I nearly broke into clapping (at home, alone) earlier this week when I read Amanda Cohen’s Women’s Health article on women and appetite.
In her essay, Cohen describes a scenario I think most women can relate to:
Over the years, I’ve watched hundreds of dinners from the pass, and I have a terrible confession to make: When I see two women sit down, my heart sinks a little, because of what I see happen so often. First, one of them says, “I’m starving, do you want to get this? And one of these?” then the second woman begins, “I’m not that hungry, but if you really want it. . .” Soon, three courses becomes a few appetizers, and a bottle of wine becomes a glass. I get it: We all want to look and feel good, but I see this so predictably that it feels pathological.
I see a lot of it, too. I’ll never forget being at a dinner long ago with a group of vegan eaters. At the time, I associated veganism strongly with newfound freedom and healing with food. So I was surprised when, after a multi-course meal, more than half of the women at the table started expressing remorse about how stuffed they were, how they’d need to go for long a run the following day, and started Googling juices bars for the morning after.
The meal had been wonderful. Of course I’d had my own little nagging nudges of guilt—should I have eaten every bite of every course? Did I really need to sample the two desserts that were brought out? But I’d also felt lucky to have eaten the food and proud of giving myself permission to bask in that sensation. I wasn’t actually stuffed—I was comfortably full—so to embrace a posture of having overdone it would have felt disingenuous, too, more socially programmed than truthful.
I knew it wasn’t my place to question anyone else’s experience that night: I couldn’t know what others were feeling, and if recovery has taught me anything, it’s to stop fixating on what other people are doing and to focus on my own needs. But it was challenging to stand by my feelings as the collective discussion of food guilt got louder.
In the years since, I’ve had this experience many times. The common denominator is how rarely I can actually relate to exclamations of fullness. When I’m at a dinner and everyone leaves the table declaring how stuffed they are, half the time I want to say, “really? That was delicious, but I could go home and eat a sandwich right now.”
Maybe that’s because I have a bigger appetite than most people, or maybe it’s because I’m not interested in pretending that my appetite is any smaller than it really is. As a kid, I was told repeatedly that I was a “bottomless pit”; at one point, when I was only eight, I was labeled at a family dinner table “the human trashcan.” I carried the sense that there was something wrong with me and my appetite and all of the shame that came along with it for so many years. Putting the burden down was a huge relief.
Maybe I do have an unusually robust appetite. If so, cool: it’s a feature of my body and biology, like any other. Maybe my appetite is enhanced by the fact that, at a very early age, I was instructed to deny it. No matter the case, years of watching the very scenario Cohen describes leads me to suspect that many women are in the same boat as me—hungrier than we’ve been socialized to say we are.
I know that there’s a flip side to all of this, which is that social situations and group dining can encourage a lot of us to eat more than we really want, because there’s a lot of food on the table or because we’re people pleasers and we have a hard time turning things down. That’s its own food-related challenge; I don’t want to make a broad assumption about what’s going on when people eat more than they initially expressed wanting.
But I do think that Cohen’s observations are worth talking about, and her main point is definitely worth talking about:
The dominant emotion I sense at these meals is fear: fear of looking like we want too much, of being judged. From the time we’re kids, we girls are taught to be ashamed of our appetites—that they have to be controlled, that they’re dangerous, embarrassing. The result? We live in a world where 53 percent of women are at a healthy body size but still report that they’re trying to lose weight.
Cohen’s essay brought to mind this post, which has always been one of my personal favorites from the blog. When I read it now, I’m aware of the fact that I was much less at peace with my appetite when I wrote it than I thought I was. It doesn’t matter; for me, that post was a brave declaration of an intention to eat and enjoy it, and I’ve done my best to live by that intention in the eight years since.
I’m grateful to Cohen and other women who are doing what they can to normalize, celebrate, and speak up honestly about the experience of hunger, wanting, and getting appetites met. And while this dialog may resonate especially with women, I think it’s crucial not to confine it by gender. A few of the articles that I’m sharing today demonstrate that eating disorders and food shame affect all of us.
