There are so many messages about food in our culture which can create conflicted emotions about eating and nourishment. Oftentimes it impacts not only how we eat, but also how we feel about ourselves and our bodies. On today's episode, Dr. Karen Nelson is joined by George Elliott, a registered dietitian here at Melrose. Together they will discuss intuitive eating, a helpful tool that can support both eating disorder recovery and a healthy lifestyle.
There are so many messages about food in our culture which can create conflicted emotions about eating and nourishment. Oftentimes it impacts not only how we eat, but also how we feel about ourselves and our bodies. On today's episode, Dr. Karen Nelson is joined by George Elliott, a registered dietitian here at Melrose. Together they will discuss intuitive eating, a helpful tool that can support both eating disorder recovery and a healthy lifestyle.
Click here for a transcript of this episode.
Dr. Karen Nelson: [music] Eating disorders thrive in secrecy and shame. It's when we create a safe space for honest conversation that we'll find the opportunity for healing. Hi there, I'm Dr. Karen Nelson, licensed clinical psychologist at Melrose Center, welcoming you to Melrose Heals: A Conversation About Eating Disorders, a podcast designed to explore, discuss, and understand eating disorders and mental health. On today's episode, I'm joined by George Elliott, registered dietitian here at Melrose. George and I will be discussing intuitive eating. There are so many messages about food in our culture, which can create conflicted emotions about eating and nourishment, oftentimes impacting not only how we eat, but also how we feel about ourselves and our bodies. Intuitive eating is a tool that can support both eating disorder recovery and a healthy lifestyle. Now, before I begin, I invite you to take a deep breath and join me in this space. So it is my absolute joy to be able to welcome you back, George, to the podcast.
George Elliott: Thanks, Karen. I'm happy to be here.
Dr. Karen Nelson: Just so happy to have you here with me today. You were on Episode Two, where you and I talked about food and the holidays, and I'm delighted to be able to welcome you back today. You and I are going to be talking about intuitive eating. Before we get started, you know the drill. I'm just going to ask that you introduce yourself and tell us about your role here at Melrose.
George Elliot: I'm George Elliott. I'm a registered dietitian nutritionist, and I've worked at Melrose Center for about 14 years, give or take. I work in the St. Louis Park, Minnesota location, and I see outpatients. I also get to do the virtual binge eating disorder group. I also [00:02:00] help run the family learning series program, which is also virtual right now, and I get to help in the partial hospitalization program covering. So it sounds like I do a lot of things, but I don't do them all at once, and for the most part, I am busy with my outpatients.
Dr. Karen Nelson: As we kind of wander into this topic of intuitive eating, even if I just bring up those words, tell me about what kind of draws you to that idea about intuitive eating, or why has that become an interest for you?
George Elliott: You know, I think intuitive eating for me has always been knowing that I could eat without judgment. Knowing that I didn't have to judge myself and that I don't have to play into diet culture with intuitive eating. That I really can listen to what my body wants, and what my body needs, and what I'm hungry for, and sometimes maybe what I'm not hungry for.
Dr. Karen Nelson: George, tell us, who were the creators of intuitive eating?
George Elliott: Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, and they have 25 years of experience. They've written now the 4th Edition. And there have been over 130 studies published, so very well researched and outcome-based.
Dr. Karen Nelson: And they are dietitians by trade, or…?
George Elliott: They are dietitians by trade and started out in their own clinical practice. And learned through their clinical practice that there needed to be more out there.
Dr. Karen Nelson: Today, you and I are going to be chatting a lot about those themes and concepts. But for you as a dietitian, what does that mean, intuitive eating?
George Elliott: Yes, it really means that my body is going to have the wisdom to take care of me. To eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm full. You know, my best example of an intuitive eater is our littles. Any of you who have little kiddos, who have had babies in your life, is…they instinctually know. They cry when they're hungry. They push away when they're full. And I see that even with my [00:04:00] little elementary kiddos. Again, if they're going through that growth spurt, they'll be voraciously hungry. Their bodies cue them. They grow. They kind of level out. So I think that's a really good example for us, is…what is intuitive eating?...is our littles.
Dr. Karen Nelson: So that, kind of in a nutshell, what I hear you really describing, is kind of listening to body cues. And this, like, almost inherent intuition that we're born with around hunger and fullness, um, like, food choices, preferences, things that I want. There is this kind of natural intuition —
George Elliott: Yes.
Dr. Karen Nelson: — that we are born with.
George Elliot: Yes. Absolutely.
