Eat what you love. Stop when you’re satisfied.
Posted by foodess on Thu 12th of Mar, 2009 08:48:23 PM
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Eat carbs. Eat butter. Eat cream. Eat cake. Eat bacon. Eat chocolate (!).
Let me guess, you are thinking: Wait! Didn’t she recently mention she was one set of final exams away from a degree in Nutrition? And isn’t she just ten frenzied months of internship away from being a registered dietitian? What is this?! A dietitian *slash* butter advocate. Gasp!
Though I might spend much of my professional day promoting increased veggie intake, I stand firmly in my conviction that you should eat what you love and love what you eat. And in doing this you can be healthy and happy and fit. Take a look at so many foodie folks; food bloggers, writers, chefs, and food critics alike - people who eat for a living - who stay trim while regularly whipping up rich, delectable, lip-smacking treats. Yes, you can have your cake and your size 6 (or 14, or 2 or whatever size you are comfortable at) jeans, too.
It took me four years of studying what we should eat, to come to the conclusion that we should simply just eat. Food is such an insane pleasure. Everything to do with it - squeezing mangoes and sniffing herbs in the market, discovering new recipes that inspire your imagination, moments spent in the kitchen chopping and seasoning and creating something wonderful, sharing a scrumptious dessert straight from your oven, the sheer delight of biting into something delicious … Food is just one of the richest human experiences.
So, for that reason, I will share with you the most riveting yet simplistic revelation born of my nutrition education joint with my feverish love for edibles. Are you ready? Here it is: Eat what you love. Stop when you are satisfied.
When I started my studies in dietetics, I was acutely aware of the wickedness of my enthusiasm for chocolate. I mean, it seems preposterous to gleefully consume a warm dark chocolate cookie with a slab of gooey, white chocolate nestled on top directly after Nutrition 371 Nutrition Through the Lifespan. But Blue Chip Cookies bakes up the dreamiest imaginable of such concoctions, and I am keenly aware of the vicinity of said shop to the afore-mentioned class. Then later in my degree, I made a revolutionary decision. I was going to eat the damn cookie, with unabashed, explicit delight, and then I was going to lick my fingers and probably pick the crumbs off my shirt and eat them too. And so should you. Eat the cookie. Or the burger. Eat whatever melts your butter. Eat what you love with all of your senses.
Then comes the next part. And if that was the yin, than this is the yang. Now, the yang is perhaps the single most important piece of nutrition advice you will ever hear, so you might want to say this to yourself out loud. Okay, this is the yang: Stop. Eating. When. You’re. Not. Hungry. Anymore. It is quite a foolishly simple concept, but many people just don’t do it. Put down your fork when you have eaten just enough, and don’t pick your fork back up again. No one is telling you how much to eat but yourself. It is a skill, and it takes practice, but once you have gotten into the habit, it is as easy as breathing and the feeling of being too full will start to feel so uncomfortable you will avoid it at all costs.
If you have a joyful, respectful relationship with food, you are less likely to abuse it. You are much more likely to be happy and healthy. The point is to make room for what you love. Guilt-free. You can have your bacon and your bikini, too. Piece o’ cake.
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Thanks for this lovely take on food, on life, on eating or not!! I like the way you write, funny & cool!!
I think this is great advice to live by! Granted, I can only take a bite of a sweet treat before I need to cut myself off (my metabolism has never been the fastest), but I would never begrudge myself that bite. Sometimes you just need a bit of sugar and butter! Great post!!
yessssss. i am SO SICK of people eliminating foods from their diet. atkins diet… whatever!!
Way past the bikini stage but all the rest is just plain common sense. What a way to live, eh? Cuts down on the cranky methinks.
you are soo right if only we would know when to stop :)
EAT WHAT YOU LOVE! Yes! This advice is right on point! I am pursuing a degree in nutrition too, and I am also an avid baker. Of course, everyone always asks me how I stay so slim. Well, I enjoy rich foods in moderation, exercise a bit everyday (I am a runner), consume modest portions at meals and I EAT VERY SLOWLY. The slower you eat, the better! Learn to savor your food, and you will learn to feel satisfied a lot sooner. Enjoy, but don’t gorge. It takes away from the pleasure of it all when you’re miserable afterwards anyway, doesn’t it?
Cheers - Kristi
“You’re not allowed to leave the table until you finish your plate.” Then when you grow up and you go to Crapplebees they serve you a monster plate. That’s a recipe for disaster. And for as long as I can remember I’ve always been made fun of for being the last person done eating. I enjoy my food and take my time with it. Smaller portions, slower eating (chew your food, taste your food).
