When my kids were younger and my mother-in-law would visit, she would spoil them with scrumptious homemade treats. Each day the kitchen was filled with the sweet scent of cardamom, coconut milk, sugar, flour and butter simmered to perfection in a sizzling hot pan of oil as she made fresh mandazi ( donuts)- a huge favorite in our house then and now.
Once they were ready, the children would sit at the table and take a few bites before tottering away to play in the blistering sunshine.
What often greeted after a long day of work were therefore half eaten pieces of fried dough… too yummy to simply leave on the plate.
Mandazi. (Betcha can’t eat just one).
While I hated the fact that the kids only took bites of the foods they beg for, I secretly admired them. At the tender ages of 6, 4 and 2, they exhibited an inmate ability to stop eating when full by listening to their bodies for signs and symptoms of satiety. This is a skill that many adults have long since lost.
In the book “Intuitive Eating, A Revolutionary Program That Works” Registered Dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, describe this ability to use your body as a guide of what to eat and in what portions, as “intuitive eating.” There are 10 main principles to their theory three of which are listed below:
1. Eat for Physical Rather than Emotional Reasons
So many times we eat for reasons other than hunger. We eat because we are happy, sad, bored or emotional. The unfortunate thing about this is that the food choices made at this time are not the most nutritionally sound. We grab the sweets, chips and other high calorie, high fat snack foods that are in sight and eat even though our bodies are not physically hungry. Sound familiar? Toddlers on the other hand are more intuitive in that they listen to their bodies. They eat enough to fill their bellies and then walk away from their plates. Yes, they still ask for goodies and treats but a sad child rarely reaches for the big tub of ice cream. Rather, (s)he will have a melt down and let the emotions roll as (s)he cries the sadness away.
Take Action: Take a cue from your toddler and eat for physical hunger. When you find yourself reaching for an unplanned meal or snack, stop and ask yourself, “AM I REALLY HUNGRY?” If your answer is yes, then choose a healthy snack and move on. If you discover that you are not really hungry, avoid the snack and do something to take your mind and body away from eating.
2. Rely on Internal Hunger and Satiety Cues
A hungry toddler is a hunger toddler! And, a hungry toddler must be fed. However, load his plate with food and watch as they sits at the table before asking to leave the table with only half the food off their plate. This happens regardless of what is on his plate. Once he is full, he is full. He unknowingly pays attention to his body and allows it to tell him when to eat and how much to eat.
As adults, we need to get back to listening to our bodies for cues of physical hunger and satiety. Physical hunger (real hunger) starts slow and gets stronger with time. It is generally marked with lightheadedness, a growling tummy and weakness. It differs from emotional hunger (fake hunger) which often comes suddenly with an intense urge to eat something (often high in calories, fat and sugar). Fake hunger is triggered by an event, conversation or interaction in which emotions are involved.
Take Action: If you find yourself hungry for emotional reasons, take a walk, read a book, find a physical activity that takes you away from eating. If eating to satisfy internal hunger, pay attention to your internal monitors. Studies suggest that it takes 20 minutes for your brain to receive the message that you are full. For that reason, eat slowly and pause half way into your meal. Stop when you feel satisfied and do not allow yourself to get extremely full.
3. Unconditional Permission to Eat
Kids will eat the foods that they like and avoid those they don’t. It’s just that simple. If they feel like eating fruit one minute and chocolate cake then next, they ask for and eat it until they are satisfied. To them, there is no such thing as a good or bad food. In our never ending search of the “perfect” diet and slim waists, we have taken away that permission to eat. We banish various foods from our diets and take ourselves on a guilt trip when we eat the foods that we like. Intuitive eating allows gives you the permission to eat without the restriction of rigid diets and eating plans. You simply give yourself permission to eat when you are hungry and allow yourself to indulge every once in a while. How awesome is that?
As parents we consistently worry about our children eating enough to nourish their growing bodies. We issue all sorts of threats and bribes to get them to take a couple extra bites. Truth of the matter is that no child will ever intentionally starve him/herself. Rather than coax our children to continue to eat when they tell us they are full, we should take a cue from their book and retrain ourselves to stop when we are full and stop the madness of restrictive dieting.
Here’s to your health!