FAQ - Am I allowed to enjoy my food?

What’s My Relationship With Food Like? Part 3

In part 1, I introduced the question 'what is your relationship with food (and drink) like? And in part 2 I explored the importance of food for us in physical terms. I had one of those 'slap your forehead moments over the weekend as I realised I missed a key element of the role of food in supporting us physically. So this week, I share a quick food for thought exploring the importance of satisfaction and actually enjoying our food. I think this is often so under-appreciated in diets and weight control and is critical in my view to sustainable weight management and loss. especially since it plays into the other aspects of our relationship with food, namely the social role and emotional part it plays in our lives. #weightmanagement #weightloss #weightlossjourney #coach #midlifecoach #midlifewomen #midlifemen

#weightmanagement #weightloss #weightlossjourney #coach #midlifecoach #midlifewomen #midlifemen

Dave

Dave Algeo

Midlife Health and Weight Management Coach

Reclaim your Health, Life and Sense of Adventure in Midlife and Beyond

https://www.midlifereshape.com/#weightmanagement #weightloss #weightlossjourney #coach #midlifecoach #midlifewomen #midlifemen

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Dave

Dave Algeo, Restless Mid-Lifer' It is never too late to get life back on your terms and have even bigger adventures!'dave@restlessmidlifer.com

Transcript:

I want to sort of just explore very briefly the aspect of satiation. Now, I'm not going to go into the physical, kind of chemical, hormonal, biological drives around satiation. I just mean, or I just want to explore this aspect of how food can make us feel satisfied. As in,

I really enjoyed that meal. It was tasty. It was filling. It just had everything I needed in it. And I think this is something that perhaps we disregard. Again, I talked about it last week. We disregard it at peril. We have to acknowledge that the body needs a certain amount of physical nutrients and energy intake to be able to satisfy the basic needs and the needs that will fit whatever lifestyle we choose, however active we choose it to be.

But there is also this aspect of how satisfying is food.

And yes, there's the emotional element and the comfort food element, social element, which I'm going to talk about and tease out in coming weeks. But I think there's a physical aspect to this. And I think it's something to just flag up and get you to think about.

Because how many diets have you been on?

Or plans this, you know, extreme that, whatever they happen to be, where that kind of is almost parked and it's very much focused on, you know, quite extreme, exclude this, restrict that, cut down on this and never let that particular food darken the doors of your mouth type of thing.

I've been on all sorts of them. I mean, you know, whether it's because I've chose to do it, I've been supporting a, you know, a family member, partner, etc. I've been on everything from high fat, low fat, low carb, you know, calorie counting, calorie counting to the extreme, the different, you know, Slimming World Weight Watchers, all of these kinds of things.

And perhaps not so much Slimming World Weight Watchers, because I think there's a,

albeit there are counting sins and stuff like that. And, you know, there are challenges around those particular plans as well that I find sometimes the clients have.

But they tend to have a bit more of a well -rounded sort of approach to what you eat. But when it's more exclusionary and restrictive, you know, that low carb, slow carb, even all those kinds of things,

I often find that the thing I struggle with, yes, the potential when you cut down, you can experience hunger,

you can experience, you know,

general boredom, I guess, as well. But I also find that after a little while,

and, you know, if I was to embark on it now, probably within minutes or half an hour of a meal,

I just find that the level of satisfaction and fulfillment, for want of a better phrase,

it diminishes to the point that it drops off completely when I'm eating those kinds of food. And it brings me to that point that really feeling that, like, your food has been enjoyable. I've really enjoyed that meal. It was tasty. The textures was a variety of textures. It had a bit of everything in it. It's really important.

Now, we're all different. We all have preferences. And again, this comes back to that individualization. And this is why, you know, buying into a particular plan or approach can be challenging if it doesn't suit you. For a few people, it will suit perfectly. But for the majority of us, we need to tailor it to ourselves.

And that's why I want to get you to encourage you to think about this as an ingredient as well. How satisfied does my food leave me feeling? And I don't just mean in full tummies feeling not hungry anymore.

I mean, in just a sense of, God, that was really nice. I enjoyed that.

And however you would describe it.

And I talked about last week, you know, about having a takeaway versus something homemade and how often sometimes when you take the time to make that homemade food, you'll often think, you know, that was better than a takeaway.

And I think sometimes we can default to the easier, lower friction,

sort of chemically enhanced for one, again, one of a better phrase,

kind of foods.

When actually just taking a little bit more time to prep, having a few more different spices and flavors in it, nothing overly complicated, having a different variety of food in there, you know, across the macro nutrients of proteins, carbs, fats,

can really give you something very satisfying from it.

