The struggle with intuitive eating

Intuitive eating is a fairly hot buzz word today. It is gaining more ground with dietitians, and other health professionals world wide. All of these people are choosing to let go of regimented eating schedules that come from years of dieting, compounded with school lunch times and corporate scheduling.

But what is intuitive eating?

Intuitive eating is learning to eat based on your internal cues from your own body in real time. Instead of eating at prescribed times because you "have to".  It is giving your body the listening treatment that most of us have not given it for many many years.  Instead of eating first thing in the morning because "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" you may wait thirty minutes to an hour until you (and your body) are ready to eat.  It is having a snack when you are hungry, instead of ignoring your bodies signals for fuel because you just ate an hour ago. It is going back to ourselves and giving our bodies and minds a safe space to bring their signals to the surface where they will be not only acknowledged but honored.

Is it easy?

Honestly? No, at least, not at first. Most of us have gone 15-40 years (or longer) ignoring and fighting our bodies signals for sustenance, rest, or even being full. Learning to let go of these notions, rituals, and habits will be a long road.  It can be super confusing. I've started fairly recently, and it is still a conscious struggle.  But it is a good struggle, one that I feel good about, I don't hate myself for doing this. And I know that it is helping me to make contact with my body in a way that will help me to have a positive communication experience with it for the rest of my life. I'm used to eating every four hours. I have done that consciously since about college so that my metabolism stayed revved up so that I wouldn't gain weight. Trying to let go of that now, is my largest struggle at the moment. I'm so used to scheduling my meals that it is very hard to keep that time out of my head and pay attention to my body instead. Am I feeling hungry? Is my body telling me it needs fuel now, or is it good? It's also been an interesting road with asking my body what it is hungry for.  Some days its raw tofu (which I love with just a little bit of salt (so good), just make sure you have pressed it or it will be a mushy mess.  Check out my tofu post if you want to learn more). And other days I don't know what it is I'm hungry for! I'm so used to having a regimented list in my brain at all times of food that I can't have because it will make me gain weight, versus fun foods that taste great but were "bad", that I feel like I honestly don't know what I want to eat because I'm not used to listening to my body about signals especially in regards to foods formerly seen as "bad".

Intuitive eating is also about listening to your body for signals that it is full. Normally preventing this is years of being told to "clean your plate" the concept of not wasting money (or getting your money's worth), or even the idea of self-punishment (you had one slice of cake which "ruined" your diet so you must eat more).  This is my second hardest struggle with intuitive eating. I'm so used to keeping myself from "bad" foods because of weight that I would just binge on it whenever I got a chance, because my mind is saying "you will never have this again", so I would just eat, and eat and eat even if my stomach hurt; all because I was telling myself "never again". I wouldn't even enjoy the taste (because I'm not paying attention to my body, I'm not getting the sensations of texture, smell, and taste) just eating as fast as possible.

When I do sit down for meals that have foods that my mind is going "oh no! That will cause weight gain if you have it now you will just have to eat salad for the next three days so make sure you get it all in to enjoy it!" I really have to focus on eating slowly and paying attention to my meal. Enjoying the smell, experiencing the taste and texture on my tongue and how I feel after the bite. When I start to feel full I will make myself take a break, which I'm really not used to (I don't think 30-minute school lunches helped, especially when it took 20 minutes to get through the school line, and you couldn't take food out of the cafeteria).  If my full sensation goes away, and I still want to eat some of the food left I will.

It's definitely not a perfect science, but it is a hell of a great first step in the right direction.  We only get one body (per existence), and we should really try to have as open a communication as possible between ourselves and our bodies. Years and years of fighting our bodies will make this a formidable challenge, but I believe that it will lead to a much healthier existence with not only ourselves but each other.

If you would like to start on your intuitive eating journey you can sign up for email list here.

If you would like to learn more about intuitive eating, check out these great sources:

A Quick Guide to Intuitive Eating
Intuitive Eating + Mindful Eating: A How to Guide
Mindful and Intuitive Eating: The Perfect Pair

P.S.- Remember, listening to your body goes well beyond just intuitive eating. If your body is telling you it is tired, take a break. If your body is saying it is in pain please go get it checked out.  If your body is saying it needs water, not wine, drink water.

Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash