Feeling Full

I've read, over and over again, that I should eat slowly, so that I will "feel full" when I am full, and not continue eating. Or that I should eat protein and fiber, because these help a person to "feel full."

My daughters will push a plate away with food still on it, because they "feel full."

And I would always think, "I wonder what that feels like -- to 'feel full.'" Full enough to not want to eat anymore? I couldn't even imagine what that felt like. I certainly know what it feels like to eat way too much -- but that was more "feeling ill" than 'feeling full.' The idea that your body would somehow tell you -- before that gorge point of "feeling ill" -- that you are full and don't need to eat anymore... I thought, "What a useful thing to have. I wish I could do that."

So I was surprised, not too long ago, to be eating supper and to realize that...I felt full. I and I hadn't eaten all that much, really. Certainly far less than I once would have thought was 'enough.' It happened again a few days later -- before I had eaten all the food on my plate. For me to leave food on a plate...that's really unusual. We never had a clean plate rule at home, but we had this horrible little martinet of an elementary-school lunchroom monitor who made us clean our school-cafeteria plates, no matter what revolting mess was on them, and he trained me to eat everything without really tasting it. I've spent years getting past THAT bad habit, and it's still far easier for me not to have food on my plate in the first place than it is to leave food behind.

I just wanted to say -- what an amazing feeling it is! To have eaten a reasonable amount of food, and to actually FEEL FULL, and not want anymore, not go on and eat every last French fry plus dessert and wonder how everybody else has the mystical, magical will power to NOT do that...I don't know why I am suddenly able to 'feel full' when I never could even imagine how that felt, before, but I am incredibly grateful and pleased and I hope that this new magic power grows stronger and more common as I continue down this healthy-eating road.

And if you, like me, are one of those people who can't imagine that feeling and envies people who seem to know what that is and wishes you could do that, too -- keep working, keep tracking, keep exercising, and as your body starts to repair the damage from toxic food habits, maybe one day you'll know what it feels like, too -- to eat a reasonable amount of food, look at your plate and say "You know, I'm satisfied; I do not want any more."

I hope that for you, because this feeling is really super-neat!