I’m almost finished my first Whole 30!!
I had a couple of food wins this week.
Number 1: I no longer feel compelled to eat everything on my plate.
Not even if I’ve made it. Not even if it’s delicious. This week I sat down to a scrumptious breakfast of parsnip, pumpkin and apple hash (inspired by this recipe) and I was enjoying every mouthful… Until all of a sudden I wasn’t. I realised that I was no longer hungry, put my fork down and stopped eating. It was like the **i’m full** light switch in my head was finally flicked.
What is satiation? Here’s a run-down about satiety and satiation from It Starts With Food by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig:
Satiety occurs in your digestive tract – specifically, in your intestines. When you’ve digested and absorbed enough calories and nutrients to satisfy your body’s needs, hormones signal to your brain that “I am well-nourished now”, which decreases your desire for more food.
This is based on actual nutrition and how long the food takes to be digested though so can take several hours for the message to get through.
Satiation is regulated in the brain and is based on the taste, smell and texture of food and the perception of “fullness”. As you eat, you perceive various sensations all of which send your brain status updates to help you determine whether you still want more… It is an estimate dependent on your perceptions, not an absolute measurement.
On Wednesday my satiety/satiation functions worked beautifully and I simply stopped. eating. when. i. was. done.
This is a massive breakthrough for me.
I don’t think that I’ve EVER stopped eating something delicious before; certainly not something that’s delicious AND healthy.
Amazing.
Number 2: Food is medicine.
{No, I’m not suggesting that medicine is redundant, but after this week I believe that what you eat certainly impacts your health… for better or worse. There has been sickness in our house for over two weeks now. T had a cold a couple of weeks ago before going to QLD for a tv shoot. He returned a few days later even worse for wear. The following weekend we had friends stay and their slightly-snotty toddler woke in the middle of the night moaning and grabbing her ears and was a total wreck the next day. The day after that both C & L started to display cold and flu symptoms. For the last seven days our house has been a bit of a snot factory. T’s been sleeping for hours every day, supplementing and medicating by the handful and the kids have been dosed up on panadol, neurofen and homeopathic symptom relief. Yesterday the three of them saw a doctor and the little ones are continuing to throw temps and leak grossness.
I’ve been largely unaffected.
I honestly believe that my lack of inflammatory foods (think sugar, legumes, grains, dairy) and the wide variety of vegetables, proteins, fats and fruits that I have been consuming has boosted my immune system significantly.
I have been a little scratchy of throat the last few mornings, and a little watery of eye the last couple of nights when L wakes for a feed, but if you knew how sick this household has been – and how hands on I have had to be with our little snot monsters, whilst T is out of action – I am very well, thank you! Not out of the woods by a long shot, but doing just fine!
How amazing is that? Imagine what illnesses and diseases could be drastically minimised if we all just ate real food?
So there you go. Two very exciting food wins as I enter the last few days of Whole 30.
Happy Monday!
Jenn xx
nataldays.wordpress.com 