Episode 061 – The Intuitively You Podcast

What is the Clean Plate Club? 

The clean plate club is a term used to describe individuals who automatically finish all the food that’s on their plate at meals. Hence creating a clean plate, literally. This is an experience that makes it difficult to tune into and honour your body’s fullness cues. 

It may feel like the inability to stop eating until all the food on the plate is gone. Its almost as if its a habit that happens on autopilot, without our conscious brain thinking about cleaning the plate. We often don’t realize until the food is gone what happened. 

This behaviour also isn’t reserved for meals, it can also happen with packages of food – like a package of cookies or bag of chips.

Being a member of the clean plate club can throw a wrench into things if you’re on an intuitive eating journey. If you’re working towards improving your relationship with food and are a member of the clean plate club, don’t fret. In this article, I’m going to share with you all the deets about the clean plate club and how to cancel that membership and finally leave this habit behind. 

How do we Become Part of the Clean Plate Club? 

The most common experience that leads someone to become part of the clean plate club comes from our childhoods. Often well-meaning parents or guardians tell their children “you have to finish what’s on your plate!” 

I’m not sure about you, but my parents absolutely pushed that agenda onto me as a kiddo. Often adding in “you need to eat your whole meal before you get dessert,” “if you want to grow up to be smart and strong, you need to eat everything on your plate,” or even “there are other children out there starving, you need to be grateful for your food and finish it!”

I even remember vividly one time where I didn’t like the food left on my plate and my parents made me sit at the table (for what felt like hours) after everyone else had left in attempt to make me, you guessed it – finish all the food on my plate. 

Common Reasons for Clean Plate Club Habits: 

• Well-meaning parents or guardians telling you to finish your plate
• Being out-of-touch with your body’s fullness cues
• Eating very quickly 
• Being extremely hungry before a meal
• Always mindlessly eating 
• Your “cue” to stop eating is when your plate is finished
• Fear of deprivation
• Or maybe it’s just become a habit 

Side Effects of Being in the Clean Plate Club 

Although the clean plate club experience is quite common, it does come along with some not-so-pleasant side effects. 

Automatically finishing everything on your plate could lead to:

• Feeling uncomfortably full
• Overeating
• Distress, shame, or guilt
• Feeling lethargic
• Heart burn
• Bloating, digestive upset
• Disordered eating behaviours

How to Leave the Clean Plate Club

Time to cancel your membership to the clean plate club? I can hear you already saying, “yes please!” Below I’m going to walk you through 3 things you can do to overcome automatically just eating everything on your plate. 

Now before we get into these, I want you to know that these aren’t just one-and-done actions to take. These actions do require practice to see changes. And at the same time, you likely won’t be “good” at them until you continue to practice. 

I want you to go out there and truly take action on these items. And never give up! Let’s leave the clean plate club behind for good, together. 

1. Break the habit 

No matter what reason got you into the clean plate club, chances are that by now it’s a habit for you. Habit meaning something that’s habitual and just happens without your conscious mind thinking about it. 

In order to break the habit, you have to do some kind of habit disrupting behaviour. Some examples:

• Eating with your non-dominant hand 
• Setting a timer for 2-5 minutes to pause during your meal
• Intentionally leaving 2-3 bites on your plate 

There was an interesting study done on eating with the non-dominant hand to disrupt automatic eating habits. In this study, the participants were given fresh popcorn and stale popcorn. One group was given the popcorn and engaged in typical habits of eating popcorn like eating with their dominant hand, same environment as usual, etc. The other group were to disrupt their typical habits with eating popcorn like eating with their non-dominant hand, switching up the environment, etc.

The study found that the folks who interrupted their typical eating habits, in part by eating with their non-dominant hand, actually ate based on true satisfaction of the popcorn, rather than mindlessly eating all the stale popcorn. Just a cool little tidbit I thought I’d share with you to encourage you to try out this weird eating with your non-dominant hand thing!

2. Learn how to honour your fullness

Since this is a habit and learned behaviour, we need to work on breaking that habit first. Because, being a member of the clean plate club is a barrier to being able to fully feel your fullness cues. 

Honouring your fullness actually first starts with honouring your hunger cues. If you don’t feel confident in your hunger cues, I’d suggest starting there first. But also knowing there’s no right or wrong on this journey and doing whatever feels most supportive to you. 

I have an entire blog post on Fullness 101, all about how to stop eating when you’re full. Definitely check that out to take a deeper dive into fullness.

3. Mindset for leaving the Clean Plate Club 

The last thing I want to leave you with is some reminders that can support you through leaving the clean plate club. 

Use these “reminders” however you’d like – as a mantra, put it on a sticky note, journal it to yourself, use it as your phone background, say them outloud, whatever works for you! The key is to continually remind your brain of these things so that it can see that another way is possible. 

Clean Plate Club Mantras:

• It’s safe for me to slow down and practice mindfulness with my food.
• I don’t have to finish everything on my plate, just because it’s there.
• I’m LEARNING how to check-in with myself and stop eating when I’m comfortably full.
• Whether food is not eaten and thrown away or I’m pushing myself past the point of comfortable fullness – it’s“wasted” either way.
  • NOTE: please save food for leftovers and avoid food waste whenever you can, but this reminder still applies! And on that note, one last one…
• I can save this food for later, I don’t have to eat it all right now. 

What Next? 

I’m excited for you to finally leave the clean plate club, woohoo! In terms of next steps on your journey, I would love for you to continue to embody the principles of intuitive eating. Intuitive eating really allows you to foster a positive relationship with food that supports you to feel your best – physically, mentally, and emotionally. 
Here at The Intuitive Nutritionist, we have a variety of intuitive eating coaching services to suit your needs for where you’re at on your journey right now. From meditations, self-paced courses, group coaching, to nutrition counselling support, you’re well taken care of here! Check out our services and programs here, we’d be so honoured to support you on your journey.