And picking those kinds of foods to suit you can have a, it's a very intangible thing in terms of you can't put a calorie on it. You can't put a gram on it. But what you can put on is a feeling, a subjective feeling. And this is something that I think is really important when we're getting into, you know, restricting foods, cutting down, trying to get healthier, whatever, however we want to describe it. We have to factor in the subjective feel. And I often talk about this with clients around, it's not just a number on a scale, it's how you feel in yourself.

And where, what generates that feeling of,

you know, not being happy with yourself, et cetera. And sometimes it might be the physical number on the scale, but often it's a combination of other things, including the self-talk,

the perhaps comments in the past from others, that kind of thing. And I think it's a similar thing for food, that we need to broaden our expectations from it, rather than just seeing it as a number of this and a number of that, grams, calories, whatever we choose to do.

And think about how does this make me feel?

Because one of the things that I've found, and I know this is very true with a good few of the clients that I work with, is that when you get that satisfaction right,

and particularly at key meals where it particularly matters, and I talked about last week, you know, you've got the difference between a functional meal, where really it,

you know, you're not,

it's not because you're having a social event. You don't really need to get anything emotional out of it. You don't really need to get any particular satisfaction out of it. It's just something you do, perhaps it might be breakfast, might be lunch.

It's something you do, breaks up the day, gives you a bit of energy for the day, and then you're on with something else. There may be a lower need for satisfaction. Now, it doesn't have to be lunch or breakfast, could be any of them to be fair. But the point is,

there may be key meals in your day and your week, where it really matters that that meal just hit the spot, was just really satisfying.

And what would that meal be? As in what, which particular meals of a day would it be?

And also, what would you, what do you find needs to be in that meal for you?

And yes, that might be where we started getting to. Actually, it's probably, it does need a bit of the unhealthiest stuff. I do like a bit of sweet stuff after.

Let's, let's look at that. That's okay. Because often we demonize things, and actually what we're trying to do is achieve a certain level of satisfaction that can mean we then don't feel a gaping hole in our soul after the meal. That leads us to then go and raid the fridge later. Binge, eat, whatever.

Or the elastic band. You manage it for a couple of days and then snap back and you kind of lapse into former eating behaviors. That seesaw, the all or nothing kind of thing.

And it's really important.

And it may be really important to you. Maybe,

you know, for some it's not.

But typically, I think when food is such an important part of the lives of many of us, it is important that we kind of cover all our bases in terms of satisfaction. Taste, flavor, texture. Taste and flavor, probably the same thing. Texture,

the food groups are covered.

And you do come away feeling that.

So I guess really, just as a takeaway or a question for you is to think about it. Because I don't have any hard fast rules. It must cover all these food groups. You need these spices or flavors or tastes covering etc. It is a very individual thing.

What I would ask you to do is to think.

Park the judgment. Park about whether it's healthy this, too much, too little of that. And just think about what are the meals or the foods that tend to give you that sense of satisfaction.

Now, this is a difficult one because it might tease into emotional comfort in that emotional balm or some sort of connection to it. I'm going to talk about that next week. What I'm genuinely talking about is feeling like that was a really lovely meal. That kind of lower level of intensity and craziness that we can sometimes feel around it. If we just, you know, that first beer that you're just desperate for or that first bar of chocolate you're ramming your throat, your mouth because somebody spoke to you quite nastily or whatever.

We're trying to sort of focus on what would be just a nice meal. A good meal that would make you feel satisfied. That then leads you to feel more composed and collected in yourself and less prone to the elastic band snapping back. The emotional eating.

The binge eating. The reading the fridge at midnight. Whatever it is.

What are those meals? And think back to your past. Because I think we can probably all pinpoint certain particular meals. They might even have been from a particular diet plan you followed.

And you thought, you know, that was really nice. That really was lovely.

Why don't I bring that back in? Or why don't I look at it and see if I can keep largely the elements. Perhaps look at the quantities that I serve myself. You know, there's other things we can do around it. But start to bring the level of satisfaction back into food. And start to shift our relationship with food. Not just emotionally and socially as I'll come on to. But physically.

So that we get that physical shift that actually what I'm eating

is physically good for me. Not just in energy wise. Not just in bodily repair. But in satisfaction terms.

So what would that be? I'll be curious. Because,

you know, I have a number of different meals. And I've just recently rediscovered the joy of spaghetti. You know,

I can't remember the Italian name for it now. But spaghetti pasta base. There's something about it. And it's really satisfying for me. I'm not saying that would work for you. But it's something that clearly leaves me feeling like that was a lovely meal. I haven't overdone it. I haven't had a takeaway. I haven't gone overboard. But I feel like I've had something really tasty.

So what would it be for you? I'd be really curious. So drop me an email at dave@restlessmidlifer.com .com And any questions or thoughts around this physical aspect as well. And indeed any questions around the social. Or thoughts around the social and emotional aspect. Which I'm going to tease out over coming weeks as well.