One concept of Intuitive Eating that really caught my eye as I was listening to the audio companion book the other day was that throwing away excess food is okay.
The author commented something along the lines of, and I paraphrase, "You may not want to throw the extra food away on your plate when you realize your no longer hungry because you think it's a waste of food. However, if you're eating beyond full isn't the food still a waste, even if it's in your body? Now you've just added something to your body that you don't need."
Isn't that interesting?
Extra food, whether it's left on your plate or eaten and in your body, is a waste. We simply have to decide which waste is better.
She didn't condone, and neither do I, cooking tons of food just to throw the extra away. However, she did mention trying to do it a few times to allow yourself to get rid of extra and not feel the emotional pull to eat it just because it's there. I believe this is what they call the "clean plate club", and many people won't stop eating when there is food on the plate, even if they are full simply because they don't want to waste the food.
I've never really been a "clean plate club" eater; however, when I want to overeat I try and ask myself if I really want that waste of food in my body, or should I just throw it out?
So, going along the lines of wasting food last week I decided to clean out the candy supply that has accrued in our pantry. My kids still each had a bag of stuff from both Halloween and Christmas, plus Valentine's parties added a few pieces each. So, I made them get their bags out, pick out their favorites that they might eat soon and we threw the rest away.
This is what we threw away. I believe it was probably 85-90% of the candy that was stored. Yes, even chocolate got thrown away. I decided that while some may think this is a waste it's a much better waste in the garbage than in our bodies where it is not only not needed, but not even wanted.
Are you a member of the clean plate club? Do you have a hard time throwing food away after you realize you are full? Feel free to share your comments.
Have a great week everyone!
I too had a hard time learing to throw away stuff, now I just buy what the kids like, which is usually what I don't like :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat work!
Candy - I once thought my body was telling me to eat candy and cokes!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I would NEVER throw away M&M's! :) Good job teaching your kids to throw away the junk. I like the idea of overeating to just clean your plate is wasting food. I've never been a huge "clean your plate" person either but sometimes I do struggle with throwing food away.
ReplyDeleteAh-Ha moment setting in (it's a waste of food if it's more food than your body needs).
ReplyDeleteI am a clean-plate member. I've been careful to not have my kids join. If they say they are full, then that's fine. If I think they just don't like it, I ask them to just eat their age in bites (my 4 yr old will have 4 more bites, 8 yr old- 8 more bites, etc). That seems to also help them get used to different foods, too, without them thinking they have to eat it all.
Then guess who cleans off THEIR plates. Yup, me.
I like this post because I think "sub-conciously" we all are part of the "clean-plate club" because somewhere along the line of families, we were taught to not waste. This was something I struggled with believe it or not - and I have a harder time throwing away my kids leftover food, because it does seem like a waste, but I've learned that it's better to end up there than in my mouth cuz' I don't need the extra 100 calories. Good thoughts! Thanks!
ReplyDeletewow, I noticed those m&m's right off the bat..you are a strong strong woman! LOL!
ReplyDeleteFunny timing on your post...I stopped buying soda pop for the family 3 years ago when I got serious about getting healthy.This weekned my daughter had some friends over so I got a 12 pak of Vanilla coke. The next morning I was going thru the house throwing away 1/2 cans of pop. This would have upset me 3 years ago to see such waste, but I was actually happy to see they didn't really go through all that pop. I like the way of thinking that it is still waste if we over eat the food that's left...that's one of those good thoughts that will stick with me now :)
Good for you throwing that stuff out. (Tho I probably would have kept the m&m's!) I try to remember that too-- it's no less wasted stored as fat. I give some of the meat scraps to my dog and the vegie/bread stuff goes to the birds.
ReplyDeleteI think I would have a hard time throwing away that candy! I don't clean my plate though - unless it's really good and not too much!
ReplyDeleteI have to smile after reading everyone's comments - especially about throwing out those M&Ms. :)
ReplyDeleteI have my own bag and it contained some chocolate, but I decided if they weren't going to finish it I wasn't going to. I think because I had my own M&Ms (Remember...I ate them last week during PMS..) it was not hard to watch those go in the trash.
Thanks for the comments everyone! I truly enjoy reading your insights and getting the different perspectives on topics.
I just threw out all of the candy too! The kids do not eat it so it was more for my husband and I and we do not need it anymore. I hope that you have a great week :-)
ReplyDelete