NOURISH YOUR SENSES, LOSE WEIGHT
Part 5 of 10
By Deborah Kesten and Larry Scherwitz
We experienced the power of nourishing the senses, especially taste, long before we identified Sensory Disregard—not paying attention to flavors, aromas, colors, etc., in food—as one of the overeating styles that leads to overweight and obesity. It was while we were having dinner in a beautiful Thai restaurant, where we’d ordered a salad with which we weren’t familiar. Called miang kam, the dish that arrived at our table wasn’t the familiar American salad of lettuce and some vegetables. Instead, we were presented with a platter that held six small bowls filled with finely chopped and colorful ingredients: lime, peanuts, red onion, red pepper, ginger, and toasted coconut. In the center were a bunch of fresh spinach leaves and a bowl of a very thick and sticky sweet-and-sour paste.
The presentation was enchanting, but because it was also unfamiliar, we asked our waitress how we should proceed. Patiently she showed us how to take a spinach leaf, spread a little sweet-and-sour paste on it, and sprinkle a tiny portion from each bowl over the paste. Then she created a small food-filled tube by rolling up the leaf. When we tasted the handmade tubular salad, our taste buds burst with flavor. With each bite, an implosion of flavors was released, so much so that we kept our attention and our anticipation focused on the fantastic flavors and tantalizing tastes that each new miang kam released.
Sensory Disregard, Spiritual Disconnection
Our miang kam dining experience is an exceptional example of how fresh food, prepared with care and savored by the diner, can fill the senses and satisfy the soul—the two key ingredients lacking in the Sensory Disregard overeating style. We’re especially excited to tell you about this eating style because our research is the first to reveal the sensory and spiritual elements—which go together like twins—of overeating and increased odds of weight gain.
What does this eating style look like? If you’ve ever eaten quickly and mindlessly and scarfed down food—perhaps you’ve let yourself become super hungry, or depressed emotions are dictating what and how you eat—then you’ve eaten without experiencing the color, aroma, flavor, texture, presentation, and portion size of your food. This is sensory disregard. And if you typically eat without reflecting on the mystery of food’s ability to sustain life; if you ignore the way rain, sunshine, wind, and soil work together to create the foods that nourish you; and if you don’t stop to appreciate, from the heart, the origins of the food before you—then you are eating with spiritual disconnection—and putting yourself at risk for overeating.
How often do you focus on the aromas, colors, or flavors of food? Do you “eat with your senses” by appreciating the presentation, “tasting” the textures, or being grateful for the life-giving gift inherent in food? In our research, we found that those who ate the most actually enjoyed their food the least. Sensory disregard is a powerful predictor of overeating and weight gain, because if you’re not enjoying your food—indeed, savoring it— you’re likely to keep eating until you finally do feel a sense of satisfaction.
This may be the most overlooked aspect of overeating and ensuing weight gain. The problem is that most of us don’t even know what it means to relate to food in this way, let alone have a clue about how to turn it into a way of eating that can make weight loss last. Of all the overeating styles we’ve identified, sensory and spiritual disregard is associated with the largest number of food-related behaviors linked with overeating. But turn your attention to taste when you eat, and you can turn around the sensory-disregard-equals-weight-gain equation. Here, a study that explains how this can work for you.
The Brain-Body Connection
Perhaps the best example of the way in which “eating with your senses” may lead to weight loss is evident in the work of psychologist Seth Roberts, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley. While reviewing scientific journals in preparation for a lecture, Roberts had an “Aha!” insight. Might it be possible, he wondered, that the amount of body fat you have is linked to—even controlled by—the flavor in the food you eat? Somehow, might the brain depend on the flavor in food to gauge how much fat your body stores (leading to weight gain) or releases (leading to weight loss)?1
At the time, Roberts’s reasoning was derived from insights into human beings’ evolution as well as state-of-the-art brain research.2 Isn’t it likely, he thought, that when we eat a lot of tasty, tempting, high-calorie food (such as ice cream, donuts, or potato chips), our brain thinks this is a time of abundance (translation: a caveman has just killed a tiger, and food will be plentiful for a while)? Then, to ensure we’ll survive during times of scarcity, our brain tells our body to stockpile the pounds you put on from the food.
