Jenn J

Day 24: Eat for satisfaction

Do you usually feel completely satisfied with your food-or do you continue eating, hoping for just a little more happiness or enjoyment? Do you ever finish one food, and then search for something else because you still want to eat?

If you typically reach for another bite or a second handful before you finish the first one, your food can't do its job. For your brain to achieve satisfaction, you have to eat slowly, pay attention to the bites and appreciate your food.

Let the food in

Imagine drinking a delicious cup of coffee, tea, or even hot chocolate. As you sip on this hot beverage, you smile with pleasure. The drink feels quite soothing and nurturing, even comforting. This special treat reaches your soul, helping you feel relaxed and fulfilled.

Eating works the same way. If you're determined you want to appreciate flavors, work on getting satisfaction from your food, not guilt or remorse. To do this, you don't have to eat large amounts; you just have to let the food sink into your awareness. In other words, to feel satisfied by food, you have to be able to "get it."

Savoring your food will help this a lot. But sometimes you have to take it a step further and be willing to simply allow yourself a sense of pleasure from eating.

When you give yourself permission to enjoy food instead of feeling guilty about eating it, you'll get the satisfaction you crave and you won't have to hunt for something more to eat.

What do you really want?

Michelle had read that to overcome food cravings, she should go ahead and eat the food she wanted. But she couldn't seem to get this concept to work.

"One afternoon, I was craving a brownie, so I ate one. Once I finished it, I decided that it wasn't quite what I'd wanted. Instead, I was actually hungry for Oreo cookies. After eating several cookies, I sensed they weren't exactly what I wanted either. Then I figured out what I was really craving was something crunchy like M&M's. So I got out a bag of those and finished them off, but that still didn't quite do it. I don't understand why using the principle of "eat what you want" doesn't make me feel satisfied."

Michelle's problem with not feeling satisfied wasn't related to food. Instead, what she probably wanted was to feel nurtured or appreciated or some other type of emotion. When you need emotional soothing, eating can often make you feel frustrated rather than healed.


TODAY'S TASKS:

Recall a food or type of meal that's usually highly satisfying for you.

Write a few words or sentences that describe how it feels to be satisfied by food.

Eat at least one thing today with the intention of feeling satisfied. Appreciate the food and allow yourself to feel totally fulfilled by eating it