“Scream a loud ‘No’ to thoughts in your head that declare you’re ‘good’ for eating under 1,000 calories or ‘bad’ because you ate a piece of chocolate cake.  The Food Police monitor the unreasonable rules that dieting has created.  The police station is housed deep in your psyche and its loudspeaker shouts negative barbs, hopeless phrases, and guilt-provoking indictments.  Chasing the Food Police away is a critical step in returning to Intuitive Eating.”  (pg. 92, Intuitive Eating)

From my day-to-day interactions with clients, I know that people are riddled with guilt about how they eat, but according to Tribole and Resch, “In a random survey of 2,075 adults, 45% said they feel guilty after eating foods they like!”  (pg. 92)  How is it that food has been equated with “badness” or “goodness”?  Is it the Puritan values that our country drew from and was built upon?  Other countries don’t seem to have this same “guilt” issue about food.  In fact, when Americans are asked to think of the first word that comes to mind when they hear the words, “chocolate cake” they say, “guilt.”  The French think, “celebration.”  We keep trying to figure out the “French paradox.”  I suspect a huge part of it is simply perception and being “allowed” to enjoy food and celebrate it.  We’ve heard of people being punished by having supper withheld and we think of a meal of “bread and water” as being punishment for bad behavior.  Whatever the reasons that our culture tends to equate food, or enjoying food, or delicious food with guilt, it’s time to fight back and take a different approach to food and eating.

How can you start to take a different approach to food and eating?  First, become aware of your instant self-talk when it comes to food.  I am going to list some common misperceptions, THESE ARE NOT ACCURATE, but they’re common and I want you to see if you say some of this to yourself.

–Fat is bad

–Carbohydrates are bad

–It’s bad to eat after 6:00 pm

–Eggs are bad

–Ice cream is bad

–All of the things that I like to eat are bad

What other self-talk do you have about food?  It may feel real, you may believe it with all your heart and soul, but remember, simply because you think something is true doesn’t make it so.  The book explains it clearly, “The thoughts themselves can be very damaging and can affect subsequent behavior.  These thoughts are called cognitive distortions, and we call the voices that speak these distortions the Food Police.”  (pg. 95)

Let’s talk about the Food Police.  I can’t say it better than the authors so I’ll quote, “[The Food Police] is your inner judge and jury that determines if you are doing ‘good’ or ‘bad.’  The Food Police is the sum of all your dieting and food rules, and gets stronger with each diet.  It also gets strengthened through new food rules that you may read about in magazines or messages you hear from friends and family.”  (pg. 96)  The Food Police doesn’t help you, it merely makes you feel bad.  It tells you that “you can’t possibly be hungry, you just ate breakfast,” or, “I can’t believe you just ate two pieces of bread/a piece of chocolate/guacamole/peanut butter, you’re going to get so fat from that!”

To get the Food Police to SHUT UP, you must challenge that voice inside your head.  You must say, “I know what hungry feels like, and even though I just ate breakfast, I am hungry now,” or, “Avocados are good for me, taste delicious and make me feel satisfied,” or, “Chocolate isn’t going to make me fat; one food doesn’t have the power to make or break my health.”

Who else works with the Food Police?  The Nutrition Informant, or as I like to refer to the voice, the Tattletale.  It says it’s looking out for your health, but it’s just tallying all of your “sins.”  It’s the voice that says, “If you want a snack, it should only be fruits or vegetables.”  The Nutrition Informant is tricky because most of us DO want to eat a healthy diet so it seems silly that we’d want to fight against that good advice.  But is it good advice?  When it comes to having an apple as a snack, that’s OK, right?  Sure, but know that a 75 calorie snack is going to put a little something in your belly, but you’ll probably be hungry again soon.  The Nutrition Informant insists that “you can’t possibly be hungry after eating that apple for a snack.”  The Nutrition Informant doesn’t tell you that a peanut butter sandwich or cheese and crackers or some bean dip with crackers are all healthy foods too, and they’ll actually satisfy you.

