Worth the Effort

Continuing some of the ideas from my last post, I read a wonderful Jonah Lehrer article on Why Making Dinner is a Good Idea. Lehrer is a brilliant neuroscientist, who writes fascinating pieces that break down concepts of how the brain/mind works and explains what that means in terms of everyday experiences (among other things).

In this article, he describes an experiment to do with the amount of effort it takes to earn a food reward, as it relates to the enjoyment of it. The study found that mice who did more work (by lever-pushing) to get food then enjoyed it substantially more than food for which they didn't need to work as much. Lehrer then discussed another paper where it was observed that obese individuals got less satisfaction out of food and that overeating is not so much a matter of gluttony, but an issue of needing more food or drink to achieve a satisfying effect. (Definitely read the article - he says it much more articulately).

These ideas relate directly to one of my recent resolves, to put effort into cooking real food for dinner. Over the fall semester, I fell into a worrying pattern of ordering pizza or Chinese takeout most nights of the week, supplemented with food that took a minimal effort to cook, like prepackaged macaroni and cheese or canned soups purchased at the corner store. I don't imagine I need to elaborate on how disastrously unhealthy that's been. Further, I reckon it's at least as expensive, if not much more expensive, than planning meals, buying groceries, and taking some time to cook with fresh foods.

It is encouraging, therefore, to know that the increased satisfaction I get when I take the time to cook isn't simply a virtuous sense of accomplishment, but an actual mechanism of my brain working to reward the effort. And when you add the two ideas up, being more satisfied with something because I've cooked it also suggests I will not need to eat as much to really enjoy it. Win win, right?

In pursuit of this goal, while I've been visiting my parents over break, I've talked a lot with my mom about weeknight meals that she used to prepare for our family, copying down some of her recipes and brainstorming other ideas that work. I know that before I worry too much about "dieting" in the strictest sense, I need to get back into the habit of preparing balanced meals that take a bit of work. I need to plan menus for the week and sort out how my leftovers will work so that I don't find myself making large pots of pasta and mindlessly scooping out bowls of it all week. I also have to work grocery shopping back into my schedule so that I don't find myself with no food in the house and the inclination to plug my credit card number into a pizza delivery website so I can get back to my homework.

As I get back into the cooking groove, I urgently need to get an exercise plan in place as well. For the entire fall semester, I "meant" to sort out what I would do for fitness and never really got around to it. Initially, I figured that if I did nothing else, I was still walking at least 3 miles a day over the course of my commute, with several minutes of steep hills on each end. Unfortunately, even with a heavy backpack, I don't think I'm getting anywhere near an aerobically effective pace (though I bought a new battery for my pedometer, so I will check), and I doubt any amount of walking could make a dent in the awful eating habits I'd developed.

Like I've said before, I want to earn my weight loss and fitness. I know I will be so much happier with myself if I can do it by healthy eating and developing the discipline to exercise even when I'd rather crash in front of my computer and waste hours on the internet. I know that the approach I must take is not that I am dieting or working out to try to lose weight, but that I am changing what my life is like, so that eating healthy and exercising are as much a part of it as the other things I do. The resulting healthy body and mind are the rewards of literally becoming a healthier, fitter person on the inside, and that's the real goal.