It was something I regularly fell into, And if I am not mindful now, I can quite easily fall back into the same pattern, There are times that I do eat past fullness, because frankly there are foods around me that are the best things ever to enter my mouth, and that will come with some overeating, but in that moment it’s absolutely ok.
I know I could stop if I wanted to, but I choose not to because a Reeces Explosion Doughnut smothered around my chops and in my mouth is a one off experience that I want to saviour. (See photo)
But previously, I wasn’t always as mindful, In fact I was more playing the victim in the realm of food. Looking back, 21 year old me knew no different, she was doing the best she could with learnt behaviours and beliefs.
I blamed so much food, Bread was a biggie, like I genuinely would blame bread for “making me feel like a pig” It was breads fault, The endless slices of seeded warburtons with a delicious helping of peanut butter and jam (don’t judge me, its frankly delicious)
If I ate bread that was it, I felt uncomfortable, I was overly full.
Pizza was the next one, you know a large dominoes pizza, back then I’d get a chicken sweetcorn and red pepper, I had no idea it was an emotional suppression, as I sat crying into the pizza, But i’d eat all the pizza, and the ice cream. And then feel sick,
But it was because I ate pizza, ice cream, it was nothing to do with me.
There was of course some underlying issues, but I had a huge limiting belief and it was never really acknowledged until I began my food relationship work.
I’d began loosing weight, and falling into many dieting methods, but I’d still have the same pattern of behaviours, that for many years left me “feeling like a pig”
If I went out for food I’d feel like a pig. If I went to families for food I’d feel like a pig. If I had anything slightly delicious or outside of my set macros I would feel like a pig.
There was one thing that I believed I couldn’t do, and with each time I was exposed to different foods, environments, social events or frankly even at home, I followed an action that had been taught to me from a very young age.
I had to eat everything on my plate or no dessert.
I recall traumatic times in my childhood, and I say trauma loosely here because as a 13 yr old overweight teenager, having your Dad tell you you must eat all the chickpea stew with vegetables he had made because I needed to eat healthy was not habit that would necessarily serve me growing up - He is a hero and I know he meant well.
But I would eat it all.
However, I used to stash Mr Kipling cakes above the cupboards in our kitchen, so i’d eat all the
food on my plate and then all the cakes.
A lot of suppression I know.
But the point I am making is that, for years, and I hear this with so many clients, there is a limiting belief, a belief that has likely been taught to you from a child.
That you must eat all the food on your plate.
Rightly so, your parents were doing the best they could back then, and I’m not here to comment on parenting, the only experience I have is with Edith and I do want her to eat her food 😂
However, the challenge with this particular narrative is it forms over adolescence and adulthood into a limiting belief, a belief that you cannot leave food on your plate and even more interestingly now,
Those who were told as children to eat all their food on their plate now are more likely to associate fullness with a clean plate over bodily awareness
Are you full or is your plate empty? Is your plate empty or are you full?
What came first, the chicken or the egg?
How does it feel to be eating the food on your plate? What does “fullness” feel like to you? Can you sit with a meal, mindfully and acknowledge eating to a place of comfort?
Or do you eat whats on your plate after validating it from MFP and associate that clean plate with fullness…
This is something 90% of my clients work through, and if you resonate you are human and it’s very common.
Unfortunately with these beliefs many can, like I did, blame food, food is the problem and then follow a myriad of diets to try and fix the problem when in reality its a behaviour associated with eating.
A core construct of the Thrive with Life Method is rebuilding the mind body connection, whereby you’re able to live in your body, you’re able to re-establish your fullness signals and recognise physical hunger.
There are changes that do happen when you experience years of dieting, You cannot register fullness anymore, The mind body connection and mindfulness sounds corny to you, And sure, I dismissed it for years, But the connection is healing, its living in your body, with awareness, more clarity, understanding and capacity to make decisions with autonomy.
Your life has been led by many rules and (mis)beliefs, and you’ve likely spent years trying different methods with no lasting success, debunking these limiting beliefs and living more in your body supports your health and frankly any goal.
Take a listen to the new episode of the podcast to learn helpful tips for fullness and leaving food on your plate.
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