A Post-Thanksgiving Day Lament and Lessons Learned From Boob Juice

Food hangover. 

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Wherever you may be this post-Thanksgiving Day, you are likely experiencing the same bloated, tryptophan-induced coma that I am in.  As I lay here in a stupor contemplating how yesterday's indulgences are being converted to ass-fat, I can't help but smile remembering the garlic mashed potatoes and pumpkin cheesecake. Classic comfort food mixed with maybe a dash of emotional overeating.

Photo Credit: amasc

 

 

 

 

I have struggled with weight my whole life. In the last three years after two pregnancies, my weight has swung up and down by 80 pounds or more at a time.  I know how to lose weight, but I can also put it on like nobody's business.  With this history, I certainly know what all the doctors, nutritionists and fitness gurus have to say about holiday eating and comfort food.  We should look to food as fuel.  We need to remove the sentimentality we have attached to such high-calorie favorites as mac 'n cheese and sweet potatoes swimming in brown sugar and topped with marshmallows.

{Pause for drool.}

Photo Credit: Christy Scherrer

So in the midst of my Thanksgiving recovery, I take a moment to observe my daughter who is enjoying her own feast at the breast.  This girl is going to town! She is in bliss.  Her little legs are kicking in delight and she's stroking my breast like her favorite puppy.  The mere sight of my areola elicits peals of infant laughter.  (I am glad to know this is because she is happy to see my breasts, not because of the cruelty of gravity.) Upon further reflection I realize no one comfort eats like a baby breastfeeding.  I whip out the boob not only when she is hungry, but when she is tired, when she is sad, when she is hurt, when she is anxious.  Certainly this must be emotional eating at its finest.  Boob juice is her comfort food.  This need to suckle and nurse is a deeply ingrained survival instinct.  So if our natural human tendency is to seek food for comfort (despite what all the experts advise) aren't we all basically screwed?  It's time to call bullshit!  Time to break out the eatin' dress, a bib and a shovel and succumb to our primal urges.  It is our evolutionary destiny to gorge on leftover stuffing!

And yet, studies have shown that breastfeeding reduces the risk of children becoming overweight.  In fact, the longer you breastfeed, the lower the odds of your children being overweight.  Hmmmm... so where is the disconnect?  What do babies innately know that we have forgotten?  Let's take a moment to examine this:



Lesson #1 - Eat only whole, natural foods
Breast milk is as natural a food as you can get.  It goes straight from the manufacturer to the consumer. There is no middle man.  There are no harmful additives to preserve or enhance flavor.  You won't find any high-fructose corn syrup.  It is not pasteurized, homogenized, or otherwise effed with in any way.  Now I am not urging adults to start consuming breast milk but the lesson here is to simplify.  Less is more.  If it has a lot of ingredients you can't pronounce, don't eat it.

Processed foods make you fat.  Processed foods make you unhealthy.  This wisdom is gaining traction with authors such as Michael Pollan, whose popular books such as In Defense of Food teach us to "Eat Food. (As in REAL unprocessed food). Not too much. Mostly plants."  Basically, if it comes in a box you should try to limit or avoid it.  Although breast milk can often come in some fairly attractive packaging.

Lesson #2 - Eat slowly
It's not a coincidence that the phrase "nursing your drink all night" refers to drinking slowly.  When babies nurse they eat slowly.  The breast doesn't work like a faucet.  Baby sucks out her meal drop by precious drop.  With breastfeeding, an empty bottle doesn't determine when the meal is over.  Baby simply stops when she is full.  Because the breast releases milk more slowly than a bottle, the food has more time to reach the stomach and signal to the brain a sense of fullness.   When someone, whether baby or adult, eats slowly, they will often consume less calories but with a greater sense of satisfaction.

This difference leads to a notable size difference in infants across populations where babies are breastfed versus formula-fed.  So much so that it is now advised that pediatricians utilize WHO growth charts versus the CDC growth charts when assessing breastfed children, to prevent breastfed children from being diagnosed as underweight.  The WHO growth charts are based on populations where breastfeeding is the norm.

Lesson #3 - Eat with love and reverence
When a baby nurses, she isn't watching TV or driving to her next appointment.  When a baby nurses she is focused on the act of nursing.  Nursing is more than just food.  In her article titled, "The Normal Newborn and Why Breastmilk is Not Just Food,"  Dr. Jennifer Thomas, MD of the Lakeshore Medical Clinic in Franklin, Wisconsin tell us, 

"Babies don't need to "eat" all the time - they need to be with you all the time - that's the ultimate satisfaction.  A baby at the breast is getting their immune system developed, activating their thymus, staying warm, feeling safe from predators, having normal sleep patterns and wiring their brain, and (oh by the way) getting some food in the process.  They are not "hungry" -- they are obeying instinct. The instinct that allows us to survive and make more of us."

So maybe here is where we as adults get mixed up about seeking food for comfort.  We associate the comfort with the food, when what we should be doing is enjoying the process of sharing food with each other.  We attach the memories of being close to family and friends to turkey and mashed potatoes when really what we crave is the company of those we love.

Photo Credit: byronv2

In Mireille Guiliano's New York Times bestselling book, "French Women Don't Get Fat", the author imparts to us the principles that have allowed French women to indulge in wine, bread, pastry and chocolate, all while maintaining the legendarily slim French physique.  For French women, dining is an event treated with respect.  You don't eat in your car or standing at the counter. You sit down at a table, probably with a glass of good wine.  You use real linen.  You slowly savor each bite. And you take time to enjoy your company as well as the food.

Let's face it, not all American Thanksgiving celebrations of the modern day look like a Norman Rockwell painting.  More often than not, we pile our plate high and plop ourselves in front of the football game while someone yells at the kids to get their fingers out of the mashed potatoes. Or maybe you do sit down at a table with your family at Thanksgiving, but how many of your everyday meals are treated with the same tradition and respect?  When we don't pay attention to what we eat, or the people we eat that food with, we miss out on more than fitting into a tight pair of jeans. We miss out on the loving connections that can be made at the dinner table.

Wow. Did you ever think a nursing baby could teach you so much about food?  Out of the mouths of babes comes a lot of stuff. Spit-up, screams and a fair amount of sass when they get older.  But at least when it comes to food, maybe we need to pay better attention to the wisdom from their mouths as well.