“Stop playing with your food!”
We’ve all heard it from our parents. Most of us heeded the command at a young age and never played with our food again.
It turns out being a little irreverent is a good thing.
Having fun with your food is a net positive for psychology, especially when one is in the adult years of life.
Here’s why.
Play With Your Food!
Take a moment to write down a dozen words you associate with food.
Are you done?
Chances are your word bank consists of the terminology used by dieticians, food critics and the mainstream media.
Those common “food buzzwords” tend to be bland simply because those parties have a financial interest in saturating content with keywords.
Food should be fun, not boring and repetitive. Break free from the constraints of the mainstream’s food lexicon and you’ll feel liberated.
Better yet, ignore your mother’s advice and start playing with your food.
You read that right.
Food shouldn’t be serious all the time. You’ve read enough about nutritional value, serving sizes, calories and fat.
Instead of zealously eating healthy, play with your food for a healthier relationship with the sustenance that gives life.
Reclaim your natural food curiosity and you’ll enjoy a renewed relationship with eating.
It is this experimentation that keeps you interested in trying new foods and beverages. It’s the adventure of food that we all crave.
Mind the Idiosyncrasies of Food
Think back to when you were a kid. Remember what it felt like to taste a strawberry?
Think about the sensation you experienced when eating pimento olives.
It is the subtleties of tasty foods that matter most. Food texture and flavor from stem to tip are the playful elements of sustenance.
As we grow older, we shift away from food fun to eating and drinking on autopilot. Between work, kids, errands, addictive smartphones and other technology, food has become an afterthought.
How to Renew Your Relationship With Food
Everyone eventually develops a somewhat stale relationship with food. You can only eat so many of the same meals and desserts until you grow tired of them.
It’s time to change that.
Take a moment to consider what made you curious about different foods to start with. You wanted to experience new flavors and taste bud sensations.
Moving forward, eat with curiosity as opposed to self-criticism and you’ll find food is interesting once again. This is your opportunity to try new foods and beverages.
Spending as little as an extra five minutes in your grocery store creates an opportunity to find new offerings.
Incorporate those new tasty delights into your weekly meals and you’ll once again feel passionate about food.
Rediscover Your Inner-Child
Kids are infatuated with food.
Why?
Because each food is a unique experience. Little ones explore the culinary selection as though they are on an exciting adventure.
It’s time for adults to take a cue from the kids and reapproach food with a sense of playfulness. It is that playful approach that induced magic.
Play reduces anxiety, activating the parasympathetic nervous system, meaning the built-in mode for resting and digesting.
Tune into your body’s inherent signals and you really will digest your food that much better. As an example, take a moment to ponder a child enjoying a bowl of yogurt. The child isn’t considering the yogurt’s nutritional quality.
Rather, the child is present, in the moment, enjoying each and every lick of the spoon.
Look closely and you’ll find the youngest among us make funny faces when eating cold yogurt simply due to its sensation.
That’s the playfulness adults should strive for. If you can’t reestablish that childish naivete when eating food, try new culinary offerings to rediscovery your inner child.
The Proof is in the Pudding
An Ohio State University study quantified the claims made above. It turns out those who play with their food enjoy it more than others who take a more serious approach.
Playing with your food involves more than moving it around with a fork or spoon.
Try these playful approaches:
- Use chopsticks instead of traditional utensils
- Use your fingers
- Lap up beverages with your tongue like a dog
The study data shows those who consumed popcorn using chopsticks enjoyed the experience that much more than those who ate it in a traditional manner.
Why?
Because the use of chopsticks creates immersion. Such immersion through an unconventional approach amplifies the taste that much more.
Here’s what matters most: playing with food increases one’s focus on it.
The more focused you are on your food, the greater the likelihood of enjoying it.
As an example, the first-time experience of eating popcorn with chopsticks is enjoyable because it is unusual.
If one were to pivot to eating popcorn with a spoon, that would also likely prove enjoyable as well.
