5 Fantasies About Intuitive Eating - The Quality Of Life

Intuitive eating - what is it? A way of a person's relationship with food, based on respect for the needs of his own body, or permissiveness? Is it possible to eat everything and anywhere? Psychologist Tatiana Aksinenko will help you sort out our fantasies about intuitive eating

Only facts

Many people mistakenly believe that the founder of the intuitive approach to eating is Stephen Hawkes, who published his research on intuitive eating in 2005. However, back in the seventies of the last century, Teima Weiler opened a clinic for weight loss without dieting in the United States. And in the UK, Susie Orbach's book "Fat is a Feminist Theme" was published. In 1995, Evelyn Triboli and Eliza Resch published a joint study under this very title "Intuitive Nutrition."

Intuitive nutrition is based on seemingly simple propositions: you need to eat when you are hungry, where you want, what you want at the moment, and just enough to get enough

And here, speculating on the apparent ease of the proposed approach, the self-proclaimed gurus of intuitive nutrition are broadcasting: everything is simple - you start eating when you are hungry, you do not limit yourself in anything, you wait until the body realizes that now there will always be enough food, stop overeating and refuse all the usual fast foods, sweets and fat.

In reality, things often turn out to be completely different.

Fantasy number 1

A person begins to take any urge to eat something for a physiological hunger, not knowing how to distinguish it from a psychological hunger. Although it is psychological reasons that most often provoke overeating.

Tatiana, 54 years old. She always ate a lot of sweets, it scared those around her, but she laughed. After switching to intuitive eating, eating sweets became more moderate. However, occasionally she could “sentence” up to half a kilogram of chocolates in one sitting.

Talking with a psychotherapist, Tatyana recalled that as a child, her rejecting, emotionally cold mother, when the girl was very ill, expressed sympathy by giving out chocolate candy.

The realization soon came that uncontrolled eating of sweets arises precisely in response to an unmet need for acceptance and compassion

What to do?

It is important to learn to separate physiological and psychological needs. If you cannot do it yourself, contact a specialist. Just remember: before you take something from yourself, you need to understand what you can give in return.

Fantasy number 2

If you have adhered to dietary nutrition for most of your life, then, refusing diets, you may face confusion: "What, in fact, do I want?"

The habit of following external, and not internal, landmarks can turn into deafness to the desires of your body

Marina, 32 years old. She adhered to a dietary diet, starting with life in her parental family. In recent years, I have used the services of a specialist who makes up the daily menu.

When switching to intuitive eating, Marina found herself completely disoriented. Sometimes for three hours she could not choose what she wanted to “eat right now”. She didn't want anything. The need to make a choice was annoying, my own failure angered.

What to do?

When it is difficult to understand what you really want, start by understanding the general criteria. Are you more sour or salty? Sweet or bitter? Crunchy or soft? Hot or cold? Liquid or Solid? If you still find it difficult to decide, go through the meals you've recently eaten.

It is not necessary to abruptly part with the specialist who makes the menu, but it is necessary to revive your attitude to food, feeling its taste, smell, aftertaste, listening to how the body feels after taking specific dishes.

Fantasy number 3

There is no harmful and healthy food, there is just food. Maybe. But there are foods that are not particularly suitable for your body. For example, I really want fried potatoes with mushrooms. Ate and got heartburn. The body gave a clear message: "This food makes me sick." But a week later I want it again.

What to do?

First, we look at the point about the distinction between emotional and physiological hunger. But you shouldn't press down and devalue your desires either: “instead of fried potatoes I'll gnaw a raw carrot” is unlikely to work.

Secondly, we read the previous point … and do the opposite. I want fried potatoes with mushrooms, but after the third heartburn I start to doubt: does my body really want this?

Imagine the taste of the desired dish and try to understand what can replace it with a similar consistency and sensation. It's okay to experiment by substituting products. For example, try mushroom cauliflower and fern fried potatoes. This will help you understand which of these products is not right for you.

Fantasy number 4

Many people believe that by sticking to intuitive eating, they can eat when hungry. But alas, people with overeating often do not recognize hunger.

Lyudmila, a successful young woman who has been following a diet in recent years, drank coffee with a loaf of bread and a piece of salted fish or a boiled egg in the morning; in the afternoon, busy with work, she did not want to eat or dine. However, in the evening I barely had enough strength to get to the house, where I swept away everything that came to hand. Then she blamed herself, worried that she had overeat again, and promised herself that tomorrow she would definitely restrain herself and have a normal dinner.

What to do?

Listen to and respond to the needs of your body. When sensitivity is restored, it becomes possible not to bring oneself to the state of “eating an elephant”.

Lyudmila was helped by the solution lying on the surface - to start dining. It turned out that by this time she was already, according to her, hungry by about five to six points on a ten-point scale, but did not feel it. Hunger manifested itself in the evening, suddenly and too much to be able to adequately respond to it.

Fantasy number 5

Physical activity does not really matter - some "intuitions" decide, allowing themselves to "fall into bed" and listen to the body, recognizing its signals.

I will disappoint: if you learn to actually hear the body, it will scream about the need for movement. But - movement, and not physical activity, training and stimulation, it is it that launches many processes necessary for the normal functioning of the body.

What to do?

Going through the types of activities, focus on your feelings during and after. If you are happy to walk, walk. After sparring you feel tired but satisfied - keep boxing. Enjoy the water - swim. But if after a useful air yoga you feel exhausted, then it is not suitable for you.

Intuitive eating is not a panacea, but it can be the first step in more than just losing weight and dealing with eating disorders. You will learn to understand your body and its signals much better. And if you have firmly decided to embark on this path, without fear of difficulties, then “Intuitive nutrition. How to stop worrying about food and lose weight”by Svetlana Bronnikova

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