Intuitive Eating, Finding Food Freedom and Balance

What is intuitive eating, how does it work, and what you can do to start today!

First and foremost what is Intuitive eating?

-There is so much out there right now on intuitive eating and so many different interpretations on what it means. This has created a lot of recent confusion!

The National Eating Disorder Associataion says "Intuitive eating is about trusting your body to make food choices that feel good for you, without judging yourself or the influence of diet culture."

I like to think about intuitive eating as listening to my body, honoring my hunger cues, non judgmentally, and responding accordingly. Now, intuitive eating is not eating junk food all the time, for every meal with no self control. Rather, it is eating when you are hungry and eating some of what you are hungry for.

From an evolutionary perspective, we are wired with signals to tell our body it is hungry. This was crucial for our ancestors to survive and still is crucial for us to survive. We have cues constantly telling our body to do certain things. In terms of hunger cues, here are a few according to Penn Health:

• Stomach growling

• Trouble focusing

• Shakiness

• Fatigue

• Irratibility

• Naseau

Part of intuitive eating, is recognizing these cues and responding accordingly. Our bodies are really good at sending signals to us when it needs something, the question is, are we willing to listen to it?

How Does it Work?

For example, let's say I wake up in the morning wanting some blueberry muffins I made last night. Okay awesome, lets have that bluberry muffin as part of my breakfast! However, I know to sustain my blood sugar levels (see previous post for more info on this!), energy levels, and satiety, I must eat more than that blueberry muffin. So for breakfast, I make a 3-egg veggie omelet with a side salad to begin. In that, I get fiber, protein, and fats! After I consume that, I still want that blueberry muffin, so I eat it! This way, I got a nutrient filled healthy breakfast and one of my favorite foods!

Intuitive eating is truly listening to your bodies cues and cravings and incorporating them into your diet. Having complete freedom around food, meaning, no foods are off limits (unless you have an allergy of course!) and balancing it with what your body needs. At the end of the day, we need to stay energized and full. Begin thinking what you can add to your diet instead of subtract. Yes, I'm going to have this muffin but what is going to provide me nutrients and satiety, an omelette and salad on the side!

Common Struggles with Intuitive Eating:

-Now, this is not as easy as it may sound, especially if you have a history with restricting food. But it is going to be okay! It may take time and healing your relationship with food to get there! As always, seek help, maybe a therapist or doctor, if your relationship with food is stressful, unhealthy, and consumes your life.

Problem #1:

The biggest part of intuitive eating, in my opinion, is going to be breaking free from diet culture. Diet culture is the set of believes held in society that place a lot of value on our physical appearance instead of our emotionally and mental wellbeing. This culture that society has ingrained in it, leads to unhealthy eating patterns like restricting certain foods, or amount of foods, or over-exercising to compensate for calories consumed. To break free from this culture will take deliberate effort, self acceptance, and changing habits but you got this!

Problem #2:

Knowing when to stop eating may be a challenge for some, especially if you are a chronic dieter (have been on and off diets for years). A famous study done at the University of Minnesota years ago called the "Minnesota Starvation Experiment" examined what happens to humans when they are not fed enough. One of their findings found that post-starvation can lead to loss of sensitivity to hunger cues and full cues. Meaning, if you have been dieting or recently lost weight, they could be a chance that your hunger cues and cues to stop eating have disappeared. This might be a barrier for some to begin their intuitive eating journey as they are not sure when they are hungry and don't know when to stop eating. This will take time to reverse, but be patient and it will all be okay! Here are a few steps to recovering your cues from Marissa Sappho, a Professor at New York University and specialist in eating disorders:

• Manage Stress

• Get Adequate Sleep

• Treat Illnesses

• Move in a Healthy Way

Along with giving yourself time, all of these will restore hunger and fullness cues and allowing you to begin and stop eating when your body wants.

If you are someone who has not recently been dieting or does not have a history with yo-yo dieting but can't seem to know when to start or stop eating, a common and effective method is to think of your hunger as a scale from 1-10. 1 being starving and 10 being uncomfortably full. Begin eating when you feel about a 3-4 on the hunger scale. Where, you stomach may be growling a bit or you find it is a little difficult to concentrate and then begin eating. Stop eating when you feel about a 6. This may feel like you are satisfied, could keep eating but are overall satisfied. It takes our body a few minutes to feel satiated after eating, so give it some time and allow the food to digest.

Problem #3:

As most of us are aware, todays society is ver stressful. There is a lot of responsibilities and stressors we encounter each day that humans weren't necessarily made for. This stress along with emotional stress can cause hunger cues to be skewed. For some, when stress creeps in, their appetite decreases and for others, their appetite increases. For those who's appetite decrease, according to Harvard Health, when the body is stressed, the nervous systems sends a signal to the adrenal glads to release epinephrine (hormone that triggers the flight or flight response) which shifts the bodies attention to other things and decreases appetite. The loss of appetite typically is short term and in short bursts. For those who over consume when stressed, it may be linked to chronic stress. When the body has been stressed for a while, it will release cortisol, hormone that increases motivation. This will also increase the motivation to eat. If the stress does not subside, the cortisol will stay elevated and the motivation to eat will stay elevated as well. This plays a huge role into hunger cues. The hunger cues you get under stress are a bit skewed which can be hard to properly intuitive eat. If you find yourself here, breath it's okay! Of course, managing stress is going to be a great place to start, getting good sleep, and exercising a reasonable amount will all help! Talk to a doctor or therapist for more tips on stress management! In order to intuitive eat still, make sure you listen extra close to your body and cravings and eat well rounded meals with your favorite foods!

Conclusion:

This may not be as easy as it may sound but you got this! We as humans are equppied with hunger and full cues that can surley lead guide us with our food choices, so trust yourself. If you find yourself encountering any of the problems above, take a deep breath and give yourself patients and love. Breaking free from diet culture may not be easy but it will be worth it! You will find food freedom and balance and feel good! Again, this does not mean a free for all junk food fest but rather eating balanced meals and encoperating your cravings and favorite foods and listening to when your body is both hungry and full!

Thank you for reading and as always let me know your thoughts!

Regan