Boycotting The Clean Plate Club

Posted on November 19th, 2008.

As a young girl, I vividly remember sitting at the kitchen table with my family each night for dinner. I also remember my mother telling us that we couldn’t leave the table until our plates were cleared. In her sweet and enticing “mommy voice” she would cheerfully praise any of us kids who actually did eat everything on our plate. She would say, “Oh my goodness! Look at that! Gina belongs to the Clean Plate Club! Lizzie, don’t YOU want to be part of the Clean Plate Club too?” Of course, I always strived to be an angel child that my parents could be proud of, so I would go ahead and (very reluctantly) eat the rest of my dinner. 

 

There’s also the famous line that my dad would tell us kids when we didn’t want to finish our dinner. He would say, “You need to eat up all of your food because there are kids in Ethiopia who are starving!” 

 

Okay, um, that never really made sense to me. How is it, that ME eating my dinner, is going to help the starving kids in Ethiopia? I mean, it’s awful that there are starving kids in the world… and I really do feel bad that they are in such unfortunate circumstances… but if I stuff myself to an uncomfortable state of fullness, am I really helping them in any way? Unfortunately, no. Not only does that NOT help the starving children in the world, but it actually ends ups hurting me because I am beginning to ignore the signals my body is giving me! 

 

 

I realize that my parents had the best of intentions when they said these things to us. They didn’t want us to be wasteful. They wanted us to be grateful for the blessings we’d been given. They wanted to make sure we were all nourished and fed well. However, when the stomach has sent the message to the brain that it’s satisfied and then that body signal is ignored, (just to please mom or dad), you begin to lose touch with what your body is trying to tell you! You are not honoring your fullness signals anymore… and when you do that, you slowly train yourself to become an overeater.  

 

As we aim to live a healthy life or to achieve a physical state that we feel comfortable with, it is imperative that we pay close attention to what our body is telling us! We have to forget about belonging to the “Clean Plate Club” and instead get membership in the “I’m-feeling-satisfied-now-so-I’m-going-to-stop-eating” club. You should NEVER feel guilty when you don’t finish everything on your plate! Instead, you should feel happy that you are in tune with your body and can sense when enough is enough! 

 

After eating a meal, if you often feel stuffed and uncomfortable, you are not paying attention to what your body is telling you! Food is simply a source of energy for us. If you eat TOO much food, what happens? Do you feel ready to get going and take on a big project? Heck no! Here’s a perfect example: How do you usually feel after eating a big fancy feast for Thanksgiving Dinner? How about… unzipping your pants and plopping down on the couch to take a long snooze?! This is NOT how you should feel! Make it a priority to become more aware of how your stomach feels. Base your decision to eat or not eat, on THAT fact and that fact alone! You shouldn’t eat based on whether or not your plate is clean. If you become full and there is still food waiting to be eaten, just save it for later… or {GASP} throw it in the trash! {My mother would be so disappointed if she knew I said that!}

 

Now that I’m a mom and have two kids of my own to care for, you can be sure that I don’t teach them that it’s cool to be part of the “Clean Plate Club”.  I give them a small amount of food on their plate each time we sit down for a meal. I don’t overload their plate and expect them to eat it all. If they finish everything on their plate and still want more, they know they can have it. However, if they tell me they are full and can’t finish their meal, the last thing I do is punish them by insisting that they eat it. {Of course if they tell me they are full – and can’t finish their veggies – yet still have room for a big bowl of ice cream, I know they are tricking me!} With kids, you have to trust them but still use some wise parenting skills. 

 

But with yourself, YOU and only YOU can know exactly how you feel! Obey your body signals to eat or not to eat and by doing so, you will achieve a healthy weight and feel energetic and vibrant! Believe me when I say that it is NOT cool to be part of the “Clean Plate Club!” Boycott that club… and get rid of the mentality that you need to eat everything that’s in front of you, just so you can make someone else happy. 

 

I want to hear what YOU think! Have you experienced this same thing? Do you feel like you have lost touch with your internal signals that tell you when to eat and when to stop? I’d love to get your comments about this subject.

 

Popularity: 33% [?]

Make a Comment

Make A Comment: ( 13 so far )

13 Responses to “Boycotting The Clean Plate Club”

Comments RSS Feed

Where's The Comment Form?