What is Intuitive Eating? | Part 1
Imagine a day where you wake up, at peace with yourself, and you feel calm, not stressed about what you’re going to eat and when. You start your morning off wonderfully- and you listen to your body for your first hunger cue. What do you feel like? Hmmm listen to your body, what’s it craving? You decide on a fulfilling meal and enjoy it. Once you’re done eating, you don’t stress about when your next food is, how many calories you just consumed, or feel any type of guilt for nourishing your body. You feel satisfied, and it feels good.
Imagine moving through the day at that same cadence- listening to your body, satisfying the hunger cues, feeling at peace, and refraining from tracking or counting once. What would that feel like for you? Does that feel scary? Does that sound free-ing? It can feel so many ways, but that my friends is a little slice of what intuitive eating can provide- satisfaction and peace with your food, your body, and your health.
An intuitive eater is defined as a person who “makes food choices without experiencing guilt or an ethical dilemma, honors hunger, respects fullness and enjoys the pleasure of eating.” When you write it in a sentence, it feels crazy that we feel the guilt and shame we’ve all been programmed to feel at one time or another. But food has always been meant to satisfy and nourish, not to bring on shame.
The messaging of the media tries to portray “good” and “bad” foods, convincing us that if we deprive ourselves of the bad foods, we will be healthy, lose the weight, and live the life we always wanted! The problem is, it puts us into a dieter’s mentality. The first step to creating food freedom, and becoming an intuitive eater is to ditch the dieting mentality of good and bad/ all or nothing/ deprivation and binging. The truth is food is neutral. It’s not good or bad, it's just food!
Honoring your hunger is the second pillar of intuitive eating. It’s eating when your body cues you that it’s ready to eat, because hunger is not the enemy- hunger is a biological response. To honor your hunger, approach is with a non judgemental attitude trying to understand the root cause. Where do you feel the physical hunger sensations? How is it affecting your mood? Taking an insightful look at your hunger instead of trying to push it away is the best way to honor your hunger.
The third principle of intuitive eating is giving yourself unconditional permission to eat. This can feel SUPER scary, we get it. It feels like all wheels will go off the track when you tell yourself you can eat however much you want, and nothing is off limits. When we try to control our hunger and tell ourselves that food is “off limits” many times it leads to more cravings and we eventually “give in” only to create a never ending guilt cycle. This is NOT needed. Instead, give yourself permission to eat what your body craves- you’ll be surprised that you actually won’t just want donuts and candy bars all day :)
Last but not least (for today!) you want to discover the satisfaction factor with intuitive eating. Think about this- our culture has shaped us to want to control food consumption, while other cultures focus on enjoying food and aim for satisfaction at every meal. They aren’t as concerned with the macros or the calories or if something is sugar free. They eat because it is a life pleasure, and because they allow themselves to enjoy, they don’t over indulge.
These are just a few of the basic principles of intuitive eating. We challenge you to take one of these principles and try to put it into practice, starting today! It’s never too late to create a healthier relationship with food.
