If you want to boost your metabolism, you need to make sure you’ve included pleasure in your diet. Pleasure catalyzes the relaxation response, telling the body to relax. This, in turn, increases metabolism and calorie burning. Remember, the stress response decreases our metabolism. By turning on the relaxation response, we counteract that, and fan that metabolic fire.
If we deny ourselves pleasure, or eat a fun-free diet, the body chemically demands pleasure. We have a biological urge to search for something that lights up our taste buds. We need to eat more food in order to satisfy that pleasure deficit. Welcome your food with delight. Enjoy the aroma, the beautiful colors, and the sensuous tastes. This does not mean that you have free reign to eat all the junk food that you want, or a passport to eat things that upset your body.
Marc David, the founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, says, “Pleasure is an intelligence. Do it with wisdom and intelligence.”
When you eat a food that’s healthy for YOU, the pleasure response is triggered. What’s healthy for you might be different than what’s healthy for someone else. Experiment, become familiar with your body and what works for it. Body wisdom holds the key to your best metabolic life. A pleasurable meal actually gives you improved nutrient absorption.
Your relationship with food is often a reflection of your relationship with life. Do you take pleasure in your life? Do you see the beauty? Are you in a rut with your job? Are you living a joy-filled life, or a joy-free life? Pay more attention to the things that bring you pleasure outside of your food. Savor the experience of your life.
By adding non-food pleasures into your life, and you might find that you need to eat less to get the pleasure you desire.