Intuitive Eating Series: Principle 3

Before I dive into Principle 3, I wanted to quickly recap on last week's principle: honoring my hunger.

I knew I said I was going to log my hunger, but I didn't end up doing that so much...which is TOTALLY fine! Instead, I was just personally mindful. I acknowledged my hunger, and acknowledged what TYPE of hunger I may have been feeling. Were there times I ate when I wasn't biologically hungry?? Sure! The beauty of intuitive eating is that is TOTALLY okay.

For example, some nights I worked the front desk of a barre studio in the evening. Due to COVID-19, eating is not permitted on the job. There were some times where I wasn't particularly hungry BEFORE work, but knew I would get too hungry to wait until after work. Therefore, I'd eat a granola bar to hold me over. This is PRACTICAL hunger.

Then there was my mom's birthday. I didn't eat much during the day, just because I was so busy doing other things! So when it came to dinner, I definitely ate a little extra. In addition, I made a REALLY special dessert, which I ate ALL of, even though I wasn't hungry. That's taste and mouth hunger, and again, totally okay!

Overall I honored my hunger to the best of my ability and felt particularly mindful, which is awesome.

With that being said, let's add in the next principle: Making Peace with Food.

This is particularly important. Many people state that your RELATIONSHIP with food is way more important than whatever food you actually eat. This could not be MORE TRUE! In order to be able to tune in to your body's hunger signals and cravings, you need to be at peace with food.

Not just healthy food, not just low calorie foods, but ALL foods.

If you've ever been on a restrictive diet, you may notice that you are CRAVING whatever food isn't allowed. For example, if you are Keto, you're probably CRAVING bread, even if you don't consider bread to be one of your favorite foods. I once tried the Whole30 diet, and I would CRAVE peanut butter (legumes are restricted on this diet, including peanuts). While I could have any other nut butters, none of them would satisfy my PEANUT craving, no matter how much of them I ate. This was particularly unusual for me, as when I wasn't restricting, I felt that all nut butters were equal. It was only when I told myself I COULDN'T have one of them that I wanted it more.

This is, of course, just one form of restriction. Other's include restriction of calories, restricting what time of DAY you can eat, what type of utensils/plate-ware you can use (i.e. only allowing yourself to eat out of a SMALL bowl to reduce your portion size), or anything else that may interfere with just listening to your body.

To make peace with food, you have to push ALL restrictive behaviors aside. You have to give yourself UNCONDITIONAL permission to eat, whatever and whenever you want.

Again, this looks different for everyone. Maybe it's turning off that "calorie counter" in your head. Maybe it's eating out of a BIG bowl and learning to honor your hunger AND fullness without the restriction of a smaller bowl. Maybe it's allowing yourself to eat dinner at 5pm one day and 8pm the next, rather than sticking to a strict 6pm mealtime. Most commonly, it's ALLOWING yourself to eat "forbidden foods."

Forbidden foods are considered anything you try to avoid at all costs. Either diets have told you it's unhealthy, or you maybe BINGED on it after telling yourself you couldn't have it for so long. To make peace with these foods, you have to FULLY allow yourself to eat them.

Many people think that if they give themselves this unconditional permission, they are just going to binge out on junk food forever. While that may be partially the case at first, I PROMISE you, as you build up trust with your body, that appeal of junk food starts to diminishes.

The reason you may crave unhealthy food is because you've told yourself for years that it was "bad for you." While nutrition comes in later, you MUST put it on the back burner for now. Truthfully, no matter what, there is NO good or bad foods. Instead, take this time to treat EVERY food as equal.

Once you totally make peace with all food, you can tune in to what your body is REALLY craving. While at first this may lean towards all of those "restricted foods," in time, this will even out. You may even crave an apple JUST as much as you crave an apple pie.

So how do you embark on this week's journey??

Like I said, unconditional permission to eat.

Still apply Principles 1 and 2: NO using the scale, NO restriction. Honor your hunger!

When you are hungry (or right before you want to eat...think a #4 on the hunger scale), think about what food you REALLY want. Whether this is a bowl of oatmeal, a piece of chocolate cake, a steak, or a salad, HONOR that craving. Eat whatever it is your body wants! Eat until you are COMPLETELY satisfied; no cutting it in half, no restricting it because you think you should have something "healthier." Remember, from this point on, all foods are equal!

If this sounds daunting, then do ONE forbidden food at a time.

An easy activity to supplement this:

Write down ALL of your favorite foods, and circle the ones that you've restricted in the past. Pick ONE of the restricted foods, and eat it! Decide if you REALLY like it or if it more just appealed because you've restricted it in the past. If you REALLY like it, continue to eat it! Even if that means every day. Eventually, your body will crave it just as much as it craves everything else and it will lose its flair.

One example for me would be chocolate chip cookies. I LOVE them, but have restricted all sweets in the past. I decided to give myself UNCONDITIONAL permission to eat the chocolate chip cookies ALL of quarantine. In fact, I tested out a different chocolate chip cookie recipe each week until I found the BEST one (you can check out that adventure here!). I still LOVE chocolate chip cookies, but don't crave them as often as I used to. I got used to them, and now treat them the same as every other food!

Put this into practice, give yourself unconditional permission, and have fun with it! Food should be enjoyable. Period.

Next week we'll dive even DEEPER with our relationship with food by discussing principle 4: Challenging the food police. For now, make peace as best you can!