Food Porn

Everywhere I go I see it: food porn. Those glossy images of giant desserts, resplendent with whip cream, laden with chocolate, floating on a delicate pastry crust. As a baker I can tell you that those desserts are loaded with white flour, white sugar, and fat, fat, fat, usually in the form of a couple sticks of butter and whipped cream. And that’s not all: seductive images of fries and burgers, all shiny and delicious, fit the definition of food porn as well. What really throws me off, though, is that the WW site is rife with pictures of food that can only be understood as porn. Admittedly, WW recipes trim down the fat and sugar, but the portion sizes displayed are way out of line for someone who wants to lose or maintain. What is the message here? Is WW saying that you can still regularly eat giant desserts from heaven without going to hell on the scale? Are they saying that the only change you need to make is to prepare the dessert or the wondrous fried concoction like this rather than like that, and your home free?

For Karen and myself, our approach to weight loss and management has been to change the way we eat, not just eat the same fattening meals and dabble a little bit with the ingredients. As we relearned what to eat, our palettes changed. Little by little, fruit and vegetables took center stage with lean proteins just behind the curtain. Our everyday intake is now heavy on minimally processed plant foods although we both enjoy small portions of dessert on special occasions—but not a portion bigger than our heads! Our motto is to eat “play” foods like we are in a sidewalk café in Paris, not bending over the kitchen sink with grease running down both arms.

Food porn is everywhere: on the TV, in magazines, on billboards, and online. Unconsciously (and sometimes consciously) we respond to the images of the greasy burger, the fried chicken, and the ever-present fabulous desserts. These are the foods that reside in our most private fantasies. I think these images work on us behind the scenes, gently persuading us to go ahead and do it “just this once.”

There is nothing we can do about food porn. It is ubiquitous. But we are not helpless in the face of temptation. First, just being aware that you are being intentionally tempted reduces the power that these images have over you. Second, your good instincts that tell you how to nourish yourself. Your body knows what it needs, and it’s not a giant piece of greasy meat or a pile of fluff that delivers a thousand calories and not one ounce of nutrition. Third, the way you form a new habit is to regularly eat those delicious foods—no, not the porn foods, the ones that are actually good for you. Over time, the lure of food porn fades away.