What will happen to me when I"ll stop controling what I eat? How can I eat healthily if I will give myself the permission to eat everything?
I will never eat vegetables if I won't make myself.
But there are better foods for you, aren't they?
Leaving food rules behing sounds very scary and giving yourself the permission tro eat everything may feel like you are just giving yourslef the green card to binge eat on all the sweets, chocolate and fries. Which may leave you wondering how good is this for your health?
"But what about health?" is the number one hurdle I hear from people when we are working towards giving up dieting and body acceptance.
The truth is that giving yourself a permission to eat everything does not mean that you will only eat snacky foods. Instead you take away the pressure to eat certain way and erase the guilt from eating foods that you consider as unhealthy, bad or simply those that don't fit into your current eating style.
We believe that if we eat whatever we want, we are not caring enough for our health and if we gain weight we must let ourself go.
We are conditioned to think that only thin or “normal size” bodies can be healthy and if you are living in a larger body that means you must be unhealthy.
I often hear people saying they need to lose weight to be healthy. But health is not dependent on the size of your body. People in thin bodies can be equally or even more unhealthy than someone living in a larger body.
The common myth that gaining weight means not caring for your health should be outdated.
Many people are forced to restrict their food intake to achieve or maintain socially acceptable thin bodies which put a lot of strain on one’s body and metabolism. Resulting in worsen metabolic health, loss of hair, libido or women’s cycle, stress, anxiety, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.
Where in fact gaining weight can have beneficial effects on their body and mental health.
Health looks different for everyone and instead of focusing on body size and weight management, our focus should shift to health-promoting behaviour such as getting our needs met every day, caring for our mental health, managing stress, moving our body for joy and also accepting and respecting our own body and its individual needs.
Dieting in 95% of cases results in weight gain and weight cycling. There is no safe way to intentionally lose weight and if you must control what you eat or else you would overeat or binge there is a high chance that you are undereating or restricting your food intake.
Learning to listen to your individual body needs and becoming an intuitive eater, the only proven way to positively impact your quality of life and health, will take some practice and need to be intentional at the beginning.
Here are some tips on how you can start improving your health and wellbeing without dieting.
Be intentional with your food choices and aim for balance, satisfaction and variety.
Listen for your body cues such as hunger and fullness and try to respect your body guidance. This might take some practising.
Feel into your movement and be kind to yourself. If you need a rest, slow down and if the way you exercise doesn’t feel good for you, try a different, possibly more gentle way of moving - yoga, walking, water aerobics, dance or give a go to the activity you always wanted to try.
What is Intuitve Eating?
Intuitive eating is a self-care framework designed to help you attune back to your individual body needs, improve your wellbeing while focusing on all aspects of your physical and mental health.
We are born intuitive eaters and our bodies are equiped with a set of tools to guide us to the healthful and happy life.
We are born with an innate ability to recognise when to eat, what to eat and how much to eat. We use food to provide us with energy, nutrients, and also tool of social interaction. Food plays important role in family and cultural traditions and to some extend can act as a coping mechanism.
As intuitive eaters we chose food based on its availablity, our current need and our preferences to provide with the best solution to support our physical and mental health.
There are many benefits to learn how to eat intuitively to name few:
improved physical health
improved mental health
decreas in binging or overeating by 90%
improved body satisfaction
stable weight
better social life
improved confidence and self-worth
better health markers such as cholesterol, blood pressure, tryglicerides
decrease chance of dispordered eating or eatinig disorderes
By becoming an intuitve eater you simply take away the pressure of your life when it comes to food decisions and free space in your mind that was taken by constant thoughts about the foods you should or shouldn't eat.
You find peace in your own body and yoru overall physical and mental health will improve.
Intuitive Eating framework is based on 10 principles and was created by two dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch over 40 years ago and counst over125 clinical studies supporting its benefits to one's life.
Find out more about Intuitiive eating and dive into its principles in my FREE Intuitive Eating MINI Course right HERE
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