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Though the Joy Diet isn't a typical food regimen, it does have two strict rules about eating. They are:
1. You must eat only what you really enjoy.
2. You must really enjoy everything you eat.
This means that if you want a fudge sundae and you substitute raw broccoli, you're totally blowing your diet. On the other hand, if you're happily inhaling your sundae and you start to feel uncomfortably full, the Joy Diet requires that you stop eating immediately.
I settled on these two rules to normalize my own eating, which, believe me, was no easy task. Having danced a few youthful numbers with an eating disorder, I've done plenty of fasting, as well as my share of uncontrollable bingeing. When I first considered obeying my natural appetite, it sounded like leaving the fox in charge of the henhouse. I expected to stuff myself so unstintingly that I'd end up the size of a municipal library. But after years of apprehensive experimentation, I realized that my body just wanted to establish its ideal weight and eating patterns.
True, for a while I ate enough chocolate to cause a price spike in the world cocoa market, but this was not so much my body's wish as a psychological reaction to denying myself yummy things for years. I believe that our psychology—and also our body chemistry—wants us to hoard whatever pleasures seem to be in short supply. Starve yourself, and your body will want to binge. Then it will store every calorie as fat, bracing itself for the next period of famine. On the other hand, if you give yourself permission to eat whatever truly makes you feel good, you may be surprised by how dietetically correct your body wants to be. Pediatricians tell us that if left to their own devices, children will choose a balanced, healthy diet. Adults will do the same—unless they are eating for reasons other than physical hunger.
If you are using food to soothe feelings other than hunger, you won't be able to tell what your body really wants, or to really enjoy what you eat. The rest of the Joy Diet will help you address the psychological issues that may result in this kind of emotional eating. Once you've resolved those issues, eating what you enjoy and enjoying what you eat can turn the simplest meal into a festive event. At each meal, feed your body what it requests, without judgment or stinginess. Spend an extra buck on a really satisfying snack, rather than a cheaper but less tasty substitute. Get the original-recipe treat instead of the gritty, boring, low-fat food-like product sitting next to it. Keep asking your body—it will tell you exactly what it prefers.
