Are you tired of diet culture? If so, intuitive eating is an approach you can take in which diet mentality is refuted. It focuses on your hunger cues and bodily signals to enable you to gain a better understanding of your body. In turn, it can be used to heal your relationship with food. Intuitive eating was created by two dieticians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, in the year 1995.
Intuitive eating promotes a mindset in which food is no longer perceived as “good” or “bad” but rather just as nutritional content because, no matter how oily or fried, every food has nutritional value that can be used by your body. Hence, within intuitive eating, there is no calorie counting or limits to food. Intuitive eating consists of focusing on internal cues such as hunger, fullness, and satisfaction.
Intuitive eating is a method in which we can rebuild our connection with food that we contained before social factors influenced or categorized our knowledge of food, hence returning us to our initial way as we are all born as natural intuitive eaters. Take babies for example; they signal their hunger through their cries and once their bellies are full.
How can you implement intuitive eating?
There are 10 principles of intuitive eating, which include rejecting diet culture and diet mentality. This can be done by putting a conscious effort to stop labelling food. It is important to understand when you are hungry and to nourish your body. When you ignore your hunger cues, this, in turn, leads to your body retaliating later on with cravings and binges. Make peace with food and allow yourself to eat whatever. This can be done by challenging the food police. Much like no specific food can make you healthy overnight, no one food can make you unhealthy, hence acknowledge how unreasonable diet rules are. Be more conscious of your meals and aware of how full you feel. Ensure that you are satisfied. If you are not, you will keep looking for food and are likely to overeat. When you really want something, sometimes it is good to cave into your craving as it allows you to be content with your food. Do not associate emotions with food. Respect your body and do not be critical of it. Exercise and feel the difference. Focus on what feels good to you rather than what is in trend or what burns more calories. Make food choice that honor your health.
An exercise you can try in order to eat mindfully
Start by observing your food and the colors that intertwine. As you take a bite, enjoy the sensation that overcomes you. Recall the taste. Is it sweet or sour? How does this make you feel? Take your time to slowly chew and indulge in whatever it is that you are eating. Try to avoid eating while staring at a screen.