🤯 DYK: Research has found that among several cultures, Americans associate food more with health than with pleasure. Yet, this same group of people were least likely to classify themselves as healthy eaters.🤯.
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⁉️ When faced with a food decision, are you confronted by thoughts about the nutritional value OR the taste and pleasure derived from the food? SWIPE through the above reflection, then keep reading 🙌🏼.
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In some cultures, the priority that is placed on finding pleasure in eating TRANSLATES into seeking out and enjoying a variety of food. VARIETY is a cornerstone to eating well 👊🏼.
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🤷🏼♀️🤷🏻♀️The truth is, our predominantly health-focused thoughts about food are a byproduct of the culture we live in. Our culture is heavily influenced by diet industry messages, marketing and health education, the latter which (most of the time) is well-intentioned 🍎🚫👩🏾⚕️.
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The key is finding balance between making food decisions to meet your nutritional needs AND choosing foods because they are pleasurable 👅👄.
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There are countless ways to enjoy vegetables because they taste delicious, not just because they are a wonderful source of nutrients. Likewise, there are ways to make treat or fun foods more nutritious, or even fit your plain ‘ole favourite fun foods into your daily eating pattern 🧩🧩.
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What are YOUR tips for balancing health and pleasure when it comes to eating?.
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💥Stay tuned for a BONUS extension of this component of Eating Well. It’s an important one. We all have to eat, multiple times per day. Let’s make it a pleasurable experience!💥.
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📚 Rozin, P et al. (1999).📚
These granola bars are made with simple whole ingredients and are super delish! Ps. You are going to die over how good your kitchen smells when these are baking 😉. Yield: 8-10 Granola Bars
Ingredients:🍌
1.5 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups large flake oats
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup hemp hearts
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped dates
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 tsp cinnamon
Directions:🍌
1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a baking pan with vegetable oil.
2. Pulse oats in a food processor until coarsely chopped.
3. In a large bowl, mix mashed banana with vanilla. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
4. Press mixture evenly into greased pan and bake for 25 Mins or until golden brown.
5. Allow to cool fully before cutting into 8-10 bars. Wrap individually and store in the fridge or freezer. Enjoy!
Photo & Recipe By: Brittaney Berendsen RD, P.H.Ec., Dietitian and Co-Owner of @m_nutrition_intuition.
It’s true! 🙌🏼 Checking in with your body cues and tuning into the sensations your body sends you throughout the day means you are more likely to meet your nutritional needs✨.
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When we rely solely on external or emotional cues to eating, it is more likely that we will overshoot our energy needs 📈.
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Some of these external cues may include:
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🤳🏼Rigid eating routine.
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🤳🏼Strict food rules/guidelines.
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🤳🏼 Eating until your plate is clean, past fullness.
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🤳🏼Distracted eating.
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Interestingly, when we are out of tune with our body’s signals for long enough (whether by relying on external cues, or being unprepared/reactive with food most of the time), our body turns DOWN the dial on our ability to detect these cues. This normalizes the act of moving through the act of eating on autopilot 🚉.
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A good starting place for rediscovering your internal cues to eating is slowing down around mealtimes and setting a meal routine/schedule that provides you with regular and reliable opportunities to eat. Part of slowing down includes mindfulness and paying ATTENTION to your body’s cues 🧐.
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👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽SWIPE to revisit the different sensations through which hunger presents itself, and a handy scale to help you identify when you normally start and stop eating.
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👍🏼 A rule of thumb is to aim to stay within 3️⃣-7️⃣ on the scale to help you eat with more attention and listen closely for the onset of fullness cues *most of the time🤰🏾.
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While Component #4 of eating well focused on differentiating physical/stomach hunger from emotional hunger, Component #5 challenges you to dig into the ebbs and flows of your physical hunger sensations 🌊.
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⁉️What body sensations stand out to you? When do these symptoms surface within your week? Share below 🤗👇🏼👇🏼
✨Get in touch with your emotional eating✨.
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🤷🏼♀️If it isn’t physical/stomach hunger that is driving you to eat, what is?.
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💭As a reminder, below are some clues that can help differentiate physical, stomach rumbling hunger from emotional hunger:.
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🧠Physical Hunger🧠.
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✨Develops slowly following a meal or snack.
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✨Desire a variety of foods.
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✨Fullness sensation is the cue to stop eating.
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✨No negative thoughts or emotions following eating.
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👅Emotional Hunger👃.
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✨Develops suddenly, usually in the absence of physical hunger.
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✨Desire certain foods (i.e. craving).
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✨May result in a binge or eating past/ignoring fullness cues.
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✨Guilt, shame or other negative thoughts/emotions MAY follow eating.
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✋🏾Just to be clear, the goal isn’t to ONLY eat when you are physically hungry. Food is more than just fuel for our daily activities. Similar to the discussion around black, white and grey with the “All-or-Nothing” versus “For the Most Part” mentalities, the discussion around emotional eating is grey.
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💭As you can tell by the above characteristics of emotional eating, our experiences can be placed along a continuum, for example...
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🅰️Binge → Guilt, shame → Restriction begins again.
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VERSUS.
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🅱️Cravings → Overly full/uncomfortable → Continues eating normally.
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The goal is to learn WHEN you are eating in response to emotions rather than hunger and HOW. Ask yourself the following key questions:.
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🤷🏻♀️What is the frequency?.
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🤷🏼What is the intensity of my eating?.
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💭Reflect on what thoughts and feelings come up during/after the eating experience. When it is a REGULAR response to life stressors and leaves you feeling DOWN, it is time to seek professional support for coping with triggers or identifying new coping mechanisms. .
Where can you start?👇🏼👇🏼.
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👉🏽Pay attention to how and when your hunger develops (Gradually versus suddenly).
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👉🏽Consider your thoughts/ feelings during and after eating (Guilt? Shame? Nauseous).
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👉🏽Connect with a loved one to fill your void with emotional support rather than emotional eating.
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👉🏽Work with an RD &/or therapist to fill up your coping mechanism toolkit and improve your relationship with food!
