What is intuitive eating? Essentially, it is eating for your health, along with following your natural internal hunger and fullness cues, and appreciating all the hard work that has been put into your meal.
Ask yourself, what are your eating habits? Do you scarf down everything in sight? Do you watch T.V. or YouTube or distract yourself with homework or reading while you eat? Do you view food as an inconvenience to your busy lifestyle? Now think about when was the last time you've sat down and thoroughly, consciously examined your meal, looking at all its textures, colors, smells, tastes? When was the last time, if ever, you've chewed each bite through, appreciating all the effort that it took by the farmers, packers, shippers, businessmen, and grocers that made it possible for you to eat buy and consume a single tomato? Now imagine a sandwich and you've multiplied the number of people by the number of ingredients in your sandwich! That's a lot of effort to make a sandwich.
That's why the first step to intuitive eating is Appreciation. That is, to appreciate where your food comes from and who participated into the making of your food. Appreciate and be grateful for the sun, the skies, the water, the ground, and the people that made it happen!
The second step is to Assess the type of food you consume. Are you doing your body good by eating a wide range of high fiber fruits, vegetables, high protein, and good fats? Or are you merely stuffing yourself with whatever you can find at the store and fast food restaurants? The second step is to realize that your body is a Temple. What you eat will reflect in how you look and how you feel. If you are eating an unbalanced diet of mostly processed foods full of added sugars, salt, fat, and chemicals, your body will not obtain the vitamins and minerals necessary for you to feel your best; thereby requiring you to keep eating and eating until you get the key nutrients you need. Thus, a balanced diet full of natural whole foods with plenty of fiber will most definitely make it easier for you to eat intuitively.
The third step is to Feel Hunger. That's right, it's hunger! Do not eat when not hungry. Do eat when hungry. Pretty simple, right? Well maybe not. If you've been grazing and constantly eating as a habit, emotional stress, or boredom, it'll be much more difficult to follow this step. My advice to you is to admit you have a habit and you'll need to replace the habit with something else. If you must put something in your mouth: eat gum, drink water, chew on chewy textured food like beef jerky or have a small piece of fruit. If you're bored, pick up a hobby, exercise, or read! If you're having chronic emotional stress, I suggest you sit down and deeply reflect on the reasons why you are stressing in your daily life and attempt to remove triggers or relieve it through stress relief techniques and activities (how-to blog coming soon!).
The fourth step is Feel Fullness. The feeling of fullness takes time to grasp and is more often difficult for people who are used to cleaning their plate empty. However, with practice, it will come eventually. There are helpful tips though: eat without distractions (no T.V., phone, internet, etc), eat with your family, eat slowly, chew thoroughly, and drink water. Now why might eating with family help you eat intuitively? The dinner table is a wonderful time to chat and talk with your family. This helps to slow your eating and at the same time, build your relationship. So why not? Eating slowly will help you closely gauge your hunger dissipating and fullness level rising.
That's it! Remember: Appreciate, Assess, Feel Hunger, and Feel Fullness. Now that you know what to do, start intuitively eating your way to better health.
That's why the first step to intuitive eating is Appreciation. That is, to appreciate where your food comes from and who participated into the making of your food. Appreciate and be grateful for the sun, the skies, the water, the ground, and the people that made it happen!
The second step is to Assess the type of food you consume. Are you doing your body good by eating a wide range of high fiber fruits, vegetables, high protein, and good fats? Or are you merely stuffing yourself with whatever you can find at the store and fast food restaurants? The second step is to realize that your body is a Temple. What you eat will reflect in how you look and how you feel. If you are eating an unbalanced diet of mostly processed foods full of added sugars, salt, fat, and chemicals, your body will not obtain the vitamins and minerals necessary for you to feel your best; thereby requiring you to keep eating and eating until you get the key nutrients you need. Thus, a balanced diet full of natural whole foods with plenty of fiber will most definitely make it easier for you to eat intuitively.
The third step is to Feel Hunger. That's right, it's hunger! Do not eat when not hungry. Do eat when hungry. Pretty simple, right? Well maybe not. If you've been grazing and constantly eating as a habit, emotional stress, or boredom, it'll be much more difficult to follow this step. My advice to you is to admit you have a habit and you'll need to replace the habit with something else. If you must put something in your mouth: eat gum, drink water, chew on chewy textured food like beef jerky or have a small piece of fruit. If you're bored, pick up a hobby, exercise, or read! If you're having chronic emotional stress, I suggest you sit down and deeply reflect on the reasons why you are stressing in your daily life and attempt to remove triggers or relieve it through stress relief techniques and activities (how-to blog coming soon!).
The fourth step is Feel Fullness. The feeling of fullness takes time to grasp and is more often difficult for people who are used to cleaning their plate empty. However, with practice, it will come eventually. There are helpful tips though: eat without distractions (no T.V., phone, internet, etc), eat with your family, eat slowly, chew thoroughly, and drink water. Now why might eating with family help you eat intuitively? The dinner table is a wonderful time to chat and talk with your family. This helps to slow your eating and at the same time, build your relationship. So why not? Eating slowly will help you closely gauge your hunger dissipating and fullness level rising.
That's it! Remember: Appreciate, Assess, Feel Hunger, and Feel Fullness. Now that you know what to do, start intuitively eating your way to better health.
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