This post in the Intuitive Eating Series might be my most favorite because it is one that breaks several societal norms and involves lots of science. Society tells us eating after 7 causes weight gain, that we should drink a glass of water before eating so we feel “more full”, and only eat when the clock allows despite what our hunger is telling us. What all these lies society have in common is that they all teach us to deny our biological hunger. To deny a cue that is so important it helps tell us when we need more fuel to survive and function at our prime. The following is a little about what denying hunger does to the body. No fluff- just some information.

I don’t know about you but when I’m hungry I can’t think straight, all I can think about is food, and my body starts letting me know- lowering my energy, making my tummy growl, and initiating my “I’m pissed off” mood. That’s all normal! Somewhere along the road in society we were taught that hunger is bad and feeling this wonderful, natural, cue is something to be denied.

Denying hunger eventually leads to overeating or chaotic eating. It’s not a matter of willpower, its a matter of pure biology. Your physical deprivation triggers a  cascade of hormones and thoughts that inevitably initiate eating out of what is eventually primal hunger if you have been depriving yourself slightly for days or weeks or just out right not eating for 5+ hours. Some of this could be due to the restrict binge cycle- or it could just be pure hunger. Even intuitive eaters who forget their snacks or get caught up in their day can get to the point of primal hunger- myself included.

Denying this hunger sets you and your body up for a pretty poor relationship. Your body says “I’m hungry” and if you say “too bad… gotta wait 2 more hours till it’s “time” to eat” that lets your body know that it can’t tryst you to feed it. As a survival mechanism, your metabolism begins to slow to compensate for the lack of energy you are giving it which can hinder your life in various ways in terms of energy to work, mental clarity, and energy to perform other daily activities such as exercise or just being you!

Eating out of primal hunger or constant denial of hunger cues regularly tells the body to store that food for later when you starve it again so instead of getting used as fuel, that food might  get stored more long term as fat because your body can pull on fat stores for energy longer than it can pull from your stored glycogen from regular carbohydrates eaten at every meal from your muscle and liver.

An alternative to this dental of hunger is the beautiful principal of honoring your hunger. Honoring your hunger is one thing that can set your body up for prime metabolism. Side note- I think it’s funny that the media tells us to “rev up your metabolism by doing x diet” when really the only way to “rev” your metabolism is to give your body the energy to perform its daily functions, which is essentially what metabolism is. So in short- the sure fire way to get that metabolism started is to EAT.

The body likes to be fed every 3-4 hours. Your body might be a bit different and ultimately you know yourself best but anything more than 4 usually gets you in the near primal hunger zone and the body dis-trust zone. Now, life happens, not eating regularly happens- traveling, getting sick, stress. Intuitive Eating is not a perfect way of eating and loosing focus of feeding yourself every now and again just happens. If you are skipping meals and eating every 6-7 hours on the regular- then I would encourage you to take a step back and see what’s going on there. See how you might be able to care for yourself in a more regular manner.

So back to the feeding. Eating a balanced snack or meal (we will get to that in later principals!) every 3-4 hours allows your body to know it will be fed adequately. It allows you to build that trust up with your body so instead of that food being stored as fat for later it can be used to fuel your workout, your big meeting, your daily functions through efficient carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism. You may have to store fat, too, but it’s intentional, not out of fear of starvation again! You are setting yourself up for success at meal times giving yourself the space to reach the comfortable full and satisfied feeling instead of loosing control around food. You will also be able to pin point what food your body might be craving or needing more of rather than just anything and everything.

Honoring your hunger means listening to your INTERNAL cues. Not what the clock says. Not what your strict meal plan from whatever trainer or website says. Not what your friends say. Your hunger manifests itself different than your friends and family. Your hunger is unique to you. Honor that! If you have denied hunger cues for days, weeks, months, years, feeling hunger may not really be in the cards for you. Over time if we suppress them for long enough, those cues go away but have no fear- they CAN come back! This is where the knowledge of eating a balanced plate or snack every 3 -ish hours comes into play to help you get back those hunger cues. If you don’t have those cues you can try this method. You can also reach out to a trained professional that can help you gain skills in this arena. I hope I can be that person for you next year!

