Ako si zamilujete zdravé potraviny?

For many, healthy and delicious are far from the same thing. What to do? Fall in love with healthy eating once and for all? This task can hardly be called easy. Let’s learn about how to do it from a psychologist and nutritionist.

psychológ

The field of nutrition is not as simple as it seems at first glance, and goes far beyond just food.

Nutricionista

There is a great variety of foods, and it is possible to find your favorites and learn how to prepare and combine them in different ways.

How and when are taste preferences formed?

Psychologist Elizabeth Dulkina says that love for food is, in fact, a matter of taste in the literal and figurative sense of the word. Therefore, if a client came to her with such a problem, she would certainly ask clarifying questions: “What do you mean by the words “like products”, “How do you usually decide what is good for you and what is not”.

Elizaveta Dulkina

psychológ

Working with eating disorders, I am constantly faced with different stereotypes and contradictions about “useful and harmful”. But the field of nutrition is not as simple as it seems at first glance, and goes far beyond just eating. And here’s why.

When a baby is in his mother’s belly, he gets all the substances useful for growth and development from her. But after birth, he has to get food with some effort. First he has to discover that he is hungry. Then he needs to give a sign – usually babies cry – and then he gets breast milk. During this period, an important point is fixed in the baby: after something “bad” (discomfort in the stomach as hunger) becomes “good” (satiety comes).

Food is the first metaphor of love that a newborn baby learns. Until he is three months old, he does not separate mom and himself from the world – he has everything whole. Therefore, the satisfaction of eating is part of the harmony of his life.

Where does the habit of eating junk food for stress come from?

According to the psychologist, if mom suddenly did not have time to feed the child in time, he has a negative experience – the world is not always easy and simple to respond to his needs. So he first gets acquainted with the feeling of dissatisfaction, frustration, anger, sadness, resentment. But let’s return to adults – to a particular person who wants to lead a healthy lifestyle. On a conscious level, he understands all the pros and cons of proper nutrition. Meanwhile, on the unconscious level, he has long since formed a habit – to eat food for stress. And sometimes even punish himself in this way.

In this case, to love healthy foods will not be so easy. The first days, probably, a person will be able to control the diet. But after a while, irritation will begin to accumulate, which will be a marker that food in his life is not just a source of energy, but an important detail in the perception of problems or joys. So-called “willpower” will not be enough. Moreover, this willpower can go sideways and trigger an eating disorder.

Why can’t you force yourself to eat “healthy” foods?

Elizabeth Dulkina

psychológ

There is such a wonderful expression: if you allow yourself something, you can refuse it, if you do not allow yourself, it becomes impossible to refuse. Simply put, any prohibition gives birth to perversion.

Healthy eating behavior should be focused on tracking the feelings and signals of hunger in the body. It is important to be able to choose food according to inner needs rather than considerations of “correctness”, calories and calories per serving.

The psychologist says this can be explained through the theory of transactional analysis – its founder is Eric Berne, author of “Games People Play.” The theory looks at reactions in human behavior through three ego states: parent, adult and child.

Parent. Can be either contoling or nurturing. This state is the psyche’s accumulated and imprinted script of how our older relatives, the authoritative adults, treated us: some scolded, shamed, blamed, manipulated, blackmailed, and threatened, while others praised, cared for, and encouraged. That parent is usually the inner voice that tells us to “do what is right and proper.”

Child. This is our state responsible for needs, desires, creativity and all sorts of “wants” where there is no control. A solid flow of energy and feelings.

Adult. This is the state just called common sense. An adult is looking for a balance between parental “must” and childish “want”. It is he who within us determines the principles by which we make choices: what to do and what not to do. This applies to nutrition as well.

Why we do not like healthy products and why it is important to learn to listen to ourselves?

According to a psychologist, the degree to which we are adult in our approach to food is proportional to how mature we are in general in our choices and decisions about life. That’s why in order to love healthy foods, you first need to:

• become an adult and detach yourself from the beliefs imposed on you;
• check by experience (listening to body signals after different meals), what is really good for you and gives you energy, strength and vigor, and what makes you want to sleep and lie down;

• choose food not “for the company”, but because you specifically at the moment want something – sometimes the body gives very unexpected signals.

Correct nutrition through contact with the body is much wiser than to inculcate habits through willpower, says the psychologist. After all, when the body discovers the harm or benefit to itself from a particular food, eating becomes natural and non-violent.

How to love useful products?

Set yourself a goal
According to nutritionist Alyona Stepanova, food is like fuel for a car. It is important to understand why it is necessary to eat right. When the goal is clear, the tools will be located. But rewarding yourself with food is such a goal. There are other joys in life.

Gradually replace unhealthy foods with healthy ones

Alyona Stepanova

odborník na výživu

There is a great variety of products, and you can find your favorite, learn to cook and combine them in different ways. In general, the flavor of products give sauces, with which you will eat even an old shoe. A harmful burger, for example, can be made healthy if yeast buns are replaced with royal mushrooms or iceberg lettuce leaves. Olivier is not made with sausage, but with meat and homemade mayonnaise. And tea or coffee to drink without milk, sugar and goodies.

Start small
The habit is formed on average in 21 days, but there are nuances here. Everyone has a different psyche and motivation, and for some people a week is enough. In any case, it is better to start with one habit. For example, start your morning with a glass of warm water or finish your dinner 3-4 hours before bedtime. When you realize that the habit has taken hold, move on to the next one, says the nutritionist.