Graffiti from the Superfund Site | Main | Food Feelings Graph, 2nd Version
March 17, 2006
Food Time to Anticipation/Regret Scale
I really need a better title for this, and will welcome any suggestions, but here is my theory: Foods that have a flat line on the "Time Between Anticipation and Regret" scale are better for you. It's kind of like that Victorian idea that you don't want to overstimulate yourself or you'll go crazy. As you can see in this chart, in the case of donuts, there is a very steep curve going from perhaps not even thinking about a donut to "I really want a donut!!!" and from there to "O! why did I eat that donut?"
With carrots, on the other hand, it's a pretty flat line. Most of us are neither all that psyched about eating a carrot nor sad we did so. If anything, maybe there should be a little uptick at the end because we are pleased with ourselves for having eaten the carrot (and I should change the high end scale from "Anticipatory" to "Anticipatory/Satisfied"). I'm not really much of a chart person, and it's a work on progress, but I'll bet I could sell a few diet books based on this concept.
Maybe you could use this to chart your feelings about different foods, and thereby coach yourself into having more appropriate feelings for more appropriate foods. Especially if you had fetishes or disorders.
But for now, I join Spine in saluting the carrot!.
Posted by mary at March 17, 2006 11:45 AM
Comments
Ha! Great chart.
maybe there should be a little uptick at the end because we are pleased with ourselves for having eaten the carrot
Indeed. Foods like carrots and brown rice and raw almonds don't offer the immediate gratification that donuts do, but the satisfaction of having eaten well offers its own (admittedly subtle) rewards. In fact, I believe that if healthful foods are eaten obsessively over a sustained period, the physiological benefits they provide, in combination with feelings of self-approval, can rewire the pleasure centers of the brain so that carrots become more exciting and donuts less alluring.
Posted by: Spine at March 17, 2006 3:40 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)