#intuitive eating
On Intuitive Eating And why it kinda sucks.
So today we’re gonna talk Intuitive Eating and why as the title suggests it kind of sucks. First if you aren’t familiar here is a quickie overview. From an article this sums it up nicely:
Intuitive eating is a philosophy that encourages us to listen to our bodies for hunger and satisfaction cues — to eat when we’re hungry and to stop when we’re full.
For our purposes we’re not gonna argue any of…
Collecting my diabetes comic into two convenient posts, part two.
Sources:
13 https://mghdiabeteseducation.com/2018/03/15/eat-balanced-by-pairing-your-carbs-with-protein/
14 https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-destress.html
Intuitive Eating: https://www.intuitiveeating.org/10-principles-of-intuitive-eating/
Diabetes and Intuitive Eating: https://lindobacon.com/pdf/BaconMatz_Diabetes_EnjoyingFood.pdf
No weight loss required Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noweightlossrequired
TW: weight
So…this morning, when I was updating my stats in MyFitnessPal (which I haven’t done in almost a year), I realized that I’m 17 pounds lighter than I was last year in May 2021. Sometime between towards the end of December 2021 and the beginning of this year, I made the decision to stop focusing so much on calories. I’ve shifted my focus on eating more intuitively and on how the food I eat makes me feel. I have also not been actively weighing myself. I think the last time I stepped on a scale in my own home was over a year ago. The only reason why I know how much I weigh now is because I had a doctor’s appointment a few days ago.
I feel good because I hadn’t realized that I’ve made that much progress so far. I knew I had made some, since some of my favorite clothes weren’t fitting as tightly, but I had assumed it was probably just from bloating less.
I really hope I continue to see this trend. I’m also hoping that since it’s taking longer than I’m used to, it’ll be more sustainable in the long run :)
3. make peace with food
this principle rests on one of the most fundamental concepts in intuitive eating: unconditional permission to eat. diet culture has programmed us w innumerable reasons why we should not eat at this time, or in that way, or this or that particular food. it tells us to eat less, to plan on eating less in the future, to always be looking for things to cut out and avoid. our hunger in the moment is affected by past deprivation, current restrictions, and the threat of future deprivation. given that the body’s main concern is obtaining adequate energy and nutrient variety from food, could anything be less peaceful??
what distinguishes this principle from the previous (honor your hunger) is its focus on the effects of psychological restriction, the highly conditional permission to eat with which we’re all indoctrinated in this culture. when we think we can’t have enough, or can’t have certain foods, the drive to obtain them in large quantities can be just as powerful as the drive to correct a negative energy balance. our bodies know what we’re thinking, bc guess what we’re thinking with!
when you recommit to yet another diet/lifestyle change, do you engage in what resch & tribole call “last supper eating”? you can’t have it tomorrow, so you better have as much as possible today! you’re not allowed to eat that cake on the counter so you eat everything else in the kitchen and then eventually the cake too, since you already “messed up” this time? the body REBELS against the threat of deprivation and creates compulsions to eat that few people can override (those people have eating disorders and are not to be envied).
the solution is so simple, but not easy! unconditional permission to eat means you can have whatever you want, whenever you want, as much as you want. this is scary as hell at first, when the deprivation backlash is still at work. give it time, eat those previously forbidden foods (they won’t hurt you!), breathe, and watch your body & mind come to a place of peace with all food. food will no longer be a battleground when you stop the destined-to-fail attempts at and plans for restriction.
2. honor your hunger
this is the radical notion that humans ought to eat when they’re hungry! how many ways has diet culture taught us to try to override hunger signals? being hungry doesn’t mean you’re thirsty, bored, lonely, food addicted, or any other invented narrative, it means your body needs energy in the form of calories from food.
honoring your hunger can be really scary if you’re experiencing hyperphagia (extreme hunger/eating) after a period of deprivation. you may have a LOT of hunger! you may be eating far more than you think is normal. that’s part of the process of repairing biological and psychological damage from restriction.
structure may actually help you here, tho it doesn’t feel “intuitive” at first. honoring hunger may mean getting on an eating schedule, something like 3 meals and 2-3 snacks per day. eat every few hours, and notice how you feel beforehand (hunger can appear as difficulty concentrating, dizziness, nausea, thoughts about food, irritability, even a sense of euphoria for some of us). you’ll find as you eat regularly and consistently that your hunger cues become more refined and perceptible, and you will learn to eat before you’re ravenously hungry. hunger will eventually become gentle and manageable if you’re eating adequately.
honoring hunger also means eating what you’re hungry for. if you’re craving a cheeseburger, don’t eat a salad. obviously we all have some material constraints around food choice, but believe your body when it communicates its needs in the form of cravings. as much as it’s in your power, eat what you crave and watch the body crave increasing variety over time. human bodies have been driving eating behavior via hunger for 200,000 years, and they’ve quite got it down–the fact that we have more dietary choice now is not reason to think our bodies incompetent in this area.
i love this phrase, “honor your hunger.” respect it, trust it, attend to it, defer to it. the tricks of diet culture are not worthy of honor, but your hunger (that is, your body) absolutely is.
When you’re tired, stressed, burned out, depressed, or just busy, figuring out how to feed yourself multiple times a day can take more energy than you have to give. Here’s a resource I’ve been leaning on lately so that feeding myself is easier.
I’ve never been a meal prepper because I don’t like eating leftovers over and over, and taping a written list of snack ideas to the pantry hasn’t worked for me in the past. When I tried a visual method by saving a folder of photos on my phone, something clicked. I’m a visual person—of course I would benefit from seeing a personal menu of food in my own kitchen! (I haven’t tried it, but I imagine a visual menu would work for kids too.) Right now, my menu has a lot of appetizer-type finger foods on it because that’s what sounds good and doesn’t take long to make or reheat. Maybe I’ll change my menu out seasonally like a restaurant…
Anyway, I hope this sparks an idea for you if deciding what food to make is a struggle. If not this method exactly, experiment and see what makes the task easier for you! I’m all for saving energy on daily, routine tasks so that I can spend it where it’s really important.
