Table of Contents
From the Author                
Prologue                                
Introduction               

Part 1: What’s the Big Attitude?
1  What’s the big fuss?           
2  What’s the big attitude?           
Part 2: What’s the Big Problem?
3  Thriving on chaos               
4  Technology                   
5  Stuck on stupid               
6  Price for fat-free               
7  Sugar highs    and lows           
8  Mindful eating                
9  The five P’s of eating            
Part 3: What’s the Big fads?
10 What’s up, doc?               
11 Watching your weight?           
12 Who you gonna call?           
13 Welcome to South Beach          

Part 4: What’s the Solutions?
14 Busy minds to quiet times           
15 Keeping it simple               
16 Proper planning prevents poor performance               
17 Red flags                   
Part 5: What’s the plan Stan?
18 The Inside Out Approach           
19 In or out?                   
20 Eating tips to live by           
Afterward                   
About the Author               
Bonus Material
“Truth or Consequences?”                                   
Resolutions Services                             
   

                                                                                                   Chapter 9

The Five P’s of Eating

Perspectives of eating

Ask yourself, “Why do I eat?” Most will say, “I eat because I have to.” Well, think about it. Do you?  If you eat just because you have to, then your choice of foods will be more for taste rather than for health.

Most of us eat because it is a necessity to live and maintain energy. You may also eat for other reasons too.

Patterns of eating

Do you drive the same way to work every day? Do you shop at the same grocery store every week? Do you hang out with the same people regularly? The same thing is true with your eating habits. You tend to eat at the same time, gobble up the same food types, and in most cases, you take in roughly the same amount of food on a weekly basis. Your body gets used to eating the same types and amounts, and regulates its metabolic rate.
Pushing your buttons

Why do you think advertisements are so powerful? Because they spark something inside and immediately you find yourself on autopilot going to the refrigerator or the next fast food joint to get something you don’t need. If you think about it, many times your eating habits are reactions to magazine, billboard or TV advertisements.

Portion of eating

Being aware of how much you eat at one time is very important. Let’s use pasta again as an example. Good food? Yes! But, again physicians didn’t explain portion control. Even though pasta is a healthy food type, the extra hundred or two calories a few times a week adds up.

Plan for eating

This may sound like common sense, but with your busy lifestyle, pre-planning meals in advance is far from simple. However, pre-planning is essential. For most of us, it is hard enough just to keep up with the day’s activities, much less prepare food in advance.

It boils down to time management. If you have better choices in the refrigerator, you will likely eat the food in front of you. When healthy foods are unavailable, you will go out of your way to the pantry, pizza parlor, or fast food restaurant for immediate gratification.

In a nut shell:

Be careful. Making your life busier does not make your eating habits easier; neither does technology. Just because it says less does not mean it’s better for you. Eating is emotional just as much as physical. Don’t forget to work on the feelings, too.

I am not a therapist, nor do I want you to think you need one to overcome your unwanted behaviors toward food. Having said that, realize that eating patterns have to do with two things; your lifestyle and deep rooted emotional thoughts behind your behavior.

Let’s be honest. You eat the way you do because you are too lazy to fix your own food. And you justify this by saying you have no time, no talent and no taste. The other thing to remember is you eat for a sense of security. As false as it is, you binge, you starve, and you snack for some sense of normalcy in your life. It’s comforting, isn’t it? It’s also can be psychological.

You are flat out kidding yourself if you think diets will give you the magic formula for weight loss and fitness. They will not!