Last week, I introduced the concept of eating like a young child. I talked about how children get to a certain point in a meal and abandon the food on their plate, much to the surprise (and often frustration) of their parents.
The ability to do this relies on the innate connection we have from birth with our internal fullness cues that supports the ability to self-regulate food intake. Kids don’t need an app, macros, a rigid meal plan, or a calorie count to tell them how much to eat to support their bodies’ dynamic requirements. Most do it quite well by eating a little more when they need to and a little less when they don’t.
As we’re exposed to social influences and food “norms”, more highly palatable foods, or we turn to food to soothe our emotional woes, we lose connection with the amount of food we need to feel nourished.
Instead, our food choices become influenced by:
Social expectations (but my mom said I had to finish everything on my plate),
Fear of missing out (it’s so good!),
Scarcity (what if I never get to have this exact meal ever again?),
Pleasure (when I eat, I’m not thinking about my emotions), or
Just plain old fear (if I’m not F-U-L-L won’t I be starving in 15 minutes?)
As a result, by the time we’re adults, we tend to eat like robots. We have spent so much time suppressing how food feels that we eat on autopilot, not really thinking about what our bodies are telling us.
The result? We often eat way more than our bodies need. And the scale creeps up just a little here and a little there, until one day, we can’t button our favourite jeans up anymore and we’re left wondering, how the heck did this happen?
What we want is to be able to reintroduce the concept of eating like a child—so that we’re in tune with our bodies to know when we’re satisfied and we can push our own plate away.
A few people have messaged me to say the concept of eating to a point of “just satisfied” provoked some thought.
Maybe you have some questions. Like, just what does it mean to eat to just satisfied, rather than full or overfull?
Full is easier to define because there’s a distinct sensation that comes with it. You probably already know—your stomach feels a bit stretched. Not so much that you need to unbutton your pants like when you’re overfull or stuffed, but there’s a mild sense of discomfort that lets you know you’ve had a substantial meal.
Consistently eating just until that stretch reflex kicks in is a great way to eat for maintenance, that is, keeping your bodyweight relatively stable. Eating to slightly overfull can lead to weight gain. But eating to just satisfied can naturally lead to weight loss.
Eating to just satisfied is about stopping before that stretch sensation kicks in. It means eating until you’re content, with a little room left over.
You should feel comfortable moving after an eat to just satisfied meal. Meals are meant to energize us—not make us so full that our only option is to lay flat out on the couch until the feeling passes.
Another way to look at it is eating until you’re about 80% full. There’s still some room, but it can be easily reached with just a few more bites.
But is that after five bites of food or with five bites left or after five servings?
If the concept still seems a bit abstract and you don’t think you have any idea how to understand it for yourself, don’t worry! It takes practice and experimentation.
You can begin your experimentation by eating until you’re full at one meal. When this level is reached, think about the sensations. How does it feel? Just what do you notice? Is this how you want to feel? Most people don't really consider this.
Jotting down notes of the sensations you experience is a great idea—this will reinforce your awareness of what it felt like so you can use those indicators to guide your next meal.
The next time you eat, monitor how you feel as you make your way through your food. Again, jot down some notes about the sensations you notice at different stages as the food disappears from your plate. This time, pay attention to how much food is left when you reach a feeling of contentment.
At the next meal, consider plating just a little less so it’s in line with what you think will leave you feeling just satisfied.
When you finish, how do you feel? Can you step away from your meal confident with the amount you have eaten? Do you feel better finishing with just a little less food? Why or why not? What sensations or thoughts are you noticing? Write these observations down.
When it comes to experimentation around eating just to satisfied, that feeling of contentment with a tiny bit of room left over, or eating to 80% full, there’s no measure of getting it perfect.
It’s just getting the measure a bit better than it was, more often. Did you eat more than you needed at one meal? It’s okay—there’s no pass or fail. Just use that data to hone the knowledge that you’ve been developing.
And if you’re worried that you might not have eaten enough, understand that the worst thing that will happen is that you might get hungry a little earlier than you usually do. Calm your brain. It IS okay to be hungry. Short term hunger is not an emergency.
Accept that it will take some time to get it all “just right” but the gift when you do is that you will learn to trust your body’s signals again.
To do this, you need to accumulate knowledge about what feels right for you. It’s like going to the gym—you’ll have to put a bunch of reps in to strengthen this area of your brain to see real differences in how you consistently approach meals.
Understanding how to self-regulate is an important tool in producing lifelong, sustainable, and healthy changes around nutrition. At the minimum, it will lead to an improved relationship with food and a deeper connection with your body.
The goal is to develop the internal awareness that enables you to eat well calmly and confidently, so you feel light in your mind, your body, in your clothes, and on the scale.
How might this change things for you?
Comentarios