What is Intuitive Eating and how could it apply to other parts of life
Ideothetic Flow
Hi!
I came across this concept of intuitive eating. Unlike the usual diet which sets rules to what to eat, intuitive eating is the diet where the rule is not to diet. You are allowed to eat whatever you feel like having.
No food restrictions. The founders of this practice have 10 principles to implementing intuitive eating. In summary, the key idea is to remove restrictions and stigma against what we want to eat. When we label certain foods as bad and try to exercise self-control to avoid them, the cravings build up and lead to a binge that undoes all the effort, followed by a sense of guilt for failing to carry out the diet and achieving the weight loss goal.
Awareness. What intuitive eating requires instead, is to listen to your body, to acknowledge both hunger and fullness equally, and notice the satisfaction gained from eating, telling us when we have actually had enough to eat. With both freedom and awareness, we need less to satisfy our cravings and enjoy our food, and will naturally have smaller, more balanced meals. One account of someone who tried intuitive eating (What happened when I started Intuitive Eating - Kelsey Miller) is that she gradually reduced the intake of the carbs she craved, and wanted more proteins. She also mentions how she became aware that she did not actually like that fried chicken she used to lust for that much.
Be realistic. Intuitive eating is realistic, it recognises that we each have our own genetic makeup, and it would be foolish to try and force ourselves into an expectation based on others. It is also realistic in that true change often takes a long period of internal alignment, during which time we all have good and bad days, as long as we are generally progressing over the long term, we will make progress.
Carrying lessons from intuitive eating into our other endeavors.
I am not certain if intuitive eating works for everyone (but there is similar uncertainty with all diets so why not do the one that lets you eat anything), but I wanted to share this because I found it aligned with my other thoughts on effort and self-discipline. The common conception is that we should try and power through hardship to reap the rewards later. We admire those who pushed through adversity and worked hard to reach their goals. We might then end up wondering if we ourselves are lacking something for not having that same discipline.
However, intuitive eating tells us that in working hard, we should not be looking to suppress our inner self or our indulgences, but instead, to embrace and follow them. This is most important when we were setting our goals, not to set goals that run against our own nature. I believe that every person has certain interests or desires that come from their inner being. When we are working towards those desires, facing the challenges can seem "intuitive" and not as difficult as when viewed by an observer. Running an hour a day seems like torture to most, but to the avid runner, the fatigue is in itself enjoyable to some extent (for myself, it often seems like I spend too much of my limited time on wing chun training, but it has never felt difficult to make time since I enjoy it so much).
Rather than try to force ourselves to do what others are doing, and trying to replicate their success, we could take a page from the intuitive eating framework, and spend time looking for those goals that match our inner desires. Then perhaps the difficult road to achieving those goals will feel natural and more easily completed. Conversely, when we chase goals which are misaligned internally, could be we were inspired by the success of another person, or believe those goals will increase our happiness because they are widely accepted, the journey will feel hard, we may give up halfway, or we get to the end feeling cheated that it was not as great as we imagined.
If you have tried intuitive eating for yourself, do let me know how it worked out for you! Am curious to hear experiences of it!
Have a great week ahead!
James
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Ideothetic Flow is a fortnightly newsletter where I reflect on insights that I have found useful in rethinking life in a more realistic way.
Modern culture, media, and technology, for all their benefits, have distorted the view of a complete and happy life. The ideas I share are those which have helped me gain a deeper understanding of my own identity and circumstances, and inspire change towards a happier life, and I hope they will do the same for anyone else who reads this.
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