Here’s to celebrating food, appetite, and the great blessing of being able to feed ourselves when we’re hungry. I’m wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.
I was so excited to dive into my first meal-sized salad lunch in months yesterday, and it brought on a rush of spring salad fever. I love Marie’s colorful asparagus orange spinach salad with a bright lemon basil vinaigrette.
More asparagus! I have yet to try hummus as a pasta sauce, but I use it often as a quickie salad dressing, so I think I’ll dig it. Evi’s quick hummus pasta with asparagus is inspiring me.
A simple, inexpensive, nutritious, and colorful side: Caitlin’s Moroccan spiced carrot salad.
I’m always hunting for new portable lunch ideas, especially now that I’m anticipating a year of bringing lunch to work at clinical sites, and I’m super intrigued by Amy’s creative, colorful chickpea and cranberry coleslaw wraps.
Finally, a little comfort food. Mike’s sun-dried tomato and chickpea burgers are hearty, healthy, and super simple to make. I love adding sun-dried tomatoes to food for umami, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy these.
1. Runner’s World reports on eating disorders among men. I was really interested to read that, because male runners don’t experience the classic “female athlete triad” (underweight, amenorrhea, osteopenia), symptoms of ED often slip under the radar.
2. Another important piece of reporting on this subject: Daniel Summers on the very high prevalence of EDs in the LGBTQ community.
3. From the Cup of Jo blog, 17 beautifully sensitive reader comments about grief.
4. Joanna’s blog also pointed me to this article about how older Japanese women are finding community in jails. As I read, I felt saddened that a sense of support and belonging wasn’t more readily available to the women elsewhere, yet sort of amazed at the strength of the human impulse to connect at all costs.
5. Finally, Amanda Cohen on loving food. Lots of it.
Happy Sunday, and love to you all.
xo
Happy Sunday, friends, and happy Easter to those of you who are celebrating. It was a long and busy week here, but the weekend has brought a lot of happiness–namely, Steven’s and my two year anniversary yesterday. It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years since we met, both in such different places in our lives and living in DC. One move, two grad school programs, one career shift, and four semesters later, we’re still relishing the experience of living together and learning…
Oftentimes when I read about the importance of saying no and setting boundaries, the advice seems to assume that the things being declined aren’t all that desirable: unmanageable amounts of work, exhausting social commitments, and so on. This week, I learned how hard it is to turn down things that might be very enjoyable, but yet feel like too much. As soon as I was on the mend, I wanted so badly to connect with friends, get back to work, and feel more…
Hey all! I’m writing from New Orleans, where I’ve had a great weekend visiting Chloe. Here’s a sampling of the reading material I’ve been looking at today. I would like to eat this cheesy farro bake with mushrooms, tomatoes, and shallots right now, please. Thank you. I adore delicata squash and totally overlook it in my cooking. These salt and pepper delicata squash rounds are a lovely reminder to have some soon! This sweet potato and wild rice salad with chili lime vinaigrette…
New York City finally burst into spring this week—not gently or gradually but with an eruption of warm temperatures and sun. I was grateful for it, but a part of me felt unready, too. I thought back to college, when spring often came as suddenly and would be celebrated with students emptying out of their dorms and onto the quad, dressed in shorts and tanks, ready to bask in the sun. I’ve always been introverted and indoorsy, but I was more so back…
Leave a Comment
Loving all of your hearty meal picks! I have always had a huge appetite also despite being rather lean and athletic. The article about the elderly Japanese women breaks my heart! How important community and connection is for all of us 🙂
Hi Gena, thank you for another wonderful post! I can imagine how difficult it can be for someone to be uncomfortable with their appetite, and to be bound by what society thinks is an acceptable amount of food to eat. I think that as long as the food we eat nourishes our body as well as our soul, then that’s what really matters. I know someone who is always adamant about portion control to the point of criticizing others for finishing their entire plates. Sadly, this comes from a place of pain from unresolved ED issues from her youth, which I hope she can heal from.
I really liked what you had to say at the beginning of this post, and I think I have an idea of when it may have happened. If I was at the same general event, I remember witnessing lots of similar food shame/guilt around indulgences.
