Hello everyone! Today we are talking about SATISFACTION in eating. A lot of what I think about when it comes to having a healthy relationship with food connects back to satisfaction. Satisfaction can be thought of on a physical level (are you adequately nourished and responding to your hunger/fullness cues?) and also a more psychological/emotional level (are you regularly eating foods you enjoy and not feeling deprived?).

So often it seems that satisfaction gets left out when thinking about nutrition and eating. YES food is fuel for our bodies. YES it is important to eat plenty of fruits and veggies. HOWEVER, are you also seeking to pursue enjoyment in your daily eating experience, feeling appropriately satiated throughout the day, and regularly eating foods you find pleasurable?

As I have written about before, the array of health benefits we can get from food have to do with much more than their physical/nutritional benefits. For optimal health, it is important take into account not only the nutritional content of what we are eating, but also our emotional and mental well-being – aka our relationship with food.

When we seek satisfaction, listening to our bodies, and a healthy relationship with food as the foundation for our eating, meeting our nutritional needs tends to fall into place without our constant micromanaging. You may be wondering: how can I grow in experiencing greater satisfaction in eating? (*and thus improve my physical, nutritional, mental, and emotional health??*) Let’s explore this idea with the following ideas!

Listen to your hunger and fullness signals:

Do you ever ignore your hunger signals because it isn’t “time to eat”? Do you feel the need to eat only at certain predetermined times, lest you be eating too much?? Do you feel guilty if you eat more than you “planned” because you were still hungry? While of course there is wisdom and logistical ease in having some rhythms to our eating throughout the day, we needn’t be so black-and-white about our eating patterns. Like other signals our bodies give us (thirst –> water, tiredness –> sleep), the feelings of hunger indicate that our bodies are needing food. This may sound blatantly obvious, but so many of us ignore our hunger signals because our minds tell us it isn’t time to eat, we will be eating too much if we eat now, etc.! Growing in responding to your hunger and fullness signals (regardless of how you “think” you should be physically feeling or the amount of time since you last ate) is key to feeling satisfied.

Side note: in recovery from an eating disorder or disordered eating, often hunger and fullness signals are out of whack. It is often important to eat even when you are not hungry in order for regular hunger/fullness signals to return. Also there may be other times when we are not physically hungry that we may choose to eat. See this post on the different types of hunger.

Eating balanced meals:

What do I mean by a balanced meal? I mean including a source of each of the three macronutrients – fat, protein, and carbohydrate – at each meal. Incorporating adequate amounts of each macronutrient is important because each serves unique and essential bodily functions. In regards to satisfaction with eating, we will not be feeling satisfied if we are considerably lacking in one of the macronutrients. Have you ever had a meal (let’s say a veggie-heavy salad for lunch), and proceeded to spend the next couple of hours still thinking about food and/or lingering near your pantry? It is likely because you didn’t get enough carbohydrate or protein in at lunch. Protein in particular is essential for satisfaction, and our bodies will drive us to continue eating until we have satisfied our protein needs. At meals I recommend a source of fat + protein + carb, and for snacks I recommend a source of at least 2/3 of the macronutrients. For example, an apple with peanut butter as opposed to just an apple or an apple with crackers (two carbohydrate-rich sources rather than the 2/3). As always, I see this as a general rule of thumb and not a rigid rule!

Practicing mindful eating:

Mindfulness involves bringing your awareness to the present moment. Practicing mindful eating thus means bringing greater awareness to the act of eating. Can you slow down a bit while eating to notice the sensations of the foods you are eating and how you are feeling? How does your food taste? What is the texture and aroma like? How does it feel as it passes through your digestive system? A few ideas to help with mindful eating include: taking a few deep breaths before eating and/or saying a blessing to help center yourself and calm your nervous system, actually eating at the kitchen table without technology/other distractions, asking yourself these questions while eating or discussing them with a friend/family member, and adding other sensory elements (candle, relaxing music, etc.) to mindfully notice in addition to the experience of eating.

If you are like me, you have had plenty of experiences rushing through your meals, wondering what even happened to the food! This is never very satisfying, and (as hard as I know it can be), practicing mindful eating is a way we can experience more satisfaction in both what we are eating and in the experience of eating.

Eliminating food rules:

I am a strong believer that all foods can be incorporated into a healthy diet, unless of course you have an allergy or legitimate medical reason for avoiding or eliminating a certain food from your diet. Every food provides some nutritional benefit, because all foods contain some mix of macronutrients and some amount of vitamins/minerals (even if minimal). Certain foods deemed “less healthy” from a nutritional perspective can be eaten in a way that adds equal or greater health benefits from a mental and emotional perspective. NUTRITION IS NOT BLACK-AND-WHITE. Furthermore, when we create mental boxes around what we can and cannot eat, this tends to lead to obsession with these foods. Creating meals and snacks for yourself with foods you actually enjoy (not foods you think you should enjoy, or tell yourself you really do enjoy) is a cornerstone of satisfaction. Generally our bodies give us enough feedback that our nutritional needs balance out over time when we are eating foods we enjoy and in adequate amounts. (If you doubt this, try eating a food like cake for each meal and see if you are still craving cake for a nighttime snack!)

Not going too long between eating:

While this relates to responding to hunger and fullness cues, it is important to not go too long between each meal and snack. While this varies from person to person, I generally find that most people need something to eat every 2-4 hours. For most people, this ends up being about 3 meals and 3 snacks per day. When we go too long without eating, once we start eating it is harder to eat mindfully and to notice fullness signals. As a main theme of this post is turning out to be the reality that nutrition is not black-and-white (despite however much many of us would like it to be!), we don’t need to fret if from time to time we end up in a ravenous state at the start of a meal because we were unable to eat for longer than we generally like. These are general guidelines for satisfying eating, not rigid rules to which to adhere. In my dietetic opinion, rigidity and satisfaction don’t mix when it comes to healthy eating!

How can you grow in experiencing greater satisfaction in eating? Consider choosing one of the tips above to focus on in the coming weeks! I will end with the encouragement to remember that if you find yourself struggling in any/all of these areas, the first thing is to become more aware and to show yourself compassion. And that small steps (no matter how small) can lead to significant change over time.

Enjoy the rest of your week!