The clinical term for this is “portion control”. I like “stop eating when you’re not hungry anymore” better. Just yesterday I was in post-milkshake agony, wondering why I ordered a large when medium or even small would do.
Stop when you are not hungry?! Dumbass! some of us can’t stop. That’s the problem! Some of us have lost the ability to know when we’re full, some may never have had it, and some foods don’t trigger the I-am-full sensation so we eat until we are stuffed. Some people eat for reasons other than hunger so telling people to eat until they are not hungry is idiotic and harmfull. MORON.
Do you have a muscular disorder where your hand is constantly spasming and shoving food into your mouth? Because to say you “can’t stop” eating because you eat for reasons other than hunger has nothing to do with the advice of eating only until you are full being idiotic or harmful. Your lack of willpower and control is idiotic and harmful, and to despise someone for telling you that you can control it when you don’t want to is very moronic. Also, you can regain your sensitivity to fullness by not gorging yourself, unless of course there is a legitimate medical disorder where this is not possible. However, in the majority of cases gluttonous consumption of food as a habit as opposed to a pleasure is the cause of not having that sensation(or not noticing it).
That’s good advice to stop eating when you are satisfied. People who indulge a little too much will gain unnecessary weight.
This sounds like prudent advice, but maybe a little flawed. First, there is a time period between consumption of food and satiety. Second, eating excessive carbs, if that is your wish, will likely eventually lead to diabetes, as a result of an overworked pancreas. Third, a high carb diet (again, if that is your inclination) can create a resurgence of hunger not so long after eating, as blood sugars are destabilised.
Or have I been misinformed?
Thank you! Butter on my toast in the morning is one of my favorite things in the world–it just makes my whole day better. I think if folks actually took the time to savor their food, it might not feel so necessary to eat until the point of being gorged.
@Amy: Your comment sounds as though either you or someone you know has a compulsive eating disorder. It’s a medical/psychological problem, but not acknowledging ED’s doesn’t make the Foodess a moron–that wasn’t the *point* of this entry.
Frankly, if my family had treated food in this fashion; enjoying, savoring, and not having to clean our plates, I probably wouldn’t have become anorexic-bulimic. Learning to enjoy my food without apology and learning to stop when I am full has been one of the greatest healing tools in my fight to recover. Is/was it easy? Hell, no. But it still helps me.
The Foodess is not a moron–I am sorry if you’re hurting, but being rude isn’t going to solve any problems.
Bravo! i loved this article. Good for you….I am going to live this from now on.
Thankyou!!!
Great advice. The fact that many people can’t tell whether or not they’re hungry doesn’t make it stupid advice, it just means they’re out of touch with their body (a pretty understandable problem given the common “clean your plate/all-you-can-eat buffet” mentality). I think being in touch with yourself on that score is a worthy goal. Of course, the “eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re not” strategy works pretty well for me; I eat slowly, I resist the impulse (and social pressure) to finish those last few bites on the plate when I’m already full. Sometimes I do eat when I’m not hungry, usually when I’m bored or unhappy; lately I’ve been trying to drink tea for those occasions instead. Again, works for me, but I suspect a hard mentality to switch to if you’re accustomed to eating all the food on your plate as quickly as possible.
good advice, I pretty much do this with a few moderations, like avoiding HFCS.
I think Michael Pollan says it best: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Eating real food with little chemicals and processing, stopping when you’re full (but before you burst), and getting lots of veggies as opposed to meat and carbs.
Its simple, but so many Americans listen to doctors and media “experts” instead of their own bodies. But, as long as someone can make money off of “dieting,” its dieting we shall see.
I enjoyed the article, and in principle, and in most cases, I agree with you.
However.
There is a roughly 20 minute gap between actually BEING satisfied and your stomach telling your brain that you are “satisfied.” That twenty minutes can be spent putting away twice as much as a person needs. And depending in the contents of the food, this can be the difference between fit and fat.
Oddly, there is also a similar time difference between alcoholic beverages hitting the stomach and the intoxicating effects being felt. Let me go there to explain my reservations.
If you drink until you feel “just right,” chances are you will end up a little - or a very lot - more intoxicated than you had planned on. Depending on your wallet, proximity to the bar or bottle, et al. The body simply takes time to process the information, and the chemical processes that cause the feeling of “satisfaction” - in my reference, intoxication, are just not instantaneous.
The trick is finding that sweet spot, which differs from person to person. People like, say, Amy, might be eating for reasons which have little to do with actual physical hunger, The real trick is not stopping when you are “satisfied.” It’s stopping when your BODY has had enough, even though your brain still feels hunger.