What can you do to fight the Nutrition Informant?  Turn it into the Nutrition Ally.  This voice has no hidden agenda and says, “I like low fat sour cream just as much as regular fat sour cream.  I think I’ll pick the one with less saturated fat.”  When the Nutrition Ally speaks, you don’t feel bad or guilty, you feel like you’re in charge.

What other voices are floating around in there?  There’s the Diet Rebel.  You know that voice, it’s the two year old in your dieting head screaming, “You can’t make me!”  It’s the voice that says, “I’m not going to eat ‘healthy’ fish, I’m going to eat deep fried pork chops covered in gravy!” without even checking with your gut to see what sounds good.  If you want deep fried pork chops covered in gravy, that’s fine, but when you’re rebelling against your self-imposed (or spouse-imposed or parent-imposed or Dr. Diet-imposed) rules, you’re not listening to what your body really wants to eat.  The Diet Rebel makes your food choices based on what you CAN’T have rather than on what you truly want to have.

What can you do to fight the Diet Rebel?  Turn it into the Rebel Ally.  Use that loud, strong voice to protect your boundaries.  The Rebel Ally will let you say to your sister, “Yes, I can have dessert if I want it,” or, “That meatloaf was delicious, Mom, but I really don’t want a second helping right now,” or, “Sarah, the size of my jeans is none of your business,” or, “Joey, you have no right to comment about my weight.”  (pg. 101)

There’s another voice that the authors call the Food Anthropologist.  This voice just pays attention and gathers information–WITHOUT JUDGMENT.  It’s the voice that says, “I am really hungry today, but I just ate food that would normally fill me up.  Oh, that’s right, yesterday I had lighter meals and went for a long hike.”  The Food Anthropologist can use a food journal, but you must be careful not to use it as a way to judge or convict yourself of your food transgressions.  The Anthropologist’s food journal is merely a collection of facts that can help you sort through your skewed thinking.

When my clients first come to see me, I tell them, “In here it’s a safe place where I expect you to be as kind to yourself as you would be to a friend, a stranger or a lost puppy.”  In other words, I expect and hope my clients can use what Intuitive Eating calls the Nurturer.  This voice is calm, gentle and kind.  It may be new to you.  The Nurturer says, “It’s OK to have nachos.  Eating nachos is normal.”  This voice will say things like, “If I have a cookie it doesn’t mean I’m bad, it also doesn’t mean I can’t lose the weight I want.  Cookies are one of my favorite things so I will never cut them out of my diet completely.”  The Nurturer is reasonable and patient.

Finally, there is the Intuitive Eater inside of each of us.  ”The Intuitive Eater speaks your gut reactions.  You were born as an Intuitive Eater, but this persona has probably been suppressed for most of your life by the voices of the Food Police (prevailing in your family and in society), the Diet Rebel, and the Nutrition Informant…it knows how to challenge the distorted messages of the Food Police and how to get the Rebel Ally to speak out loud to fend off the boundary invaders.” (pg. 104)  The Intuitive Eater wants to know what you’re hungry for, it tells you it’s OK to leave food on your plate, it makes you understand that it’s normal to eat and enjoy chocolate.

The book suggests some self-talk strategies for challenging the Food Police.  In my next post I will discuss some of their ideas and recommendations.

May you be happy, healthy and listen to your gut,

Regan

Credit: idemidem

After World War II, a group of scientists wanted to figure out the best way to feed concentration camp survivors.  They took a group of American men and decreased their food intake to what they guessed was daily intake for camp survivors.  The men’s typical diet was about 3,500 calories and was reduced to 1,570 (We now know that’s a high estimate of what concentration camp survivors ate per day, but it is also a typical number of calories for a man on a diet today.)

Guess what happened to these men on a restricted diet?  Among other results, the men became obsessed with food, their metabolic rates decreased by 40 percent, their personalities changed and they became irritable, depressed and moody.  Sounds like being on a diet, huh?  These men went on weekend eating binges of 8,000 to 10,000 calories and after the restricted eating period, it took the majority of men “an average of five months to normalize their eating.”  (pg. 60)

Why talk about that study?  Because it’s typical of what our bodies and minds do when we restrict food by being on a diet.  Eating is primal.  We need food to survive and it is frightening to have food taken away or withheld.

