If you’re familiar with intuitive eating, you’ll know that a lot of it surrounds the concept of using internal cues, like hunger and fullness, to guide eating. What often gets overlooked or lost in the social media cesspool of misinformation is the importance of the satisfaction factor. In fact, satisfaction is the hub of intuitive eating. Learn all about what satisfaction is, how it differs from the feeling of fullness and how to get the most satisfaction out of eating.
I like to call satisfaction the secret sauce of intuitive eating. Because satisfaction can be an elusive concept. Especially to those of us who’ve spent years or even lives with a restricted mindset when it comes to food. And satisfaction is really what pulls it all together. As the founders of intuitive eating, Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch, say, satisfaction is so powerful that it’s the “driving force behind the process of intuitive eating.” This is because as humans we’re wired to satisfy our unmet needs. Whether it be food, career, or relationships, if we’re not satisfied, we’re not happy.
Each intuitive eating principle is tied to satisfaction. And each principle can have an affect on overall satisfaction. For example, one principle is all about rejecting dieting. If you’re still in a restricted state of mind when you eat, it’s likely satisfaction isn’t a consideration in choosing what foods sound good. Or if you do eat a satisfying food, it comes with a side of guilt and you’re judging yourself for it.
So, if you haven’t explored intuitive eating I invite you to dive into the 10 principles more deeply. Because having an understanding of what areas could benefit from further exploring can help you to find what you need to achieve more satisfaction in your eating.
What acutally is satisfaction?
Satisfaction is eating the foods that “hit the spot,” not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. Unfortunately, we overlook the fact that pleasure and satisfaction in eating is one of the most basic gifts of existence; because we’ve been conditioned to believe that the idea that we can and should eat for pleasure is a no-no. Especially when it comes to the widely accepted and misinformed idea of what it means to eat for health.
Healthy eating is often boiled down to only eating certain foods, giving up foods you love, staying away from the more pleasurable foods and eating pleasurable foods means feelings of guilt and wrongdoing. Here’s the thing, as human beings, we are wired to seek out pleasure from food as well as the pleasure from the experience of eating food through all of our senses. But the problem is when you deny or fight off pleasurable food and regularly settle for unsatisfying food or unappealing eating experiences, satisfaction goes out the window.
And when eating choices are strictly based on trying to shrink the body or food choices are based on how “healthy” they are or whether you “should” or “shouldn’t” be eating them, feeling satisfied after eating becomes way more unlikely.
It’s when you allow yourself to fill that need for satisfaction at most of your meals and snacks, your overall contentment will increase. And the more pleasure and enjoyment you get from food, the easier it is to eat to a place of comfortable fullness and not think about food all the time.
So is satisfaction fullness?
This is a common misconception. That feeling satisfied must mean feeling full. But is that what it means?
Let’s start with fullness. When we eat there are changing physical sensations in response to food that we consume. Fullness is that physical sensation of satiety. It’s your body’s biological response to getting the food and nutrients it needs to where it sends you the signals to tell you when it’s no longer in physical need of food. As you approach fullness, leptin (the fullness hormone) goes up, ghrelin (the hunger hormone) goes down, the brain starts losing interest in food, the taste of food changes from the first bite to the last, the stomach starts feeling like it’s physically filling up and so on.
The fullness experience is totally unique to everyone. So, getting to know these personal physical sensations (what the nuances of fullness feel like to you) and how different foods affect these sensations by tuning into your body is a very helpful tool in knowing when to stop eating. Have you ever wondered “okay, why do I feel like I could keep eating even though I just ate?” or “why do I feel like I could still devour an entire cake even though I’m already full?”
While fullness is an important part of feeling satiety, you can feel full and still feel unsatisfied. And satisfaction at meals is just as, if not more, important than fullness in turning off that drive and desire to eat.
So to answer the question is satisfaction fullness? No, its not.
