Almost every person at least once sets out to change their diet to favor a healthy lifestyle. However, attempts to switch to intuitive eating often end in frustration and disruption. Strict food restrictions are stressful for the body. It is they who become the reason why we throw diets and continue to eat without thinking about it. If you are tired of frantically counting calories and torturing yourself with diets, leave this in the past. Switch to intuitive nutrition. What is it, you will learn from the article what are the principles and features of this approach.
Where did the intuitive eating system come from?
Nutritionists say that an improperly balanced diet is the result of obesity. The reason lies in psychological distress and internal disagreement of a person with oneself. Excess fat often appears due to compulsive overeating. This happens when through the food we try to compensate for the lack of positive emotions. However, it soon becomes clear that this is not an option, since the emotional state is leveled for a maximum of 15 minutes, and the guilt for what is eaten remains forever.
The solution to this problem through intuitive eating was first dealt with on the North American continent in the 70s of the last century. Then the psychology book “Overcoming Overeating” saw the light of day. It uses the term “body wisdom”, which implies the ability to listen to its true needs.
The theory of intuitive eating was finally established in 1995. It was then that a fundamental work with the same name appeared, the authors of which are nutritionists E. Tripoli and E. Rash. The authors developed, structured, and substantiated information on the new methodology in detail. And the excellent results that were obtained from the use of intuitive eating, confirmed the effectiveness of this power system. On average, human subjects lost up to 1.5 kg per week. Some managed to lose 5 kg per month.
Principles of intuitive eating
Intuitive eating is a unique system that allows you to establish healthy relationships with foods without strict restrictions and diets. Many people wonder how using intuitive eating can lose weight if it does not imply restrictions and diets. Intuitive eating teaches the main thing. Namely, careful attention to their own needs for a particular food.
The main postulates of intuitive eating
- food is not a way to improve mood, but a source of energy;
- eat only when you are hungry;
- do not wait until you are hungry as a wolf;
- turn your meal into a pleasant unhurried ritual: enjoy the appearance of food, its taste, and aroma;
- do not tempt yourself with products containing artificial flavor enhancers, as they make your appetite unnatural;
- eat the foods you need.
The advantage of intuitive eating is that when no restrictions, there are no disruptions. Thus, the body mass index is easily normalized and remains stable. This principle of nutrition will be a real salvation for people with a low level of self-discipline and willpower.
How to switch to intuitive eating?
Even though the idea of intuitive eating is devoid of a set of strict rules, it has certain requirements. You should reconsider and rethink your ideas about your own body and its true needs.
- Give up all diets
Intuitive eating will not succumb to you while you hold on to painful restrictions. At first, you need to realize that now they are gone. You can eat everything to which the soul lies and forget about starvation. The main principle of intuitive eating is comfort.
- Respect your body
Admit that you have the right not to comply with generally accepted standards of beauty. It is pointless to strive for an ephemeral standard. Your task is to transform so that you feel good, in good shape, and a good mood. If your goal is specific parameters, work on motivation and engage in sports.
- Be guided by intuition
Obey the inner impulse, not the books and leaflets. Your body has enough wisdom to make the right choice of food and its optimal amount. Of course, this does not mean that now you can stuff your face with chocolate and chips. However, do not blame yourself for overeating just as well. If you do everything right, harmful fast food will gradually and painlessly disappear from the diet.
- Listen to your hunger
Despite the simplicity of this advice, hearing your hunger is not easy. Often other emotions are masked under the guise of hunger: sadness, fear, excitement, boredom, stress, fatigue. Track them at the moment when the hand reaches for goodies at first it will turn out once. However, having mastered these skills, you will determine the true cause of discomfort and act appropriately for it.
- Do not make an enemy out of food
Fighting with food means recognizing that you are addicted to it. But ending hostilities after years of certainty that food is an enemy is difficult. This is prevented by the abundance of negative attitudes, which over time only strengthens. However, working on yourself is entirely your task.
- Learn to hear your fullness
It is known that a saturation signal enters the brain only after 15 minutes. Now imagine how much you can have time to eat during this time. Especially when it comes to overeating on a nervous basis because a person in this state absorbs food faster. It is necessary to listen to the body and observe the old rule of the world: get up from the table with the first signs of fullness.
- Enjoy your meal
By banning the pleasure of eating, we lose touch with our bodies. Also, an unhurried meal with taste, sense, and arrangement allows you to quickly feel fullness and not overeat. At this time, it is important not to be distracted by extraneous irritants and concentrate only on food.
- Appreciate and respect your health
The ratio of nutrition and physical activity in your life should be such that both of these processes bring a sense of comfort. Exhausting oneself in the gym is prohibited, as well as remorse from a cake eaten not according to plan.
How to maintain a lifestyle in the style of intuitive eating?
For the principles of intuitive eating to become part of your life, you need to reinforce them and pay attention to some aspects.
- learn to eat consciously. It is important to focus on the process and internal analysis of their feelings;
- increase the level of sensitivity. This will help the rejection of excessive consumption of products with artificial enhancers of taste and aroma. They dull the sensitivity of the receptors;
- prioritize your own needs for certain products, rather than fashion trends or other people’s advice;
- do not make it to where you feel very hungry. Otherwise, you risk breaking loose.
- track saturation stages. At the moment when you feel that you have eaten enough, but could eat more, stop.
It is great if you find like-minded people. Sharing intuitive eating experiences and supporting each other is very important. This will help to tune in the right way to gain self-confidence. Observe the positive changes that are occurring in your body. Even minor at first glance shifts matter. And most importantly, be patient. Especially if you set a goal through intuitive nutrition to lose weight. It is impossible to get rid of the old settings and rebuild the mode in a few days. Specialists in the field of intuitive eating note that the development of the technique is a spiral movement. Therefore, episodes of regression are a normal phenomenon, because of which you should not give up.
Experts also note that deviations from the regime during the transition to intuitive eating happen. Moreover, the percentage of people who allowed themselves to deviate from the side is impressive, namely 95%. In moments of weakness, it is important not to criticize yourself, and also not to require from yourself impossible at this stage. Failure is just the next step that brings experience and allows you to conclude.
Sustained positive changes in consciousness and physical form will certainly occur, but this will happen gradually. Taking it to the next qualitatively new level of understanding of your desires and nutritional needs will change your state and perception of food as a source of energy. And you will carry the result throughout your whole life.