*please note that if you are following a meal plan from a registered dietitian on your care team to help you establish hunger and fullness cues again in eating disorder recovery that is important and needed! Also note that if you are in recovery from an eating disorder this post may not apply to you in your journey right now but it CAN apply as you work through regulating your body’s cues and learning to trust your body again with the care of your team 🙂 

Honoring your hunger is freeing. It means eating just when YOU are hungry and learning what that means for you!

Hi everyone!

I hope you had a great week! I’m back for the second post of the Intuitive Eating Series here where I try and shine a practical light on intuitive eating and what it means to me in real life. Again, if you would like to follow along click here for my affiliate link to Intuitive Eating on Amazon so you can read week by week and perhaps offer your own experiences in the comments.

*I also want to note that the information in this series is just a summary of intuitive eating. It is in no means a substitute for answering personal questions and personal diet or medical history with a trained professional. Hopefully this can just be a jumping off point for anyone reading this.

So the first principal of intuitive eating is “Reject The Diet Mentality”. What is a diet mentality? It’s the mentality that “this next diet is the one that’s going to work”, or “I can’t have this because it will cause x pounds of weight gain”, or “I’m doing a  juice cleanse to “detox” after what I ate this holiday season”. What it all boils down to is false hope or shame that stems comes from the diet industry made to make us think we can’t trust our bodies or there is always something more to fix. Basically, that we aren’t good enough how we are.

I found that rejecting this mentality was so much more doable once I really knew what was going on when one diets. I created a little graphic for you to help show you what I mean and what the research supports.

Ironic huh? The very things dieters want to not happen, happen. Dieters want a fast metabolism, weight LOSS, and increased feelings of self worth. Research shows the total opposite happens. Ugh.

I also find that’s it’s helpful to define what a diet is because dieting is so normalized in our society it often goes unnoticed to the untrained eye. Here are some examples. (Please note that I am not speaking to those individuals who have been prescribed a way of eating for medical reasons. Example- Celiac or NCGS for a Gluten Free diet)

Whole30, Paleo, Ketogenic, Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Atkins, Low Carb, Juice Cleanses, Cookie Diets, Master Cleanses…

Other more sneaky examples of diet behavior are- denying hunger to “save up” for a meal, relying on the clock to tell you what time it is and what you can or can’t eat, labeling foods “good” “bad” or anything of the like, suppressing hunger with liquids like coffee or water, eating a plate of veggies before “real” food, and cutting out large food groups because of fear mongering messages. Dieting behavior can also be compensating for food eaten with exercise or restriction following the eating event.

Sadly, the next diet is beautifully packaged and ready to lure you in, promising you that THIS, this is the one that works, and there we go again on the nasty diet cycle that CAN be broken. We just have to come to realize that all the diet industry has to offer us is a place to spend lots of money, time, and effort, and receive nothing but false hope in return.

I want to tell you that you are so much more than your body. What you look like on the outside has nothing to do with your self worth or your ability to accomplish things in this world! You are WORTHY.

The process of coming to realize the sham that is diet culture I think has two parts. Acceptance and realization. Acceptance of our bodies at their natural, set point weight, however that appears. Re-learning intuitive eating can lead you to a number of body changes. Your body may get bigger, smaller, change proportions, or stay totally the same. It’s different for everyone and that’s the beauty of it. At first we might not want to accept these changes. Heck, we may even loathe these changes. Our clothes might fit differently, or we may be scared people won’t accept us. Let me be the first to tell you though that my clothes no longer fit me properly upon settling into intuitive eating and I then bought new clothes. Clothes that fit my current body, my body that ate and lived intuitively, and moved on. This process is hard and it takes giving yourself so much grace, but it is a worthwhile challenge. I then realized that if anyone wanted to comment on my less than perfect body in a negative way, in a way that  judged my self worth, then they weren’t someone I really wanted to have in my life.

