You may have heard the phrase ‘intuitive eating’ floating around lately. Between the 30 day diets and the cleanses, it sounds like it could be another system that promises to get the weight off quickly. After doing some digging, it turns out that the idea of intuitive eating is exactly the opposite to this. It is actually meant to help us heal from the lasting effects of constant dieting and unhealthy body image that we may have. So is this the anti-diet? An eating plan that relies on your bodily cues sounds dangerous. Our bodies will often tell us things such as we need to finish that entire tube of cookie dough! This is more of a holistic way to view our relationships with food. The hope is that by taking the pressure off of ourselves, we can then relax when it comes to what we are putting in our bodies. Many of us will feel guilty for eating something we view as unhealthy or bad. What goes along with intuitive eating is taking away those feelings of guilt and instead making peace with our choices. If you can also answer why you are eating, then that is a healthy step towards recognizing if it is an emotional or physical response.
The point is to enjoy your food without guilt; eat when your body is hungry; nourish your body without counting calories. Intuitive eating does sound great in theory. If it were possible to have a healthy relationship with food, then everyone would be doing it, wouldn’t they? People may become deterred from trying intuitive eating when they initially gain a bit of weight. Experts on the subject maintain that this will happen in the beginning. Once you have been intuitively eating for longer, you will become in tune with your body’s signals, and over time, the weight will come off again.
If you have the patience and the commitment to try something new for long term benefits, then intuitive eating is a valid option for you. If you are looking for a quick solution to lose a few pounds, then this doesn’t sound like the answer. Either way, cookie dough is always a good idea…
