Sensible Eating
This course is an inquiry into the foods we eat and the ways we eat them.
About the Course
Sensible Eating is a 3-part course in which students inquire into the habits they employ to become nourished.
The Case for Changing Your Eating Lifestyle. Suppose we could measure your eating habits compared to the habits of those who live longer and healthier lives. Suppose those “others” measure high on most sensible eating scales, while you measure in the middle-to-low levels. Assuming your eating lifestyle largely determines your health and longevity, would you be willing to adopt new habits that change your behavior in the direction of the higher levels?
Our Starting Point. There are likely as many styles of eating as there are people on earth. Nonetheless, there are ways you can measure the full range of each aspect of an eating lifestyle so you can determine whether you believe problems exist that should be corrected. Good physical health—as opposed to good mental or spiritual health—boils down to good food choices. So how do you know what choices to make from the plethora of foods available in our stores, restaurants, refrigerators and pantries? Our two basic choices are: eat mostly refined and processed foods and get sick and die before our time, or eat a wide variety of whole foods that we enjoy, and live a long and healthy life. The connection between food and health is palpable.
Three Sensible Eating Habit Areas
Weight Mangement: Substitutions, standardizing portions, controlling portions, creating a new look you.
Eating Awareness: Filling, chewing, swallowing, digesting, defecating.
Objects of Desire: Affective pull, agency, emotional eating, aiming for liberation.
How the Course is Organized
1. Groups form according to their interest in one of the three sensible eating habit areas.
2. Individual students work to measure and better understand their eating behavior.
3. Students commit to a short-term, easily-achieved goal/action that addresses a felt issue.
4. During subsequent classes they will report their progress and receive support from the class.
The Fall 2024 course was a success!
We had 9 full-time participants and we met 3 times for a total of 6 hours. Our focus was on the challenges we face in eating sensibly, including missing meals, over-eating, and dealing with certain objects of desire.
One of the issues we considered is a lack of time in the day, which Brian addresses in the 1-page essay posted here.
We made a game of our class work, with the goal of improving our health and fitness by January 2025. To that end, we developed a set of six habit forming rules, to which we have committed, and which are posted here.
We invite all members of the BC Endurance community to work with us by abiding by these rules, regardless of whether you had a hand in stating them.
The next course begins in March 2025. The class is tentatively scheduled to meet every other week for 90 minutes.
Enrollment is limited to a maximum of 10 students, which affords time in class to talk about eating and food-related issues.
Course Fees
The first class session carries no obligation to pay, but is intended as an orientation to the work and the course content.
Members: FREE
The fee is waived for current BC Endurance program participants, mentors, program directors and group leaders.
Newcomers: $30
$30 for students who are not program participants.
Start Your Lifetime Health and Fitness Transformation.
Click the "Get Started" button and tell us about your fitness goals and interests. You will be added to our user list with access to the BC Endurance members-only website.