From the very childhood we are intuitive eaters, so this is the most natural approach to food. Some days kids eat a lot and some other days they don’t feel like eating at all. They listen to their bodies well and provide them with the necessary things.
However, as we all grow older, we get into this ‘food system’ where we must eat this and that at a particular time. We learn about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods and some of us start restricting and stop listening to our bodies. The goal of intuitive eating is to renew the connection with your natural signals and forget the word ‘diet’ while still succeeding in healthy life.
Intuitive Eating: Fundamental Principles
To start your way towards eating intuitively, you need to understand the main principles of this approach:
- Forget the diet mentality.
Dieting means restricting yourself from something, which is stressful and leads to short-term results and overeating. Sooner or later you’ll want that chocolate bar so bad you’ll eat three and then get frustrated from all the guilt. Rather than that, don’t restrict yourself from anything. You can eat healthy and keep your calorie deficit even if you eat that choco or anything you’d like. The key is that you have to do everything in moderation. - Pay attention to hunger.
Make peace with your body and trust it when it says it’s hungry. It means you need more energy, and if you’ll satisfy your body’s needs, you won’t have strong cravings and therefore no overeating. Nobody’s perfect, of course, but achieving this understanding and balance between hunger and satiety is crucial. - Remember there are no ‘bad foods’.
Give yourself a promise that you will eat what you want and when you want. There’s no ‘bad food’, there’s food with lower nutritional value. But if you want it at the moment, it means your body needs it and you should listen to it. As you get used to talk to your body like this, you’ll get into your calorie norm and you won’t have to ‘diet’ ever again. - Learn your fullness.
When you restrict yourself, it becomes difficult to stop eating when you’re full, because you know your next meal isn’t coming soon. With intuitive eating, you will learn to feel when you’re full and stop eating, because you’ll know that whenever you get hungry, you can eat something. - Respect yourself.
Love and respect your body at whatever state it is right now. You brought it to this state and you can improve the situation if you stop stressing out over how fast you should run to your goal. More stress means more ill-advised choices and more harm to your body and mind.
Intuitional eating brings you to your roots and reestablishes the connection with your body and its needs. When you achieve this understanding, you won’t need any restrictions, any diets, etc. You will be able to eat anything you want at any time, it’s just that your body will ask you for food that is healthy and it won’t allow you to overeat.
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