After a lifetime of dieting and forcing our bodies to adhere to a restricted calorie/carbohydrate/fat diet, many people find that they don’t know what their bodies need or want.  I talk to some people who say that they “crave” carbohydrates and just can’t get enough at the end of the day.  What these people don’t know is that our bodies need carbohydrate to function.  Their bodies aren’t lying to them, their bodies are screaming for fuel!

Not only do our bodies want and need carbohydrates for fuel, but cravings for them will increase when they’re denied.  Our brains produce a chemical called Neuropeptide Y (NPY).  When we don’t get enough carbohydrate, this chemical will do what it can to make sure your body is craving carbs so that its need will be satisfied.

Let me get a little “science-y.”  Our bodies’ primary fuel source is carbohydrate (bread, pasta, starchy vegetables, fruit, milk, yogurt, sugar).  If our bodies are not getting carbohydrate from food, it will get it from our muscles.  WHAT?  Yes. We can use a little bit of our fat stores as fuel (and this is how real weight loss occurs), but our bodies are really good at turning muscle into the fuel our brains and bodies need to function.  (In total starvation, our brains can function on ketosis, but right now I’m talking about a restricted diet, not a starvation diet.)  When we use our muscles as fuel, the scale shows a really fast weight loss because as muscle is destroyed, water is released and that shows a huge change on the scale. And, no, eating a high protein diet won’t stop that muscle dismantling from occurring. The authors describe it like this, “…protein is used as an expensive source of fuel, rather than for its intended use in the body.  It’s like having a building supplier provide lots of wood to rebuild your house.  If you are constantly using that wood pile to make bonfires instead of to repair your home, you are still left with a weak structure.”  (pg. 65)

When you’re hungry, starving, ravenous and craving carbohydrates at the end of the day (or at the beginning of the day), there’s a good chance it’s because you’re biologically hungry and your body needs carbohydrates.  If you’ve been “dieting” or restricting food all day long, your body is going to do everything it can to get the fuel it needs to function.  It’s common that people who think they’re emotional eaters because they’re bingeing at the end of the day are actually biologically hungry at the end of the day.

What do you do?  HONOR YOUR HUNGER.  Eat when your body says it needs food and don’t disregard its need for carbohydrates.  I chuckle when people say they’re “addicted to carbs.”  Yes, I too am addicted to carbs because it’s what allows me to do laundry, go for a walk, lift weights and live my life.  I often suggest to people that when they’re having a craving for cookies or candy to take note and see if they’re just hungry for food.  Sugar (as found in cookies, ice cream and candy) is an immediate fuel source for our bodies.  A bowl of whole grain cereal will provide those carbs that your body is screaming for.  See if that will take care of what you feel is a craving but may actually be biological hunger and need for carbohydrates.

Make an effort to learn your body’s natural hunger signals.  Ideally you’ll notice your gentle hunger and be able to start looking for food so that it’s in front of you when you’re ready to eat.  If you start looking for food when you’re really, really hungry, you’ll end up eating anything and everything.

Learning your body’s signals for hunger may be difficult, especially if you’ve been turning those signals off by drinking caffeine, smoking cigarettes, fasting or chewing gum.  Also, if you are never gently hungry because you keep yourself in a constant “fed” state, learning to feel your body’s signals may be new too.

Be kind and patient with yourself.  Make sure you have access to food and trust yourself. Don’t second guess by saying, “But I had such a big breakfast/lunch/dinner.”  Your body knows what it’s doing, trust it.

May you be happy, healthy and well fed,

Regan

So, if you are a chronic dieter, let’s talk about rejecting the diet mentality.

