Are you a volume eater?

Are you a volume eater? Volume eating has become normalized in our obsession with finding new ways to get away with eating more food. Even the famous Weight Watchers asks their members what kind of eater they are, and one valid choice is "volume eater." But is it normal? Are you even eating real, satisfying food?

No normal eater is a volume eater. Normal eaters will tell you that bulking up on the lettuce with low-fat dressing only stretches their stomach. Chowing down on three bowls of pasta with non-fat sauce only causes digestive upset. Ingesting potato chips made with fake fat or swallowing other non-foods disturbs both body and mind. And to parallel the low-carb eaters, no normal eater wolfs down a sixteen ounce steak in one sitting.

So how did we get to the place where we're normalizing volume eating? It's the diet mentality again. Big shock, right? When we go on a diet, what's the first thing we ask? "How can I get away with eating more food while I'm on this diet?"

Low-fat dieters cut the fat in the name of weight loss, but what they're really thinking is "Now I can get away with eating bigger portions, because the bulk of the calories in this dish would have been in the fat."

Low-carb dieters cut out the pasta and bread in order to lose pounds, but what they're really thinking is "Now I can eat all the cheeseburgers-no-bun that I want because I'm keeping my glycemic index low."

Both kinds of dieters reward themselves for the loss with volume eating. Volume eating is encouraged by the diet industry as a way to meet your emotional needs for a lot of food.

But why is it we want to eat more food anyway? Is there really something more satisfying about large, unbalanced portions? Dieters forget what really satisfies.

Rapid satiety (not rapid eating), it turns out, comes from small, satisfying, full-fat, full-carb meals. The tastier the dish, the sooner you'll be satisfied at the table. It's not all the chewing that "does it" for anybody. Did you know that taste is enhanced by fat, variety, and balance? Sufficient fats reduce the bulk needed to feel satisfied. Variety and balance satisfy all your body's needs at once.

Try it out. You may be surprised to find out you're not a volume eater at all. And your digestive system will thank you. So will your waistline. Are you a volume eater? Who told you that? Meditate on this question, and find your own truth.