Enjoying the eating process without focus on dietary restrictions may be key to managing weight and staying healthy, according to researchers who have unveiled a new and effective model for managing eating. The Saffer Eating Competence Model, also known as ecSaffer, was created by Ellyn Saffer, a registered dietitian, family therapist, and author of "Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family."
Competent eaters are positive, flexible, and comfortable with their eating habits and make it a priority to regularly provide themselves with enjoyable and nourishing food. They guide food intake based on the internal processes of hunger, appetite, and satisfaction and rely on the body's innate ability to maintain a preferred and stable weight. Saffer observes that the eating competence model cultivates effective eating attitudes and behavior by emphasizing permission and discipline:
* The permission to choose food you enjoy and eat in amounts you find satisfying.
* The discipline to provide yourself with regular and reliable meals and snacks and to pay attention when you eat them.
Being "eating competent" appears to mirror overall well being, notes Saffer. People with high eating competence feel more effective are more self-aware, and are more trusting and comfortable -- both with themselves and with other people.
Barbara Lohse, associate professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State, directed the research on ecSaffer. Lohse underscores the model's attention to psychological and biological needs. "Many of us have eating problems because as children, we are forced into eating more or less food than we need. That is traumatic. Eating becomes a mindless activity invested with conflict and anxiety, and not something to be enjoyed. To overcome those feelings, you have to ignore how you feel about eating -- just eat."
Research by Lohse and her Penn State colleagues suggests that people with high eating competence do better nutritionally, have healthier body weights, higher levels of good cholesterol, and fewer of the components of "sticky plaque" -- today's high-tech approach to predicting the tendency to cardiovascular disease.
The Penn State researcher says it represents a fundamental shift from the conventional approach to eating and weight management. "If it was successful to have people be uncomfortable and restrictive about what they eat, just going by the rules for the nutrients and calories they need, we would not have an obesity problem," said Lohse, whose findings appear in the current (October) Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. "We need a different mindset. Weight management is not the big issue, but rather being comfortable with how you eat," she added.
According to Saffer and Lohse, there are four steps to competent eating:
* Take time to eat, and provide yourself with rewarding meals and snacks at regular and reliable times.
* Cultivate positive attitudes about eating and about food. Emphasize providing rather than depriving; seeking food rather than avoiding it.
* Enjoy your eating, eat things you like, and let yourself be comfortable with and relaxed about what you eat...Enjoying eating supports the natural inclination to seek variety, the keystone of healthful food selection.
* Pay attention to sensations of hunger and fullness to determine how much to eat. Go to the table hungry, eat until you feel satisfied, and then stop, knowing another meal or snack is coming soon.
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