You may be full, but are you satisfied?

In the simplest of terms, we are full when our stomachs are full. We are literally filling our stomachs with fuel, like a tank of gas, until it can hold no more. You can fill your stomach with any type of food and feel the sensation of fullness. So, it can feel like you have no control or willpower when 30 minutes after your filling meal, you’re on the hunt for food again!

Does this sound familiar?

It’s dinner time. You’ve been snacking a lot throughout the day so you choose to eat a salad that is composed of just a bunch of veggies because you feel you overdid it with all the snacks. You’ve finished the salad and your stomach is physically filled and you’re feeling full, but all you can think about is eating something else. You’re sitting on the couch watching a movie with your guy and you’re not present, you’re thinking about what to eat - you’re conflicted by the cues your body is giving you to eat more versus you feeling like you know better than your body, that you’ve already eaten and you don’t need to eat anything else. He suggests a bowl of popcorn, and you agree. Now, suddenly you’ve eaten the entire bowl of popcorn because you got your hands on something that is satisfying the void from your bowl of raw vegetables and you lose control. Maybe you even go for another snack – you end up in a binge. You spiral into feelings of shame & guilt, wishing you could undo what had just been done; telling yourself you should’ve just not eaten anything. But that’s not true. What you really should have done was eaten a meal that was satisfying in the first place.

If this does sound familiar, first let me assure you that you are not alone. This is a classic example of a restriction-binge cycle. And it is NOT your fault. Shift the blame off of yourself, quit the negative self-talk, and turn the blame onto diet culture. Shift the blame onto the diet mentality. And by “diet mentality” I mean the thoughts that tell you food should be restricted in order for you to lose weight and become healthy. But, we know that weight loss is not the holy grail of health and the restrictive mentality is doing more harm than good.

Here’s how a restrictive diet mentality can truly eff you up:

• Promoting calorie restriction: as long as you stay within your calorie ‘limit’ for the day, you’re good. In the above example, you decided to eat that salad because you consumed calories in the form of snacks and if you ate anything more than a bowl of veggies, you’d go over your calorie limit for the day.

• Feeling you need to “correct” eating “bad” foods and restricting yourself. In the above example, you felt the need to correct, or even punish yourself, for eating those snacks, and you do that through restriction, by limiting yourself to only a bowl of raw veggies.

• Promoting the restriction of a whole food group. This is common in fad diets, and it’s usually the beloved carbs! Adding some carbs (or protein or healthy fats) to that salad would have made it more satisfying, but the diet mentality told you to restrict the carbs because you had already eaten the snacks.  

Satisfaction with eating is not simply talking about your fullness, satisfying your hunger, and satisfying your nutrient needs. Satisfaction is about honoring what you truly want and crave and eating something you enjoy. Eating is not simply about filling our bodies; it is about pleasure, joy, social connection, and true enjoyment of the food. When we choose to eat from a “dieting” perspective, we are usually not taking those things into consideration; rather, we are making choices from a place of fear and restriction all in the pursuit to lose, or to not gain, weight.  

Mindfulness is a big piece of the satisfaction puzzle. When we eat mindlessly, like eating too fast, watching TV while eating, or maybe scrolling through our Instagram feed, our meal is suddenly over and you have no idea how the plate got cleared, but it did, and you have no idea what the heck you just ate or if you even liked it. When we practice more mindful eating behaviors, we are able to truly enjoy the food we are eating, to immerse ourselves in the meal, to chew more slowly, to actually taste the food. Mindfulness helps you to identify and understand what you actually do enjoy eating – I’m talking about the more detailed parts of the food, the flavors, the textures. A diet mentality can have us thinking that as long as our meal follows the “formula”, it’s good and we should eat it – that’s not taking into consideration what you actually like to eat. Eating is a basic human need you will need to do for you whole life – wouldn’t it be great to just actually enjoy the food you eat every day??

So, what helps to makes a satisfying meal (or snack!) – one you enjoy and not one that just simply fills your tank.

1. A balance of macronutrients: carbs, protein, fat. This is the nutrition part of the equation. Satisfaction comes from a meal that will actually keep you full for a few hours, not just for 30 minutes.

2. Texture. Adding texture to a meal or snack can make it more satisfying. I’m sure you can relate to going for a snack and thinking “hm I want something crunchy”. Sometimes, something as simple as adding a crunch element to your meal can make all the difference.

3. Flavor. Flavor encompasses so much about a meal. This is thinking about the types of cuisines you like, spices, salty vs. sweet, how spicy you like food, if you like bitter things. Some like foods less seasoned and others love a good spice rub. Find where you are on the spectrum and take that into consideration when you build a meal.

4. Temperature. This is simple, but often overlooked. If you are craving something warm and comforting, like a bowl of soup or chili, and you decide to eat a salad, you are not going to be satisfied. You will be left craving something warm and comforting, and may wind up finding that comfort in a warm dessert.

5. It’s what you’re truly craving! Plain and simple. Take inventory on what you’re actually in the mood for. That’s not just a fleeting thought to have when you’re trying to make the big “what do you want for dinner” decision and your guy wants to rip his hair out waiting for your answer. Truly think about what you’re in the mood for, the types of flavors you want, the texture of the food, do you want a hot or cold meal? Honor what your body wants and let the nutrition piece follow so you have a nourishing meal that you actually want to teat.

Basic cooking skills can give you the tools you need to build meals and snacks that are satisfying. When you start to practice more mindfulness in eating and begin to truly recognize what makes you feel pleasure & enjoyment when you’re eating, then you can manipulate food in a way that will satisfy you. You might switch up the method for cooking something, for example roasting veggies instead of steaming them to give a different texture and flavor; or knowing how to blend different spices together for a different type of flavor on your chicken. You might also manipulate meals to make them more nutritious, so if you’re craving a cheesy pasta dish, you know how to lighten it up a bit so it is still super satisfying without leaving you feeling overstuffed and weighed down.

So, why does this all matter? Because eating meals that simply fill your stomach without giving you pleasure is not sustainable. Eating from a place of restriction is dangerous for your physical and emotional health. Eating from a place of satisfaction will bring the joy back to eating and help you grow trust in your body to make the best decisions for a sustainable lifestyle.

***My silly disclaimer: Salads are great if you actually want a salad. I used it as an example throughout this post because we so often lean on a salad as a “healthy” and “diet-friendly” meal. I am in no way knocking salads!