Improved Nutrition

Remember the Cave Man

Eating In Restaurants:
A New Way to Look at a Menu

I want you to imagine our ancestors, the cave men. We all know that the ones who survived to procreate were the ones with tendencies and characteristics that helped them overcome the obstacles of the day. Starvation was one of the main obstacles. The cave man who tended to walk right by a juicy root or ripe berry with no need to eat it did not live long. The cave man who responded to visual stimuli (who was motivated to eat whenever he saw food) lived longer and had more descendents. Human beings have inherited the tendency to respond when we see food. This drive comes from the most primitive part of our brain. Willpower cannot win out over millions of years of biology. We can, however, use our biology to help us eat healthy tasty foods in comfortable amounts.

When you t hink about your inherited tendency to be influenced by the sight of food, you can understand why most restaurant menus now use photographs of delicious foods alongside the written description. What can you do to increase the chance you will choose a meal that is healthier for you? Look someplace where there are pictures of meals that are more healthy. Look in your own head.

When you sit down at a restaurant, do not look at the menu. Sit down, settle in, and think about what you want. From your own experience, from your own appetites, select what you want. Picture chicken, fish, vegetable lasagna, and more. Notice your reactions to each option and think about it. What sounds good to you? When you have found something in your own head that you feel like ordering, now you are ready to look in the menu. However, you are not looking to see what the menu may suggest to you. You are looking for a specific type of dish and where it may be located on the menu. You know what you want. You just need to complete the hunt by finding it on the menu. The "cave man" side of you is satisfied because you hunted through your own list of foods (in your head) and chose what appealed to you. The "modern man" side of you is satisfied because you get to enjoy the convenience of hunting through the menu and finding food that is good for you. What a treat to sit down, think of exactly what you want, and have it delivered to your table!

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