Food Satisfaction

Christmas Dinners, grandma's baking, cocktails all add up to a lot of extra calories. Holiday's and celebrations should not be a time to throw your goals to the wind but if you did don't beat yourself up. Take a deep breath and get back on the horse.

I have been reading a lot about emotional eating and changing how we think about food. Finding satisfaction with the foods we eat is one of the biggest concepts that I have started to really practice. When we diet or restrict ourselves from foods we do enjoy when we have a moment of weakness it can turn into an epic binge that we didn't plan for. If you have ever been on a restricted diet you will understand.

One thing that I have learned is that when we restrict ourselves we tend to over eat because we are never satisfied with our food and we will continue to eat and eat and eat looking for satisfaction we never find. Instead find ourselves stuffed and very upset and depressed from binge eating. The reason I know this is because I have been there and if you have been there, I understand.

If you can relate to this lack of satisfaction with food the thing to try is slowing down and really thinking about the food you are about to eat before you even start. Put all your food on one plate and stare at it and practice thinking how eat food you have put on your plate will help your body achieve it's goals. If there is something you have put on your plate you know you shouldn't be eating, don't eat it.

Easier said then done of course but the next thing I want you to think about while looking at your food is how you will feel after eating what is on your plate. Will you feel guilty about something you're about to eat? Are you over eating (remember your stomach is the size of your fist)? Are you sticking to your plan? Your plan for your daily calories could be to only have veggies and protein with dinner so you can have a glass of wine and dessert. Yes, dessert! It's all about moderation. If you stave yourself or try to restrict everything you will fail and you will binge. I'm not saying to eat dessert all the time but once in awhile is okay.

Just remember, calories in need to equal calories burned!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are continuing to practice good eating habits and hitting the gym. If you need help finding how much of certain food you should be eating, check out the Heart and Stroke Foundation or curious about vitamins and mineral, which is what Brett and I did yesterday at Body Energy Club check out Oprah's Vitamins and Supplements article. It is helpful in figuring out what we should be taking and the people at Body Energy Club are very helpful.

xo

Nicole