First, you have to hit “diet rock bottom.”  You’ve realized it’s not working and that there is not one single diet that’s going to “fix” you.  You stop believing that there’s a magic cure just around the corner.  You don’t go to the crazy acai berry sales pitch at a friend’s house.  You reject the idea that some magic powder that you sprinkle on your food will save you.  You are done with injections, potions and pills.  Maybe your spiritual side says, “God made this body, He must’ve known what He was doing.  I must have the power inside of me to nourish my body the way it needs to be nourished.”  Maybe your logical side says, “I was born knowing how to eat what my body needs and how to recognize and honor my hunger.  I can uncover or relearn what I knew when I was a toddler.”

So what are some things that might interfere with Rejecting the Diet Mentality?

The Diet Void

Many people diet as a way to control life.  Will your life feel chaotic without a diet?  Do you think that “this will be the one that will change my life forever!”?  Dieting can give you that rush, that belief that your life will be transformed because of the diet.  Do you “diet bond” with friends or family or co-workers?  You may need to recognize that giving up dieting might leave a hole in your life that you may need to fill with other things.

The One-Last-Diet Trap

This is it, this is the one, I will NEVER, EVER, EVER gain the weight back with this one.  This time the changes will be permanent.  “Just let me lose the weight this time and I’ll figure out how to keep it off later.”  You know that diets don’t work, don’t get sucked in. This one kind of makes me think of Valerie Bertinelli on that one prepackaged meal plan.  They sell it as if you’ll lose the weight and then LEARN how to keep it off.  You don’t learn how to eat from tasteless, portion controlled, prepackaged foods.  Realize that it happens the other way around.  You figure it out first.  (I’m going to be a nurse and then I’ll go to school to figure out how to do it.  Wait, what?)

Pseudo-Dieting

Ah yes, this is one of my favorites!  This is when people aren’t “on a diet” but still count carbohydrates or eat only “safe” foods or eat only before 6:00 pm or restrict whole groups of food or become a vegetarian just to lose weight.  Maybe you’ve decided that a “cleanse” isn’t a diet.  It’s all about losing weight and temporarily restricting calories, but it’s not a diet.  MmmHmmm.  Let me put it this way, unless you plan to live the rest of your life this way, it’s a diet.

The Dieter’s Dilemma

You probably understand this, but you may not have decided to reject it yet.  Two psychologists, John P. Foreyt and G. Ken Goodrick created the “Dieter’s Dilemma Model.”  It’s a cycle of Desiring to be Thin, Dieting, Cravings, Loss of Control, Regaining Lost Weight, Desiring to be Thin, Dieting, Cravings, Overeating, Regaining Lost Weight…  You get the picture.

What do you do?  You decide to give up dieting.

But HOW?

1. Recognize the biological damage dieting causes.  It slows our metabolism, we store more fat, it increases binges and cravings, it increases the risk of premature death and heart disease (Pardon me?  Yup, independent of all other factors, participants in the Framingham Heart Study who were chronic dieters and regardless of initial weight had “higher overall death rate and twice the normal risk of dying from heart disease [than nondieters].”)  (pg. 49)  Dieting also causes satiety cues to atrophy (In English, please…Dieting makes it so we don’t notice that we’re not hungry anymore.)  And drum roll please, dieting causes us to regain weight in our midsection, you know, the bad place to carry extra weight.
2. Recognize the psychological and emotional damage dieting does.  Eating disorders, stress, lowered self-esteem, erosion of self-trust and confidence.
3. Be aware of “diet mentality.”  Intuitive eating doesn’t require willpower, dieting does.  Talking about or thinking about willpower means you’re in “diet mentality.”
4. Forget about “being obedient.”  You may want to have the grilled chicken instead of the ribeye, but if your wife tells you to, you’re going to want to rebel.  With Intuitive Eating, you are in charge.
5. Get rid of the dieter’s tools.  Do you use the scale to weigh your self-worth?  Does that number have hold on you for good or bad?  Get rid of it.  (I know, I had this as one of my myths, but I also said that the scale does more damage than good when dealing with disordered eating and body image.  This is one of those times.  Chronic dieting is disordered eating.)  Get rid of your food journal if it’s tying you down to “diet thinking.”  (pgs. 46-58)

I get that rejecting the diet mentality is incredibly difficult.  We live in a society that almost assumes that “we’re on a diet.”  Well, actually, society’s gotten more clever and has agreed to call “dieting” a bad thing.  So we live in a society that assumes we’re being restrictive and exerting enormous willpower to achieve “good health” that will be best demonstrated in new jeans and fabulous bikini.  As my 7th grade self says, “Same dif.”

