No meat, no carbs, no dairy, no gluten. Did you know that it may be damaging to your health if you deprive your body of foods?
A new way of honoring your body and fueling it without guilt is rising in popularity. It’s called intuitive eating. But what is this new anti-diet and does it work?
“Intuitive eating teaches us to listen to our internal cues and listen to our hunger fullness cues,” said Ashley Hinds a registered dietitian.
Intuitive eating is based on 10 principles; first, reject the diet mentality, which can offer you false hope to lose weight fast. Honor your hunger instead by adequately eating carbs.
“Our body is always trying to reach homeostasis and it’s anticipating ‘Oh you put me through a famine, a diet, a few times now, I need to anticipate for the next famine.’ And that’s actually what leads to weight cycling,” Hinds said.
Make peace with your food, give yourself permission to eat what society deems as “bad food,” if not it can lead to binging.
Challenge the “food police,” the societal voice in your head that monitors the unreasonable rules diet culture has set.
Discover the satisfaction factor, make eating food pleasurable.
Feel your fullness, listen to the signals that your body is full.
And cope with your emotions around food with kindness.
“Dieting can put a huge strain on our mental health because if we have famine, then we’re also increasing our anxiety and it all comes to that full circle,” Hinds said.
Respect your body and feel the difference. Focus on how working out makes you feel mentally and not how it makes you look physically. And honor your health with gentle nutrition.
Hinds says, “My recommendation is typically to have about three meals a day and two to three snacks.”
There have been at least 97 studies looking into intuitive eating. A study of those found people who practice intuitive eating were more likely to accept their bodies, be more mindful, and reported higher self-esteem. They also had lower levels of depression and anxiety.