Dr. Karen Nelson: I want to take a pause though and be very clear about…as our listeners are starting to hear some of these concepts, there is a particular type of listener that we're gearing this towards. So intuitive eating, we acknowledge that this may be part of eating disorder recovery, but there also may be other recommendations that may come for your eating, based on where you are in recovery. And so, if we had to kind of recommend intuitive eating, is it for more of like a general listener, the kind of…the general population? Would we recommend this for someone who is newly diagnosed with anorexia? What comes up for you?
George Elliott: Yeah. Karen, that's a great question. And I agree that in my practice, when I'm seeing people that are newly diagnosed or really at the beginning of their journey, that I don't recommend intuitive eating…that there's a lot of healing that needs to take place before you can get to that stage of intuitive eating. And so a lot of what I do in the initial stages is honestly work on more frequency, what…here's what you need. When you have that eating disorder, your body really doesn't have accurate hunger fullness cues. It really doesn't know what message to send you. And so really intuitive eating kind of comes more at the…I would say…at the end of your journey. You can be laying some foundation work and laying some groundwork, for sure. But really it is more at the end stage, as I feel.
Dr. Karen Nelson: I agree with you, and I…and I think that is just important for us to call out. We deeply believe in intuitive eating and always making sure you're checking in with your team and getting the recommendations and advice of…of your professionals. Because you and I know that eating disorders can be kind of sneaky, and they can have very much their own agenda, sometimes patients will come in and say like, you know, “I may have been newly diagnosed with anorexia, but I hear about this intuitive eating, and why should I be eating if I'm not hungry, Karen?” How might you respond to a question like that?
George Elliott: You know, and I, again, I would say probably daily in my practice, I get that question. Okay, I'm not hungry for dinner. Why am I eating dinner, George? You want me to…to listen to my body.
Dr. Karen Nelson: Yes.
George Elliott: Well, I, I…sure, I would like you to listen to your body within reason and within context. And so, you know, as a dietitian, I still say the…the fundamentals of nutrition is three meals, three snacks. And…and I really have to kind of go back to the fundamentals. And I call it laying the foundation. I want to lay your foundation of eating patterns. And that really is eating every three to four hours, irregardless hungry or not.
Dr. Karen Nelson: For sure. Because we just know eating disorders can hijack some of those, um, intuitive cues. Or it can dull or numb out fullness. It can dull or numb out hunger. And so if I am newly in my journey around working on eating disorder recovery, I can almost get like a false positive, right?
George Elliott: Yes.
Dr. Karen Nelson: Like I might say, “You know, well, Karen, I want to be intuitive with my eating. I don't feel hungry for lunch.”
George Elliott: Your body doesn't know what it needs because you're starving. And it may be pushing at you. Because starving brains are actually really good indicators of…of pushing at you to eat, right? But if you're restricting, that eating disorder’s really strong. Then you're going to kind of lean into that and ignore that cue. Well, that kind of then gets your body confused, and it doesn't know, really, how to accurately cue you. I feel on the other end, right, because we have people that struggle with, again, binge eating, overeating, compulsive eating, right?
Dr. Karen Nelson: Absolutely.
George Elliot: And that skews that cue as well, as you're continually feeding yourself, and your body doesn't know when to stop. It doesn't know if it's hungry. It doesn't know if it's full. And probably there's a lot of judgment at that point, on…on either end of the spectrum, to be quite honest with you. That's where diet culture really impacts us. So...
Dr. Karen Nelson: There are these 10 guidelines or recommendations around intuitive eating. The first one: Reject diet mentality. Stop dieting. Number two: Recognize your hunger. Number three: Make peace with food. Number four: Challenge the food police. Literally love that one. Number five: Feel your fullness. Six: Discover the satisfaction factor. Seven: Cope with emotions and kindness. Eight: Respect your body. Nine: Movement, or feel the difference. And then the tenth one is: Honor your health and gentle nutrition. Number one: Reject diet mentality. Stop dieting. How might you describe that or what comes up for you as a dietitian?
George Elliott: That, again, if we're…no matter what weight, shape, or size we're at, if we have followed any kind of a diet that is restrictive in order to lose weight—and maybe we've lost that weight—we know research says more than likely, we're going to regain that weight and then some. And so, people that are constantly in that restrictive pattern of: Here are the rules. Here's what I need to eat. That, again, really overrides those internal cues. And so, rejecting the diet mentality really says “I need to live by what I know is my body's wisdom. I need to take it back as an individual and look at what I need and what I know.”
