Our bodies are pure miracles. Each one of us consists of billions of cells working together. I am in awe of all the chemical processes going on in my wonderful body every single day. Each breath I take is just the beginning of oxygen flooding into my body.
As we grow up, we learn to take our bodies for granted at best. At worst, we are taught to treat them like animals in need of control or even the enemy who must be subdued. So we learn and we practise not to listen. We “push through pain”, we eat according to the clock and force down whatever the latest health guru or doctor tells us to eat.
How is it working out for you? Are you happy, healthy and relaxed? If you are, go on your merry way. But if not, if you waste your energy worrying about diets, it’s time to step into who you are truly supposed to be: truly, madly, deeply in love with your body.
Trust
Intuitive eating means that you listen to your body and act on the signals it sends you. These signals include hunger, appetite and cravings. Hunger tells you when to eat, appetite and cravings tell you what to eat.
When you allow yourself to trust in these signals, you will feel happier and healthier than ever before. Why? Because at any given moment there are thousands of chemical processes going on inside of you. These processes are insanely complex and need all kinds of chemicals to work well.
We were born with the perfect system to ensure that our bodies always have exactly what they need. When you suddenly crave a banana, you might need the energy, a vitamin or a trace mineral that’s in the fruit. Maybe you even need all of the above. It makes sense, doesn’t it? So why don’t we just listen to the signals?
Reasons and distractions
Nutrition and health experts like to tell us why we should eat certain foods so we get used to needing a reason. Intuitive eating requires blind trust in your body because you do not know (and neither does the “expert”) why you crave a certain food right now.
But there is always a reason so intuitive eating means reconnecting with your body and learning to trust the signals. Have faith in yourself and yes, by that I mean blind faith.
While the signals our bodies send never disappear, our life-styles often drown them out. Processed foods are designed to make us eat more and to work around hunger and appetite.
For example, if you eat chips the ingredients have been so highly processed that they melt in your mouth. When you have to chew less, your body does not notice immediately that you are full.
The chips are coated in salt, infused with fat and maybe even sugar. They might also include additives. All of these chemicals are a cocktail designed to get you addicted to more. Literally.
Bad habits
Bad eating habits also trained you out of intuitive eating. If you watch TV or videos on another device while you eat, you pay less attention to your food. Even if you notice that you are full physically, you might not feel satisfied mentally because you missed ennoying your food. So you eat more or finish with a dessert.
If you notice the signals but do not have the food you really need handy, you will eat too much of other food. For instance, if you feel like chocolate but you only have pudding, you’ll eat much more of the pudding than you would have of the chocolate. If you feel like fruit but you only have sweets, you will eat much more of those as well.
Daily decision
The deck seems to be stacked against you but there’s some great news: no matter how quiet the signals are, no matter how much the food industry tries to highjack your brain, your body is still telling you every single day exactly what it needs.
All you have to do is listen closely and allow yourself to change. Buy the fruit you like so you have options when you need something sweet. Turn off the phone and the TV while you eat.
The holy grail
I like to think of intuitive eating as the holy grail. It’s the perfect diet for everyone because it’s your body telling you exactly what it needs. Nobody else knows! No experts, no doctors, and not me. You are the only one who knows what you need and your body is telling you all day every day.
Tune in to the signals, allow yourself to act on them and then watch the magic happen. Notice how you become healthier, happier and return to your ideal body. And then don’t stop with food. Take breaks when you need to. Exercise when you feel like it. Rest any time you want.
Intuitive eating is just the beginning. The perfect life is lead intuitively because we always know exactly what we need and want to make us happy. Allow yourself to lead this life. Allow yourself to tune in.
The Dodo Munches cannot and does not contain medical/health advice. The information is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. Please read the full disclaimer here.