I got this email the other day.

Mindful Bites...
Intuitive & Mindful Eating Tips
from Gillian Hood, HealthierOutcomes.com​​​​​​​

Hi carol,

I am back with my next Mindful Bite, a bit later than I hoped, but I am back nonetheless. The summer has flown by! I travelled to Ft. Lauderdale and New York City for business (and a bit of fun!) with just 2 1/2 weeks in between trips.

I'm ready to stay put for a while and get some new and exciting things completed that you'll be hearing about the minute I have them ready for you! Stay tuned...

For now, let's get to today's Mindful Bite. It's all about satisfaction, and it's the best part of eating, if you ask me!


Today's Quote:

"The more you enjoy what you're eating, the less likely you will overeat."

This quote is all about getting satisfaction from your food and eating. I'm sure you'll agree when you're dieting, you don't think about satisfaction that much - in fact, you usually deny yourself satisfaction by eating food based on diet rules or what you think you "should" eat.

The problem with this approach is satisfaction from eating is essential, you deny yourself satisfaction at your own peril. Let me give you an example:

Imagine you wake up one morning thinking about your favorite cookies that you've been denying yourself - especially if you've been on a diet or restricting certain foods. (No, you aren't the only one!)

Ignoring the cookie thoughts, you have some sort of "healthy" breakfast. (Have you ever noticed even your worst eating days start with a "healthy" breakfast?)

As the day goes on, the thoughts of the cookies keep showing up. Perhaps they even call your name! Believing you should be "good," you find other things to snack on, like raw veggies, 100 calorie snack bags, or whatever takes the edge off in the moment.

At lunchtime, you eat what you brought with you, while wishing you could have those cookies that are now getting louder. The desire for the cookies drives you to eat all afternoon, hoping the craving will go away. You eat more veggies, some fruit, a protein bar or two, or you "give in" and grab a box of Snackwell cookies that you hope will do the trick. (Hint: they were awful in the 90's, I'm sure they still are!)

By the time dinner rolls around, you aren't that hungry because of all the food you've eaten to attempt to make the cookie thoughts and craving go away. But it's dinner and you should eat it, right?

It's now around 9pm and you've eaten dinner, along with more "not cookies" choices and you reach your breaking point. The cookies are stronger than you are and you have one... they are so good you must have another... once you come out of your trance, several cookies are gone, you may even feel sick, and here comes the guilt and the shame...

You berate yourself for having "no willpower" and you start planning your next diet to undo the damage from the cookies. Sound familiar?
Woman Hiding, Eating Cookies
What happened? It's not a lack of willpower. That's part of diet mentality and has no place in a peaceful relationship with food.

It's not that cookies are so bad for you that you can't stop once you start - these are thoughts you've come to believe from our dieting culture and what the diet industry has convinced you is true.

And you are definitely NOT addicted to cookies or to sugar. Don't fall into this trap!
Thinking you're addicted to sugar will only serve to reinforce your belief that you can't control yourself or your eating, and this is not the truth.

There is a simple explanation. You had a craving for cookies in the morning. It happens and it's not unusual, wrong, or a sign that something is wrong with you. We all get these cravings on occasion.

What would have happened if you had a couple cookies when you wanted them? Or you could have had your breakfast and brought the cookies with you to work to have later in the morning. Bottom line, if you had given yourself permission to simply eat a couple of cookies, you would have been satisfied, and that would most likely be the end of it.

When you eat something you really want, you are giving yourself the pleasure of satisfaction and the craving or desire goes away. Plus, you are saving yourself hours of stress, deprivation and lack of focus on anything else - not to mention all the extra calories that you consumed trying to avoid the cookies!

This is just one aspect of satisfaction. Remember, it's the key to being able to stop eating when you are full (but not overly full). It's also important in dealing with cravings, as described in this tip.

Start focusing on satisfaction and you'll discover that you'll enjoy your food and love the feeling of knowing it's time to stop eating, before you eat too much, when you reach that point of satisfaction and fullness.

When you want to eat, ask yourself what you want, and honor the answer. If you don't know, just eat something you enjoy. Stop avoiding satisfaction and start honoring it - this is a huge step towards the peaceful and delicious relationship with food that is available to all of us!


Coaching Question: Where have you been denying yourself satisfaction in your eating? Do you understand why it's so important in improving your relationship with food?

What small step can you take today to allow yourself more satisfaction with what you're eating? Where else in your life have you been denying yourself satisfaction or pleasure?

How you do one thing is how you do everything - now is the best time to start considering satisfaction and applying it to your life!

Just ask the questions and let your mind come up with answers. They may not be immediate, but they will come to you. Take action on your answers and take your next step towards peace with food!

Still moving along. How bout you?