Same with drinking, I think. Stopping when you feel “half there: will, in half an hour, more than do the trick. sadly, experimentation can easily lead to a DUI, or waking up next to someone you really don’t want to friend on Facebook.
Similarly, stopping when you “feel” satisfied might well end up with the tummy or gut or flabby thighs, despite your best intentions.
Taking into account the time it takes for a person’s body to signal satisfaction depends on a number of factors, actually a gazillion ones. But yes, I do believe your theoryt is sound in principle.
Stop eating about twenty minutes BEFORE you feel full. At least, slow way, way down. You might find that a half portion of that fabulous asian salad at Crapplebees will, indeed, be more than enough. Your mileage may vary, of course, but as soon as y ou can intuit your body, you will instantly have the “willpower” you need. At least, you will be AWARE of the point at which you are eating not for physical fulfillment, but emotional need or societal accommodation. What you do with that knowledge, of course, is entirely up to a person and his/her god/goddess/therapist.
Eat until your BODY is satisfied. That means knowing your body, and your brain, and making allowances. And stopping before you really think you wanna. Same with drinking, I posit.
Because no one wants to wake up with an unfortunate partner, and no one wants to be that partner.
(Exercise/movement is another topic entirely, and since you did not address it, I shan’t either)
Good nutritional advice, basically (I have the dietetics degree, no RD) but there is a psychological element that isn’t necessarily as easy for some as stopping at a full stomach. I sought out a degree in nutrition to help cure my food obsession/disorder and though I gained a lot of good eating advice, it didn’t touch my psychological issues - basically unrelated. Took me years to realize that eating habits I’d established had absolutely nothing to do with making a choice between butter and margarine, one pat or two. By the way, I do eat what I love and have learned to (pretty much) love that path. :)
This is wonderful! I agree so much… but is it supported by clinical evidence? I am asking because if it is, I would love to include it when I talk about this to my friends.
I wish I wouldve followed this advice years ago when I first heard about it. I would be at my right weight for my body. Since January I have been trying all sorts of diets to lose about 25 lbs. I have lost that much but also gained all back, 5 lbs at a time. So searching the web about this way of eating has helped my to make a decision to “eat when hungry, and stop when satisfied” . I did this yesterday and today and its amazing really how much less food you need. I just have to turn the brain off and slow down. My girlfriend who is slim and beautiful eats this very way. She will order what she wants in a restaurant and will eat the amount she desires and then usually leaves 1/2 or less on her plate. I watch with the mental attitude of “why is she wasting all that food” and yes, I have been known to clean off the rest. So, I really need to focus on that hunger scale so that it come naturally as it does to my slim girlfriend. Its a waste when it goes to waist.
Thanks for your article. Very helpful.
The human being was designed to eat when hungry, stop when not. However, caveman didn’t have all these naughty treats and other junk food, only the REAL, whole, goodstuff - they are the “original” human being.
We are also designed to do daily exercise, again, our cavemen ancestors would hunt or collect their food - very busy, outgoing activities.
So, eat when you are hungry, perform as much daily exercise as possible (this will also make you feel hungrier - feed the extra hunger urges - this will in turn guide your daily calorie intake without you having to even look at the nutritional content).
DO NOT think you HAVE to have breakfast, think, our example caveman would wake up and have his ceral or eggs and bacon every morning? No! The body is designed to run on empty as much as it is on full. A caveman would have to hunt for food before they could eat. So for food timings - eat when you hungry too! It doesn’t matter if you get 3 meals or 6 during a day, as long as you no longer have a hunger your body is getting the required intake.
In regard to my first paragraph, sure you can eat what you want, but ideally keeping to a 90:10 rule is the BEST for HEALTH, that is having what you like 10% of meals during the week. I know this is going against what is stated in this post, but I am just giving an ideal healthy situation. the 90% that is left should be filled full of healthy NATURAL WHOLEFOODS - basically imagine being our caveman friend, what would be avaiable for you to eat? Fruits, veg, meats, eggs, nuts, berries, fish, potatoes, rice - anything that can be killed, found or collected WITHOUT human intervention (that means no processed foods or wheats or grains such as BREADS! God forbid!). FAT is not your enemy as it actually just as important to your body as protein, carbs is a bit of a hot topic, as they aren’t actually required at all to live healthly on (topic for another day), they are also pretty much the main cause of obessesity.
Just read this particular article and needed to thank you personally. Very clear and to the point!