The other part is realization. Realization of what dieting actually does to the physiology of the human body, the fact that there is no long term research to show that weight can be kept off, and that weight is certainly not an accurate determination of health. Realizing this in the middle of my RD schooling was a huge wake up call to me. I always tell people- once you know, you can’t un-know. I can’t see myself as a future practitioner ethically prescribing any diet that doesn’t have a medical need (like a renal diet for someone on dialysis, for example) because I know it does more harm than good. I’m a firm believer in that. I have seen first hand what the diet mentality does to social lives, to families, and to self worth. It crumbles them and leave just pieces of a human there. Intuitive Eating is the opposite. It embraces the whole human, a human that lives a full, healthy life. Physical, emotional, social health, all of it. I would much, much rather change the conversation to healthy behavior changes and reaching a healthy relationship with food.

Just in case you like “hmm what do you mean weight is poor determinant of health” check out this research. Tomiyama, Hunger, Nguyen-Cuu, & Wells (2016) 2005-2012 NHANES study found that “29% of obese individuals, and ~16% of obesity type 2 and 3 individuals” were metabolically healthy and “30% of “normal” weight individuals were found to be cardio-metabolically unhealthy”. The NHANES is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. The survey is unique in that it combines interviews and physical examinations.

The above quote basically conveys that a good percentage of those who have a BMI in the “overweight” category were actually healthy, per blood work and physical exam standards, however a percentage of the “normal” weight people were not by those same standards. Most likely those in the “overweight” category received some encouragement to go on a diet (and we know the consequences and low success rate of those) just because of their weight even though for all we know they could have been leading a healthy lifestyle. Those in the “normal” category would probably not have received that same suggestion to change some behaviors and maybe would have benefited from a conversation on that. When health care professionals rely on weight they miss the awesome conversation of behaviors and the potential for change there, regardless of outside appearance. That conversation can help us get in tune with our bodies regardless of weight rather than perpetuate weight stigma in our society.  

Intuitive Eating is awesome because it offers the same behavior changes to everyone! You can find those principals in post one and explained a little more in depth in the following posts. Intuitve eating looks different on everyone on the outside and that’s ok.

So, if you are stuck in the diet mentality, try asking yourself some of these questions.

What has dieting done to my mental health, social health, and physical health?

Have I gained anything form dieting? 

What rules did dieting tell me that I absolutely hated?

What foods were off limits that I really would like to enjoy? 

What are some positive things I like about myself and others besides their physical appearance? Do I think others see this in me? 

After writing some life experiences out maybe you might begin to see the ways dieting has negatively affected your life. If you are ready for a change then ditching the diet mentality is a great first step. Congrats- you made it through this post! If you want to learn more I would encourage you to pick up a book and read with me 🙂

References

Tomiyama, A., Hunger, J., Nguyen-Cuu, J., & Wells, C. (2016). Misclassification of cardiometabolic health when using body mass index categories in NHANES 2005-2012. International Journal of Obesity (2005),40(5), 883-6.

Welcome to post one in the Intuitive Eating series! I hope to be able to dive a little deeper into Intuitive Eating here and in subsequent posts to be a resource for you and invite you in to this awesome way of living that has given me so much peace. I say peace because through my journey with intuitive eating I have found body peace I never thought possible as well as calm in food decisions. Choosing food as an intuitive eater is so un-stressful. I hope I can give you intuitive eating from my perspective. I always enjoy seeing individual spins on things!

The easiest way I describe the process of intuitive eating to people is asking yourself two simple questions.

What do I want right now? and How will that make me feel?

I put the “want” question first because that’s at the root of intuitive eating but the feel question is also an important component because sometimes what we want might not make us feel super awesome so we course correct and enhance that food decision or prepare food for the next time we are hungry so that we feel satisfied and full. Sometimes we choose a fun food for pleasure and joy and emotional satisfaction and sometimes we choose a food for physical satisfaction that has no emotional ties because life is fast paced and we just know that eating is necessary for brain function and energy levels and let’s move on. Here’s a little scenario.