Dr. Karen Nelson: And I think in conjunction, in working with your dietitian around kind of working to reject diet mentality…what I notice in therapy is: This is complicated. And there's a lot of emotion attached to dieting. Sometimes people will use the word “wellness.” Or “healthy,” those kind of words get hijacked into this, you know, diet mentality. Patients will describe for me, George, you know, feelings of lack of self-worth, if they're not dieting. Feelings of shame. Worry about judgment or ridicule from others around them.
George Elliott: And sometimes I…I have patients say, “Just tell me what to eat. Just—”
Dr. Karen Nelson: Mhmm.
George Elliott: “—just give me…tell me what you want me to eat for breakfast.” [overlapping]
Dr. Karen Nelson: “Please, just tell me.”
George Elliot: “Yes, just tell me.” [overlapping]
Dr. Karen Nelson: “Give me the path.”
George Elliott: Yeah, and I'm like, I…I don't want to do that. That's not fair. You've been living that. How has that worked out for you?
Dr. Karen Nelson: Oh, good point.
George Elliott: Let's do something different, because it's not gotten you where you really need to be.
Dr. Karen Nelson: That's right.
George Elliott: And so I really want to work with you on…What did you eat growing up?
What was your culture like? What are you used to? What do you really like? What do you really hate? [both laughing]
Dr. Karen Nelson: Good point. For sure.
George Elliott: Let's work within that framework.
Dr. Karen Nelson: For sure. Because, right, you know, when patients are like, “Well, why can't the dietician just give me another meal plan?” I said, “Well, that's just you following somebody else's plan for you and potentially rejecting your ‘intuition’” Let's talk about the second aspect of intuitive eating…is: Recognize your hunger. Tell us about that. How might we do that?
George Elliott: You know, we use a hunger-fullness scale at Melrose. It's a zero through 10 scale. And I usually introduce it, you know, maybe session three, four. It's not exactly like I'm hitting you up with that when I first meet you. [both laughing]
Dr. Karen Nelson: Right.
George Elliott: But we introduce it a little bit later, and it really is meant for you to be able to pay attention. And so what I have learned is: People know the extremes really well.
Dr. Karen Nelson: That's right.
George Elliott: They know what starving is. They know, “I am so hungry, I can eat my left arm off.” They’re a zero or a one.
Dr. Karen Nelson: Exactly.
George Elliott: They…they actually are really good with nine and 10, too. Like, “George, I'm so full, I never want to eat again. Like, I am stuffed.” That's the extremes, right? It's a hunger-fullness kind of continuum, so to speak. So you kind of have the zero to one. You kind of have the nine to 10. Hey, guess what? We don't want you all to live in those extremes.
Dr. Karen Nelson: Pretty uncomfortable. [both laughing]
George Elliott: It's really uncomfortable. We want you all to live in a…between a three and a seven, which is your body kind of cuing you: Hey, I think I might be hungry. My stomach's gonna growl. And really knowing and recognizing, by the way, hunger is a physical cue. I think we really confuse hunger and appetite. Hunger is a physical cue: My stomach's growling. I feel lightheaded. I feel nauseated. Um, ask any parent of a toddler. They're irritable —
Dr. Karen Nelson: That’s right.
George Elliott: —little kids are irritable when they're hungry. [overlapping]
Dr. Karen Nelson: They do lose their mind.
George Elliot: They do. [overlapping] Yes.
Dr. Karen Nelson: For sure.
George Elliott: And then those physical cues of the fullness end of the spectrum, right? Of like, “Oh yeah, I’m feeling full.”And what I find too, if I've had somebody that has really struggled with restricting, their fullness is very extreme much quicker. They can feel that fullness with a smaller amount of food. If I've had somebody that has really struggled with overeating, their body really does…like they can eat more food without feeling full too. And so, right, so you've got these physical things going on. So really trying to tune into your hunger-fullness. And I might go back and say when we talked a little bit about mindfulness, this is also kind of where you have this little bit of interplay with some mindfulness. Can you, you know, sit at the table? Can you really deep breathe? Can you check in with yourself? Can you make that mind-body connection? What is my stomach trying to tell me? What is my body trying to tell me? That's kind of the concept I feel of…of…of, um, principle 2.
Dr. Karen Nelson: I think it was also interesting as I was kind of looking at some of their description around recognizing hunger, um, they actually listed four types of hunger in intuitive eating. And I'd love it if you could touch on those. They’re physical hunger, emotional hunger—it's totally my jam—taste hunger, and practical hunger. Tell us about, though…I love how they kind of nuanced it out. So, how do we make sense of those four different types of hunger?