Next time I’ll talk about Honoring Your Hunger.  Yep, I’m going to tell you to eat when you’re hungry.

May you be happy and healthy,

Regan

Let’s talk about some basic principles.  First, and let me quote here, “Making peace with food means allowing all foods into your eating world, so that a choice for chocolate becomes emotionally equal to the choice for a peach.”  The authors go onto say that among health professionals there has been this idea that there should be no forbidden foods, but “very few will go the distance and say, eat whatever you want.  Eventually there is a limit imposed.  And knowing there is a limit can still impart a food lust of sorts–better eat it now!”  (pg. 85)

By allowing yourself to eat anything you want, you are no longer arguing with that voice in your head that says what’s “good” to eat and what’s “bad” to eat.  The need to rebel is gone.

What are some of the fears that hold you back from giving up dieting and embracing Intuitive Eating?

I Won’t Stop Eating

First, it’s important to remember that all foods will always be allowed in your new way of eating.  Another thing is that we get tired of eating the same kind of food–it’s called habituation.  “Habituation studies have shown that the more a person is exposed to a particular food, the less appealing it becomes.”  (pg. 87)  You will get to a point where you’ll get bored eating something.  I know, it doesn’t seem possible that you could ever be bored eating raw cookie dough, but by giving yourself permission to eat all that you want, some of the “forbidden” and “naughty” is gone and it’s not as alluring anymore.

Also, I think this idea of “I’ll never stop eating” is sort of like thinking you’re gong to die if you have to speak in public.  It’s one of those ludicrous thoughts that enters a person’s head and, despite the fact that it’s just about impossible (I mean, really, you’re going to stop to go to the bathroom or to sleep.  You won’t literally “never stop eating.”)  When a thought like that enters my head, I will sometimes take it to the farthest, reasonable conclusion.  So for me, I would think, “If I had twelve animal-style double-doubles from In-N-Out Burger, sitting in front of me what’s the worst that would happen?”  I know I would stop.  I would be so full and so uncomfortable that I would stop enjoying them after a while.  One day it could be half a burger, another day it could take a whole one before I stopped, on a different day I might work my way through two of them plus a strawberry shake!  But I know that I would stop.  Eventually.

And one more thing:  No, you won’t ever stop eating.  Let me repeat, YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO NOT EAT.  You will have breaks, like when you sleep, but you will be hungry and you will have another meal and you will enjoy a crisp, tart apple and you will have a reuben sandwich and you will eat ice cream and you will have grilled salmon…  Embrace eating and don’t be afraid of it.  It isn’t going away!

Pseudo-Permission:  I’ve Tried It Before

Perhaps you’ve “allowed” yourself one piece of chocolate per day while you’re “on a diet.”  Sound familiar?  That’s not unconditional.  That’s one piece of chocolate per day.  That’s not, “I can eat all the chocolate I want whenever I want.”  This whole “unconditional permission” is a tough concept for people to grasp.  This type of approach says, “YOU CAN EAT ANYTHING ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, DIPPED IN RANCH WITH A SIDE OF GUACAMOLE, TOPPED WITH CARROT CAKE AND COVERED IN BUTTERSCOTCH SYRUP!”  See if you can wrap your head around real, true, unconditional permission to eat.

I Won’t Eat Healthfully

I know, it’s crazy, I’m a dietitian and the women who wrote the book are dietitians and we’re still telling you to do this.  We think that you will, eventually, figure out what foods you prefer, what foods make you feel good, what foods become occasional and what foods are staples of your diet.  In this process of learning to be an Intuitive Eater, we’re not so concerned about the “nutrition” of your food since that would likely “perpetuate your restrictive thoughts.”  (pg. 88)  We can talk nutrition later, when you really believe that you get to eat whatever you want and when you feel that you can trust yourself.

