“Make all activities pertaining to food and eating pleasurable.” This is one of the Japanese’s Dietary Guidelines for Health Promotion, because pleasure is one of their goals of healthy eating.

Many people who live in larger bodies and/or those struggling with eating disorders believe that eating should not be a pleasurable experience. Our clients say that they often feel guilty if they eat something they really enjoy. They believe they don’t have the right to enjoy food, that they must give up pleasure in the name of weight control or health. Unfortunately, when you choose what you are “supposed” to eat more often than what you want to eat, it leaves you wanting…eating…overeating.

Have you ever felt full after eating but not satisfied? Have you left a meal feeling like you’ve eaten enough food but you still want something else? It might be because:

~ You chose based on caloric or fat content
~ You were not hungry
~ You were absolutely starving
~ You were upset or angry
~ You chose based on what you thought you should eat or should not eat
~ You chose the least fattening item on the menu
~ You chose the most fattening item because you are not dieting

Satisfaction is derived when you take the time to figure out what you really want to eat, give yourself unconditional permission to eat it, and then eat in a relaxing, enjoyable atmosphere. Take a moment to think about one of the best meals you’ve ever had. Where were you? Who were you with? What did you eat? Chances are the atmosphere and the company had as much to do with the pleasure you experienced as the food did.

Living without satisfaction can extend beyond your relationship with food. People who put aside satisfaction in their eating experiences are more likely to settle for ‘less than’ in other areas of life, too. They find themselves settling for something less than satisfying in relationships, jobs, clothing, and even self care routines. They become out of touch with what they truly love, want, and need in their lives. Lacking satisfaction often means missing out on pleasure as well as a way of simply knowing ourselves more deeply. It is amazing to know that bringing satisfaction to your eating experiences can have far reaching effects into other areas of your life.

Discovering the satisfaction factor is the sixth principle of Intuitive Eating: “When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content. By providing this experience for yourself, you will find that it takes much less food to decide you’ve had enough” (Intuitive Eating, by Tribole and Resch).

This week, consider trying this activity: Draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper. On one side, track what you want to eat. Ask yourself, ‘If I could eat anything right now and be guaranteed that it wouldn’t affect my weight or my health, what do I really want? What sounds good?’ On the other side, track what you actually eat. At the end of the week, compare your lists and see how often the two sides match up. Let us know what you learn about yourself from this activity.

In 2005 therapist Hilary Kinavey and nutritionist Dana Sturtevant started facilitating groups to help women let go of food/weight obsession. Realizing that they shared a similar approach and philosophy regarding food, weight, body image and health – one directly counter to that of conventional institutional paradigms - the two decided to merge their practices to create a partnership that would offer a revolutionary approach to women seeking answers about eating disorders, weight concerns, exercise, and nutrition. Thus, Be Nourished was born. Encouraging a non-diet approach to food, weight and health, Be Nourished offers individual counseling, workshops, classes and retreats to tackle topics like conscious eating, hunger awareness, body acceptance, and self-compassion. For more information, visit Be Nourished.