Intuitive Eating

Some people will read my first post about my losing 25 lbs on a low carb diet and ask, Where do I sign up for THAT? Even now, I am often tempted to do it again. If I lose 25 in a year and gain back 15 the next year, it will only take me six years to lose the 30 lbs I originally wanted to lose. It doesn't seem all that unreasonable...does it?

Yet I KNOW that is not the way to go. Even Judith Beck, who developed The Beck Diet Solution (www.beckdietsolution.com), recommends that you don't go on a diet that you can't keep up for life. Who can feel good about a lifetime without a sandwich, a plate of pasta, a cold pint of IPA (my favorite kind of beer)? Not I!

The class I'm taking encourages INTUITIVE eating over RESTRICTIVE eating. I think the whole concept of intuitive eating is summed up in the first three of Geneen Roth's seven eating guidelines: 1. Eat when you're hungry. 2. Eat what your body wants. 3. Stop eating when your body has had enough. (See www.geneenroth.com.)

Following these guidelines has been much harder for me than dieting, but I believe it is much healthier for mind and body.

Eating when you're hungry implies not eating when you're not hungry. So when you feel the urge to eat, ask yourself, Am I Hungry? (See www.amihungry.com.) Some people really don't know how to tell when they are hungry because they never let themselves get to that point! Do you really feel an emptiness in your stomach? Maybe some growling? If not, your body is not hungry for food. So you must then ask yourself, What am I hungry for? What do I really need or want? If your body is not hungry, what you need is not food. What is it?

If you eat when you're not hungry because you feel a desire for something and use food to fill that non-hunger urge, that food that your body didn't need or want turns to fat, and your real need remains unmet.

So from now on, when you want to eat, just stop yourself and ask, Am I hungry? If so, honor that by nourishing your body with the food it needs. If not, ask yourself what is behind that urge to eat, and honor that with the time and attention it needs.

NOTE:

If you find that you often eat for emotional reasons, I recommend Geneen Roth's work (see website above). I have a CD program of hers called "When Food is Food and Love is Love: A Step-by-Step Spiritual Program to Break Free from Emotional Eating" which I listen to during my commute about once a year. I actually am not a big emotional eater, but I find so much of her work valuable anyway. I also find her rather annoying to listen to, though, so I'd recommend one of her many books instead of the CDs. (When she reads excerpts from her books on the CDs it makes me wish I were reading them instead of listening to her. I think she is a good writer.)