The struggles: Holidays, pleasure from food, and consistency #39
Is it hard to keep consistent with habits?
Happy Sunday,
How was your week?
In today’s newsletter, I would like to share my struggles with food, staying consistent and holidays. For a long time, I have put crazy pressure on myself to be perfect. At the end of the day, I am a qualified Nutritionist, and I need to be an example of perfection when it comes to food, looks, and exercise.
I have all the knowledge in the world to eat well, manage my PCOS, move my body and lead a healthy lifestyle, but sometimes I struggle to do so. As usual, I did some reflections to understand a bit why.
Many newsletters and articles out there will tell you what to do. However, I hope this is a safe space to talk genuinely about how hard it is to change behaviours and deal with our current environment.
My partner is from Malta, so we often have the privilege of staying there for one month in the summer and usually three weeks at Christmas. I have just returned from spending the last month of summer swimming in the sea, having drinks and eating out. Whilst it sounds lovely and relaxing (I love it), it always has a significant impact on my PCOS symptoms, my weight and my well-being. There are a few reasons why:
Change of routines
Our habits are linked to our environment. Our brains constantly look for triggers to know what to do. It’s like there is a database of “if/then” situations that the brain pulls from (Trigger → Routine → Reward). When I am home, I know that if it’s 8:30 a.m. I will eat two eggs for breakfast, make a green smoothie and feel satisfied. When I am off to Malta, it’s a new environment, so my brain doesn’t have stored if/then situations. I don’t wake up at the same time, have the same kitchen, and don’t need to start work at 9, so my brain has to form new connections. It’s up to me if those new connections are things that serve my body and my health or will be detrimental.
Exploration mode
Being in a new environment means that I love exploring it. I don’t want my 8:30 two-boiled eggs; I want to try a new coffee shop every day. I want to make the most of my time there to explore this new place. This is because we, humans, are attracted to novelty. Animal studies around the brain’s reaction to novelty have suggested increased dopamine levels in the context of novelty. So, the brain reacts to novelty by releasing dopamine, which makes us want to explore in search of a reward. This doesn’t only make it hard only in the context of a holiday, but also at home. After a while, our routines become dull, so we actively seek novelty by trying new things.
Food Pleasure
Not only does our brain love exploring and novelty, but when you go to coffee shops or dinner, the food presented is hugely enticing. It’s not a secret that our brain loves food. We have been wired to seek it from our beginnings to stay alive. The only issue is that now it’s in abundance. Next time you go out for a walk, notice how many shops/carts/restaurants are screaming (not literally) at you to try their new pistachio Frappuccino. As a result, I go out to a coffee shop, and the menu presents things that activate your reward systems and offer you a lot of pleasure: that delicious croissant.
You can see how my brain has now created another if/then situation. When we are on holiday and have no routine, we explore coffee shops and choose something to give us a big reward. There is nothing wrong with having these occasionally, but being there for a short time increases FOMO 👇🏼.
FOMO - Fear of missing out
Because I am there for a limited time, I need to try everything out. I won’t be able to do this forever as I will have to come back to the UK. This feeling of missing out and making the most of my time means that behaviours that don’t serve me get repeated for the time I am out. When else will I have a pistachio croissant? Not in London, so let’s have it. Whilst this is fine for a few days, when it’s one month, my PCOS reacts and flares up.
I am slowly learning to carry my healthy eating habits into holidays and ensure that my if/then situations are not all destructive for my health. This time, I ensured I worked out three times/a week. I think this has massively helped. However, I would like to do better.
Coming back from these holidays it’s also not easy. Returning to my healthy routine often takes a few weeks to adjust. Whilst my reward systems were hyped up for a month, the two eggs and green smoothies don’t quite make the cut for excitement. Finding pleasure in a less exciting life makes me more likely to chase new unhealthy habits.
Ultimately, I think our inability to keep consistent with healthy behaviour is down to us having built a society based on our pleasures. We have a food system built around maximising the pleasure you get from food. We have a society built on highlights and exploration driven by social media. We have an environment built on convenience. Over time, it feels like we are fighting our instincts and forever chasing things that give us pleasure.
As I am writing this, we have a flight tomorrow morning to Barcelona. I will try to do better whilst enjoying my holidays.
I hope this little story helped somehow. I would love to know if this resonates with you, so please don’t hesitate to hit reply on this email, leave a comment or a like :).
See you next Sunday,
Francesca