I was introduced to Intuitive Eating at treatment for my Eating Disorder. I will never go back to dieting EVER. I LOVE Intuitive Eating, it frees you from dieting and it is a great balance of enjoying food you love and healthy eating. Its all about listening to your bodies signals of hunger, fullness and satiety. I feel SO blessed to know about Intuitive Eating and not get sucked in by all the dieting crap out there and to get to enjoy my food but also take care of my body. Can you think of someone in your life who doesn't have food "issues", they don't seem to listen to all the food "rules", they just simply eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full and they've never had weight problems? Yea they are Intuitive Eaters and they don't even know it. We are all born intuitive eaters but then with all the food should's and should-nots and emotional eating out there we get confused and start listening to outside sources instead of the bodily signals god gave us. Unfortunately some of us aren't so lucky and have to work at getting back in touch with our IE signals.
With Intuitive Eating a delicious, balanced (healthy foods & treats) diet in moderation is the goal.I don't really like Oreos, I don't hate them but they don't do much for me. Cheesecake factory macadamia nut cheesecake on the other hand is like heaven on a plate. To me its totally worth it to eat the cheesecake. After I eat it I am satisfied and can leave the table without looking back. When I eat Oreos I never feel satisfied so I keep eating them, then I feel sick and guilty and still unsatisfied. Oreos just aren't worth the calories to me, so I leave Oreos alone and savor the cheesecake. Intuitive Eating goes by the rule "If you don't like it don't eat it, if you love it savor it" There are some foods that I just don't miss when I don't eat them so I don't eat them. But then there are some foods I just can't live without so I savor them. When I do this I find that I eat far less food than when I'm constantly trying to curb a craving with rice cakes. Also, IE is all about finding healthy foods you love! There are so many delicious fruits and vegetables out there and so many delicious ways of cooking them. Some people think to eat healthy you have to not enjoy your food as much but that is so untrue. Intuitive Eating is all about ENJOYING your food and I guess that's why its worked so well for me because I love food! It's all about BALANCE and MODERATION.
To get started with Intuitive Eating I suggest making your own hunger/fullness scale. Here is mine so you can get an idea:
1- light headed, low energy, headache, starving
2- super hungry, want to eat super fast. low blood sugar
3- gently hungry, can feel my body needs food, sounds really good but I can still eat slowly and mindfully because I'm not overly hungry
4- food starts to be appealing to the senses but it will taste even better in a little while when I'm at a 3
5- in between not hungry or full
6- starting to be relieved from hunger, food is starting to not be AS good, take breaks and be mindful
7-comfortably full, feel energized and satisfied, healthy feeling.
8- a little sluggish, ate a little too much, will wear off in an hour or so. Okay to get here when the food is extra good or special occasion
9- really sluggish, want a nap. try to never get here
10- binge full, sick, don't want to move
2- super hungry, want to eat super fast. low blood sugar
3- gently hungry, can feel my body needs food, sounds really good but I can still eat slowly and mindfully because I'm not overly hungry
4- food starts to be appealing to the senses but it will taste even better in a little while when I'm at a 3
5- in between not hungry or full
6- starting to be relieved from hunger, food is starting to not be AS good, take breaks and be mindful
7-comfortably full, feel energized and satisfied, healthy feeling.
8- a little sluggish, ate a little too much, will wear off in an hour or so. Okay to get here when the food is extra good or special occasion
9- really sluggish, want a nap. try to never get here
10- binge full, sick, don't want to move
Everyone's is different because IE is different for everyone. As you learn more about what hunger and fullness feels like to you, you can adapt your scale. If you can't feel your hunger/fullness try eating a small meal (400ish calories) every 3 hours. Soon you should be able to feel hunger. It could take a week or even two, depending on how long its been since you've felt hunger. Sometimes we get so out of touch with our h/f signals because of getting overly hungry and overly full. The whole idea of Intuitive Eating is to stay between a 3 and 7. Never getting too hungry or too full but keeping our metabolism going all the time. Its about eating when you are gently hungry and stopping when you are comfortably full. Its also about trusting your body to make up for your mistakes and looking at your mistakes as a learning opportunity. This is a learning process. But as your body trusts that you will continuously give your body food when it is hungry it then starts using the food. When you are on a roller coaster of extreme hunger and extreme fullness your body stores food instead of uses it. With Intuitive Eating your weight will get to its natural set point. If you need to lose weight you will, if you need to gain weight you will, if you need to stay the same you will. We are all different. Instead of comparing and thinking their is one ideal universal size lets just strive to be our own personal best self and take care of our bodies.This is Intuitive Eating in a nutshell, its really simple. There is a lot of things in the book Intuitive Eating that helps too. Like mindful eating, making peace with food, overcoming emotional eating, gentle nutrition etc etc. But the hunger fullness scale is a great place to start. I have found it very helpful, hope it helps someone out there too!