{"id":110646,"date":"2023-08-10T11:22:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T15:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=110646"},"modified":"2023-08-16T14:13:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T18:13:50","slug":"food-satisfaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/food-satisfaction\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Food Satisfaction Matters More Than Food Morality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why should you prioritize appealing food? What’s the difference between food satisfaction and food morality?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An essential way to tune into your body’s needs is to prioritize food satisfaction over food morality. This includes rejecting judgments and biases associated with food, focusing on how different foods make your body feel, and giving yourself unconditional permission to eat what you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is advice on how to love food without feeling guilty about eating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Prioritize Food Satisfaction Over Food Morality<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Intuitive Eating<\/em> by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch explains that shifting away from food morality to food satisfaction helps you avoid the cycle of dieting, intense cravings, indulgence, and guilt. To overcome the cycle of dieting and negative self-judgment, they suggest focusing on how foods nourish and satisfy your body, rather than labeling<\/a> them as “good” or “bad.” They recommend the following steps for achieving this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) List all of the foods that appeal to you<\/strong> and identify those you\u2019ve been judging as \u201cbad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Eat each of these so-called \u201cbad\u201d foods, paying close attention to how they make you feel physically<\/strong>. For example, you might identify fries as \u201cbad\u201d and note that eating more than a handful satisfies your taste buds but makes you feel bloated and lethargic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Identify any judgments that trigger feelings of guilt or shame<\/strong> associated with eating these foods. For example, you might believe that fries have no nutritional value, leading to a sense of wrongdoing when consuming them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) Examine whether your judgments align with your body\u2019s needs<\/strong>. For example, question why you believe fries have no nutritional value, if this belief truly benefits your well-being, and if fries can fulfill your physical needs when eaten in moderation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5) Give yourself permission to continue eating the foods that make your body feel good<\/strong>, and allow yourself to savor the experience of eating them without guilt or self-judgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question, Fact-Check, and Reframe Moral Food Labels<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Eating disorder specialists offer complementary advice for prioritizing food satisfaction over food morality<\/a>. Like Tribole and Resch\u2019s advice, it includes self-reflection<\/a>, and it also adds a fact-checking step to help you reframe ideas about food morality and describe food objectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1)<\/strong> Consider why you assigned specific food labels and how these labels impact you by answering the following questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n