In the spring of 2010 I graduated from MIT. By summer, we were back in Israel trying to readjust and rebuild our lives in a place that was always our home but suddenly felt very distant. It was not a good time. I had just started working and was adjusting to the being a full-time employee (as opposed to care-free student), Gila's dad was very ill, Yotam was still a baby and we were living in a 2-by-2 apartment in my mother-in-law's backyard. Like I said, these were difficult times. The "good" news was that all the running around and pressure got to me and I had lost some weight. 5 kilograms (1 lbs) to be exact, so now I weighed around 88 kilograms (194 lbs) with 22% body fat (I know because one weekend while we were visiting my folks I got up on their Omron scale...oh, the horror).
Still, I wasn't trying to loose weight and didn't feel I needed to. I was eating somewhat better now because Israeli everyday food is healthier than its American counterpart plus my new workplace included a catering service (for lunch) which was pretty decent (or so I thought...). There was also a growing awareness in supermarkets to organic, wholesome foods and some places even had an eco-friendly, healthy, green corner where you could get gluten/sugar-free foods, soya/rice/almond milk, organic fruits/vegetables and more. Shopping for these foods was expensive, but necessary because life without Trader Joe's left a huge void in our lives.
So by now, I was eating breakfast and dinner at home, lunch at work so naturally there was no room left for dining out and fast food (or more generally, eating on the go). Before life in the States, I was quite a big fan of Israeli fast food. which is awesome and very different from what you have in the States (of course, you have your McDonald's and Burger King in Israel, but it's the same "empty" food regardless of the locale). Israeli fast food mostly consists of Mediterranean cuisine - hummus, falafel, shawarma, pickled salads and more - which you can get anywhere on the street at a fair price. Of course, quality varies, but the average place usually has a decent offering of fresh, home-cooked food. There nothing quite like eating a huge bowl of fresh hummus with some olive oil, pita bread and a cold beer on the side. It's the kind of dish that you eat after a night of hitting the dance clubs (hummus is great for absorbing alcohol in the blood...lol) or for lunch on Friday which has the effect of making you want to crawl into bed and go to sleep.
Even though I had (unintentionally) given up Israeli fast food (or at least consuming it less frequently), my eating mentality was still very much in (what I'd like to call) "Survival" mode. It's this feeling that you only get three meals a day and at every meal you have to pack in as much as possible because there will be no food until the next meal. Therefore, you must eat more than you can/need in order to sustain your body during this time between meals. I see this type of mentality all over the place...people packing their plates like there's no tomorrow and leaving half of their food untouched (good scenario) or leaving an empty plate (bad scenario)...either way, the outcome is the same...a feeling of "fullness", sluggishness and fatigue...the kind of feeling you get after having sex...let's call it a "food orgasm" :-) Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? But the thing about food orgasms is that they come with a twist. Every time you experience a food orgasm, the body wants more...and so it moves the point of satisfaction (or climax) a little bit further away...so the next time, your body will need to consume more food in order to experience an orgasm. Pretty soon you'll be so addicted to that feeling of food orgasm that you'll be eating way too much that what your body really (!) needs.
Still, I wasn't trying to loose weight and didn't feel I needed to. I was eating somewhat better now because Israeli everyday food is healthier than its American counterpart plus my new workplace included a catering service (for lunch) which was pretty decent (or so I thought...). There was also a growing awareness in supermarkets to organic, wholesome foods and some places even had an eco-friendly, healthy, green corner where you could get gluten/sugar-free foods, soya/rice/almond milk, organic fruits/vegetables and more. Shopping for these foods was expensive, but necessary because life without Trader Joe's left a huge void in our lives.
So by now, I was eating breakfast and dinner at home, lunch at work so naturally there was no room left for dining out and fast food (or more generally, eating on the go). Before life in the States, I was quite a big fan of Israeli fast food. which is awesome and very different from what you have in the States (of course, you have your McDonald's and Burger King in Israel, but it's the same "empty" food regardless of the locale). Israeli fast food mostly consists of Mediterranean cuisine - hummus, falafel, shawarma, pickled salads and more - which you can get anywhere on the street at a fair price. Of course, quality varies, but the average place usually has a decent offering of fresh, home-cooked food. There nothing quite like eating a huge bowl of fresh hummus with some olive oil, pita bread and a cold beer on the side. It's the kind of dish that you eat after a night of hitting the dance clubs (hummus is great for absorbing alcohol in the blood...lol) or for lunch on Friday which has the effect of making you want to crawl into bed and go to sleep.
Even though I had (unintentionally) given up Israeli fast food (or at least consuming it less frequently), my eating mentality was still very much in (what I'd like to call) "Survival" mode. It's this feeling that you only get three meals a day and at every meal you have to pack in as much as possible because there will be no food until the next meal. Therefore, you must eat more than you can/need in order to sustain your body during this time between meals. I see this type of mentality all over the place...people packing their plates like there's no tomorrow and leaving half of their food untouched (good scenario) or leaving an empty plate (bad scenario)...either way, the outcome is the same...a feeling of "fullness", sluggishness and fatigue...the kind of feeling you get after having sex...let's call it a "food orgasm" :-) Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? But the thing about food orgasms is that they come with a twist. Every time you experience a food orgasm, the body wants more...and so it moves the point of satisfaction (or climax) a little bit further away...so the next time, your body will need to consume more food in order to experience an orgasm. Pretty soon you'll be so addicted to that feeling of food orgasm that you'll be eating way too much that what your body really (!) needs.
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