George Elliott: Yeah. You know, taste hunger might be something that you're in the mood for. It might be if you smell popcorn, again, that…that sounds good.
Dr. Karen Nelson: For sure.
It might be if you…if you smell popcorn, that really sounds good to you in the moment. Or you see something that just looks appealing to you.
Dr. Karen Nelson: For sure. Somebody said Chipotle, right? And I'm like, “Oh yeah, I could eat Chipotle.”
George Elliott: Right, yes.
Dr. Karen Nelson: I just…I want that taste in my mouth. Totally makes sense. Tell us about emotional hunger. What might that mean?
George Elliott: That might be more…what you have a memory of. Or “I've smelled Grandma's apple pie. That brings back such good memories,” or “This food does make me feel good.” You know, I have to say, Karen, sometimes I think of emotional hunger, and I think of the…the typical, like, break up with somebody and you get—
Dr. Karen Nelson: [overlapping, laughs] That’s right.
George Elliot: —and you get the ice cream out of the freezer.
Dr. Karen Nelson: [overlapping] I know! Because it’s soothing
George Elliott: Exactly. [laughs, overlapping]
Dr. Karen Nelson: Absolutely. That sometimes we just know emotions are really connected in to food experiences. And how beautiful it feels. Like, when I'm, you know, feeling a little sad, if I can have some of..you know, Grandmama's…whatever? Wow, I can feel almost like a physical hug.
George Elliottt: Mhm.
Dr. Karen Given: Yeah, I totally get that. Tell us about practical hunger. How might you explain that one?
George Elliott: You know, sometimes I have to live off of practical hunger ‘cause again, if I'm looking at my schedule, I'm like, “Oh, I overbooked myself. I need to make sure I feed myself. I might have to eat a little bit early. Or I might have to make sure that I'm going to grab a snack so that I'm going to eat later.” So it's just really kind of knowing your schedule or knowing when you might need to eat. Even if you aren't like, again, a three on the hunger end of the continuum, you might need to grab something, just being, again, mindful of your day.
Dr. Karen Nelson: Let's talk about “challenge the food police,” kind of that next concept. What does the “food police” mean?
George Elliott: So…and, and to me, that concept goes back to the…you know, the angel on the one shoulder that's like, “Oh, that's good for you. That's healthy. That's organic.” And then the other end of the spectrum, right? The devil on the other shoulder, you know, being like, “Oh, eat that. That's going to be so good. You're going to love that.” And so trying to, again, get those people off your shoulder. And that goes back into listening to what your body really wants. Like, what are you really hungry for? Like just shutting that off. Turning the volume down low. You know, the best compliment I ever get from my patients is when they say “I was grocery shopping and your voice was in my ear saying. ‘It's okay to buy that.’”
Dr. Karen Nelson: That's right!
George Elliott: That's, that's—[overlapping]
Dr. Karen Nelson: There doesn't have to be a rule about “I can't put cupcakes in my cart.” So…and I think the food police comes a lot from our experiences growing up, and what food messages were out there, and what we heard from different people in our lives. And I'm not trying to play the blame game on anybody. I think it's just learning as we go…what's right, for us. Like, really quieting some of those messages down that we heard growing up that maybe weren't super helpful.
George Elliott: For sure.
Dr. Karen Nelson: Tell me about “feel your fullness.” Help us understand. What does that mean?
George Elliott: In general, I think a lot of people struggle to feel fullness, because I think, again, it's…we, well we, first of all, we don't know what our body's feeling, and so is fullness good or fullness bad? And I always say to my patients, “I need you to feel full. That's actually a body cue that's actually a good cue to have, is to feel the fullness too.” And so do I want people to always feel, like, Thanksgiving full? Not really. I don't need you to be miserable. I would like you to be comfortably full. I would like you to be nourished. And some of the ways that we do that, from a biological standpoint, is a fullness feeling, too. And so really being able to be comfortable, like, feeling that fullness.
Dr. Karen Nelson: And we just know that eating disorder can really hijack and send us a lot of messages around fullness. Um, it can make us feel shamed if we feel full. It can tell me that, “I'm not supposed to feel full.” Um, one of the con—one of the places that I…I work a lot with patients, and, and they also work very closely with their dietician, is dissecting. They think if they feel full, they've overeaten. And that place of really exploring the nuance between all those fullness feelings, right? I can be comfortably full, and then I can be uncomfortably full, and then I can be painfully full. So understanding the nuance. But like you said, finding fullness, eating to fullness is a natural biological right.
