74: Intuitive Eating and The Satisfaction Factor

Satisfaction with food is very subjective. We have learned to deny our satisfaction, especially when we have been following diet culture. Intuitive eating relies upon us getting in touch with the satisfaction factor. 

 Want to know more about the satisfaction factor and how it can help you? 

 You need to listen to today’s Feed Your Soul with Kim Podcast where we discuss all the ins and outs of the satisfaction factor.  

 Join us in this Feed Your Soul with Kim Podcast where we discuss: 

• Why do you need to know your food satisfaction factor? 
• 6 ways to increase the satisfaction factor. 
• Try one doable from the satisfaction list. 

Emotional Eating Solutions

 
We love talking about food satisfaction and all the ways to better take care of yourself. BUT do you need more?

Emotional Eating Solutions is Kim’s signature self-paced course to look at food differently. This course is the way to get into action and make changes in your food AND in your life!

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Kim McLaughlin, MA

Kim McLaughlin is a psychotherapist. coach, speaker, and author. She helps people who feel frustrated overwhelmed and overloaded, and it shows up in overeating. She has a Master of Arts Degree in Clinical Psychology. Kim is a certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and she assists people to gain peace with food.

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Transcript

Kim McLaughlin: 0:00

Welcome to the feed your soul with Kim podcast. I am Kim McLaughlin your host. And today we are talking about intuitive eating and the satisfaction factor. Really satisfaction with food is very subjective. And we have learned to deny that satisfaction, especially when we've been following the diet culture. Today on the podcast, we're talking about why you need to know about your food satisfaction factor, six ways to increase that satisfaction. And we get to go into action and try a doable from the satisfaction list. Let's get started. What I wanted to talk about today is about satisfaction factor. I have been talking with people a lot I talk to people every day about emotional eating and overeating, compulsive eating, all those things, whether I'm here in my office, or my gosh, today, I was talking with people at my gym, they were we were talking about emotionally being an intuitive eating. So it's something that I love to talk about all the time. And this week, what came up for me with one of my clients that I was talking with was the idea of the satisfaction factor. And I haven't talked about that a lot. And so I wanted to delve into it today because it is an important part of intuitive eating is that idea of being satisfied with the food that you eat, and really getting some I don't know better word getting satisfied. So it's really something that's pretty subjective in terms of whether you feel satisfied. It's something that you all get to decide, am I satisfied by this food? And we're going to talk today in depth about what the satisfaction entails? Like how would I know if I'm engaging in more satisfying opportunities with food or not. And I'll give you some ideas about when you're going in the right direction. And when you're going in the wrong direction. So hold on, we're going to kind of go more in depth about it. But like I said, food satisfaction is very subjective. And I think we lost touch with it. When we started to follow the diet culture and follow the diet rules and have this certain way of eating that we're supposed to eat, which doesn't rely on Am I satisfied? Do I enjoy my food is it filling me up and making me feel good in the way that I need when I eat the food. I was on a podcast earlier today talking about somebody else's podcast, which you'll hear about later when I when it comes live. But I was talking about the whole idea of diet culture and how it takes us away from looking inside at our bodies and looking inside and knowing what is it we really want. And it's a prescriptive kind of way of eating and having a prescriptive way of eating is not individualized, it doesn't look that way. So if I say you eat this many calories, you eat this many, this type of food, you don't eat that type of food, there is just this restriction that tells you what to eat. And we can't look to then feeling satisfied. Because what people will say is, well, I can't eat that because I'm on this diet. So you're at Disneyland, there's this special food and you can't have it because you're on a diet. Well, is it something you really want? And would it satisfy you and those need to be? This is about entering into a different conversation which we'll get in more in depth in just a minute. When we're looking at satisfaction, I think we have to look at mindfulness as one of the pieces that we look out with that physical satisfaction, that emotional satisfaction. There's that mindfulness that comes into play. And mindfulness is about really being in the moment with a food in the moment with what's going on. So I identified eight areas that I think you can look at in terms of how do we engage more in mindful taste mindfully tasting our food mindfully being present? Because that increases the satisfaction factor. So first, I thought of was looking at the texture of the food. Is it hard? Is it smooth? Is it crunchy? Is it a texture that is satisfying to you? There are certain days for me that I