To be completely honest, in today’s society ‘normal’ eating has actually become abnormal.

Normal eating is sitting down to a meal hungry (you don’t have to be starving) and eating until you feel satisfied. It’s being able to choose the foods you want to eat and truly getting enough of them-not just stopping because you think you should or because you feel guilty.

Normal eating is not planning your meals to be as restrictive as possible because like we always say ‘no pain, no gain’; but putting thought into your food choices so you get nutritious food and still give yourself permission to eat: sometimes because you are happy, sad, or bored, or because it feels good.

Normal eating is overeating at times (even to the point of discomfort) or under eating and wishing you had more. It’s leaving a few cookies on the plate because you know they’ll be there later and it’s also trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating.

To sum it up ‘normal eating’ is flexible and it can vary day by day and person to person.

From Ellyn Satter’s Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family