Lack of Self-Trust

You may believe whole-heartedly that this approach will work for other people, but that there’s no way in H-E-double-hockey-sticks that it can work for you.  Here’s a whole paragraph I want to quote:

Ironically, the process of giving yourself permission to eat is actually the stepping-stone to rebuilding your trust with food and with yourself.  In the beginning, each positive food experience is like a tiny thread.  They may be few and far between, and seem insignificant, but eventually the threads form a strand.  The strands multiply into strong ropes and finally the ropes become the bridge to a foundation of trust in food and in yourself.  (pg. 89)

I see this happen immediately with my clients.  Yes, they are excited to do something besides “diet,” and that’s part of it, but having been given permission to eat whatever they want allows them to start trusting themselves with food.  It’s not perfect, it is strand by strand.  It is a process.  Also, for some people, it’s a whole new feeling to recognize that they are in charge of themselves.  I know, sounds weird, but your history of failed diet after failed diet may keep you believing that you’re not in charge of what you put in your mouth.  Some people were never allowed to decide what to eat and when to eat because someone else was always in charge.  Often these people believe they can’t be trusted with food.  A parent who insists, “You can’t possibly be hungry for a snack” but then requires a child to finish everything on her plate tells that child she can’t trust her own hunger signals.

You can and will learn to trust yourself.  You’re trustworthy.

Here are some things you can do:

1.  Pay attention to foods that appeal to you and make a list of them.

2.  Put a check by the foods you actually do eat, then circle remaining foods that you’ve been restricting.

3.  Give yourself permission to eat one forbidden food from your list, then go to the market and buy this food, or order it at a restaurant.

4.  Check in with yourself to see if the food tastes as good as you imagined.  If you find that you really like it, continue to give yourself permission to buy or order it.

5.  Make sure that you keep enough of the food in your kitchen so that you know it will be there if you want it.  Or if that seems too scary, go to a restaurant and order the particular food as often as you like.  (pg. 91)

Remember to honor your hunger (eat when you’re hungry, don’t make yourself “pay” so that you’re starving.)

Keep at the list.  Try all the foods, evaluate all the foods, but mostly do what you can do.  There will be times when you’re “freaked out” or perhaps guilt ridden.  Remember, you’ve got permission to do this.  You aren’t breaking any rules or “being bad.”

May you be happy, healthy and enjoy every bite,

Regan

Yes, this means that you give yourself unconditional permission to eat.

For many people this is a terrifying prospect because they don’t trust themselves and are certain that being allowed to eat whatever, whenever will result in weight gain, bingeing and misery.  What is meant by giving yourself unconditional permission to eat?

• Throwing out the preconceived notion that certain foods are “good” and others are “bad.”  No one food has the power to make you fat or help you become slim.
• Eating what you really want.  Yes, what you want.
• Eating without obligatory penance.  (”Okay, I can have the cheesecake now, but tomorrow I diet.”)

By allowing yourself to eat what you want, you avoid that “last supper mentality” that often precedes a “diet” and foods that were once “forbidden” are no longer as enticing because you’re allowed to eat them.

There are loads of studies and evidence that show that by restricting eating, people start to obsess about food, dream about food and ultimately overeat when finally allowed to eat what they want.  Often times people who grew up in the Depression see food as precious and something that may not be available again so it’s seems more valuable than it is.  Growing up in a home where food was scarce can cause thoughts of deprivation.  Feeling it necessary (or perceiving it as necessary) to compete for food can cause thoughts of deprivation too.  Have you ever noticed how quickly you “chow down” on a dessert that you’re sharing with someone who eats faster than you?  Nobody wants to be that person who doesn’t get a piece of birthday cake!  Except the Intuitive Eater who allows himself the food he wants to eat.