Here’s the takeaway: it is the novelty of one’s method of eating that is appealing.
Your Food Experimentation Begins Today
Switch up your approach to eating and you’ll find the experience really is that much more enjoyable. Even if you aren’t good with chopsticks, simply using them to eat will prove satisfying.
Rest assured, you aren’t alone in your crowd if you aren’t skilled with chopsticks. A YouGov survey reveals 43% of Americans are either terrible or not very good at eating with chopsticks.
Playing with food requires a bit of creativity.
As an example, consider folding your first pizza slice lengthwise or widthwise. Eat the next slice with a fork and knife for even more irreverence.
Such seemingly minor acts make the eating experience that much more enjoyable.
As another example, instead of drinking beverages from a glass, consider using a straw. Even swirling beverages out of martini glasses will prove fun and exciting.
The quirkier the better.
The best part is being playful with food and drink takes up more time, meaning you’ll likely consume less as your pace of consumption will slow.
Food Experimentation has no Limits
Have you ever tried a lettuce wrap?
If not, you are missing out.
Use the emptied head of lettuce instead of a burrito shell, adding your favorite ingredients and roll it into a cylinder.
Cut your lettuce wrap in half and enjoy. This unorthodox approach to creating a wrap is fun, exciting and healthier than the traditional way.
This is just one example of how human ingenuity can stretch the limits of food consumption. Get even more creative, share your ideas with others and you might inspire others to come up with even more creative ideas.
Put That Fork to Use
Creative eating has the potential to be as simple as using a fork. Instead of using your hands to eat a burrito, hamburger or other entrée, use a fork.
Research suggests the use of a fork makes food taste that much better.
The findings of the University of Chicago study reveal those who downed bland foods and beverages such as water and popcorn in unique ways obtained more enjoyment.
The use of a fork that does not require such a utensil yet forces you to pay attention more to the act of eating. The heightened attention increases your immersion in the experience.
The Weirder the Better
Have you ever considered drinking tap water out of a wine glass?
How about cutting your peanut butter and jelly sandwich into 12 small squares?
Perhaps a hamburger as an open-face sandwich?
If not, now is the time to do so.
These seemingly absurd ideas keep food fresh and exciting. It is that excitement that makes adults fall back in love with food, even if they’ve ate it thousands of times in the past.
If you are stumped in terms of how to make your go-to foods more enjoyable, ask a food psychologist in NJ.
Nutritional psychologists experiment with food on their own as they understand a novel approach to eating invigorates the mind.
A seemingly off-the-wall idea such as drinking tea from a coffee mug or coffee from a glass flute has the potential to completely alter the culinary experience.
Take a Cue From the Japanese
Adults on the small island of Japan are putting the idea of playful eating into practice. Japanese adults abide by the food mantra of “Enjoy your meals” regardless of your age.
Play is synonymous with joy in the land where video games reign supreme. The Japanese view food as an opportunity for fun for several reasons.
For one, playful eating makes it easier to digest food.
An enjoyable experience communicates to the parasympathetic nervous system that it is to activate the response for relaxation.
The parasympathetic nervous system facilitates digestion by relaxing the gastrointestinal tract’s muscles, boosting digestive juices all the more.
In other words, the Japanese have determined making food playful triggers healthy digestion. Healthy digestion allows for the body to absorb nutrients better than would otherwise occur.
The Japanese also understand that making the eating experience fulfilling satiates, meaning less food is necessary to trigger the gut-brain connection.
It is this connection that communicates the feeling of fullness.
When the stomach communicates to the brain that it is full, one is less likely to continue eating. The consumption of less food means the consumption of fewer calories.
The end result?
Minimal or no weight gain.
That’s a goal everyone should strive toward.
Ask for Help With Food Fun
Overhauling the eating experience in the spirit of fun will take some guidance. Ask a nutritional psychologist for assistance and you’ll find joyful eating is that much easier.
Our New Jersey food psychiatrist is here to help.
Give us a call at 908-844-8547 to schedule your appointment.
