Today we live in an era where the lesser you eat, the healthier you are or a fancy diet plan is what keeps you ‘fit’. You starve for days to achieve the ‘perfect body’ and end up trying out a new ‘miracle diet’ that crops up every other day. We’ve heard of paleo, ultra-low fat diet, Dukan diet, Atkins diet, HCG diet, Zone diet, and the list goes on...
With so many diet plans available and so many rules on what NOT to eat, intuitive eating comes as a savior. No! Intuitive eating is not another diet plan, it is anti-diet, actually.
Yes! Anti-diet!
Let us start with the basics of intuitive eating.
Intuitive eating is a simple principle of learning to respect your body. It has nothing to do with diets, denial and willpower. In fact, it is the exact opposite of a regular diet plan. Intuitive eating does not impose guidelines as opposed to other diet plans. Furthermore, it does not chart out what you must eat and what you must avoid.
Instead, intuitive eating is about becoming the master of your own body. It is about you taking control and taking cues from your body about what you want to eat. This technique helps you get back to your natural instincts, identify and follow the hunger signals of your body and eating accordingly.
Today, people often resort to diet books and follow diets that their friends follow, without necessarily checking if these diet plans actually work for them. Diets put your body in denial mode, where you have to compromise on your food intake, calories and what not! This is where intuitive eating can help you. It is all about learning to listen to your body, trusting your intuition and eating appropriately. The basic idea is to eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. This promotes a good attitude towards food and body image.
The first step toward intuitive eating is to identify the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger.
Physical hunger: Your physical hunger goes by your biological need to replenish nutrients and satiate your hungry stomach. When your biological clock nears mealtime, you surely will notice a growling stomach, fatigue or in some cases irritability. All of these are signs of a hungry stomach. The feeling goes away once you have had your fill.
Emotional hunger: Sometimes, we tend to binge eat to overcome our feelings. Our mind tends to fall back on ‘comfort foods’ to beat the strong emotional phase it is going through at that moment. It may be sadness, loss, loneliness, stress and sometimes even boredom.
If you are successfully able to identify physical hunger, you sure will be able to tune into your body’s ‘intuition’ and eat without feeling guilty!
To learn more about keeping your mind and body healthy grab our free e-book Embracing Peace on Your Journey to Wellness by clicking the image below.
With intuitive eating, you earn a positive body image, higher self-esteem, lower body mass index and a healthier attitude toward food.
Let’s eat!
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