want something with a crunchiness and there's certain days I want some hoping that's more a smooth texture. It's just something that Hmm, that sounds good. And that's about satisfaction factor is that the texture of the food needs to fit where you're at needs to fit what you want. Another piece of mindfulness taste is the smell of it. Is it a pleasant aroma? Is it is it just enticing because we we don't just eat with our mouths, we eat with all of our senses. And smell is one of those senses. I don't know, if you've ever been around a food that is pleasant, it makes you want to eat it and feel excited to eat it leading to more satisfaction. Smell also can be a point of, I don't want to have it, it smells bad. There are a few foods to me that smell really bad. And I'm not going to eat it. It smells bad, I'm not going to eat it. And you kind of can't get me close, because that part of the satisfaction of the smell will turn me off. So consider what's the smell like? Also, the about the taste is what is the sound of the food? There's a different sound? And is that listening to it? Once again, these are those all the different kind of components in your body and looking at at? What does it sound like? And is that satisfying? The crunchy? You know, there's the difference of the crunchiness of an apple as opposed to the smoothness of the yogurt. Right? Those are two different sounds and like each are different. And it can be kind of enlivening to be in the sound of the food. Another is the temperature of the food. Is it hot? Is it cold? am I wanting something that's frozen? am I wanting to lose more room temperature? Also the spiciness and heat within the food? Is that what I want? temperature can be a big thing. I know there are a lot of people that like the temperature in terms of spiciness. And that that is really a satisfaction factor. And that they really look for foods at certain times that have that spices because it's just, I want something spicy. So the temperature is something that's good. I know, you know that thing about when it's summertime, you'll often veered towards more cold foods or frozen foods when it's in the wintertime. We veer more towards hot foods and and heated things to eat. Which makes a lot of sense because it's more satisfying. Given the temperature outside, we're looking at what is the temperature of the food that we're taking in. And that increases our satisfaction factor. Another piece of satisfaction is the flavor. I love yummy, yummy is my term when I think about food and Is it yummy food. If it's not yummy? What the heck, I'm just wasting my time I'm wasting the food. It's not it's not worth it. So the flavor has to be yummy flavor. What is the flavor? And does it taste good? If it doesn't, I'm gonna say Why are you eating it? Why are you eating it? We're also going to look at the appearance of the food does it look beautiful? There's something about a plate you know, when you go out to a restaurant, the plate is set up in a way that can make it look pretty and have a balance of colors and textures and different pieces in that kind of puzzle that's on that plate can be really enlivening. And so that engages the eyes with how the appearances right we're talking about taste. We're talking about smell we're talking about hearing, we're also talking about seeing and what it looks like and what is the appearance of the food? And is it satisfying? looking also at the the food, not necessarily the mouth, but the type of food and is it filling kind of food, there's some days that I want to be a little heavier food, like I want something that's more thicker and heavier because my body is just craving something that's a little bit when they call that ribs sticking kind of like just kind of holding heaviness and that that's what I want. There are other times where like, I want something really light, not overly heavy and that that's what I'm wanting for my satisfaction. It also can be like What are you craving and and is it going to give you what you want? Is it going to satisfy you, right? And lastly, I thought the last thing I added to this list about mindfulness and taste is about the room around you. What are the surroundings of the place and That leads to satisfaction. Are you sitting at the table? Is that beautiful linen? Is it a paper napkin or a cloth napkin? are using utensils? Are they still? You're still you're good silver? And you're good china? Or is it paper plates? And is the surroundings beautiful? I mean, paper plates sitting outside for a picnic. Lovely. And, and having that kind of look in the appearance. So that also leads to satisfaction. Are you getting the fact that it's about more than just the food, it's about the whole experience. And that leads to more satisfaction. Hi, guys, this is Kim. And I want to let you know that the emotional eating solutions, eight week course is open. Now you can find it on my website at feed your soul unlimited.com, go to the work with Kim tab and click on that. This is the time to get peace with food. And I know this course will help you, you also can find the link in the show notes to the emotional eating solutions, eight week self study course. When we look at satisfaction, what I thought about was, well what leads us away from satisfaction, what stops us from feeling satisfied with our food. And I really think it comes back to that idea of the diet culture and that we have these certain prescriptions