If (like most of us) your entire adult life has been spent on some type of diet, you may feel that you have completely lost touch with your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues. It is so common to forget which foods are actually enjoyable after denying the body any sense of pleasure from food for so long. How do you know when your body is hungry and when it is sated? How would you describe what normal eating looks like for you?
I recently came across the most wonderful definition of normal eating. It is written by Ellyn Satter, a Registered Dietitian and Family Therapist and the brilliant mind behind the Satter Feeding Dynamics Model and the Satter Eating Competency Model.
“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.”
– Ellyn Satter
It can feel overwhelming to try and break the cycle of dieting and tune back in to the natural desires of the body. This definition of “normal eating” reminds us to be flexible and kind when we are at the table, giving our bodies permission to feel truly satisfied. It is only from a place of acceptance that normal eating habits can begin to develop.
I encourage you to visit her website: https://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/index.php to read more about her philosophy on eating. She has especially pivotal work in teaching parents how to feed a healthy family and has published several wonderful books.