Intuitive Eating Series: Principle 1

So I know, this section is called Diet Debunking; the word "Debunk" implies that I am going to bust the myths around specific fad diets and ultimately uncover why diets in general do not typically work.

However, if I were to only address diets that don't work, it could leave people feeling lost and hopeless.

That's why I present to you: Intuitive Eating.

Let me be clear: Intuitive Eating is NOT a diet. It is the concept of eliminating all diets from your life, and going back to the body's natural hunger and fullness signals. When we are children, we naturally ask for food when we are hungry and eat until we are full. We don't care what type of food we are eating (i.e. whether society deems it "healthy"), so long as we like the taste of the food and the way it makes us feel.

I am extremely passionate about intuitive eating, and have decided to dive deep into it and apply it into my own life.

There are ten principles to intuitive eating, and each week I am going to address, explain, and apply one principle to my life.

With that, allow me to explain step 1: REJECT THE DIET MENTALITY.

As I previously stated, intuitive eating focuses on listening to your body's hunger and fullness signals and eating what you want, similar to how we did as kids. You may be asking yourself: if we were able to naturally follow intuitive eating as children, why can't we naturally follow it now?

Dieting.

Dieting does NOT honor any of your body's natural cravings or signals. You are often limited as to WHAT foods you can eat and HOW MUCH of them you can eat. This comes in many different shapes and sizes, but none are really superior to the other.

People often first go on a diet from a place of hatred for their body; they feel too large, uncomfortable in their own skin, or a desperate desire to change. They then restrict themselves; whether that be with calories, points, macros, or the elimination of specific food groups. This may work for a bit of time, but the body is NOT meant to be in a state of restriction. This goes back to our "primal" ways: if the body is not getting enough food, it sees itself as starving. This means the body becomes DESPERATE for food in any form. A body cannot decipher starvation from "dieting." At some point, your body cannot handle being in this restrictive phase any longer and a period of "binging" occurs. This period of eating in excess all depends on what you were restricting, as well as for how long you were restricting your body. Binging can be numbing at times, but once the "binge" is over, you're left right back where you started...or heavier.

This whole process is known as the "Restrict-binge cycle:" a feeling of low self esteem leads to dieting, which leads to binging, which leads to guilt and low self esteem all over again.

The first step to intuitive eating? Breaking that cycle.

We live in a diet culture FILLED society. Everyone is seeking that magic pill or potion that is going to make them love their bodies and be happy with their weight. I have tried MANY different forms of restriction and dieting in my life...sometimes without even realizing it. Each one has left me worse off mentally. This is often true for everyone; whether you restrict calories, count points, track carbs, or intermittent fast, none of these diets tend to do what we want them to.

So why continue? Why constantly seek satisfaction from a place we are NEVER going to find it? It's like that one friend who keeps going back to their ex, no matter HOW many times you tell them it isn't going to work out.

So how do we break the cycle? That's what I'm dedicating the REST of my week to.

If you want to reject the diet mentality, you have to put yourself in a place of power against them.

Commit to no longer tracking your food. Don't count calories. Don't measure/portion control your food. Don't restrict your carbs. Don't pay for any more silly diets, diet books, or facades.

Commit to no longer measuring yourself in any way, shape or form. THROW out the scale. Don't measure your waist.

Don't compare your body to ANYONE else's, including your own. Don't look at old pictures as "motivation." UNFOLLOW those with unrealistic body standards. Remove anyone who's body is edited, or comes from a place of starvation. Remember your friend's bodies are NOT yours, and do not compare them to you.

While there's a lot of ways to REJECT the diet mentality, you can also ADD the intuitive eating mentality to your life as well.

FOLLOW influencers who promote loving the skin you're in. Follow dietitians who promote intuitive eating and listening to your body. Purchase the "Intuitive Eating" book, as it breaks down this process much better than I do!

Allow yourself to eat all foods. Even forbidden ones or ones deemed as "Unhealthy," as there is no good or bad foods. Allow me to repeat that: there is NO such thing as GOOD foods or BAD foods. As of right now, if you want a cookie, EAT that cookie. No if's, and's, or but's.

You may be worrying about gaining weight. Don't. I know, easier said than done, but remember, this is NOT a diet, and any thoughts of weight gain or weight loss shouldn't be in your head right now. If they are, acknowledge it, but do NOT let it affect any of your actions or behaviors towards any foods.

And with that, the real intuitive eating journey can begin.

Come back next week to hear about Principle 2: Honoring Your Hunger.