Intuitive eating, mindful eating, and conscious eating are all terms used to describe a way of eating that uses inner signals about hunger, appetite, and fullness to guide our relationship with food. People who have learned how to listen to their bodies know what and when they need to eat. The main focus is to consciously learn how to eat in a way that helps our body to feel and function well.
Dieting, restricting, or counting calories, and focusing on weight are not part of intuitive eating. Intuitive eaters eat when they are hungry and stop when they are satisfied. There is also no hardline list of “good” and “bad” foods. They listen to their bodies and eat what is good for their bodies whenever they’re hungry for it. Simply put, intuitive eating is the way that people who have a healthy relationship with food eat their food.
Whenever people who are used to diet restrictions are introduced to intuitive eating, there is often panic. They fear that “If there are no rules, then I might just eat all day long.” Some people eat more than they usually would but the most important thing is that it is not done with reckless abandon.
Intuitive eating is conscious eating, being aware of the present moment; hunger, fullness, your appetite, and what you are really hungry for. Mindful or intuitive eating involves learning to be conscious of the difference between hunger and other eating cues such as painful emotions, boredom, or tiredness.
Having success with intuitive eating requires re-learning how to eat consciously; without shame, guilt, or fear, and with careful attention to your body and what it’s asking of you per time. Doing this also requires learning when not to feed your body and mind with food if not necessary. You must pay careful attention to your body and learn to nourish your body and spirit with things other than food when the need calls for it.
In this article, I will share with you a few tips you can adopt if you’re looking to transition from hardcore dieting to conscious or intuitive eating.
Essentially, there are four tips I would recommend to help you break unhealthy cycles of dieting, binge eating, and overeating and help you create an enduring healthy habit of intuitive eating. They are:
- Call out those unhealthy diet restrictions.
Take a moment first to write down all of the diet rules that haunt you. Some might actually be sensible, others conflicting while some of them are flat-out senseless. Whatever they are, write them all out on paper, and reflect deeply on them until you get to that point where you see the futility of most of them and how they’ve only been a burden on your mind all along.
You can keep only those you think are worth keeping, those that really honor your body and help you deal with any bodily changes you may be passing through. E.g. drinking adequate water, eating some leafy greens, not eating heavy meals beyond a certain time of day, etc. Do away with the ones that restrict the types of foods you can eat (unless they’re essential) and also do away with the calorie and carb counting.
- Adopt a Check-in Practice
The goal of intuitive eating is to help one stop obsessing about food/diet. In order to be successful at this, there is a need to create a consistent method of checking in on yourself and staying connected with yourself, your feelings, and your needs so that you can respond to them appropriately without resorting to emotional eating.
This should be something you do daily, maybe when you get up in the morning or before a meal or when you get back home from work, the most important thing is that you’re consistent with it. Adopting this practice will help channel your inward focus appropriately and help avoid distractions. You can also do this at various points during the day.
Practice what works for you and fits with your personality and your strengths, that way you’ll be able to stick with it. Examples of mindful check-ins include: meditation, journal writing or free writing, walking or running, prayer, or contemplative time. Often people start with writing. It might be useful to write about whatever is on your mind for a few minutes every day. The process of writing slows you down and forces you to think, to be mindful of everything around you including your eating habits.
- Listen to your body
We all have that voice within us that tells us what foods are good and not good for us, and also when we’re full and should stop eating. For some of us, maybe this voice has been suppressed, either by pushy parents, diet rules, our emotional episodes or by simply ignoring it. However, this doesn’t change the fact that the voice still exists.
Take active steps to find this voice and pay attention to it. Honor it no matter how quietly it speaks. Notice which foods feel best to you at various times in the day and in various moods. Do you like a muffin and coffee in the morning or an apple and almond butter and tea? Or does it depend on your mood at the time? Is there mood triggers you should be aware of and how does it affect your appetite? Notice the effects of the food you eat on your energy levels and comfort/discomfort levels. Listen again and again and make adjustments when necessary until you’ve perfected the art.
- Use a Support System
Lastly, It is very important to have people (or a person) who will support and encourage your newfound belief about intuitive eating. Your support should honor your goals, celebrate your successes, and help you stay accountable to yourself. They should be there for you when you begin to doubt yourself or you hit a roadblock and you’re not sure what to do anymore. He or she will remind you of the motivation that informed your decision, the pain and difficulties of dieting, and will make sure you do not quit along the way.
Your support may be found in your friends, your family, an interest group, or an intuitive eating class or you can choose to work with a professional health coach, someone who will systematically move you out of a dieting mentality, and help you develop intuitive eating habits that suits your personality and honors and utilizes your strengths.
In summary, Intuitive eating is about putting your relationship with food into perspective by adopting practices like;
- Calling out unhealthy diet restrictions.
- Adopting a consistent Check-in Practice
- Paying apt attention to our bodies, and
- Using a support system
When we do that successfully, we’ll find that we’ve developed new ways of taking care of ourselves without resorting to any rigorous diet restrictions.
Remember; YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT
Adopting an intuitive eating habit is like getting to know yourself better.
With Love and gratitude as always, Xo!
For more useful tips and information on how you can adopt an intuitive eating lifestyle, you should get a copy of my eBook. “How to Start from Zero” and discover more techniques you can adopt to develop a healthy relationship with your food.
“How to Start from Zero” will introduce you to great ideas around healthy food, lifestyle habits, and various fun activities you can engage in that are very helpful to your mind and body.
The principles and ideas shared in this eBook are very practical, relatable, and realistic. This eBook will show you how to easily adopt healthy lifestyle habits and quickly eliminate the bad ones.
You can click the link below to get a copy of the e-book for yourself.
Disclaimer: Please note that I am not your doctor while I am a health coach by profession. This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice nor does it establish any kind of medical relationship between you and me. I will not be held liable for any damage resulting from or related to your use of this information.