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Normal Eating You might eat a fairly balanced diet on most days but there are times when you may indulge on a big bowl of ice cream or have that extra slice of pizza even though you are full. It is not uncommon to vary how we eat from meal to meal. It is not as important as to what we may eat at single meal but what we eat over a period of time. Eating practices occur along a continuum. On one end of the continuum is “normal” or balanced eating whereas Eating Disorders such as Anorexia, Bulimia and Binge Eating disorders are on the opposite end of this continuum. In between lies dysfunctional eating patterns. Most people will fall somewhere at any given time between what is considered “normal” eating and dysfunctional eating. When a person, though, has tendencies to have more dysfunctional eating patterns, then there may be a greater risk of developing an Eating Disorder.
It is not uncommon on any given day that the majority of adolescent and adult women in this country are on a diet or, at the very least, watching their calories, or fat and/or carbohydrate intake. It is the rare female who has a healthy relationship with food and her body. When counting calories or counting fat becomes obsessive; when the ability to accurately assess the size you truly are becomes distorted; when there is a practice of compensatory behaviors for eating (through such practices as vomiting, using laxatives, excess exercise etc…) than there may be concern that this individual may have an Eating Disorder. What Is Normal Eating? "Normal eating is going to the table hungry and 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 stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food. 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, or four, or five, or it can be choosing to munch along the way. 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. Normal eating is overeating at times, feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. And it can be 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 in your life. In short, normal eating is flexible. It varies in response to your hunger, your schedule, your proximity to food, and your feelings." (Copyright 1998 by Ellyn Satter) |
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