Sun November 29,2009
While I shared with you our Thanksgiving menu, and the amount of food I enjoyed, I didn’t get a chance to share with you my philosophy on eating during the holidays.
It is clear that my overall food philosophy is fill your belly with healthy nutritious foods but don’t deprive yourself of the not-as-healthy foods (ahem, chips). Focus on moderation. Deprivation will only lead to overindulgence in the long run (in my opinion).
During Thanksgiving I ate a bit of everything in moderation and tried to be mindful of the portion sizes I was spooning onto my plate so that I was able to enjoy every bite before I got too full.
After I practically licked my plate clean, I initially wanted to go back and grab seconds! But I knew that if I waited 15-20 minutes for satiety to kick in I would be fine.
It was really just the excitement of having so much delicious food to eat that made me want to go back for seconds, it wasn’t my hunger cues. I reminded myself that there would be plenty of leftovers to enjoy the following day.
Because I didn’t completely overindulge in dinner (as in I had proper portion sizes of everything and didn’t go back for seconds) I was able to enjoy my desserts without feeling too stuffed.
Again, I enjoyed dessert in moderation. My pie pieces are small and my ice cream serving is smaller than a tennis ball. Remember my post on servings sizes?
I was completely satisfied by the end of the night.
In short, take pleasure in all the delicious foods offered during the holidays, but be mindful of just how much your eating and pay attention to internal hunger cues. At some point the pleasure turns into pain if you overindulge!
If you want two types of pie, don’t feel guilty about it, but maybe slice them a bit smaller than normal rather than having two big slices of pie.
This post makes me thinks of a post I did a few months ago about an article on “normal eating”. Click here to see how I defined this term.
Does my eating philosophy makes sense to you? Or do you think I’m cuckoo?
I hope y’all had a wonderful holiday!
NO, NO makes complete sense to me.
It makes perfect sense to me, and eating that way feels so much better, physically and mentally! Yay for enjoying everything. :)
I think thats a really good eating philosophy- I think the hardest part can be not going back for seconds, but you are right if you just wait a little while you’ll be okay :)
i can totally agree with your philosophy, and lately i’ve really practiced it and i’m lovin it!
great philospohy!! moderation is SO key! amen. once you get it nailed-its a great feeling
and your plate looks awesome!
I agree that healthy eating is all about moderation but also balance and variety. I like your philosophy
I like your food philosophy… don’t feel guilty if you really want a second piece, enjoy it! :)
You are not cuckoo at all!!! I love your food philosophy- it’s one of the reasons why I love your blog so much!! :)
Great philosophy! You are so right, it’s important to indulge a little bit so that you don’t feel deprived later on. Keeping the portion sizes in mind is soooo important! :)