Adult Eating
Eating Competence
Eating Competence offers a powerful framework for understanding what normal eating means—for different people. It’s not about controlling body weight or shape, or adhering to rigid food rules. Instead, it’s about learning to trust our innate ability to take care of our bodies with food. At its core, Eating Competence focuses more on how we eat than what we eat. When we trust ourselves to eat in a way that feels good and sustainable, the “what” often falls naturally into place.
Prescribed Diets Overrule What We Really Want
It is difficult to change our diet, but not nearly so difficult to learn to feel bad about what we eat. Consider responses to a typical motivational interviewing question relative to diet, “If you were to change, what would it be like?” Most are likely to say, “eat more fruits and vegetables . . . eat less fast food . . . eat fewer sweets . . . don’t eat so much fried food.” But is that what they really want, or is that what they want to want—or what someone else wants them to want?
Trusting Ourselves: The Gentle Power of Eating Competence
Ellyn Satter’s research has uncovered something profoundly simple—yet often overlooked. What most people truly want and need is to eat until they feel satisfied, enjoy food they genuinely like, and share those meals with people they care about. This insight led Satter to a surprising but powerful idea: why not approach nutrition like judo?
Judo, which means “the gentle way,” is about using your own natural strength in a positive and balanced way. It’s not about force or resistance—it’s about working with your instincts, not against them. Applied to food and eating, this means trusting our natural biopsychosocial drives:
- Hunger and the instinct to survive
- Appetite and the human need for pleasure
- The social connection that comes from sharing meals
- The body’s natural tendency to seek and maintain its preferred weight
Instead of teaching people to resist these powerful forces, Satter encourages them to embrace and trust themselves.
And the results? Nothing short of transformational.
When adults give themselves permission to respond to their needs—instead of following rigid “eat-this-don’t-eat-that” rules—they began to thrive. They eat satisfying meals, try an increasing variety of foods, and most importantly, stop the cycle of trying to force their weight down only to have it rebound.
This “nutritional judo” approach is the foundation of the Satter Eating Competence Model (ecSatter) and the Eating Competence Inventory (ecSI 2.0™).
Research now shows that people who are Eating Competent—those who respect their needs and regularly feed themselves satisfying, enjoyable food—simply do better. They live healthier, more balanced lives, not by fighting their bodies, but by trusting them.
Benefits of Being Eating Competent
Superior Diets
Although ecSatter doesn’t categorize foods as “healthy” or “unhealthy,” and instead encourages eating foods you genuinely enjoy, research shows that Eating Competent individuals tend to have better overall nutrition—including greater availability and intake of fruits and vegetables.
Better Wellness, Medical Nutrition Therapy Measures
Despite the fact that ecSatter gives full permission to eat preferred foods—and even encourages using fat, salt, and sugar to make food more satisfying—research consistently shows that Eating Competent individuals have better overall wellness and stronger metabolic health indicators.
More Stable Weight
Although ecSatter doesn’t promote weight loss and instead encourages eating satisfying amounts of preferred foods while allowing weight to settle naturally, studies show that Eating Competent individuals tend to have the same or even lower BMIs compared to those who follow restrictive approaches.
Lower Eating-Disorder-Related Symptomology
Eating Competence reflects positive, balanced attitudes toward food and eating, and is strongly associated with better mental health, self-care, physical self-esteem, and quality-of-life indicators such as sleep and physical activity.
Individuals who are Eating Competent also report fewer body image concerns and experience fewer psychological symptoms related to eating disorders.
Higher Activity
Although ecSatter does not specifically address physical activity, individuals who are Eating Competent tend to engage in more physical activity and show higher levels of related health indicators.
Better Parenting with Food
Although ecSatter doesn’t specifically focus on feeding children, Eating Competent parents are more likely to follow the Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding (sDOR) and tend to raise children who are at lower nutritional risk.
Inborn Energy to Learn and Grow
Nutritional judo works because it allows us to trust our inborn energy to learn and grow. Working with that energy is not random or impetuous, but rather focused and organized. According to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, growth occurs on its own, in its own time, in sequence. From the foundation through the apex of Maslow’s pyramid-shaped hierarchy of growth, those needs start with basic physiological needs and progress to self-actualization: being all the individual can be.
The JNEB article, Hierarchy of Food Needs3 translates Maslow’s hierarchy into focused and organized maturation with food acceptance. Judging from its position as the most-often- requested JNEB reprint, the Hierarchy of Food Needs is a concept that has captured the attention of nutrition professionals. Learning and growing through the levels of the Food Hierarchy depends on ecSatter concepts of permission and positive discipline:
- Permission from the practitioner, and permission from themselves, to eat what and as much as they want.
- Positive discipline with respect to taking time to eat and tuning in while eating.
The Steps in the Hierarchy
Growth depends on satisfying in turn needs at each level. A person suffering from food insecurity is stalled at the foundation of the hierarchy. They can’t be expected to adhere to typical nutrition guidance to follow the healthy eating pattern, which is at the apex of the Food Hierarchy, because they haven’t the inner and outer resources. From the bottom to the top, here are the levels of the Food Hierarchy:
- Our most fundamental food need is to get enough, followed closely by having personally acceptable food. Food insecurity, chronic dieting, or being forced to eat unacceptable food prevent maturing beyond this basic level.
- Being able to provide reliable access to food builds on and consolidates the food security achieved at the enough food/acceptable food levels
- Discriminating appetite grows out of food security: It is the luxury of being able to enjoy eating, rather than having to eat whatever is tolerable and available.
- Interest in novel food grows out of food security and satisfying appetite. It supports eating a variety of food, which is the essence of nutritional quality.
- Considering instrumental food builds on all the rest. This level is optional as far as food security and optimal nutrition are concerned, and adds the element of conscious choice. It is choosing to eat enjoyable food that is also nutritious. In that regard, ecSatter is different from control-based nutritional guidelines, in which enjoyment is an afterthought.
The Four Pillars of Eating Competence
According to the Satter Eating Competence Model (ecSatter), Eating Competence consists of four key areas:
- Positive Attitudes and Beliefs About Food and Eating – Competent eaters are relaxed around food. They enjoy eating, look forward to meals, and move on after eating—without guilt, stress, or obsession. Eating is just one part of life, not a constant focus.
- Food Acceptance Skills – Competent eaters are open to a wide variety of foods. They enjoy exploring new tastes and textures—even if they don’t end up liking everything. They’re flexible and adaptable, recognizing that not every meal has to be perfect.
- Internal Regulation Skills – These individuals trust their body’s hunger and fullness signals. They know when they’re hungry, when they’ve had enough, and they feel comfortable stopping or continuing to eat based on those cues—not external rules.
- Context Management – Competent eaters plan for regular meals and snacks. They create a structure that supports reliable and satisfying eating without being rigid or overly strict.
Developing Eating Competence: A Process, And a Destination
In all cases, building Eating Competence doesn’t happen overnight—it’s a process. Growth in the four areas happen over time and work together, influenced by where people are in their particular journey.
References
4. Still to come
New and Emerging Research
Still to come