How Being Busy Is Diminishing Your Diet

I am rested and ready to return to my Wednesday Wisdom blog to share articles to facilitate mind awareness, and tips and tricks to help manage your mind so it doesn’t manage you!

This summer as my family and I took a road trip across the U.S., I took notice of how gas stations have become not just a place to fuel your car, but also a place at which to dine.

In our fast-paced society, food has become something that needs to be convenient.

We need to be able to ”drive-thru,” “stop and go,” or ”grab and go.”

At what point did we shift to believing that one of the basic needs for survival is an inconvenience to our busy schedules?

Our meals need to be quickly prepared, easy to eat (if you can hold your meal in one hand…bonus!), and inexpensive.

“Busy” has become a status symbol we strive for.

The “busier” you are, the more significance you gain.

This busy lifestyle prevents us from having time to prepare and cook a meal, let alone a meal from scratch.

It also does not allow us moments together where we can gather and connect with one another.

Moments are what make life rich and fulfilling, not the accumulation of things or acknowledgements busyness produces.

Additionally, most of the fast food offerings are not healthy choices.

Have you ever noticed how brown many of the fast foods are?

Take a chicken sandwich meal from any of the popular fast food chains for example.

The breaded and fried chicken is brown, the bread the chicken is sandwiched between is brown, the French fries are brown, and very likely the drink too is a shade of brown.

Foods that we evolved to eat that come from the Earth come in ALL colors.

So, if your meal is full of brown food and drink items, then you may want to reconsider what you’re about to consume.

What I find interesting is I have heard many of my weight loss/maintenance clients describe food as “one of life’s pleasures.”

However, this simple pleasure (and necessity) they don’t allow time in their lives to truly enjoy.

With all of the modern conveniences, we have more time than ever.

We can throw our clothes in a washing machine and dryer, and an hour or two later have clean clothes.

It wasn’t too long ago that someone had to physically wash each individual item of clothing and hang them dry.

We have grocery stores where food is readily available twenty-four hours a day, seven days per week—it is not necessary to garden or hunt for food anymore.

Why do we feel so busy that we can’t take time for our meals—especially when we believe it is one of life’s pleasures?

What message are we sending to ourselves when we believe this, but we can’t take the time to make it a daily priority?

And it’s not just with time that we take shortcuts, but also with the quality of the food we consume.

Fast food has been chemically engineered to overexcite the pleasure center of our brain so we feel intense pleasure in the moment the food touches our tongue, but in the long-term, all of that brown food wreaks havoc on our brain and body.

Why can’t we honor something important to us (and for us) with the QUALITY of what we consume?

Instead of finding significance in being busy for the sake of external approval, let’s turn our attention to ways to stand out and gain our own approval by honoring things that are important to us.

Show yourself that your true desires matter not only by carving our time in your day for your meals, but also by choosing foods that nourish and fuel your body.

How can we change how we think about something so important to the quality of our lives?

How can we be honest with ourselves about the long-term consequences fast, brown food has on our physical and emotional health?

Awareness.

Awareness about what we’re currently thinking and believing, and questioning ourselves about the truth of thoughts and beliefs.

Things like food that are immediately available allow us to react to unchecked beliefs we have like, “I’m too busy,” or “There’s not enough time to prepare a meal at home.”

Dr. Judson Brewer, stated in his book, Unwinding Anxiety, that “50% of our waking time is spent running on autopilot.”

The immediate availability of food robs us of time to PAUSE.

Pausing, as I wrote about in my blog post, “Do You Beat Yourself Up After Overeating? Curiosity Helps” found here, is critical to bringing our prefrontal cortex back online so we may consciously weigh the cost benefit of the action we’re about to take.

The pause is key to shifting from autopilot to conscious awareness, and thereby, making decisions that align with your values and desires.

Remaining on autopilot lends itself to giving into instant gratification resulting in unwanted consequences.