Today is a new beginning, you’ve decided you to explore normal eating. You have decided to reject another diet. You’ve realized that living in the constant battle with food and your body doesn’t feel good and isn’t helping anyone. You want to stop binging on food you don’t think you should eat. You want to learn to enjoy food again. You want to stop being hungry. You even desire to be able to eat a variety of foods and stop when you are full.
This may seem impossible right now, but through some hard work and determination you can end the dieting cycle. You can learn to listen to your body again to tell you what and how much you need.
What does “normal” eating look like.
As Ellyn Satter says, “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.”
I want to point out that “overeating” is part of normal eating? Eating food you enjoy without restrictions.
While it’s easy to want to jump right in and make all the changes, normalizing all your thoughts around food rules is number one. It means understanding what normal eating looks like and giving yourself a break.
Getting Started
1.Be kind and gentle with yourself today.
2.Give yourself permission to eat and enjoy food.
3. Get a notebook, piece of paper or even your phone. As you eat today jot down some thoughts and feelings while you are eating. Compare those thoughts to the definition of normal eating and how it relates to you.
This is no easy task for the first day, but it’s a great way to reflect on your own thoughts and feelings around food. I’d love to hear how you feel about your eating. Please feel free to comment below!