Edward Bauman, M.Ed., Ph.D.,

Proper nutrition is a major form
of health investing. It is safer than the stock market as a hedge against the
risk of illness. When you eat poor quality food, you are dipping into the
nutrient reserves in your bones, soft tissue, organs, glands, skin, and hair.
You wear the results of being overdrawn nutritionally “an unhealthy appearance,
and you feel the warnings signs of ill health which start to show up as
fatigue, pain, and mood swings.

To create sustainability in
one’s own and the planet’s health, we need to exercise greater levels of
thought, awareness, and discrimination around food selection. Eating for health
is a wake up call to eating consciously! A process, rather than a method, with
each level reflecting the awareness and maturity of a person when he or she is
eating “a behavior that affords us abundant choice and delight, but is often
done with little thought.

Becoming aware and interrupting
the unconscious behavior patterns when we eat is the first step toward
eating for health. See if you recognize your eating patterns in the levels
below.

Level One: Eating for Pleasure. This level is an
immature and impulsive approach to eating, aimed at maximizing pleasure and minimizing
pain. Eating at this level is for immediate gratification: “I ate it
because it tasted good” and “I ate as much of it as I wanted to”
are hallmarks of this stage. Emotional eating, which often means compulsive
overeating, is a Level One adaptation to pain, tension, and stress.

Level Two: Eating for Energy. Blood sugar regulation drives one’s food choices at this
level. We choose substantial foods that allay hunger. The goal is to fill up
and not have to eat again for three to four hours. Little concern is placed on
the quality of the food, the likely nutrient loss due to processing, possible
pesticide residues, environmental toxins, or added hormones, antibiotics,
coloring, and artificial flavors.

Level Three: Eating for
Recovery. The inevitable cumulative
effects of Level One and Level Two eating are poor body composition, obesity,
and diminished energy, health, and brightness of mood.

People experiencing these
effects often go on a diet that organizes foods into good and bad categories
and limits quantities. Examples of Level Three eating are diet plans such as
the Zone, Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, Food Combining, Blood Typing, and
Raw Foods.

The benefits of such diets are
typically short-lived. There is an immediate positive effect from eating fewer
refined and processed foods, but then we reach a point of diminishing return.
The diet is no longer satisfying and no longer producing the promised effects.
The tendency then is to stay with the rigid, reductionist approach even longer
or to slip back to Level One or Level Two eating patterns.

This is a more mature approach than the first two levels, but it can be
tiresome, judgmental, and sometimes supplement driven.

Level Four: Eating for Health. Food choices at Level
Four are made by discerning what the body needs and what the best available
choices are at a given time. At this level, we consciously choose among
a wide variety of healthy, organic foods. We exercise moderation in the amount
of foods we eat, and take more time and care in its preparation and
presentation. Nourishing ourselves then becomes a wise, mature, and loving act
of awareness cultivated through daily practice.

In choosing to eat for health,
you will embrace two powerful maxims – “food is the best medicine”
and “know thyself” – In this, you create a synergy that opens the way
to wellness and service. Choose
wisely.

Edward Bauman, M.Ed., Ph.D., Executive Director of Bauman
College Holistic Nutrition and Culinary Arts www.baumancollege.org