How Intuitive Eating Can Help You Make Peace With Food : NPR
These components focus specifically on eating behaviors rather than the principles corresponding with cognitions, body image, or exercise. Tribole says that IE connects you once again to this superpower. IE is based on the idea of “interceptive awareness.” Simply put, it’s a connection with or listening to the physical sensations of your body. You’ll eat when you feel hungry and stop when you feel full (regardless of how much is left on your plate). Gentle nutrition means making food choices that honor both your physical and mental well-being without the restriction or rigidity of a diet. Food can easily be used as a coping mechanism for uncomfortable, negative feelings, leading to emotional eating. This principle also teaches you how to identify the more subtle signs of hunger. Years of suppressing hunger through dieting and restriction can make hunger cues a bit wonky, so intuitive eating includes practices to get back in touch with those cues. We’re forced to clean the plate even if we’re full or push it away when we’re still hungry. Keep a Food Journal The key is to approach these moments with curiosity, not judgment. As a dietitian, I often use the IES-3 when I first start working with a client. Take your time, go at your own pace, and start with what feels most helpful right now. Cravings will increase until they hit a peak, and you do find yourself eating the entire pint or more. Check out these positive affirmations for health, body image, and self-worth for even more ideas. But weight science is a lot more complex and nuanced than diet culture would have you believe as well. In this article, we’ll explain what they are and how you can adopt them. Intuitive eating originated in 1995, when two dietitians were considering why so many of their clients successfully reached their weight loss goals, then regained weight over time. It’s also okay if you’re not ready for Intuitive Eating and want to pursue a weight loss diet. It doesn’t make you a bad person if you want to try to lose weight. Instead, respecting your body means treating it with care. This might include actions like eating nutrient-dense foods, taking rest days, or finding moments of gratitude for your body. It could also be a simple promise not to harm yourself by following an unsafe fad diet. Ultimately, emotional eating provides momentary relief, and eventually, you will need to confront your feelings. Developing constructive coping mechanisms to handle those emotions is key to becoming an intuitive eater. Intuitive Eating and Emotions If you were to read principle three – unconditional permission to eat – without diving any deeper, this might be the assumption you’d make. And, while you might eat more pizza and candy (or whatever it is you crave) in the beginning of your intuitive eating journey, this honeymoon phase will not last forever. The thing is, the more you tell yourself you can’t eat a specific food, the more intensely you’ll want it. Research shows that the pleasure centers in our brain actually light up more when introduced to a food that has been off-limits. Cravings will increase until they hit a peak, and you do find yourself eating the entire pint or more. SUBSCRIBER-ONLY GUIDES FOR GUT HEALTH, VIBRANT ENERGY, HEALTHY FOOD & CLEAN ALCOHOL Although these are primarily observational studies, they do showcase that dieting is not a solution. Not only is the success rate of dieting pretty dismal, some research suggests that people who frequently diet end up GAINING weight (11). But why follow Intuitive Eating over other approaches grounded in weight loss? A powerful example is a study looking at Nazi concentration camp survivors who lived through starvation. The study showed a disproportionate number had habits of binge eating disorder. Exercise—Feel the Difference So bringing awareness to our thoughts, the way we feel about food, and the way we feel about ourselves are all important first steps. So, if you’re craving chocolate, buy a small chocolate bar and enjoy every bite. You’ll feel happy and satisfied instead of guilty or ashamed — a much better place to be. Eating intuitively can improve your relationship with your body and food. That sounds a lot more balanced — and more joyful — than the stress of dieting. Not a Diet Book: Take Control. Gain Confidence. Change Your Life. When you deprive yourself of foods that you enjoy, you may be more likely to ignore your satiety signals when you have access to those foods. Therefore, part of feeling your fullness is also honoring your hunger and making peace with food. We’re all born intuitive eaters with strong hunger cues, but we learn to question and suppress these cues over time. We can become disconnected from our bodies for many reasons, including dieting, working through lunch, or emotional eating. Know the difference between appetite, hunger, and craving It will also help you plan and initiate whatever the next steps are in your journey. The regulation of our food intake and body weight is influenced by our hormones, specifically leptin and ghrelin. Hormones and other signals our body can communicate with our brain and stomach to help us know when we are hungry and when we are full (3). Understanding the ‘why’ and ‘how’ behind your hunger cues can help you connect back to your natural intuition and find freedom in food while prioritizing your health and wellness. Best Books on Intuitive Eating to Kickstart Your Non-Diet Journey For some people, talking to a dietitian, doctor or therapist can be the final piece of the puzzle when it comes to shifting to intuitive eating. But intuitive eating is not a free-for-all where you indulge and eat whatever you want. It’s about learning to listen to what your body needs and how you feel when you eat – and using that to guide you. Emotional eating can be devastating both physically and mentally, leading to food restriction, over-eating, weight gain or loss, and overall
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