What is intuitive eating, and is it something that we can all do?
It’s not just eating whatever you want!
Listen back to my episode about headlines! Intuitive eating is about listening to your bodies hunger signals, and responding accordingly. I even believe that if you learn to listen well, it will give you signals about which nutrients it’s lacking.
It’s a skill that needs to be re-learned and it takes time.
Will it work for me?
Throughout our lives, we have been told to eat at certain times. This works for our modern lives, and if you are in an environment where you get a lunch break at a specific time, intuitive eating probably won’t work for you.
If you are able to be more flexible with your eating then it’s definitely worth exploring. It takes time, and you will need to undo the years of eating to the clock – so follow my top tips to help.
My top tips
- Are you planning ahead? Sounds counterintuitive but if you aren’t well planned, then it’s impossible to be intuitive, as you just don’t have meals there ready to feed you. Lots of bulk cooking and adaptable meal planning works for me.
- Shopping well – I hate waste, so making sure I have a good shopping list, so I have the ingredients for recipes is important. As is plenty of long life and easy cook ingredients such as tins of lentils and frozen vegetables.
- Are you really hungry? Stop and think. Are you thirsty, or are you bored?
- Mindful eating – try not to rush, chew and taste your food.
- Take a moment after a meal to think about how it made you feel – are you comfortable (full or still hungry), energised, lethargic, look for other symptoms that might indicate an intolerance.
My links
Is intuitive eating something you would like to try? Did you think it was all about eating cake all the time? I’d love to know if this episode has changed your mind.