Answering the Question: What Do I Want to Eat? 

Discovering Satisfaction with Eating

Are you satisfied with what you’re eating? Is deciding what you actually want to eat a difficult task? Or do you feel guilty for eating the foods that are actually satisfying to you? 

Your sense of satisfaction with eating is often left out of the equation when dieting. Having food rules or trying to restrict your intake is just a recipe for being left feeling unsatisfied even if you may actually feel physically full after eating. 

This can become problematic because you may notice yourself:

• Seeking more food after eating even though you feel physically full 

• Bingeing on the food you won’t allow yourself to have even though you’ve been craving it

• Having a lack of variety in your diet overall
• Developing a lack of trust for your sense of intuition with your body and food cravings

Seeking satisfaction with the food you eat can help you:

• Experience pleasure with eating. That’s why we have taste buds & food has various flavors

• Respect your fullness signals 

• Become more in tune with your body/mind

• Increase variety in your diet- making your diet healthier overall

How to Increase Your Satisfaction with Eating 

 
Getting in touch with your sense of satisfaction is a process that may take some time. It's important to note that what is satisfying to you one day, may change the next day. This is normal and to be expected. Learning to listen and honor your food cravings may be a way that your body self-regulates to help meet nutrients needs. For example, you may crave salt if you exercised the previous day (replacing sodium levels in the body) or crave fruit for its hydrating qualities. 
 

When choosing what to eat, aim to take into account your various senses listed here:

Taste- What flavors sound good to you? Ex: Sweet, salty, bitter, sour, savory, spicy, etc.

Texture- Maybe you prefer certain textures over others or maybe you need more than 1 type of texture in a meal to feel satisfied. 

Aroma- How do you want your food to smell? 

Temperature- Does the temperature of the food impact your satisfaction? This may depend on the weather or how you're feeling i.e. sick or well 

Appearance- What do you like to see when you look at your food? Do you like it to be colorful? Does presentation matter to you?

Volume- How do you want the food to feel in your stomach? Are you looking for something more hearty/filling or lighter? 

 

Think about which sensations are most important to you out of the six listed above.  Some people are more highly sensitive to the texture of the food, others may find taste more satisfying. When you determine what senses are most important to you then it may help you decide what you are in the mood for to eat. An example meal could be slices of warm, salty pizza with a cool, crisp salad on the side with a sweet or creamy dressing. 


Keep in mind that it won’t be possible to be completely satisfied 100% of the time with all your meals. It’s just not realistic, but we should strive for satisfaction a good amount of the time! 

 
I want to hear from you! Which of the 6 senses listed above do you find most satisfying? Send me an email and let me know!