about what we should and shouldn't eat, and what are going to be a part of our food. And it starts on the spot of is this really satisfying food. I was talking with somebody the other day about food that they had eaten about, what were they talking about, about a certain diet, it was a certain diet. And they talked about in that certain diet, you could eat, you know all the meat you want, and all of the vegetables that you want. And like people were saying, Oh yum, I could have all these different meats and all these different veggies. And the person I was talking to said, that doesn't sound satisfying. To me. That sounds bland. And that doesn't meet my needs. It's like yes, yes, yes, eat foods that are satisfying. And I thought about all my history of dieting, and not being satisfied with food. And I was thinking back on my story of, of being a kid when my family identified that I had some kind of weight problem. And that I needed to eat differently. And so we would go out to dinner, and I would be offered what was called in those days, a diet plate. A diet plate was a hamburger patty, nothing on it, and cottage cheese, maybe some pineapple for the canned pineapple in it. And that was what I got. So it was a really high protein kind of eating. But can you imagine going out to a restaurant with everybody else getting whatever they wanted. And me, I had to get the diet plate. It's demoralizing. It's shaming, it's making me out to be different than everybody else. And it really doesn't introduce a way of eating that is attainable, or can go over a long period of time. I was just talking with somebody in the at the gym today about children and eating and how just introducing them to a wide variety of foods and talking with them about how it feels in their body and how does it work? And does it give them the fuel that they need that those are really things that ends up being satisfying when we're restricted and told you can only eat this certain type of food, this certain diet type of food. It's not, it doesn't feel good. And that's where we end up overeating and binging because we're feeling really restricted. And I really thought about that a lot about that time of of eating differently from everybody else when we would go out to eat because I had a weight problem. Or I'm gonna say quote unquote weight problem. And it's embarrassing. And so really check yourself if you're going out and having to have that kind of diet food and is that really satisfying and Is it meeting your needs? I also was thinking about the things that I've come to kind of consider as foods I'm probably not gonna have, if at all, not very often is, you know, the things that I've associated over the years with dieting like I don't have diet soda, that just doesn't fit for me anymore. And I rice cakes and cottage cheese to me remind me of dieting and they're not to me they're don't taste very good, so I'm not satisfied with them. I've also had times where you know don't eat any butter. Well, it's not sad That is fine. It's not satisfying. And so I'm probably not going to eat that way, because that just doesn't work for me. So consider what are your diet foods? And what are you thinking? Over time has had that kind of idea of this is diet food? And is that really working for you? So if we're talking about this about diet food satisfaction factor, it becomes like, how do you know if this is going on? And a starting spot would be kind of like to notice if you're tasting your food? Like, are you getting satisfaction out of your food? Because this is, when we have eating issues? That's often not the question is, am I feeling satisfied with my food? It's how many calories? Is it? How can I eat the least amount of calories? Get the most amount of food for the least amount of calories, all those kinds of things are ways that we manipulate around what we eat, rather than tasting it and enjoying our food. So some of the things about tasting your food is are you eating too fast? Is it that you eat ravenously. And often we eat ravenously. And we eat really fast, because we're too hungry. We're eating when we're too hungry, we eat too much, we eat too fast. And we don't pay attention to the food. And it's it's also it's just part of the overeating process is learning how to be more in touch with your body be more mindful. And as you're more mindful and centered inside of yourself more of the satisfaction of what am I really eating? comes into play. And also, are you in terms of that? Are you tasting your food? Are you eating beyond what's enjoyable? Sometimes, I've recalled eating foods, especially sweet foods, there's a point where it was sweet foods, it tends to not taste good anymore. It tends to taste. I don't know salty, kind of a buttery, it doesn't taste right. After I've eaten too much of a sweet food. And that's when it's gone beyond the the enjoyment factor of that food, that satisfaction factor. And then I'm into it just doesn't taste good. But I'm continuing to eat it because I've been so deprived. And now that I have it, I'm going to have a lot of it because I may not ever get it again, right? That kind of feast or famine, mindset around food. Given all this is going on? How do we then veer into the satisfaction factor? Because it's no good if we don't have something to do differently, right? If you don't know what to do differently, then it's going to be the same old, same old way of doing things. So