My Former 'Stuffed' Norm

I recently asked members of the Food & Feelings board: "Do any of you have difficulty stopping when you feel satisfied or comfortably full? Do you feel or fear feeling 'deprived' when you consider ending your meal with food still on your plate? How do you cope with those feelings in order to put away or throw away those extra, but unnecessary, bites?" Although several people responded to my questions, only one person told me something that helped me understand why I have difficulty with stopping at satisfaction. That person said: "Sometimes the deprivation comes when I "miss" the stuffed feeling...like when I know I really have eaten enough but I do not feel like I have even started yet."

Her comment made me realize that 'stuffed' or bloated became my 'norm' during all the years I suffered from undiagnosed CD, food allergies and impaired digestion. For many years I stopped eating when I felt uncomfortably full, because I had impaired digestion. Even after diagnoses and elimination of allergy foods, treatment for intestinal bacteria, candida and a parastie and eliminating those allergen foods, I had to take betaine hydrochloride to digest normally. Now my digestion is greatly improved, but part of me still expects to feel uncomfortable after a meal. By overeating I'm creating the familiar 'stuffed' uncomfortable feeling, which I previously recognized as my cue to stop eating.

Committing to leave, throw out or put away food at each meal helped me reconnect to my 'enough' cues. During the past 7 meals I left food and left the table feeling comfortable, not full, not hungry. After about 30 minutes of digestion I felt more 'full' and satisfied. As I mentioned in my last post, eating slowly, focussing on the food and my body cues and putting my eating utensil or the food down between bites all slowed my eating enough to recognize the point of no return when food didn't taste as good. Rather than continue to look for more satisfaction from 'tasty' morsels, I now use that diminished taste as another cue to stop eating. So now I can consistently leave the table feeling comfortable, rather than 'stuffed'.