Eating Instinctively

 by: Laura Ciocan

I start from the premise that eating instinctively means eating healthily. I strongly believe that the body has the capability of transmitting the brain accurate information regarding its nutrition necessities: a moderate amount of food, and only foods that are benefic for health.

The problem is that most of these natural eating instincts are lost on the way. Usually, during the growing process, adults project their unhealthy habits on children, offering them a range of foods that are not always best choices. As adults, we have formed our eating habits, more or less healthy and usually worry about our children's eating habits, but their instinct is often correct.

My theory has as starting point my own experience as a child, when I recall rejecting foods that I found too greasy or too deeply fried. Observing babies and children behaviour towards feeding might give us an idea about what eating instinctively means. Small children that did not have the time to get influenced by adults, have the natural eating instinct unspoiled. Contrary to adults' opinion about eating, they want to eat many smaller meals and only when they are hungry.

To support my thesis, I resort to the recommendation made by specialists in baby nutrition who advise on feeding babies at request, not forcing a program on them, thus a meals program will be generated by their inner scheduler according to their needs.

So, from children we learn that one should eat when hungry and in the amount striclty required by body necessities, not driven by social cues such as eating out with friends even if not hungry or taking a lunch break just because it's noon.

Another reason supporting the theory towards a simpler way of eating is that based on the foods offered by nature. Every living creature finds its subsistence resources in nature. Theoretically, foods of natural origin in their unspoiled state should suffice for ensuring men a healthy existence. I am not a sustainer of some paleolithic diet or anything like this, but we cannot not make reference to the simple way of eating of old times. It is a fact that in modern times modern and more complex diseases have developed (such as the increased incidence of tooth decay, allergies, various diseases of the digestive system such as diverticulitis), most in tight connection to modern diets. Man was not built for so many refined and super-refined processed foods. The great discovery - cooking - was just a means to make foods more digestible, but nowadays we experience an extreme version of modern eating, one abounding in processed foods and pre-prepared meals.

Eating in a balanced proportion raw foods (vegetables, fruit) and cooked meals is definitely healthier. Also healthy choices are those of foods in an unrefined state, as close to natural as possible.

Towards a healthier way of eating a reconsideration of our diet is needed. The thing is, it is harder to re-educate ourselves than to acquire from scratch, as first we need to forget everything we know, get rid of all the unhealthy habits and then to rediscover eating and it is even harder to resist so many temptations scatered all over, just at hand to grab!