what could you do? One of the things is, what do I really want to eat? What do I really want to eat? That is such a good question. And you could really use or I was looking back on the all the taste, the the mindful being present with your food and the taste. And like what do I want want to eat? And so going through what kind of texture do I want? What kind of smell? What kind of sound temperature flavor? What kind of appearance? What am I looking for from my food and having more of a mindful question about what that food might be, can be really empowering. And I know it takes more time than just picking something off the shelf. But you end up having the satisfaction you increase the satisfaction factor, which is what we're looking for it then the question is, so what do I really want to eat? And then how will it feel in my body? How will this food feel in my body? This to me is one of the major questions people will say, well, Kim, if you ask, you know, what do I really want to eat? I want to eat cookie dough. I want to eat cake. That's what I want for my dinner. Okay? And that's okay. And how are you going to feel at the end of the meal if that's what you eat? Like literally, how would you feel? It's really thinking about when I eat this food. This is how I feel. This is how I feel. And is that okay? If I feel bogged down if I feel heavy if I feel my tummy doesn't feel too good. If I feel kind of sluggish or tired, because I've had a lot of sugar or kind of fatty foods, and I feel tired and down is that how's that going to work for me? That my body feels that way? So really looking at how will my body feel? This is a question I asked a lot like, Okay, I want to have this food. So Kim, how is this food gonna feel? Is this what I really want? Okay, and how am I going to feel physically after I eat it to really contemplate that really slows down the process of determining Is this my right food for this time? And then another question that I love to ask how will I feel emotionally after eat this food, if you're going to end up beating yourself up feeling angry, feeling frustrated with yourself feeling ashamed, like, what's that about that I want to eat foods that are going to make me feel emotionally upset? Really? So that's another question to ask is, why would I do that? And and is that okay for me? If I'm eating, knowing that at the end, I'm going to feel upset with myself. That's not the loving thing to do. So it could be back to the question of, well, what would be a loving thing to do right now? What would be? What do I really want to eat? That would be a loving food. Right? I didn't say low calorie. I didn't say. Without fat. I didn't say without sugar. I didn't see any of that. But what would be a loving food that I really could want to eat right now. That would make me feel good. Make me feel good. Make me feel good in a way that I could do the things that I want to do. Right. And then I'm starting to eat another thing to do is starting to eat from a place of gentle hunger. Not being famished. Not being famished because when we're famished, is that's where we don't pay attention to the satisfaction factor. It's just, I need food, I need food right now. Give it to me, I'm just going to eat. And that is not allowing for that satisfaction factor to be part of the process. Another thing to do is to enjoy the heck out of your food, enjoy what you're eating, enjoy, enjoy it. It's this one beautiful meal that you get to have, it's this beautiful food that you get to have, enjoy the heck out of it. And then at the end, reflect on how it felt in your body? How did the food field Did it meet my needs? Is it satisfying? did I end up eating what I want or what I didn't want? And so having that kind of reflection, can can then help you slow down for the next time to go? Is this really what I want to do next time? Is this really going to work? For me? This is part of the process. You guys, this is part of the process? It's not a one and done situation? I have this happen where I go, Hmm, that that food didn't fit for me and didn't work for me? What was that about? Was I too hungry? Was it not my right food? Was it too much too little night I didn't eat what I really wanted to eat. Those questions will be really helpful, because that then helps you for the next time really engage in that satisfaction factor. So I encourage you to check in about this with yourself and really have a little conversation about am I eating foods that satisfy me? Am I eating in a way that that really fuels my body and feels good? To my mouth? To my nose to my eyes to my ears? To my senses all around me? Is this meeting my needs? And yes, it can be at every meal of the day, it can be at snack time. Right? It's not a situation where it's just dinnertime. It can be any time during the day. So take some time to focus on food satisfaction. And are you really hitting that mark? And just evaluate after meals and how satisfying was that? How satisfying was that? And begin to have that question for yourself. So I encourage you to try that this week and see how you end up feeling more satisfied with food. Thank you for joining us on the feed your soul with Kim podcast. We come to you every Monday with fresh new ideas to help you end emotional eating and put food in its proper places nourishment. Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and review it and let us know what you think. Thank you for joining us