Do you see-saw between guilt over “eating bad” and deprivation over “eating good”?  When you restrict foods during a diet do you feel virtuous and as you eat those “good” or “diet” foods and then feel guilty when you eat the “bad” or “restricted” foods that you really want to eat?  What if you embraced the concept that no foods are off limits?  Would those feelings change?  Can you see food, dieting, weight loss as something that is neither moral or immoral?  I’m saying throw out the idea of making good choices or bad choices and allow yourself to believe that eating what you want to eat is just fine, in fact it’s better than “just fine” it’s the way to find peace with food and with your body.

So you say you’ve tried this before but you still feel like you felt out of control?  The authors of the book say they’ve had clients who said they gave themselves permission, but were really only giving themselves “pseudo-permission.”  (pg. 87)  In other words, there was a sense of temporarily allowing those “forbidden” foods into their diet.  I like how they say this, “Pseudo-permission does not work–it’s only an illusion.  Your mouth may be chewing, but your mind is saying, ‘I shouldn’t.’  Your mind is still on a diet.”  (pg. 88)

In my next post I will talk about the things that can keep you from allowing yourself uncondtional permission to eat.

May you be happy, healthy and peaceful,

Regan

Principle 1:  Reject the Diet Mentality

Yup, for many that’s easier said than done.  But for so many people it’s an enormous relief to be “allowed” to quit believing the “quick fix” baloney that saturates the media.  I like the authors’ comment about this, “If you allow even one small hope to linger that a new and better diet might be lurking around the corner, it will prevent you from being free to rediscover Intuitive Eating.”  (p. 20)  It’s time to stop believing that there’s a magic powder or perfect shake that will just make the pounds slip away.

Principle 2:  Honor your Hunger

What!?  I’m supposed to starve if I’m on a diet, right?  Uh, no.  Your body needs fuel and when you’re starving, you tend to overeat.  Trust your body’s hunger signals that tell you it’s time for food. This also means that if you’re not hungry, give yourself permission to not eat or to stop halfway through.  Just because it’s 6:30 pm doesn’t mean you have to eat dinner.

Principle 3:  Make Peace with Food

“Give yourself unconditional permission to eat.”  (p. 22)  We all know that if we restrict something it becomes more enticing and harder to resist.  “I’m never going to eat chocolate again.”  REALLY?  Allow yourself to eat the foods you love and don’t make anything forbidden.

Principle 4:  Challenge the Food Police

Do you have that voice in your head that says, “No, you can’t eat that” or “You’ve been a good girl today, you’ve only eaten 800 calories”?  The “Food Police” have made up ridiculous rules that pulse through our brains.  Maybe you had a dance teacher or a wrestling coach who said you needed to lose 5, 10, 15 pounds.  Give yourself permission to talk back to the food police and to quiet their unreasonable and destructive messages.

Principle 5:  Feel your Fullness

Wait, Intuitive Eating isn’t about gorging?  No, it’s about recognizing what our bodies need and respecting that.  Slow down, feel your body, see if you’re still hungry in the middle of a meal or while having a snack.  Stop when you’re no longer hungry and give yourself permission to eat more if you’re hungry later.

Principle 6:  Discover the Satisfaction Factor

Yes, food is pleasurable.  Eat the foods you like, don’t eat the foods you don’t like.  Do you eat a whole bag of pretzels because they’re “good” or “healthy” when what you really want is a handful of real, “sinful” fried potato chips?  Do you avoid an apple fritter because it’s “bad” and instead gorge on something (or somethings) that are “good” and still not feel satisfied?  By allowing yourself to eat the food you WANT and that satisfies, you will begin to feel satisfied and not be driven to consume, consume, consume.

Principle 7:  Cope with your Emotions without Using Food

Many of us have learned to soothe ourselves by using food.  I mentioned this in a previous post, but think of the times children are rewarded or comforted with a “treat” or how it’s ubiquitous to see a lonely woman in a movie drown her sorrows in a bucket of ice cream.  We know that food doesn’t really fix anything, but we’ve been taught that it can.  Find different ways to handle tough situations.

We also tend to celebrate with food.  Is it necessary for food to be the center of a celebration or get together?  Play games and enjoy the people you’re spending time with.

