A Key Factor In Shaping Our Eating Habits That Often Gets Ignored
We’ve been talking about the idea of SATISFACTION with our food all week long in my nutrition coaching group, and I want to share some key thoughts with you too.
Discover the satisfaction factor is principle #6 of the Intuitive Eating framework developed by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995. Intuitive eating is an approach to nourishing your body that integrates your instincts, thoughts, and emotions and helps you tune inward to listen for and honor your body’s internal signals so you can stop dieting, heal your relationship with food, and rediscover the joy in eating.
Food satisfaction isn’t a topic that gets widely talked about in the media or dieting circles but it’s actually a hugely important step to becoming an intuitive eater and a key factor in shaping our eating behaviors.
Here’s why. If we’re not satisfied with our meal or snack it means we’re not content. And if we’re not content…more often than not we go “on the prowl,” trying to FIND contentment in one food after another.
Have you ever found yourself wanting a cookie or chocolate but not allowing yourself to have it because you were trying to “be good” or “eat healthy?” Instead, perhaps you grabbed a handful of carrots or some dried fruit. But that didn’t quite hit the spot, so you grabbed some popcorn. When it didn’t “do the trick” either, maybe you reached for another option…and then maybe a few more? Ultimately, perhaps you even gave in and ate the food you’d been craving in the first place?
That is your real-life example of trying to find satisfaction in a food that feels unsatisfactory (at least in that moment)—and the impact it has on your subsequent food choices. Likely, you felt crappy and frustrated with yourself for not having enough “willpower” or for being unable to control your cravings. Possibly, you ate more than you would have if you’d just eaten the cookie or the chocolate in the first place.
This is why satisfaction is so important in shaping and influencing our eating behaviors!
Remember, food and eating are meant to be pleasurable and satisfying. (The reason food tastes good is so that we’ll WANT to eat it. Since our bodies need food in order to sustain themselves, this helps ensure survival of the species!)
Here are 5 ways you can explore or increase the satisfaction factor of your meals:
1. Give yourself permission to eat what truly satisfies you. This seems basic enough but so often, especially when we are dieting, following a meal plan or adhering to rigid ideas about “good” and “bad” foods …we are actually doing just the opposite!
2. Thoughtfully check in with yourself before a meal and consider what would satisfy you most in that moment. For example, is it something sweet or salty? Crunchy, chewy or smooth? Hot or cold? Light or heavy?
3. Sit at a table with a plate and a chair so you can really tune into the experience of eating and explore the satisfaction factor of your food while you eat. So often we eat while standing, at our desks, in the car, etc. That isn’t exactly satisfying in and of itself, but it also makes it really hard to focus on the pleasurable experience of eating (not to mention to notice how your feelings of hunger or fullness are changing throughout the meal)!
4. Consider your environment: use pretty plates or placemats, play relaxing music, light a candle, consider the visual presentation of your meal.
5. Slow down your meal. Again, it’s hard to be satisfied and to notice when you begin to feel full if you’re racing through your meal. (I did a training in my nutrition coaching group on Facebook this week about the difference between feeling full, satisfied, and content—plus why it matters so much. If you missed it, come join our group here to get all the details!
I’d love to hear your thoughts—is this a new idea for you? Are you concerned that you’d never stop eating particular foods if you allowed yourself to eat them? Do you naturally consider the satisfaction factor? Send me an email and let me know what you think!