116. Back To Basics - Principle 5, Discover the Satisfaction Factor

Today in my back to basics series I’m talking about intuitive eating principle 5, discover the satisfaction factor. 

Satisfaction isn’t just about eating so that you are full. There is sensory satisfaction to be had, and emotional satisfaction, and they are just as important as the feeling of fullness. 

When you understand the power of being satisfied when you eat, you can reduce your cravings and your binges. 

In this episode I will help you to understand that, and give you some tips on how to be more satisfied when you eat.

Transcript

 A quick heads up before you start reading..... My transcriptions are automatically generated. I do not type them manually. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode.

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Hello, welcome back. Welcome back. This is my intuitive eating back to basics series. And in each episode, I'm going to walk you through one of the 10 principles of intuitive eating. I'm going to help you to understand it a little bit better, give you some thoughts on the matter, give you some questions you can ask yourself and take away and mull over a little bit.

And then you can figure out how these apply to you and how you can start intuitive eating for yourself. This episode. is part of a series. So you can keep listening if you want to. If you've just stumbled across this episode by accident, keep listening if you want to, but to get the most out of the series, I'd suggest that you go right back to the beginning and, listen to them in order.

Today, we are talking about principle five, discovering the satisfaction factor. Enjoying food is so much [00:01:00] more. Than stopping yourself from being hungry or fueling yourself for a busy day or something energetic, right? There's sensory enjoyment to be had. There's an emotional satisfaction to be had, and this is what this principle is all about.

It's helping you to understand and accept that you can and you should be enjoying food, you should be satisfied by it, and you should get more from it than you've probably been getting up until now. So let's first try and understand what makes food satisfying. 

It's a really personal thing, this. What you find satisfying won't be what someone else finds satisfying. You are very unique. You are your own person. 

Imagine the feeling that you get after eating a really good meal. A meal you've really enjoyed everything about. Flavours, the colours, [00:02:00] the textures, the smells, the amount of food. That's what satisfaction is with food, and that is what you are going to be striving for.

Obviously, not every meal is going to be incredible, but you can still have those feelings when you are just eating in normal everyday life, right? So, in intuitive eating, when you are thinking about what you'd like to eat, you're going to be thinking about how hungry you are, so how much food you want to eat.

But to bring the satisfaction factor in, you'll also be thinking about the type of food that you want. 

What do you fancy? Something hot or cold? Something sweet or savoury? Something sweet or sour? Crunchy, chewy, soft? Something mild in flavour or really [00:03:00] spicy? Something adventurous and culinary? Or something simple? 

When you ask yourself questions like this, you end up with a meal that satisfies what your body needs in that moment. And while you're eating, it's important to keep checking in too, because that helps you keep track of that satisfaction.

So, while you're eating, ask yourself if you're still enjoying the flavours and the textures. Ask yourself if you're still hungry, or maybe you're starting to fill up a little bit. Um, ask yourself if the temperature of the food is still to your liking, or is it too hot and you're not enjoying it, or is it now a bit colder than you would like it to be?

All of these things will help you to be guided and to satisfy you. 

And you can add to this too, so what about thinking about things like where you're eating, the environment you're in. Have you got really nice music on, or are [00:04:00] you in the middle of a very noisy space? Because it'll make a difference to how much you enjoy your meal.

Whether there are any distractions around like tired little toddlers that just won't leave you alone or demanding work colleagues who also just won't leave you alone. 

How is the food presented? Are you using your favourite plates and cutlery or your cutest little sandwich boxes, snack boxes, lunch bag or is it thrown onto a chipped old plate with odd knife and fork.

Have you just wrapped it in a bit of aluminium foil and thrown it into a carrier bag to take to work with you? 

How hungry are you? Have you left it until you were super hungry and now you want to eat more and quickly and can't say for it?

The discover the satisfaction principle [00:05:00] may not seem like it's a big deal, but it's really important because it helps us reduce those binge eating habits. 

When you are satisfied by your food you don't go looking for something else to satisfy you. When you are not satisfied by your food, you often finish that food and then go looking for something else, yeah?

Are you an evening snacker, for example. If you are, could that be because you're not being satisfied by the food through the day, so your mind and your body is still looking for the enjoyment, for the flavours, for the textures that it wanted, and it sends you in search of it. 

Or maybe, You really like to have something sweet after a meal. I do. I really like that. How do you feel if you don't have that? I am guessing that you will think about it and think about it until you get up and you go and you find the [00:06:00] thing that you really wanted. You weren't satisfied and now your body wants you to go and get it. 

So, can you see now that when we have cravings, more often than not, it's going to be your body wanting something to satisfy you.

If you try and ignore the craving, hoping that it will go away, it's unlikely to work. You are better off satisfying yourself in the moment, having the amount that will satisfy you, having the amount that will satisfy the desire in the moment and be done with it rather than putting it off, putting it off, and then eating more than you would've liked.

And often with that feeling of losing control and then, enter guilt! 

Satisfaction in food ultimately reduces many of those negative feelings that we have around food. The feelings, the thoughts, the behaviours that we have around [00:07:00] food. And that in turn will help other principles like making peace with food.

So do you see how it's all starting to link together now? 

Have a little think. How often do you actually honour your cravings? How often do you allow yourself to be satisfied by the food that you are eating? Or do you eat just purely for functional reasons? 

There are other ways to delve into this. I could cover it all and more, but it would be a very long episode.

So I do all of that inside my Eat From Within membership. The link is in the show notes if you'd like to know more about it.

Give your intuitive eating journey a real head start. Being in the membership will really do that for you, I promise. Yeah, the link's in the show notes. 

Go have a little look and then I will see you in principle six [00:08:00]