George Elliot: Yes.
Dr. Karen Nelson. I get to eat to fullness.
George Elliot: Yes. And Karen, I think you bring up a good point about the fullness factor in that, is sometimes it okay if I am uncomfortably full? Yeah, that's part of actually normal eating. And so, if I'm having pizza that I love, and it's hot pizza that I really love, I may have that fourth or fifth slice, knowing [laughs] that I'm going to be really full, but it's really good. That's also not abnormal. That's also regular eating. That's also intuitive eating, is giving yourself that permission to have that extra piece of something. You're going to be okay. Your body's going to feel full.
Dr. Karen Nelson: For sure, because the eating disorder has lots of rules—
George Elliott: Yes.
Dr. Karen Nelson: —around what you're supposed to be feeling.
George Elliott: I'm so glad you brought that up.
Dr. Karen Nelson: Let's transition and talk about the next concept. “Discover the satisfaction factor.” What does that mean?
George Elliott: It means putting it all together. I will say, though, again, kind of… the rules that people have made, kind of anti—kind of the diet culture rules people have made, is if you're not having enough protein, if you're not having enough fat, if you're not having enough carbs, your body is going to be knocking on that door: “Feed me. Feed me this. Help me be more satisfied.” If I'm having a bowl of cereal for breakfast, I'm going to be hungry within an hour. I'm okay with that, if I know that I can have snack. I'm okay doing that. But I know if there's no way I'm going to be able to eat my snack until later, if I want cereal, I'm going to have cereal, but I'm going to make sure I'm putting more with that cereal. And, you know, often I might be doing like a bagel and peanut butter with my cereal.That would be, again, a regular breakfast. I'm going to make sure that I have some things that satisfy me. I'm also going to make sure that I'm emotionally satisfied. If I'm going to an event, and they’re all having cake and ice cream, I want that satisfaction from that too. I want to also be emotionally satisfied. So I'm going to want to have, again, things that everyone else is partaking of, too. So I think it's looking at it right from the food aspect, and I think it's looking at it from the emotional aspect as well.
Dr. Karen Nelson: I love that you were bringing up, um, the emotional aspect. It's actually the next concept: “Cope with your emotions with kindness.” Tell us about how that factors into intuitive eating.
George Elliott: Again, it's, as we said, there's so much behind all of this. Whether you have an eating issue or not, whether you struggle with an eating disorder or…or not, there's lots of stress, anxiety, depression. There's lots out there. And with this principle, I'm just trying to unpack what I can as a dietitian.And then kind of again, “Hey, that's really bringing up a lot. The next time you meet with your therapist, can you revisit this and really work on that with your therapist?” But being able to, again, cope with the emotion. Be…be kind to yourself in the moment. Understand that there's lots of feelings behind this and being able to work through that, and what does that mean to you?
Dr. Karen Nelson: Such a good point, George. I think, too, that just deep connection between emotion and food. And so I think actually that highlights the benefit of having a multidisciplinary team here at Melrose. That your experts, you know…having an expert, you know, as a dietician and understanding all the nuance…And then having a therapist where you're really having the space to cope through, tolerate, explore, name all of that emotion, it's just so deeply important and part of that kind of holistic care that we absolutely offer here at Melrose. As we transition to the next concept, “Respect your body” —interesting words—uh, tell me about that.
George Elliott: Yes. You know, I think we had a movement of “love your body,” and…and I'm not saying that that's incorrect or wrong. I think we're moving beyond that to say, “Accept your body. Respect your body.” Again, remembering our bodies are the vehicle that gets us from point A to point B. You know, remembering that this is the only body I have, and I want to have quality of life. And so, nourishing my body, um, accepting it for where it's at, what it does for me. Um, accepting that, again, I'm given this body to take care of. And so really just, just coming to that place of respecting and acceptance of, “This is my body. And it's…it's here for me. It gets me to work. It gets me to hug people that I love. It…it gets me on a bike to bike ride in the summer that I love. It gets me out in nature. Like, what does my body do for me? So I may not love how I look, and I can still respect and accept who I am and what my body does for me.