Doing good! I feel like I rarely eat for reasons other than hunger now and I also rarely overeat (knock on wood) One anti IE thing I started doing was going for 16 hours without eating, so a form of IF. But, the thing is, I like going to bed feeling a little empty because a full stomach makes it hard for me to sleep and I wake up absolutely not hungry. By the time I start to get hungry it has always been about 16 or 17 hours since dinner. Maybe its just natural for me as I was raised by crazy hippies who wouldn't let me eat breakfast as a kid.

Anyway, I like waiting until late morning to eat. Then I feel truly hungry and in touch with my hunger. I notice this seems to almost eliminate eating for reasons other than hunger because I am so much more familiar with what hunger feels like.

Also, I have been eating veggies with almost every meal, sometimes 2 different kinds and it has become such an enjoyable habit, I feel like I am missing something if I don't have them. I'm really happy with that because vegetables have always been my first thing to go when I listen to my body and finally my body seems to want them. It also has really been helping me with digestion and just feeling better all around. And, I don't have as many sugar cravings lately either. ( Not sure if its the increased veggies or the longer period without eating.) I don't have that crazy urge to eat massive sugar after meals like I used to. All in all I am feeling much better. Funnily enough, I still weigh almost the same, but I try not to focus on that, and just focus on how good I feel listening to my body and taking care of myself.

Great new, pink hippie............that's where you got your name..........raised by hippies.

I'm in the same place, only I'm not feeling good about it. I do what a dieter would label as IF. I eat 2 meals a day normally between 11am-7pm. I'm not a stickler about those times. Sometimes I eat at 11, other times I eat at 12:30, it all depends. I don't normally snack but it's not a rule. I don't like to eat close to bedtime because digestion interferes with my sleep and it also affects my GERD so that's why.

I'm fine with my eating. I'm just not fine with my weight. Why can't I lose weight?

I can't lose anymore either but I try not to worry about. Plenty of other stuff for that. I am the world's worst worry wart.

lol yes that is partly it. I am sort of a hippie myself but not a green crunchy one, more like a pink sparkly hippie.

Im sorry you are not feeling good about it. I typically eat more than 2 meals a day otherwise I feel too hungry and deprived. Usually lunch, snack, dinner, snack. One thing I have started doing is stopping eating before I feel satisfied and waiting about 20 minutes. Almost always I realize that I am satisfied and don't want anymore. That is helpful. But yeah, I understand about the weight, it is frustrating when we have changed so many of our habits and yet our weight stays the same. Maybe it just takes lots of time.

Today my husband and I decided we wanted donuts. I was hungry so they all looked good to me. I ordered 3 donuts, each one different because I couldn't decide. I waited until we got home to eat my donuts because I didn't want to wolf one down in the car ( as my husband was doing) I got a plate, poured a glass of milk and carefully picked out a donut and ate about 1/4 of it before I decided I had enough of that taste. I did the same with the rest of the donuts I bought. I left a LOT of donut in the box that I didn't eat or want. I put them away and didn't think about them for the rest of the morning. Then I started getting excited about the broccoli salad I was going to make for lunch. Im not sure what has changed, or how it changed but even if my weight has not changed that much, I just feel so much better physically not stuffing myself when Im not hungry, eating what I really want without guilt and enjoying it, and craving and enjoying vegetables, that I still feel pretty good.

Sound good.

This morning I had leftover donuts and I made some coffee to dunk them and heated them a bit so they wouldn't be hard and crunchy. I ate some but they really still weren't very good. I ate about half a donut and then I threw the box away with the rest of the donuts still in it! I have never ever done that before. I will eat old stale donuts anytime. Donuts have always been one of THOSE foods for me. And, I don't want to make it seem like we should always throw away donuts, but its also not being good to ourselves to eat old stale donuts that don't taste good simply because they are donuts or "bad" or "forbidden".

I feel like I have had another shift in my thinking and behaviors on my IE journey but I don't really know how I got there.

Good to hear.

Thanks Carol!

I hope everyone is doing well. This thread really quieted down recently.

Happens quite often.

Yeah intuitive eating isn't really that exciting I guess... :P

Just sensible. ha

Very true.

Ive been working on my mindful eating... AGAIN

I find it fascinating how I can't stand eating with no distractions and I just want to rush through my meal if I have nothing to do. It's probably the same reason I have such a hard time meditating. Of course, today at dinner time my 4 year old was screaming at the table that she didn't like the bbq crockpot pork (that I made because she likes it) and wanting only cornbread. Not exactly the most peaceful environment.

I also noticed yesterday on my drive home from work instead of fantasizing about all the food I would eat to soothe myself I was looking forward to curling up with my book, drinking my tea, and just sitting for a while. That is a big change for me. I used to automatically think about food when I needed to unwind after work and now I look forward to reading or getting online.

Also, today I was really hungry for breakfast and so I had it. I noticed a big difference in my energy levels so maybe I will try to eat just a little something in the morning. I actually felt good and energized and got a lot done.