What’s the beef with diets?
Diets, with their rules and restrictions, are—well—sh*t (sorry, but they are). They always seem to follow the same pattern; Step 1: feel crap about your body, and bi-proxy, yourself as a human; Step 2: engage in a horrible restrictive regime of eating (if you can call it that); Step 3: feel (and act) smug as hell that you alone are empowering yourself to “look after your health”, Step 4: cave into something worth caving in for, Step 5: drop the whole frickin saga and eat EVERYTHING, Step 6: feel crap about your body, and bi-proxy yourself as a human…
If you think this is a nuts cycle, we agree, and so does the science. Research has found time and time again that restrictive dieting mostly leads to a vicious cycle of weight loss and regain. We don’t know about you, but who has the energy for this sh*t anymore?
Enter Intuitive Eating.
Intuitive eating is about listening to your gut (literally). Your body’s hunger and fullness cues are inbuilt systems—they might just be a little dusty from underuse. This approach takes a bit of practice, but once you’re at one with your body’s signals, the empowerment can start to happen, for realsies. The trick is to consume your food mindfully (how cringey has that word become?!) Tuning in while eating means you won’t miss your body saying it’s time to stop, please.
Studies have found that intuitive eating can improve body image, mental health, and your overall relationship with food. By saying yes to all foods and not labelling them as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, you are less likely to binge or overeat. And while you’re welcoming salt and vinegar chips back into your life, you may notice that your body likes carrots, too. And thus, we start to reintroduce the forgotten concept of balance…eat what your body wants and stop when your body’s full. Simple.
So, start enjoying eating again because eating is AWESOME.
*For those folks who struggle with disordered eating, our heart goes out to you. Please seek professional advice before giving this a go, as there are a few more steps to be emotionally regulated before this can work for you. Much love *
REFERENCES:
Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (2020), Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach, St Martin’s Essentials.
Kristella, J.L., & Wolver, R.Q. (2011), Mind-fulness-based eating awareness training for treating binge eating disorder: the conceptual foundation, Eating disorders, 19 (1), 49-61.
Leidy, H. J., & Campbell, W. W. (2011). The effect of eating frequency on appetite control and food intake: brief synopsis of controlled feeding studies, The Journal of nutrition, 141 (1), 154 – 157.
