Bethenny Frankl – Too Many Food Rules

I just read Bethenny’s book.

As most people who have written about how to eat, she has too many food rules, and too much judgment in her food choices.

This is important:  I am not saying to ignore nutrition completely.

I am saying that if you want white bread with butter, not olive oil on whole grain, then eat it.  It isn’t going to ruin your day or make you fat.   Stop obsessing about the “perfect” food choice.  Just eat it  (when you are truly hungry for it) and move on!

Why would you crave butter on white bread instead of olive oil on whole grain?  I don’t know.  I don’t care, either. I just know that sometimes I crave it and even though I also love olive oil on whole  grain baguette, sometimes I want bread and butter.

My body is complicated and is responding to a whole bunch of variables:  how much I did that day, if I am dehydrated, if I was out late, if I slept a lot and am rested, etc., etc.  It is much better for me to let my body guide me than to try to use my brain to guess what I may need.

For instance, sometimes I eat cilantro and I can just taste that my whole body is celebrating.  I just think there is something in that that I really need.  I am not going to waste a bunch of time or energy figuring that out.  I trust myself.  And when I crave it, I eat it and it is great.

You may hate cilantro-  I know a lot of people do.  You are different than me.  That is really a wonderful thing.  Listen to what your own body is telling you.

Food rules like the ones that Bethenny uses keep you obsessed and disconnected from the greatest wisdom you hold- your instinct of what to eat and when.  I saw her photo recently and she is “un-naturally thin.”  I hold that as evidence that she is obsessed.

I don’t mean to be critical, but I am just calling it like I see it.  And, in case you are saying, well I want to be that thin, here is my answer.   Eating with a thin mentality will get you thin.  It will not get you weirdly thin.  It will not get you super model stick leg thin.  It will get you beautifully thin.

If you want to be that thin, you are going to have to fight your body all the way.  And if you make a million dollars a year on being a weirdly thin model, it may be worth it to you.?

But to be nicely thin, and healthy, a thin mentality works just fine.  And you will be happy and enjoy food-  a fabulous pleasure.

I just felt my first hunger pang of the day.  And my only thought is, “Well sometime soon I will eat something wonderful.”  And then I have some fun thinking of what that might be,  And when I get to stage two hunger-  probably in about an hour, or hour and a half,  I will eat.  And I will stop when it isn’t wonderful anymore.