Self-Talk While Eating

Yesterday I posted about changing behaviors in order to challenge and change unhelpful beliefs. According to Karen Koenig (author of 'Rules of Normal Eating') and many others who use rational emotive therapy, our beliefs influence our emotions which in turn influence our behaviors. So changing beliefs helps us to change behaviors. However, I decided this year to risk changing some behaviors to disprove my beliefs about certain foods, i.e., whether I could moderately eat sweet foods which I previously consumed during binges. Of course, the real proof of belief change will come after the holidays when I'm alone with leftover goodies. LOL Nevertheless, I want to clarify that learning to eat any 'safe' (nonallergenic) foods is part of my desire to become a normal eater. According to Karen's "Rules" book, normal eaters:

(1) Eat when they are hungry or have a craving;
(2) Choose foods they believe will satisfy them;
(3) Stay connected to their bodies and eat with awareness and enjoyment;
(4) Stop eating when they are full or satisfied.

So I intend with my holiday 'experiment' of eating sweet foods I crave and enjoy, to determine whether those foods actually satisfy my body (pleasers), or are just tasty, but unsatisfying foods (teasers). In order to carry out that experiment I also need to follow (3) '... eat with AWARENESS and enjoyment;'

I have most difficulty with (4) 'stop eating when ... full or satisfied', most likely because I do NOT always 'eat with awareness'. This morning I tried following Karen's suggestions about how to implement '(4) Stop eating when ... full or satified', but observed that I resisted and heard myself repeating some old counterproductive beliefs like "I'll get hungry too soon if I stop now" or "One bite won't make much difference" (after I asked myself how the next bite would make me feel) or "I served myself less so I can eat all of this no matter how full I feel".

In order to challenge and change beliefs which hinder my attempts to eat normally, I need to LISTEN to my self talk and hear what I say to myself, (1) when I feel hungry or crave a specific food; (2) when I choose what to eat; (3) while I'm eating (hopefully WITHOUT distractions); and (4) when I begin to feel satisfied or full. So during the next few days, I will try to nonjudgmentally listen to my self talk during those 4 times. I'll post more later about what I heard myself saying and try to learn from what I hear. Maybe I can replace any counterproductive beliefs with facts or at least more rational beliefs.