It dawned on me today that I do my best info sharing on happy eating/exercising when I'm responding to questions. I think we all do! When someone has a question or a problem, we're all over it. So, I thought I'd start a thread for random questions. I think sometimes we're hesitant to create a whole thread for some little thing that's on our mind, but those are some of the best conversations. If you have a question or concern, big or small, post it here and everybody feel free to respond. Food? Workouts? Weight? Mindset? Injuries? Getting started? Go ahead and ask us about your vegetable aversion, your trigger foods, your crazy relatives, or anything else that's on your mind. Maybe you don't have an actual problem, you're just curious how other people approach their happy eating and exercising. Ask away.
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What is satisfaction when it comes to food and how can a beginner IE person start to hone into the answer for themselves?
It's important to understand that satisfaction is not just a level of stomach fullness. That physical sensation is part of it, but it's also mental and emotional. I highly recommend reading the satisfaction chapter in the Intuitive Eating Workbook. It really spells out how to find satisfaction when you have no clue how. Part of it is learning to think about the taste, texture, smell that appeals to you, whether you want salty, sweet, savory, or crunchy, creamy, crisp, cold. Another huge part of it is actually experiencing those while you eat, which you will not do effectively if you're not aware of the environment. Trying to eat when you're distracted or stressed, in the middle of an argument, surrounded by clutter, rushed, all of those can cause you not to register satisfaction. Eating what you "should" have instead of what you actually want can throw it off too. If the food isn't mentally and physically satisfying, you'll keep eating it, chasing a satisfaction that is never going to happen even if you get overly full. There's a quote in the IE book that is something like, "If you don't love it, don't eat it. And if you do love it, savor it." Now, not every meal has to be a perfect Zen experience or exactly what you want, but the more often you pay attention to what you want and you eat it mindfully, the more likely you are to experience true satisfaction from the food, notice when you're done, and flip the "off" switch.
So, the short answer on how to hone is to think about what food you'd like, and then to eat in a way that allows you to slow down and really experience the food. Speed eat or eat with too many distractions, and you'll blow past satisfaction every time.
In the moment, I'll notice the level of fullness in my stomach, but I may also notice myself losing interest in the food, thinking about other things, or maybe it's not tasting quite as great as when I first started eating. In that case, I stop. I can always have more later, and I can definitely look forward to my next meal, so there's no need to overdo it right now.