Wasting Food

Some people overeat because they are trying to numb unpleasant emotions, or prolong the pleasurable ones.  Others eat too much because it just tastes good, and they indulge beyond the point of self-nourishment in an act of rebellion or greed.  And some individuals eat until they finish what's on the plate whether they are still hungry or not, because they can't stand the thought of letting food go to waste.  Often, if these people are parents they will dutifully finish what's on their kids' plates along with their own! ...and lecture the children on being wasteful, to boot.

Learn to practice the fine art of eating the best and chucking the rest!

We live in an age of plenty. Throwing away a cup of overcooked pasta or one leftover hamburger patty isn't going to hurt anyone, nor would forcing yourself to finish every meal save a starving child in Somalia from the ravages of malnourishment.  It goes without saying that everyone should strive to be conservative, and try not to take more than you need at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Likewise, it is not necessary to prepare a double-recipe knowing your family will only barely finish half of it.  Because throwing away food is wasteful... there is no argument about that. But it is no more noble, or useful, or wise to treat your own body as a garbage can for disposing of unwanted food! Maybe you hold the notion that your body will somehow make good use of the extra food beyond what it needs to sustain itself.  It won't!  It stores the excess food as fat! Which, let's face it--most of us won't need to rely on as an energy source anytime within our lifetimes.  So the food still goes to waste, inside the body, in the form of unused, unhealthy fat.

For the longest time I couldn't bring myself to throw away food, even if I knew it wouldn't get eaten. I'd put leftovers in the fridge and then let them rot until I "had" to throw them away. Or I'd eat the same thing meal after meal until I'd finished the whole amount, even if it was no longer appealing to me and even if I truly would've preferred to make something new and eat that instead.  What did this accomplish? It instilled a desire to overeat when the food was fresh, in an effort to "dispose of" the leftovers in a way that wouldn't make me feel guilty or result in my ritualistic self-punishment of forcing myself eat it later.  Now, knowing that I can eat only what I want, when I want, and toss the rest, means that I have no reason to stuff myself on extra bites that don't really serve any purpose beyond adding on extra pounds of fat over time.

Don't guilt yourself into eating food you don't want just so it won't be "wasted."  Remember that no matter whether it ends up being tossed in the trash or stored as fat in your body, it is not being utilized for any useful purpose. And if you spy someone else giving you a dirty look when you scrape your plate into the garbage can, ask yourself whether you believe that person to be any smarter or better or healthier than you simply because they finish every last bite, or save leftovers until they go bad, or force themselves to eat the same thing for every meal until every last scrap is gone.  Put waste in a garbage can, not in your body.