Say Goodbye to Deprivation

A soul serving is just enough to satisfy, not saturate. Soul servings relate to a March 11, 1907 New York Times story on the research of physician Dr. Duncan MacDougall, who dubiously concluded the soul weighs 21 grams.

When I first encountered this story, I was struggling with my penchant for cheese puffs. So that got me thinking, how many cheese puffs equate to the weight of the human soul? Turns out it’s twelve and a half.

Which also turns out to be just enough to satisfy my taste buds, not saturate them. Whether or not I ever entertain MacDougall’s hypothesis that the soul has mass, it’s pretty clear to me the soul doesn’t have a weight issue.

What You Need to Know

A soul serving always begins with 21 grams, the supposed weight of the human soul. I believe the soulful – and natural path – is not about depriving ourselves of treats. It’s about enjoying the occasional treat in a mindful way, being present enough to discern its quality and knowing exactly how much will satisfy us.

However, I realized I needed to teach myself stopping points with my addictive, trigger foods (e.g. aforementioned cheese puffs). Once triggered, my brain was unable to stop my eating without a clear cue.

To calculate a soul serving, start with a 21 gram serving size of the food and adjust it up or down based on these additional factors: equal to or less than 10 grams of sugar; equal to or less than 10 grams of fat; equal to or less than 140 milligrams of sodium; and equal to or less than 100 calories.

Meeting any 4 of these 5 factors (rounded to the nearest whole number) equates to a soul serving. If something is close to a soul serving but not quite (i.e. it’s not easy or practical to physically separate it into a further serving) don’t sweat it.

A soul serving is a pre-defined amount not a pre-defined limit: They’re simply about creating a beginning, middle and an end to a treat. This is especially important for binge eaters who may only be accustomed to eating a full sleeve of cookies. In the beginning, have as many soul servings as you want. This is not about controlling how much you’re consuming but rather, giving your brain a chance to register when you’re finishing one serving and starting the next one.

If you’re going to have it, don’t miss a moment of it: When you’re busy sneaking a treat or hiding the evidence, you’re often inhaling the first serving just to get to the next one. You’re also bringing judgement to your experience which will make you eat more. The more transparent and present you are with your eating, the more you’ll be able to anticipate and savour the treat and the less you’ll need of it.

You won’t know how much is enough until you know how much is too much: You can’t just dictate a stopping point with trigger foods without understanding what that point feels like in your body. Soul servings help you gauge when you’ve had a little, enough or too much, provided you practice staying aware of your satiety cues with each serving. In the beginning, you’ll notice your natural stopping point and some discomfort after the fact and think “Ugh, I’ve had enough”. Eventually, you’ll notice your natural stopping point just before and think “Aah, this is enough”.

What You Can Practice

We’re typically pleasure-seeking when reaching for treats so make sure you’ve taken care of any unacknowledged hunger first. You can then try using soul servings as a pre-emptive option. Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is a belief that drives many of us to order or reach for more than we need.

Soul servings work best when you embrace a ‘harm reduction’ approach. Disordered eating gets dialed up over time and that means it needs to dial down over time as well. For example, if you felt a sugar rush after 5 soul servings of something, then 4 servings the next time you eat it might be more than you intend but it would still be less harmful for now.

Filling out a soul serving with nutritional additions helps to dial them down (e.g. I add a handful of raisins and pecans to my favourite piece of chocolate). Eventually, you want soul servings to make up 10% or less of your daily intake.

What You Can Expect

Ultimately, soul servings help you to look beyond nutritional labels and their suggested serving sizes, to something more meaningfully inspired and personally defined. They help you be with the truth of what you’re eating while you develop your awareness and learn to let your body guide your choices.

Kathrine Brown is an expert on binge eating, food addiction, body image and self-sabotage. Through her leading-edge Conscious Weight Loss® coaching process and podcast, she has helped thousands around the world live bigger lives in smaller bodies. Enjoy more wisdom and wit from her Wisdom Bites™ blog and The Three and a Half BIG Questions You Gotta Ask Yourself to Lose Weight free eguide.