I’m going to let you in on a secret that changed my life and broke me out of the diet cycle: any form of controlled eating will just cause you more problems.
Why? Well I’m bloody glad you asked. Dieting creates an emotional relationship with food. Food isn’t out to get you and make you fat. It’s just energy. An emotional relationship with food causes guilt, feelings of failure and obsession over the foods you’ve been told are ‘bad’.
Labeling food as “good” and “bad” causes you to constantly think about food. Every time some “bad” food is near you, you have a mental struggle with yourself about having some. When you inevitably crack and “break your diet” you go nuts and eat all of it. Every last Tim Tam in the damn packet. Then you feel guilty. Like a failure. You swear to do better tomorrow. The cycle continues.
It was learning about Intuitive Eating that helped me break that pattern for good.
What is Intuitive Eating? In a nutshell, Intuitive Eating is about re-learning how you were born to eat. Your natural hunger and satiety cues. Listening to your body. Society messes up these natural cues. I’m being nice. Society royally effs up your natural cues.
So Intuitive Eating takes practice – it took me a long time after 10+ years of being a diet pro. (Diet Pro = Tried every diet Google could find me and knew the calorie count of pretty much everything). Intuitive Eating gave me my freedom back around food. You can eat anything and everything you want and most importantly, never think about food negatively again.
How do you eat intuitively?
It’s simplified into 4 easy steps. I still use these steps today, after five years of being an Intuitive Eater.
- Wait until you are genuinely hungry. There is no ideal time to eat. Your body will tell you when it needs food. If you’re used to eating at a certain time, or out of habit then you might not even know what it feels like. Do yourself a favour, learn this feeling.
- Eat exactly what you want. At first this is scary AF right? You think you’re going to eat all the junk food in the world! You’re not. The funny thing is – as soon as you allow yourself to eat whatever the hell you want – with no guilt or restraint- the desire can lessen.
- Sit down and eat consciously. In other words, just pay attention to what you’re eating. Don’t stuff it in so fast you’re not even tasting it. Notice how you feel as you eat it. As you’re getting full, the food stops tasting as good.
- When you’re satisfied, stop eating. Not when the plate is empty, not when you’re stuffed and have a food baby. Learn to stop eating when your body has had enough fuel.
You will find this hard. You will doubt if you can do it. You can, just try again at your next meal. Just wait until you’re actually hungry first. You will eat junk at first. You will feel like a wild cat released from its cage, but don’t worry. You’ll get over it real quick and lose all interest in the foods that controlled you before.
Go to the shops and buy every item of junk food you try to avoid. Sit down at your table and open everything. Give yourself full permission to eat it all- slowly, one bite at a time. You’ll notice the desire for them will disappear.
Your body wants you to be healthy, trust it. You will notice your body craves healthier foods. Your body actually wants healthy food. And if it works for you like it did for me, you will feel free of years of unhealthy dieting.
Alexa Prinno is the owner at Bossy Alexa.
Top Comments
My husband and I just started eating like this a few months ago, and the difference in how I feel and look is amazing. I sleep better and have way more energy because my body is wasting it digesting or processing all that unnecessary food. My husband is doing this with an extreme Keto diet, I am less extreme with mine, I still have carbs now and then and chocolate is still on my list of requirements. But overall we are feeling and doing much better.
Yes! You are spot on. I’ve been eating like this for the last few years simply because it makes sense. Didn’t know it had an actual name though. I am definitely looked upon as strange by some and have even been accused of having an eating disorder by one person (which I don’t by the way). I just eat when I’m hungry. Simple. Sometimes that means no dinner if I’ve had a bigger lunch. Sometimes it means I have really hungry days where I’ll eat a lot. It all balances out. The only downside is when my husband and kids sit down to dinner and I don’t want anything. I worry it may send unintended negative messages to my kids. It’s also tricky if I have others over for dinner or go out for dinner with others. In those cases, I have to override my natural need to eat and just eat anyway so others feel more comfortable. I find the next day and I’m usually not that hungry from overeating the night before. For me, this is the only way to feed your body that makes sense. It’s soooo much better for you, it’s the way the human body is designed to eat, it makes you feel good and it saves a lot of money on unnecessary food wastage (or food excess).