Intuitive Eating

Sometimes, going on a diet isn’t the best option for your health. Instead, you can try out the process of intuitive eating. Eating intuitively goes against the principles of diets and doesn’t have any guidelines you have to follow. All you have to do is learn your hunger signals and give your body what it needs. There are a few basic principles to know when exploring intuitive eating.

Principles:

Reject Diets: In order to be successful in this lifestyle, you need to get rid of any thoughts revolving “diet culture.” You need to fully believe in what you’re doing and that it will be more beneficial than any other diet in the long run.

Don’t restrict yourself: Diets require you to cut out any unhealthy food, but that isn’t entirely necessary. You can enjoy the foods you want to, but you just need to eat them in moderation.

Honor your hunger: If you’re hungry, eat. It’s as simple as that. You don’t need to starve yourself to feel good about yourself. Food gives us energy, so when we’re hungry, it means we are in need of a refuel. Intuitive eating creates an emphasis on giving your body what it needs, when it needs it. Ignoring the signs your body is giving you will only hurt you in the end.

Stop when full: A lot of health issues start because of overeating. To prevent those issues, you should learn to understand when you are full, and then stop eating. Stop in the middle of your meal and ask yourself, “am I still hungry?” If the answer is truly yes, then continue to eat and ask yourself again later. However, if the answer is no, then stop eating. Oftentimes we continue to eat for pleasure, but that is not what we are intended to do. Your body only needs a certain amount of food every once in a while, so it will help you a lot to learn how much you should be eating at a time.

Intuitive eating is a lot different from most diets, but it can be a very beneficial addition to your lifestyles. It encourages eating without restrictions, but also allows you to gain a better understanding on the functionality of your body.