I'm Not Fat -- I'm Eating Incompetent
Posted on Wednesday September 19, 2007 at 10:50am.
I just learned of a new phrase, "Eating Competence," which is used in a study by researchers at Penn State.
I'm not saying there can't be anything to this idea of Eating Competence. We see it with alcohol consumption, anecdotally. Some people know their limits better than do others, and are better at avoiding excess. Maybe thin people do have more Eating Competence and are more in tune with their bodies and what and how much they should eat in order to maintain their weight.
But notice the use of "preferred." By whom? And notice the assumption that it is always best to balance hunger, appetite and eating enjoyment, with maintaining weight as the goal. For me it is, more or less — I enjoy food, just not enough to allow myself to become a fat guy. Then again, that could be because I am Eating Competent. Or because I don't put on weight as easily as some other people do. I can imagine, though, that someone without my metabolism could decide that a life with ice cream is worth the health risks that accompany increased weight. How much increased weight is the ice cream worth? Not much, to me. But not everyone is me. If people place different values on pleasure and health than the researchers do, if people are willing to trade a bit of the second for more of the first, does that make them incompetent?
The researchers believe that, "[g]iven the associated health benefits, education that develops EC [eating competency] appears prudent." Of course they do. I wonder if they'd like to play a role in developing such grant-funded educational programs and related polices. Probably not. Still, if people want to lose weight, and this information can be helpful to them, fine.
I don't know all that the study entailed, only that "[a]s part of the study, the Penn State researchers administered an on-line survey to 370 participants and a paper version to another 462 people." Maybe there's more to it. Either way, coming up with a phrase like "Eating Competence," and, by implication but obviously, "Eating Incompetence," could be the first step to making this a disorder, if not a disease. Where that might lead is anyone's guess. Have fun inventing seemingly paranoid possibilities and connecting it to various recent proposals to have government subsidize or take over health care or health insurance. I know someone who would love the phrase "Eating Competence." I'm sorry I didn't come up with it myself.
(Hat tip, Dave Lull)
Eating competence, as it was defined for the study, is the idea that a person is aware and able to balance their hunger, appetite and eating enjoyment with their body's biological tendency to maintain a preferred and stable weight.I guess this means that people who know they can eat a cheese steak once in a while without putting on weight, and do so, are going to maintain a "preferred and stable weight." And those who cannot eat a cheese steak without putting on weight, and who don't know this fact about themselves and therefore eat the cheese steak, are not going to maintain a "preferred and stable weight."
I'm not saying there can't be anything to this idea of Eating Competence. We see it with alcohol consumption, anecdotally. Some people know their limits better than do others, and are better at avoiding excess. Maybe thin people do have more Eating Competence and are more in tune with their bodies and what and how much they should eat in order to maintain their weight.
But notice the use of "preferred." By whom? And notice the assumption that it is always best to balance hunger, appetite and eating enjoyment, with maintaining weight as the goal. For me it is, more or less — I enjoy food, just not enough to allow myself to become a fat guy. Then again, that could be because I am Eating Competent. Or because I don't put on weight as easily as some other people do. I can imagine, though, that someone without my metabolism could decide that a life with ice cream is worth the health risks that accompany increased weight. How much increased weight is the ice cream worth? Not much, to me. But not everyone is me. If people place different values on pleasure and health than the researchers do, if people are willing to trade a bit of the second for more of the first, does that make them incompetent?
The researchers believe that, "[g]iven the associated health benefits, education that develops EC [eating competency] appears prudent." Of course they do. I wonder if they'd like to play a role in developing such grant-funded educational programs and related polices. Probably not. Still, if people want to lose weight, and this information can be helpful to them, fine.
I don't know all that the study entailed, only that "[a]s part of the study, the Penn State researchers administered an on-line survey to 370 participants and a paper version to another 462 people." Maybe there's more to it. Either way, coming up with a phrase like "Eating Competence," and, by implication but obviously, "Eating Incompetence," could be the first step to making this a disorder, if not a disease. Where that might lead is anyone's guess. Have fun inventing seemingly paranoid possibilities and connecting it to various recent proposals to have government subsidize or take over health care or health insurance. I know someone who would love the phrase "Eating Competence." I'm sorry I didn't come up with it myself.
(Hat tip, Dave Lull)