When I was in my 20’s and had just moved to LA, I mostly spent my time around other actors. It felt like a second adolescence in some ways – into adulthood. And after eating whatever I wanted in college, it felt like people were hyper aware of food, because that place and profession is so image conscience. It reminded me of being an 11-year-old and realizing I was suddenly supposed to start caring about curling my hair and name brand clothes. Anyway, at restaurants there was always a lot of justification & discussion around whether or not a person could order what they wanted as we went around the table. “I worked out and so I’m going to order this, I didn’t work out and so I’m not going to order that…” It was exhausting, but also made me second guess my own order. I’m relieved to be done with that phase of my life, and I will no longer feel guilt over nachos. That’s why I always cringe at words like “guilty pleasures” or “sinful” foods. Cupcakes aren’t a sin.
Oh my, this resonates with me so strongly, and it was nice to read that post from years ago, too. There can also be such a sense of grief around the loss of that identity – as being someone who denies their needs or as someone who fears food and hunger – when the urge to eat starts to be acknowledged and the pleasure derived from it is experienced. It’s such a complicated aspect of recovery and I’m grateful to you for highlighting Amanda’s brilliant article and holding space for this discussion.
Hi Gena!
I’m laughing over those who say they’re SO FULL after a meal because one of my favorite things about being vegan is that I never feel stuffed. Ever. Of course, you didn’t say that all those women were eating vegan meals, so I’ll grant that perhaps they do feel stuffed. I used to if I ate a hefty plateful. That is something I do not miss one bit! Hope you’re well. My garden is starting to bloom and I’m planting a few more edibles this year!
xo,
Marilee
Can I just say how grateful I am for this post?? Really, this us so so important to mention but you’re the first one I see bringing this up. Thank you 🙂
Oh Gena, I so often relate with your experience! My dad often says I eat like a truck driver. I honestly think he says this with pride, like I eat like a truck driver but I’m so healthy and I don’t LOOK like a truck driver. Still, my “constantly-in-recovery” mind often hears “you eat too much!” And I have to stop and step back and tell myself I am fine. I too have a hearty appetite. And when I don’t eat to fullness it often leads to repercussions later on or the next day. But I will always have to remind myself this is ok. As a person still in recovery, I love my body but sort of miss the willowy, hungry days of restriction, without wanting them back. Make sense? Part of recovery is embracing my many lusty facets. My food appetite, lust for life, and everything else. A yoga teacher, one especially dear to my heart, told me last year to sing more quietly in the chanting, that all she could hear was me. This made me feel so too much and not enough at the same time. But I will continue to sing out and take space in the world. Thanks for this post! We all need reminders that taking up space is ok.
Whenever I make pasta cause, I add a huge scoop of hummus to the whole thing at the end and mix it in. I call it “huminara” and it was a total game-changer when I introduced my omnivore boyfriend to the stuff. It adds the nicest creaminess and richness to the sauce. If you like hummus as salad dressing, you’ll definitely like it mixed in with marinara sauce. You simply must try!
“In the years since, I’ve had this experience many times. The common denominator is how rarely I can actually relate to exclamations of fullness. When I’m at a dinner and everyone leaves the table declaring how stuffed they are, half the time I want to say, ‘really? That was delicious, but I could go home and eat a sandwich right now.’ “— oh Gena, how I LOVED this!! I loved it so much I laughed out loud and said, “You SHOULD!” Please, do it sometime. 🙂 Amen.
Great food recipes this week. I’ve yet to delve into the ED articles, but I absolutely loved what you had to say about all of it in your own post, and didn’t want to hold off telling you. xoxoxo
Aww, Gena, I LOVE this post! How beautiful to read your words, “if recovery has taught me anything, it’s to stop fixating on what other people are doing and to focus on my own needs.” This is so wise and true and applicable to all we do in Life. I, too, have a big appetite, and enjoy food very much. The other quote from this post that brings me so much joy is this, “the great blessing of being able to feed ourselves when we’re hungry.” – so very important to remember. Thank you, Gena, it is terrific to read your blog.