Intuitive Eating
Intuitive Eating
Intuitive Eating is a way of eating that has nothing to do with diets, meal plans, discipline or willpower. In this article we take you through 10 steps to Intuitive Eating – It’s about getting back to your roots and learning to trust your body again.
By becoming an intuitive eater you will be able to make food choices without that feeling of guilt. And you will be in tune with your body and recognise its hunger signals.
There are NO RULES about what or when to eat, no restrictions or diet sheets to follow, you know best. You know what your body needs to nourish it.
“It’s a way of eating that provides a path toward healing from disordered eating and creates peace in one’s relationship with food and body,” – Heidi Schauster, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S
Key Principles of Intuitive Eating
1. REJECT THE DIET MENTALITY
Think about all the diets you have been on, about how they made you feel, you didn’t fail – the diet failed you! Throw away all your diet books and start over… no more false promises to lose weight by yet another diet. Restrictions do not work and triggers primal hunger… this can lead to binge eating.
2. HONOUR YOUR HUNGER
When you experience hunger – eat! Your body and brain needs calories to function, when you override the feeling of hunger it becomes difficult to think properly and we can become lethargic.
Simply put, by avoiding excessive hunger you will be less likely to overeat.
3. MAKE PEACE WITH FOOD
No foods are out of bounds, removing all restrictions; there are no good or bad foods. In the past you may have told yourself that you are not allowed certain foods. For sure, this leads to intense feelings of deprivation and uncontrollable cravings. Even, possibly, binge eating.
4. CHALLENGE THE FOOD POLICE
Challenge your thoughts and beliefs about food. You are not “good” for eating fruit or “bad” for eating chocolate cake. Getting over this mindset is a critical step in becoming an Intuitive Eater.
5. RESPECT YOUR FULLNESS
Learn to listen to your body, recognise when you are full. Take your time eating, pausing in the middle of your meal to check how you feel… when you experience fullness, you stop eating.
6. DISCOVER THE SATISFACTION FACTOR
Pleasure and satisfaction can be found in eating which we often overlook. Enjoying the experience of eating you will eventually find that it will take less food to get that feeling of being full, leaving you satisfied and content.
7. COPE WITH EMOTIONS WITHOUT USING FOOD
Throughout life we experience emotions. We may be feeling angry, bored or lonely… none of which can be fixed by food. We may find comfort in the short term but it won’t fix the problem.
Emotional eating often makes you feel worse in the long run. eventually you will have to deal with the emotion **plus** the uncomfortable feeling experienced from overeating.
8. RESPECT YOUR BODY
Learn to love your body by not being critical or unrealistic about your body shape, be kind to yourself. This will help you in rejecting the diet mentality… you deserve better!
9. EXERCISE
Become active, focus on how it feels, be aware of how your body feels with each movement.
If you switch your focus to wanting to feel good, rather than exercising to lose weight you are more likely to feel energised and motivated.
10. HONOUR YOUR HEALTH
Select foods that will make you feel well become aware of how food makes you feel. You don’t have to have a perfect diet to be healthy. Because it’s what you eat over time that will have an impact; small changes will bring progress!
