Dear Dr. Suzy,   

Q. I am starting to realize that part of my weight gain problem comes from the fact that I view food as entertainment and often eat for emotional reasons.  How can I change my mindset?

A. Occasionally eating something that is less than nutritious is a normal part of a healthy lifestyle. Habitual emotional eating, however, can cause a person to veer off of the path of optimal health, and become dependent on certain types of unhealthy food for comfort. Too often, people eat not because they are hungry, but because they are bored, depressed, lonely, or under stress.

You will know that you have changed your mindset when you start to realize that many of the things that you formerly viewed as sacrifices were not really sacrifices at all. Turning down that fatty dessert when you are already full is not denying yourself. You are rewarding yourself, even though it may not feel like it at the time.

You are rewarding yourself by not having to suffer the long-term health consequences of those few moments of instant gustatory gratification. You are really denying yourself when you do not take time to eat well enough to supply your body with the proper fuel it needs to keep running at its peak potential.

When you take time to gain a fresh, new perspective on food, it becomes more apparent to you that there is not one single thing that causes one to be unhealthy or overweight.  Poor nutritional health often has as much to do with the problems a person may be having in their relationships or at work as it does with the fast food that he or she ate for lunch.

Many people fill their life with food because they are trying to fill a void created by lack of attention, affection, excitement, or meaning in their life.  By dealing with the underlying causes, they often discover that being overweight was not the problem. It was merely a symptom representing a general imbalance in their bodies or in their lifestyles.

Take some time right now to examine the way you feel about food. Do you think of food as quality fuel for your body, or do you eat for the pleasure and comforting feelings you associate with certain types of food?

As a nation of impressionable consumers, we all too often accept the advertisements we see on television or in magazines as the truth, subconsciously storing the information as fact because they said so without ever questioning the source.  Exactly who are the all powerful and all knowing they anyway?

When shopping for food to fuel our busy lifestyles, we all need to ask ourselves, “What exactly is in this so-called healthy food product, camouflaged in this subliminally attractive package? Is this product labeled healthy simply because the manufacturers have added some bran, even though it might be full of simple sugars, fat, salt, preservatives, additives, and chemicals?”

Many food manufacturers are more concerned with running a profitable business than they are with supplying their customers with ideal nutritional content in their products. The manufacturers merely give consumers what they demand. It is our way of thinking and purchasing that dictates the practices of the food industry, often resulting in nutritionally empty food products.

If you have already started asking yourself more questions about the everyday products that you purchase, good for you! You are one of the powerful consumers who have recently had a positive influence on the food industry, resulting in changes in labeling and a wider selection of wholesome, nutritious products.  Eating well is much easier today than it was a few years ago because of these changes.

As you proceed along your journey through life, your body requires plenty of high quality fuel to supply you with energy and keep all of its systems running in peak condition.  The old adage, “you are what you eat” still rings true today.

To truly live up to your Pure Life potential, you need to begin looking at everything that you eat in a whole new way. Your everyday journey through life is full of rituals that are connected with food.  Hotdogs at baseball games, birthday cakes, popcorn at the movies, and a big, overstuffed Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings are just a few of the foods that are often associated with happy memories.  It is possible, however, to simply eat a small portion of these fun foods or find a healthy substitute for these traditional favorites and still have just as much fun.

Since the quality of your energy level is affected by the type and quality of the food that you eat, cleaning up your diet automatically improves your level of pure, high quality energy.  As you know, your daily decisions shape the state of your current and future health. The next time you are making a decision about what to eat, keep the word nourishment in mind. After all, that is what food is really for--nourishing your body and keeping it strong, healthy, and full of pure energy!