Dr. Karen Nelson: I think also, too, sometimes the way that we wander into the idea or the concept of what does that mean, people often have a respect for other people's bodies. And so sometimes what I'll talk about in therapy is, “Let's imagine you're your best friend. Could you imagine you were, you know, out with your best friend, and your best friend says, ‘Hey, I'm hungry for breakfast. And you say, ‘You don't deserve breakfast.’ That's what your eating disorder tells you. But you would never say that to your best friend.” And often when we kind of, you know, organize it around that, people are like, “Oh, I see all of the rules and rigidity that I'm forcing my body,” you know? Our patients sometimes struggle with overexercise and, you know, pushing themselves and hurting themselves, injuring themselves. You know, would I ever tell my best friend, “I'm not going to talk to you until you run 17 miles?” Never. But we do it to ourselves. Which brings us to the next one: “Movement. Feel the difference.” What comes up for you around that concept?
George Elliott: You know, I, again, we don't all have to go to a gym. Like…[both laughing]
Dr. Karen Nelson: That's right. If you want to, you can! [overlapping]
George Elliott: You can! You can! You go.
Dr. Karen Nelson: Right.
George Elliott: Um, but…what…you know, that comes up for me of just, you know, I can garden. I can…I can go for a walk with my friend. I can do yoga. I can, again, do gentle exercise. I don't have to have an exercise prescription. Like, how many people do you and I talk to that say “I hate exercise?”
Dr. Karen Nelson: So many people every day.
George Elliott: Yeah. And so just looking at, “Hey, do you want to garden? Do you wanna—”
Dr. Karen Nelson: For sure.
George Elliott: —take your kids for a walk?” Like, it's just really simple movement. I always think of health as a three legged-stool. And I always think of it as: Movement is one of the legs, nutrition is one of the legs, and sleep is the other leg. So just looking at, again, how we take care of ourself.
Dr. Karen Nelson: The last concept that we're going to touch in on is: “Honoring your health and gentle nutrition.” Tell me about that. What comes up for you?
George Elliott: It's honoring, again, what we know we want to eat. We know what we have. We know what we need. We know what tastes good. We…putting this all together and feeding ourselves with compassion and love and all that is wonderful about food. And so just, again, like, I need to have snack, and I get to choose in the moment, am I hungry for salty/crunchy or am I hungry for something sweet? That's a little game I always like to play with my patients. I'm like, “Ooh, you sound like you're a more savory eater. Or, “You sound like you're more of a sweet eater.” I do feel, and there's no research on this, but I do feel that we tend to fall into those categories. I tend to lean in more for the sweets. That's just who I am. And I am married to someone that tends to lean in more to salty, crunchy, savory, and that's who that person is. Um, and so I think we lean a little bit into that. And so it's honoring that, in the moment of “this is what I'm hungry for.” And not judging that. And not feeling bad about it. And…and feeding ourselves.
Dr. Karen Nelson: I heard that you have a famous example sometimes that you share around food and eating. You gotta share it with our listeners.
George Elliott: So I think this example illustrates both kind of the hunger-fullness and kind of the taste, texture, what sounds good. And so I would serve Thanksgiving dinner, and I would always obviously make a pumpkin pie. That was tradition. But, you know, I didn't really like pumpkin pie. Or, I thought I didn't like pumpkin pie.
Dr. Karen Nelson: Oh, tell us.
George Elliott: So I would, after we had our meal together, I would say, “Hey, let's do our, you know, let's do our pie and whipped cream.” And we're like, “Oh, okay.” So I would do that, and I would be like…I would take a few bites, and I'm like, “Oh, I don't really like pumpkin pie.” So fast forward about five years, and I was like, “You know, I think we're going to mix it up a little bit. We're going to have dinner and then, hey, let's play some cards. Let's go for a walk. And then we're going to do pie for our afternoon snack around three o'clock. And so I did that, and I took a few bites of the pumpkin pie and I'm like, “Dang, this is good!”
And it connected with me then. I didn't think I liked pumpkin pie. Well, I didn't like pumpkin pie, because I was full. I wasn't hungry. I was full. I really liked pumpkin pie at 3 o'clock when I could taste it and my body was hungry. And so making that connection with hunger, fullness, taste, texture, giving yourself some space, it really brought home to me the value of a hunger cue, the value of a fullness cue, how food tastes. Food doesn't taste the same if we're not hungry.
Dr. Karen Nelson: George, I've just really appreciated our conversation today. Thanks so much for being here.
George Elliott: It has been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.
Dr. Karen Nelson: [music] If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, we're here to help. Call 952-993-6200 to schedule an appointment and begin the journey towards healing and recovery. To learn more about Melrose Center, please visit Melroseheals.com. Melrose Heals: A Conversation About Eating Disorders, was made possible by generous donations to the Park Nicollet Foundation.