Ever Heard of Phantom Eating?
Has this ever happened to you?
You’re on a diet or trying to “be good” and eat healthy. You have it in your mind that you’re going to stay away from, say, sweets or processed foods.
All’s well and good until you get a craving for a brownie or something similar. Of course, you’re trying not to eat brownies because, well, #healthyeatinggoals.
So instead, you grab a handful of carrots.
Except carrots just aren’t the same as eating a brownie—which means they don’t satisfy that hankering. Next, you grab some rice cakes, followed by some dried fruit, and maybe even a carefully measured serving of almonds.
All the while, you’re still thinking desperately about that brownie.
Finally, when you can’t resist the urge any longer, you talk yourself into just “tasting” a sliver of brownie… which more often than not turns into half the pan or more. The whole experience leaves you feeling frustrated and down on yourself and your eating habits.
There’s a name for this type of eating in Intuitive Eating. It’s called phantom eating.
It happens when you’re trying to satisfy a particular craving with “phantom” foods. Essentially, you eat your way through a bunch of unsatisfactory foods while trying to avoid a food that would actually be satisfying.
This approach typically backfires because:
You end up eating a bunch of foods you didn’t really want or need
It causes you to spend a tremendous amount of mental energy battling cravings or trying to avoid certain foods
The feelings of deprivation that ensue set you up to overeat the very foods you’re trying to avoid
The whole experience convinces you that you have no willpower or self-control and makes you feel incapable of eating in a way that feels good
This is just ONE reason why tuning into SATISFACTION is such a key concept of Intuitive Eating. Of course, we all have a right to enjoy the foods we're eating. But also, when we allow ourselves to feel emotionally satisfied and content with our meals, it's so much easier to tune into and honor physical feelings of fullness.
Plus, when you're no longer engaged in mental gymnastics trying to avoid specific foods that would hit the spot, you're not only able to honor a craving in a way that feels good and move on... but you'll also begin to notice that you crave and offer your body all sorts of other nourishing foods too!
Here are 4 ways you can practice discovering and celebrating satisfaction at mealtimes:
Remind yourself that guilt is not a food group—for the vast majority of us, all foods can fit in a health-promoting diet
Instead of thinking about what you “should” eat, try asking “what do I WANT to eat?”
Practice more fully tuning into the eating experience by paying attention to the textures, flavors, aromas, temperature, and other sensory qualities of your meal—and then reflect on how this changes the eating experience
Savor the foods you love
One of my most favorite quotes from Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Rusch in Intuitive Eating is “If you don’t love it, don’t eat it; and if you love it, SAVOR it.” Perhaps this thought will stick with you, too!
Cheering for you,
Elizabeth