I wanted to share this very insightful and rather witty blog entry with you - it was written by Dr. Stacey over at Every Woman Has An Eating Disorder
"You could learn a lot from a dog about eating and appetite.
Well, not my dog. As many of you dog lovers know, you have a choice when it comes to feeding your pooch—you can go with regular meals or allow the dog to free feed, meaning she has constant access to food.
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Callie’s on a meal plan—she eats two meals a day. She’s a healthy weight, but outside of mealtime, you’d think she was slowly starving to death. Luckily for her, the sidewalks of Manhattan provide ample opportunity for her to indulge her cravings. Despite my best efforts at leash control, Callie has dined on pizza, soft pretzels, French bread, and, on occasion, a whole chicken discarded outside a restaurant. She’ll even, outside the local bars, mop up vomit from the night before. I know, I must be so proud. . . .
If Callie were to free feed (and, at this point it may be too late, and I’m not really trying to cure her of an eating disorder), her food dish would remain full, and she’d graze throughout the day—a bite here, a nibble there, maybe even a full meal in the morning or after some rigorous play. Because the food would always be available, she wouldn’t feel the need to so desperately scavenge the sidewalk gutters. She’d follow her appetite, instead of relying on the external cues of mealtimes. She’d likely be less anxious and obsessive around food.
As a human, you may restrict your intake to designated mealtimes, and to certain foods at that (the hallmark of the diet). As a result, cravings develop and bingeing becomes your way of guaranteeing satisfaction within the realm of these restrictions. If you’re to remove the restrictions and free feed, the likelihood is (after some adjustment time), you’ll learn to follow your appetite, eat when you are hungry, and stop when you are full. . . because you’ll know that the food will always be there, and you won’t have to scramble on the sidewalk to retrieve it."
So...eat when we're hungry, stop when we're full. A remarkable idea!! And yet, when presented with food left out in the open - dish of M&Ms;, spinach and artichoke dip, a veggie platter with dip - how hard is it to just take a little sample because our stomach signals "I'm hungry"? Our society's hyper-focused diet mentality has trained us to place so many foods "off-limits" that, when presented with them, we go crazy. Denial will do that to you. Now, granted, a dog has a much more bland diet than we humanfolk do. Kibbles n bits ain't got nothing on the smorgasbord that meets us everytime we open our fridge. But still, I'm going to start taking this dog mentality to heart a bit more. If only I had a Great Dane (my ultimate dream dog!) to guide me.
How about you? Dog owners out there...do you see what Dr. Stacey is talking about? Could you learn a lot of about eating from your pooch?
Woof!