Home BlogMindful Eating Breaking the ‘Rules’: Starting Your Meal With Dessert

Breaking the ‘Rules’: Starting Your Meal With Dessert

by Tansy Boggon

Break free of diet rules and eat in a way that honours your body.

I recall a time I went to dinner with a new friend who was also learning to embrace mindful eating.

We met at a whole foods restaurant that has a mouth-watering display of raw cakes and chocolates.

We sat for a while, pondering the menu.

Although it was full of delicious and nourishing meals, nothing inspired us at that moment.

After scouring the menu, my friend said, ‘I think I’m going to start with dessert because they’re so good here, and to be honest, that’s the main reason I come to this restaurant’. I wholeheartedly agreed. So we both decided to start with dessert and then reassess whether or not we were hungry for a meal afterwards.

Tune into your body to determine what you want to eat

Interestingly, after eating the sensationally rich and creamy chocolate cake, I still felt a little hungry. But now I wanted something light and fresh. So I decided to order a salad.

If I’d eaten the meal the other way around, I probably would have started with a heavier meal, choosing the pizza or quinoa burger that I’ve eaten there before. These meals would have more than satisfied me. Yet I would still have eaten the cake as that is definitely the real reason I, too, venture to this particular restaurant. As a result, I would have overeaten.

A reason why you may not honour your body

Why then, when we know our primary reason for going to a restaurant is for the dessert, do we proceed to eat a main?

Possibly, it is fear of judgement.

The fear of being judged can cause us to do what is normal rather than honour what our own body is asking for.

If we let go of this fear of judgement, there is no shame in simply having a dessert and drink for dinner. Ordering an entree or salad with dessert instead of a ‘meal’. Or having only a drink while our dining companions enjoy a meal because we aren’t hungry. Or eating when our companions are not.

Why are you eating?

So, rather than dictating your eating by food rules, ask yourself, why am I eating?

Am I eating because I am hungry, or am I complying with social norms or to make my eating companions feel comfortable?

Then ask:

1) what I truly feel like eating that I will enjoy,

2) what will satisfy my hunger, and

3) what will feel good in my body once I have eaten?

These questions can enable you to eat in a way that honours your body rather than eating because of external factors such as social setting and diet rules.

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