Blog updates

Hi everyone, my name is Susan Davis and I am a Nutrition Coach and Wellness Program Designer.? I am super excited about this blog and the privilege to share simple truths about nutrition and most importantly insights and personal feelings about eating healthy. ?I would love to invite you to share ?your personal experiences and thoughts on your quest to live healthier as well!

I had a request from a previous church leader to give a nutrition seminar for the local community.? As I thought of what I would like to share with them in a brief amount of time, I thought about a key self-skill that our society has lost along the way: ?The ability to self-regulate our food intake. ?Funny enough we spend a lot of time and energy thinking about what we should and what we should not eat, however recognizing and regaining our basic natural skills that can help us reshape our body and our health are hardly discussed.

Natural Inherited Gift – Self-regulated food intake?or satisfaction awareness

In general, most of us are born with an incredibly gifted body, naturally and unplanned we know when we have eaten enough for our body?s needs.? You may be thinking, wait a minute, If I have this skill naturally, why do I overeat and constantly struggle with weight management? Am I just the exception? how come there are so many struggling with weight problems and obesity in the world!

There are many reasons for these epidemics but to start the conversation, let?s focus on satisfaction awareness. Funny enough as with most other skills, if you don’t practice it, you lose it.??We are naturally born with this gift as a child but ironically enough, we as parents or grandparents most of the time ruin it.? How?? By over-serving our children and most importantly, by making the rule that they must finish everything on their plate regardless if they are satisfied or not.? Being raised in a Latin culture, this was very typical.? However, as I look around at other cultures, this seems to be the trend, usually a scolding look or punishment is given to a child that says I am full if there is still food on their plate.

Overtime overwriting this brain signal makes a child lose their sense of self?regulated food intake or satisfaction awareness and creates the habit of overeating and more critical, the ability to recognize when we have eaten enough for our needs.? When you are a child this may seem just fine as most children have a fast metabolism and are in a growing stage but when you get older, things change and your metabolism doesn’t work as fast as it used to and your activity levels are lower (you for sure are not hoping, jumping or skipping everywhere like they naturally are).? So, regaining this basic skill as a powerful tool for weight management requires discipline and being mindful of our brain?s signals.

Let?s be real, all of us, regardless of our goals, will eventually overeat on some occasions and may choose to override that signal because we are enjoying the food or the moment with loved ones as part of being human and enjoying this wonderful life; as you may have heard before “life is yummy”.? But this shouldn’t become our major eating pattern.? If we want to prevent and manage diseases and obtain a body weight for optimal health, we must regain our body?s natural gifts it came with.? I would like to invite everyone to do an experiment, to serve yourselves a quarter of what you usually serve yourself and to eat it with a ?mindful mind?, being aware of every bite and then give your body 5-10 minutes to let your brain tell you if your body is satisfied or if it needs a little bit more.? ?I would love to hear your feedback on how it went and how it worked out for you.