I'm someone who finds it hard to overeat. Show me one slice of
cheesecake, and I'll tell you it looks delicious. I'll eat it and enjoy
it. If you show me a second slice of cheesecake when I'm done with the
first, I'll find it literally nauseating. I can't imagine eating it. I
don't want it and would find it hard to eat. Nevermind that it is the
same cheesecake that I found so appealing only moments before.


Someone else might have to stop after one bite or wouldn't be able to
handle even that. Another might find 2 slices delicious before
getting full. A fourth person might be able to eat the whole 9" pie
without ever getting sick of it. I'm not exhibiting self control when I
turn down the second slice. The person who can eat the whole pie is
genuinely hungry for more.


It is terribly unfair to blame the ability to eat in moderation or stick
to a diet on character. On another list, a woman said that she's lost
80 pounds by being gnawingly hungry all the time. She's keeping the
weight off by being hungry. I know I could never do that. I don't have
anywhere near that kind of self control. I don't love fast food, but if
I'm hungry and have no other reasonable choices, I'll stop at Burger
King and be glad of it.


I'd love to know more about what causes the differences in people's
reactions to food.


I'll tie this in with the thread on French eating habits. We have a
joke about our shopping. We like to say that we avoid anything
low fat or fat free. Of course that's not entirely true since I make it
a point to serve fruits and vegetables at every meal, and they're
notoriously low fat, but I will check the fat content of cheese,
chocolate and ice cream and make sure I buy the one with the HIGHER fat
content, not the lower. (Exceptions: I buy leaner meats, and I like
the way skim milk goes down with butter cookies.) That's very much the
French way of eating. I find that I'm more satisfied with a smaller
amount of exquisitely wonderful cheese than with a larger amount of
something not as good.


My question is why this sort of eating works so well for me while Atkins
works for the next person and low-carb for someone else and some people
need to count calories.


I wish there were a way of getting a statistically accurate comparison
of the way people think about food. My survey would ask nothing about
the types and amounts of foods eaten, nothing about exercise, but would
include questions about how satisfied and happy people feel at meals and
after them, whether they're relaxed when eating, how long it takes them
to eat, whether they eat with friends or cook for other people, how well
they like their dining companions (family with good relationships,
family with strained relationships, business associates, alone), even
questions about whether they eat on plates that must be washed or
straight out of the cooking utensils, or on disposables. That data
would be combined with the health data about weight, blood pressure,
cholesterol. I believe the research would show that people who are
happiest about food, who look forward to meals the most, who enjoy their
dining compainions the most, who enjoy cooking for themselves and
others, who make eating into a nice ritual instead of something to be
gotten through are also the healthiest regardless of the caloric content
of the food or the source of those calories (fats, carbs, proteins).


--Lia