Geneen Roth, in her new book, Women, Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything, explores how the relationship that people have with food can be used to deepen their self awareness.
She notes that people who have problems in their relationship to food fall into two categories: Restrictors and Permitters.
Restrictors believe that if they can control their food intake, their exercise, and their lives, chaos will be prevented, their suffering will be limited and they will be safe. Restrictors are at risk of becoming anorexic as regardless of how little they eat, they can still feel out of control.
Permitters use food to numb themselves. They disconnect from suffering by disconnecting from their bodies and their lives. They turn off their awareness to eat anything, anesthetising themselves in a cocoon of carbohydrates.
The solution Roth proposes is based upon mindfulness practise, which she calls "inquiry." You re-connect with your body by bringing awareness to it. You pay attention to what you are sitting upon, the sensation of your clothes resting on your skin, to the feelings arising in you - where you are feeling tightness, relaxation, warmth or coolness.
Next, ask yourself questions about your sensations, linking into memories of previous times you have felt them and what the sensation means to you. It is important to stay with the sensation itself rather than your reactions or stories about it. Note the reactions but then move back to your body by re-focusing on your breath. The attitude to foster is of open curiosity, allowing the experience to just be itself, rather than trying to dictate or control it.
Learning this awareness allows you to deepen your understanding of your own hunger, thirst, cravings and how you respond to them. For example, if you want to eat potato chips, before eating them (permitter), or before beating yourself up for wanting them (restrictor), notice what sensations are present in your body.
If you are hungry or thirsty, would eating the chips be the most loving response? If the answer is no, eat something that will satisfy and nurture you. If yes, eat the chips.
If you are not hungry or thirsty, you can use your craving to discover what you do feel. If you are bored or overwhelmed, you can learn about your needs through the process of inquiry. Allow yourself to explore the experience, then respond to what you really need in the way that is best for you.
Roth does include eating guidelines in an appendix to the book, but the focus is upon self awareness rather than rigid adherence to rules. You eat what you want to eat when you are hungry and when you are not, you do something else. The key in the guidelines and in the book is to pay attention - to be mindful of yourself and of your food and continue on the journey of deepening your knowledge of self.
Denise Evans is a Squamish-based clinical counsellor. She can be reached by phone at (604) 892-4555 or by email at [email protected]