Example: I love donuts. I really love them a lot and they used to be a food that was “off limits” to me prior to becoming an intuitive eater but now they are welcome any time I desire a donut- no strings attached. It’s so awesome. I don’t feel the need to eat all the donuts because I know if I want a donut later in the day or one tomorrow that’s totally cool. It allows me to be present in the moment and enjoy my donut rather than go through the myriad of stressful questions that actually physically make the event of eating a donut stressful. When we stress about food it initiates the body’s stress response and cortisol release. Life is already stressful enough, let’s take the food stress off the table.

Let’s go through the 2 questions.

Q 1:What do I want?

A 1: A donut! Specifically- a chocolate buttermilk donut from Blue Star or a Huckleberry Donut from Sidecar. (I told you I love them- so much so that I have HIGH standards for a good donut- anything less- I don’t want it- I’ll wait till something really good comes along- that’s another perk of intuitive eating- having unconditional permission to eat which also means if you don’t want to eat the sub par donut… you can make that decision to wait and make it truly enjoyable later on!)

Q 2: How will this donut make me feel?

A 2: Well that depends… If it’s for breakfast I usually need something savory to accompany my donut so I need to make sure to get me a boiled egg or share a donut with a friend who has a breakfast quesadilla with eggs so I get my protein and savory while also having my sweet and carby. When I have that egg dish my plate is better balanced as well- we have protein, carbs, and fat and probably a little veggie too from the savory dish! wohoo!  If it’s a snack in the middle of the day I usually don’t need anything else with my donut except a cup of coffee and I’m super satisfied for a few hours.

*side note- donuts are actually quite balanced if you look at the big picture. Carbs (flour and sugar)  + fat (butter usually and oil) so theoretically, that’s why it does a good job at keeping you full and intuitive eating encourages us to look at that big picture to see what it provides and what else we might need.

Intuitive Eating in short is connecting the “2 B’s” Brain and Body knowledge. You can see that from the two questions above – brain is the want and body is the feel. The reason this is important is because diet culture often neglects both of these questions and gives us a specific diet to follow that claimed to help one person and some how can help millions without asking them their preferences, their activity level, how much sleep they get, their medical history? Doesn’t that seem a little fishy? We are all incredibly unique and diet culture tells us we are not. I strongly dislike that. How can person x feel satisfied and enjoy the same meal plan or way of eating as person y if person x and y are so incredibly different in almost every way? It just blows my mind.

Intuitive eating fosters that individuality and encourages us to nourish ourselves, no one else. No one else can know what food you enjoy because that person is not you. No one else can determine how much and what type of food gets you to a comfortable fullness level and what food changes that fullness to satisfied. More on full vs. satisfied later. Intuitive eating encourages gentle nutrition- the concept of balancing a plate and enjoying fruits and veggies as well as the macronutrients. But this gentle nutrition step comes only after we break down the dieting myth. The myth that weight loss is attainable for everyone and that thinner is better. Ugh. We need to break that down and shed a bright, hard light at it. We then need to understand what even constitues a diet and how that affects the physiology of the human body that is only trying to keep us alive and well!

We then need to go into how to honor our body through movement and through unconditional permission to eat. We need to play around with what hunger feels like and what fullness feels like. Can you pinpoint when you are appropriately hungry and comfortably full and satisfied? Many people can’t and this was actually where I had the most trouble in intuitive eating. I could not, for the life of me, understand what a comfortable full was for MONTHS. It took me months of going way past and feeling defeated. So believe me when I say it hasn’t been roses and daisies all the way for me.

I would also like to note that no one is a perfect intuitive eater. No one gets a 100% because life is messy and because intuitive eating goes a long with life- sometimes we aren’t totally taking care of ourselves in the best way and then we course correct to get back to a place we feel nourished and cared for.

I think this graphic from Laura is a wonderful depiction of what intuitive eating is and through this process you can be on that right side wohoo!

The 10 principals of intuitive eating are the following. If you would like to purchase the intuitive eating book and work through these week by week with me go ahead and click here to order!

1. Reject The Diet Mentality
2. Honor Your Hunger
3. Make Peace With Food
4. Challenge The Food Police
5. Respect Your Fullness
6. Discover The Satisfaction Factor
7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food
8. Respect Your Body
9. Exercise- Feel The Difference
10. Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition