Normal Eating

Today I am organizing my workshops supplies; I’ll be teaching in Nashville next week.  I often tuck the “Normal Eating” hand-out into my master folder and read it aloud when I teach. I think this speaks to adults as well as kids.

Normal Eating– an excerpt from Ellyn Satter’s book, How to Get Your Kid to Eat: But Not Too Much

Normal eating is being able to eat when you are hungry and continue eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it – not just eating because you think you should.

Normal eating is being able to use some moderate constraint in your food selection to get the right food, but not being so restrictive that you miss out on pleasurable foods.

Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good!

Normal eating is three meals a day, most of the time, but it can also be choosing to munch along. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful and are fresh.

Normal eating is over eating at times; feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. It is also under eating at times and wishing you had more.

Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating.

Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.

In short normal eating is flexible. It varies in response to your emotions, your schedule, your hunger, and your proximity to food.