In essence, Roberts is saying that flavorful food triggers “an increase in hunger and fat storage. By contrast, not-so-mouthwatering or flavorless calories signal scarcity.” He is suggesting that when you consume simple, unflavored food (he uses cooking oil, such as canola, as an example of bland food, but iceberg lettuce, steamed rice, or air-popped popcorn also illustrate the idea), your brain gets the message that you’re not too hungry and therefore you eat less, making it easy for stored fat to be released.3
A Flavor-Filled Theory for Weight Loss
To put his interesting idea into action, Roberts used his own mind-body . . . and taste buds. Our friend and colleague Keri Brenner, a journalist and author, interviewed Roberts for an article about what he calls his Shangri-La Diet.4 Brenner was interested in writing about Roberts’s work because he claimed he had lost fifty pounds by having either a tablespoon of oil or a cup of water sweetened with a tablespoon of sugar (fructose) between meals. He told Brenner he’d actually had to gain back ten pounds, because over a long period of time he’d become too thin. Now, to maintain his weight loss, he eats one meal a day, with small snacks such as fruit during the day and still taking the oil or sugar water—but not as frequently—and he claims he isn’t hungry for more than that. Now, to maintain his weight loss, he eats one meal a day, with small snacks such as fruit during the day and still taking the oil or sugar water—but not as frequently—and he claims he isn’t hungry for more than that.
Good News, Bad News, Great News Take-Aways
When Brenner tried the Shangri-La Diet, she, too, lost weight (good news). But when she went off the oil or sugar-water regimen, her former eating habits and weight returned (the bad news). This means that Roberts’ “flavor theory” supports the Sensory Disregard overeating style in that it reveals that flavors in food do, indeed, influence overeating and weight gain; or conversely, not overeating and losing weight.
At the same time, Roberts’ traditional approach to dieting (eating specific foods, specific amounts, at specific times), confirms the problems inherent in our Food Fretting overeating style, which includes traditional dieting based on a prescribed food regimen. (Please see “Step #1: Lose Weight Without Dieting” for more about this.) Translation: Even if Roberts’ regimen (small amounts of oil, sugar, etc.) isn’t a traditional diet, what he’s proposing is still, well, a diet. And diets don’t work for the long-term. (For more about what to eat—what does work as a way of life, please see “Step #3: Eat Fresh, Weigh Less.”)
What’s the bottom weight-loss line about Roberts’ unique study? It tells us that food, in part, is a function of its flavors, and that when you take the time to savor flavors and truly taste all elements of your meal, an invisible “ingredient” somehow tells your brain that you’re being nourished, and that your appetite is being appeased. And when this occurs, you can lower the odds of overeating and weight gain—just by focusing on the flavors in your food when you eat (more than good news; this is great news!).
Sensory Regard Recipe
When you take time to experience your food through all your senses—taste (flavor), smell (aroma), sight (presentation), sound (of the surroundings), and touch (kinesthetics)—and to regard the mystery of life inherent in food and in yourself, you’re more likely to be truly nourished and less likely to overeat. Dining with your senses (sensory regard) and at the same time eating with a deep appreciation for the food before you (spiritual connection) are powerful ways to nurture and nourish yourself—and, in turn, to feel fulfilled by the dining experience. When you do this, you’re likely to eat less and enjoy it more.
Isn’t it amazing? Simply by focusing on the flavors in your food, you may be less likely to overeat and gain weight? Using the recipe for miang kam we told you about earlier in the post, here’s a time-tested recipe for experiencing food through your senses.
Meet the Six Tastes
For thousands of years, ancient healing systems–from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to India’s Ayurveda–have espoused savoring the six tastes in food each time you eat: bitter, sweet, salty, sour, astringent, pungent.
Gather ingredients. To put the concept of the six tastes into practice, gather the ingredients to make the unique Thai appetizer salad called miang kam (described earlier in this chapter): one each lime, small red onion, and red bell pepper; a piece of ginger; two tablespoons shredded and toasted coconut; some honey (perhaps 1/4 cup); and about ten spinach leaves.