Think about making a decision to eat a salad because you think you “should” and because you believe it’s the “healthiest” option. But you really have no interest in eating it. You might feel full after eating, but probably not satisfied. Another example is if you really want ice cream, but you tell yourself you shouldn’t. So instead you attempt to curb the craving with an alternate “guilt free ice cream.” Hate to break it to you, but the more likely scenario is that no amount of Halo top is going to do the trick. After you down an entire carton of the Halo you’ll be left still wanting regular ice cream.
When you’re left feeling unsatisfied, turning off the drive to eat becomes unlikely and you’re left wanting and eating more food in an attempt to fill that satisfaction hole, even though you’re no longer hungry. It’s like eating a piece of fruit instead of a cookie only to end up eating twenty other things before you give in to eating the cookies anyway.
On the other hand, it’s also very possible for foods to be satisfying but not filling.
Things like candy, chips and brownies. These foods definitely help with taste hunger, but when consumed alone they’d have to be consumed in large quantities to the point of a stomach ache in order to feel full. Not only is this fullness generally not a pleasant feeling, it’s also not likely to last long.
So, yet another of the many reasons why diets don’t work and why relying on external rules isn’t helpful is because they don’t take into account satisfaction. They can’t! Discovering satisfaction is a personal experience. And since diets and restrictive eating rules are based on external factors, there’s no possible way for those external forces to know what is satisfying to you. Only you know.
While feeling fullness is one thing, knowing what satisfaction feels like is game changing.
How do you know what foods are satisfying or what satisfaction feels like?
Just like fullness, knowing what foods are satisfying is a personal experience. And the types of food that you’re in the mood for or that feel satisfying to you will change from day to day – just like the amount of food that provides energy will change from day to day.
This is where practicing intuitive eating comes in very helpful. Discovering satisfaction is all about building that self-connection and those internal awareness skills that allow you to know how to decide how much and what types of food will hit the spot, tantalize those taste buds and keep you not only full but also satisfied.
How to get more satisfaction out of eating?
Truthfully there’s lots of ways to make food and eating more satisfying. The key is to prioritize it and to pay attention to it while you eat. Especially if you’ve been dieting and restricting for awhile. When you’re deciding on what to eat, make sure you ask yourself “what sounds good?” Again, if you’ve been choosing foods based on dieting rules, calorie content, etc. for awhile, you might not know what you want to eat. In this case, think about what types and palate qualities of foods sound good. Savory? Sweet? Spicy? Crunchy? Smooth? Cold? Hot? What about the appearance of the food? Experiment with all different types of foods and notice what you enjoy. It also helps to enjoy meals in calm and pleasant environments when you can.
One way I teach my clients to think about satisfaction is to make pleasure a part of their plate at meals. Here are just a few examples:
- Having some potato chips with your chicken salad wrap and carrot sticks
- Adding dressing and croutons to your salad
- Grilling veggies instead of steaming
- Using sauces like pesto or mole
- Enjoying some chocolate pieces after your lunch
- Adding fruit and maple syrup to pancakes
- Topping chili with cheese
- Serving tacos with pickled jalapenos
If you feel like you want more food after eating even though you’re already physically full, consider what was on your plate and what might’ve been missing. Was there a pleasure factor? If yes, is there something different you could try eating? You won’t always hit the nail on the head when it comes to hitting the satisfaction spot. It could take a few tries before getting it right, especially if you’ve dieted awhile and you’re just starting to get to know your own personal satisfaction. But the more you practice becoming attune with your body the easier it becomes.
I’d love to hear what helps you enjoy eating and feel satisfied! Share your insights in the comment section below.
P.S. I’m releasing a self-paced masterclass on all things Meal Planning for Satisfaction! Learn even more about satisfaction in eating and how meal planning can be a powerful tool in making healthful and intuitive food and eating choices.
If you join the waitlist now, you’ll get notified when it goes live AND you’ll get a very limited time discount! It’s a sweet deal, so be sure to save your seat!!
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