Monthly Archives: May 2012

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How to Resist Chocolate (or, using art for appetite control)

Art, Family Mealtimes,

Yesterday my chickens again woke me up too early; they seem hell-bent on making me into a morning person. And grudgingly, I will admit I enjoyed the chance to have my coffee and catch up on my reading alone. I picked up the latest issues of Nutrition Action Newsletter and Bon Appétit. What I found to read was too fun to not share.

Apparently some researchers in Zurich (Appetite 58:1109) are looking into the effect of subtle food related cues around us as we eat. What things in the space around us cause us eat more or less? Well, right up my alley, these wise Swiss researchers examined the effect of different works of art on one’s appetite for what else? Chocolate. If the study subjects were given free access to those fabulous Swiss chocolates while in a room where a screen portrayed images of skinny Giacometti sculptures they ate less than if the screen portrayed Rothkos. How cool!

In the same magazine, there was an article discussing the need for people to eat fewer calories per day after age 50 in order to maintain the same weight. Depressingly, as we age our metabolism slows no matter how much hard exercise we get each day. Now putting the two articles together in my mind made for some fun. What works of art should I put over my kitchen table? The Giacomettis might send the wrong message to my soon to be a teenaged daughter. The Rothkos are too expensive (one sold earlier this month at Christies for nearly 87 million). What else then? Carravagio’s David with the Head of Goliath could slow even my 16-year-old son’s appetite and might help decrease the food bill a bit. What would our appetites do under a Bruce Nauman neon sculpture? The Wedding Feast of Cana by Veronese might upstage my cooking (this enormous painting is most notable in my mind for thoroughly upstaging the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, if you are ever able, go to the Louvre, stand in front of the Mona Lisa with the crowd then, turn around and look at this magnificent piece to see what I mean). We might eat more fruit under a Cezanne. More soup under a Warhol? Would I hang a Rubens to warn my subconsciousness of the consequences of eating those chocolates? No, more likely when redecorating my kitchen I would just throw wisdom about calorie restriction to the wind, let my sweet tooth take over and happily hang a Thiebaud.

After daydreaming in this way with my cup of coffee growing cool, I opened the Bon Appétit. It featured a yummy looking recipe for Roast Chickens with Pistachio Salsa, Peppers, and Corn. I may not be able to afford the Rothko but… I know where to get the chickens. Cheep.

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13 Bird Fish

Happiness, Tesselations and Tangled Hair (or, it is truly all in how you look at it)

Uncategorized

Some art is beautiful and moving. Some art just makes me think. The dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher’s intricate woodcuts and lithographs are examples of the kind of academic, exacting art that moves me little but inspires me lots. His works

feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations.

They are studies of perspective. His work Relativity shows figures walking up stairs that are upside down and others walking down stairs who should be falling off into space. Our minds struggle to adjust. It is truly all in how you look at it.

I was out with a friend Tuesday night and got a frantic string of texts from my daughter. Here is the transcription:

Hi Mom, I got a comb stuck in my hair….WHAT DO I DO?

MOM?

HELP!!!!!!!?

See Mom:

Oh my. As I gave her my advice of using a bucket of conditioner and slowly trying to work the hair free, I could hear her brothers in the background. They were apparently “helping”. I then had to ask

Honey, are you crying or laughing?

The answer is a study in perspective that shows like Escher’s works, that life is often all in how you look at things. Ensnared and frantic though she was, her whole-hearted response was: “I’m laughing Mom. This is hilarious!”

This ability to see the stairs as right-side up and rising is such a gift! She has the ability to use perspective to her advantage. Currently this very skill is being widely studied and often touted as the key to happiness. As happiness has become a subject of study (an Amazon search of books on happiness yields no less than 24,170 results) we are collectively being told to adjust our thinking in order to be more content. In her book The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin repeatedly finds that if she acts the way she wants to feel, she feels the way she wanted to - be it happier or more energetic. She cites studies that show making yourself smile can boost your mood. In a recent lecture by Dr. David Sobel he advised us to pursue happiness. He pointed out that

stress is produced by the stories we tell ourselves … optimists who tell themselves more positive, empowering stories tend to be healthier, live longer and enjoy life more.

Ah indeed, the old “cup is half full” advice. Or the stairs are right side up. Or the tangled hair is funny. I find myself (though more naturally a the-cup-is-half-full-AND-half-empty kid of person) - inspired.

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P.s.: My daughter’s story and picture were published with her permission. As fits her positive perspective, she thought being blogged about would be a hoot!