Chop the lime, onion, pepper, and ginger into tiny pieces. Next, spread a thin layer of honey (perhaps a teaspoon) on one spinach leaf, then sprinkle a pinch of each chopped ingredient over the sticky honey. Roll up the spinach leaf, creating a small food-filled tube.
Savor flavors. With your eyes closed, take a bite and begin to chew. Focus solely on the food in your mouth. Can you taste fantastic flavors? Are you able to identify one or more of the six tastes? Simply appreciate every single flavor and the experience of eating.
Engage other senses. Making a meaningful connection with food calls for engaging all your senses: not only taste, but also sight, touch, smell, and hearing. Look at the food you’re going to eat and become aware of its texture and color. Is it smooth, rough, light, dark? When you take the food in your hands, what does it feel like? Is it soft, tough, grainy? Next identify the smell of the food. Is it sweet? Sour? In between? When you take a bite, do you taste one or more flavors? (Hint: the taste of food often changes as you chew.) Finally, how does the eating you’re chewing sound? Loud, or subtle?
Each time you eat is an opportunity to be nourished through your senses and reduce the odds of overeating. But the extent to which this gift is revealed to you depends on your heartfelt intention and the degree to which you are willing to infuse food and eating with the mystery of sensory regard.
Nourish Your Senses, Lose Weight
With the sensory disregard overeating style, we aren’t addressing emotions; rather, we’re alluding to a deep, internal hunger for something more intangible than food. Often that “something more” translates into profound yearning to have a deeper connection with yourself and others—indeed, the world. You can nurture true nourishment and a healthier weight if you take the time to taste your food and to appreciate the multidimensional ways it nourishes you. Here, the antidote for sensory disregard:
Step #5: “Feed” your senses when you eat by savoring flavors, aromas, colors, presentation, textures, even sounds.
The idea that eating with sensory disregard can lead to weight gain may seem somewhat unusual. After all, the seemingly simple calories in/calories out formula is the standard solution to weight loss with which you’re familiar: just cut down on the amount of food you eat and move more, and you’ll lose weight. On the other hand, eating with your senses and connecting to the meaning in meals isn’t so straightforward. Rather, it requires you to replace calorie-counting with sensory pleasure, delight of eating…and into a relationship with food—and your weight—that includes appreciating the meaning and mystery of life inherent in your meals.
References:
- Seth Roberts, “What Makes Food Fattening? A Pavlovian Theory of Weight Control” (theory article, University of California, Berkeley, February 2005), 1–77.
- Dennis Prager, “Instant Willpower!” Woman’s World 27, no. 40 (2006), 18–19.
- Seth Roberts, The Shangri-La Diet (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2006).
- Keri Brenner, “Dissecting the Shangri-La Diet Fad,” The Olympian, July 31, 2006, B8.
Related:
Visit our free Whole Person Nutrition Program for more about what and how to eat to be a successful loser. It’s filled with practical guidelines, menu plans, recipes, and more.
Read:
“Step #1: Lose Weight Without Dieting”
“Step #2: Overcoming Emotional Eating”
“Step #3: Eat Fresh, Weigh Less”
“Step #4: The Weight Loss Power of Mindfulness”
“Feed the Senses” in Make Weight Loss Last
“Focus on Food” in Make Weight Loss Last
“Get Fresh” in Make Weight Loss Last
“Access Your Appetite” in Make Weight Loss Last
“Jettison Judgment” in Make Weight Loss Last
“The Healing Secret of Mindfulness” in The Healing Secrets of Food
Next post:
Think outside the diet to make weight loss last with Step #6 of our BE A SUCCESSFUL LOSER series, “Eat with Others, Eat Less,” posted on our NewView blog.
You’ll get plenty of clarity about what’s true and useful—or not—by keeping up with nutritionist Deborah Kesten, MPH, and research scientist Larry Scherwitz, PhD, the writers of this post, by liking them on Facebook, following them on Twitter, or sending us an email.
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