 We’re coming up on Thanksgiving and for many of us, food becomes the centerpiece of our lives. With parties, family traditions, and extra goodies available at work, it can be a recipe for feeling guilty about food. But what would happen if you did the opposite? If you decided to feel good about what you ate, instead of feeling bad?
I grew up in a family where food just wasn’t that big of a deal. Neither of my parents were “cooks,” so we had our square meals on our plates, and it was rather boring actually. Yet in my years as a medical doctor, I’ve met so many women struggling not only with their weight, but also with the guilt of overeating or eating the wrong things.
Unfortunately, I don’t have training in nutrition or in counseling women with eating issues, but I came across a quote that struck me as a perfect answer to the question, What is normal eating? It’s written by nutritionist, Ellyn Satter:
Normal eating is going to the table hungry and eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it -not just stop eating because you think you should.
Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food.
Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good.
Normal eating is mostly three meals a day, or four or five, or it can be choosing to munch along the way. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful.
Normal eating is overeating at times, feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. And it can be undereating at times and wishing you had more.
Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.
In short, normal eating is flexible. It varies in response to your hunger, your schedule, your proximity to food and your feelings.
Copyright © 2011 by Ellyn Satter. Published at www.EllynSatter.com.
What I love about this description is that it builds in the permission to do the things we often feel guilty for, like overeating or eating because we are bored. I also like what she says about eating being only one important area of your life. At times we can be so consumed by our food restrictions or special diets or how food will affect the way we look. We can get caught up in what is healthy or not and whether we’re being “good” or “bad” when it comes to our food choices. The truth is, eating doesn’t make you good or bad. It doesn’t make you right or wrong. Eating makes you human.
My advice is: have something delicious this holiday season and then carry on with the rest of your life.
If you’d like to explore the connections between eating and your emotions, we have a whole article on emotional eating.
If you’d like to see our advice on losing weight naturally, see our natural weight loss article. |