions that
made quality food part of our everyday lives--like homemade jam or
even home-cooked meals from fresh ingredients--seem too time
consuming now. If Americans begin to put the emphasis more on
quality than quantity, which they are beginning to do, the food
industry might benefit. France spends considerably more on food per
capita than we do, in part because they buy higher quality goods.
And their adult obesity rate is 12 to 15 percent compared to our
30.5 percent.
Healthy eating patterns
A little more than half of American adults will say they're dieting
at any given time, but dieting, in the long haul, usually doesn't
work. In fact, it's one of the least healthy things most people can
do to lose weight. Experts recommend a lifestyle of healthy
eating--a once typical American practice. Three balanced meals a
day, with a few treats once in a while, was what our mothers
recommended.
Balance between exercise and diet
The balance between exercise and diet is something we clearly had
when people did less sedentary work and walked more. We no longer
look at who we are and what we do and eat accordingly. One of the
easiest interventions for obesity--encouraged here at the
University through the Wellness Program, for example--is walking. A
good diet is the crucial other half of the balance. In China, loads
of vegetables end up in the family meal and the classic
Mediterranean diet, with its emphasis on whole grains and lots of
fruits and vegetables, is followed in many cultures.
Pleasure
We've become an eat-and-run country. One thing we can learn from
abroad is to slow down and really take pleasure in what we eat and
the experience of sharing it with others. In a European restaurant,
you have your table for as long as you want to sit there. For
American restaurants, the goal has been to get in three seatings
per evening. Food is cause for happiness; it's a way to express
hospitality; it gives us a sense of belonging; it ties us to our
culture. All these things make food not just a consumer product or
a fuel, but an integral and intimate part of our experience on
earth.
