Intuitive Eating Much?

Kemper Sosa

@Rachel Egelhof, thanks for sharing such a powerful message with me. I felt is was appropriate to post an excerpt below for the community. @Bella Diaz and @Mary Balog, do either of you have any advice on how to take initial action with this behavior?

Sawyer Paull-Baird

I have become increasingly interested in intuitive eating in the last few years. A lot of the sentiments in the philosophy really resonate with me. Looking forward to hearing Bella/Mary's insight as I know they have more experience with the implementation than I. I know the idea of unconditional permission to eat sounds scary and counter-intuitive for a lot of people, especially those trying to eat healthier.. but the idea of giving yourself permission actually reducing the drive to eat certain foods makes a lot of sense. Looking forward to keeping an eye on this thread!

Tricia Nault

I am one of those for whom the unconditional permission to eat sounds like the scariest thing ever. Permission to eat anything always sounded to me like a recipe for disaster, falling off the wagon, so to speak. But I am working on recognizing when I actually am hungry, and when I'm not. My body actually feels better when I feed it healthy foods, and since I like that feeling, I have not been as anxious to eat the other stuff anyway. And I'm ok with that. I'm ok indulging a little once in a while, and I'm trying not to feel guilty for it. Guilt and food should not go together!

Bella Diaz

@Kemper Sosa - I am so glad you shared this! Thanks so much for the tag :)

Like @Sawyer Paull-Baird mentioned, it sounds like @Rachel Egelhof is describing Intuitive Eating or the non-diet approach, which as you know, @Mary Balog & I are huge believers in. So happy that this is helping you in your food journey Rachel!

This is a concept that is based in creating more awareness in how & why we eat as well as what we are eating. It is shifting from external cues to internal cues. Or what I like to call our inner wisdom.

External cues to eat would include diet plans or prescriptions, calories goals, time on the clock, or social pressure. Whereas internal cues would be our hunger and fullness levels, our taste preferences, and our bodies nutritional needs.

This type of eating helps us to get what our body truly needs because we are tuning into these biological ways that our body communicates with us to let us know when we are in need of fuel & when we have had enough. Something that we are born knowing how to do & over time lose the ability to tap into due to the "diet-focused" culture we live in.

Ways that we could start taking action on this type of eating starting TODAY would include:

• Start checkin in with your hunger before, half way through, & at the end of your meal. Notice if you are physically hungry, comfortable & satisfied, or slightly over full. This skill gets easier with time & practice & can be a highly valuable tool to determine when, what, and how much to eat.
• Take the time to slow down & appreciate your food. May sound silly to some... but this is shown to help prepare your body for physical digestion & metabolization efficiently. It also gives you the time to raise awareness as to where your hunger is truly at.
• Choose foods you actually enjoy! If you are craving the salty pretzels for a snack, but try to grab the sweet fruit instead, your body is likely not going to be satisfied. So you end up seeking more & more food until your body gets that fix. May have been easier to listen to that craving from the start right?
• Remind yourself that there is no "good" or "bad" foods. Food holds no morality & every food can serves a purpose. So take this ideology out of your language and focus on the nutrient-density of foods.

There are sooo many more ways that we can start to incorporate Intuitive Eating principles into our eating. I hope this helps some & if it resonates with you & you want to hear more, I would love to dive deeper with you!!

Bella