Principle 8:  Respect your Body

I discuss this in my post titled “WHEW!”  Recognize there is no “perfect” body, acknowledge what your body does for you, don’t compare yourself to other people and honor your body.  I suspect that when we dislike or don’t respect our bodies that it’s easier to stuff  them with food we don’t like and to be distrustful of them and their ability to tell us when we’re hungry and when we’ve had enough.  If you don’t love your body now, what makes you think you’ll love it if it’s 10, 15, 20 pounds lighter?  Find a way to respect your body.

Principle 9:  Exercise–Feel the Difference

Instead of using exercise as a punishment or simply as a calorie burning activity, pay attention to your body and notice how it moves and feels when you’re being active.  Notice the tingling in your legs when you’re walking fast, notice the sound and rhythm of your breath when you swim, feel the new way your body moves doing yoga, sense your muscles getting strong and powerful when you’re lifting weights.  If you hate running, DON’T RUN!  Find something that gives you pleasure and feel it.

Principle 10:  Honor your Health–Gentle Nutrition

“Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making you feel good.” (p. 29)  Don’t use nutriton as a “diet weapon,” choose foods that make you feel good and taste good.  Relax, try new foods, discover what foods you enjoy and which foods you don’t.  Don’t obsess, but try new things and pay attention to how they taste, feel, sound and smell.  (Broccoli may be called a “super food” but if you don’t like it, don’t eat it!)

May you be happy, healthy and trusting of yourself,

Regan

Fist, I must say that this information isn’t for everyone.  Many people have healthy, normal relationships with food and their bodies so this information will seem just weird.  Some people do lose weight and keep it off by calorie counting, limiting portion sizes or cutting out high calorie drinks from their diets.   Some people are just “normal” eaters.  They order what they are hungry for from a menu, eat what satisfies them and then either push it aside or have it boxed up without a second thought.  I’m sure you know those people, and may even envy them.  There are many people who just need information about calories in vs. calories out and they work it out for themselves and there’s nothing more to discuss.  For many of us, though, food, dieting and body image is much more complicated and much less about food than we suspect.

Here’s some food for thought (pun intended).  As our society’s obsession with dieting and weight loss has increased and the number of “diet” products has increased, the prevalence of overweight, obesity and eating disorders has gone up.  Strict “diets” are a form of starvation and anyone on them will inevitably “rebel” and eat; our bodies need food!  (pg. 7)  We feel as though we’ve failed and have no willpower and maybe we’re even bad or unworthy.  Have you ever said to yourself after a failed diet, “I am such a loser/incompetent/failure/idiot…”?  The intent of the book, Intuitive Eating is to help get past the “diet mentality” and develop a healthy relationship with ourselves, our bodies and food.

In the second chapter of the book, the authors ask you to examine what kind of eater you are and to evaluate if your seemingly “normal” eating is a sort of disordered eating.  Our society is easy to recognize bingeing and purging as bulimia and severe food restriction as anorexia nervosa, but there are other types of eating that probably fall into a category of a “Not Otherwise Specified” eating disorder.  In those cases, eating isn’t natural; it’s not how a 2 or 3 year old or an “Intuitive Eater” wold eat.

Here are their list of “Eating Personalities” (and people may have traits of many of these types):

1.  The Careful Eater is extremely vigilant and claims it’s about fitness and health.  He or she “tend[s] to undereat and to monitor the quantity of food eaten.”  (p. 10)  This person isn’t “on a diet” but is very, very careful and usually claims to be careful for health’s sake rather than to lose weight.

2.  The Professional Dieter is, as the name implies, always on some sort of diet.  They’ve done low fat, Atkins, Weight Watchers, Slim Fast, cleanses, calorie counting and know every “diet trick” in the book.  In  my opinion, this type of eater believes there is a “trick” that will work and they will be miraculously “cured.”  These people may develop serious eating disorders.  (p. 12)

3.  The Unconscious Eater often eats and does something else at the same time.  The authors suggest several types of “Unconscious Eaters.”  Do any of these sound familiar to you?

• The Chaotic Unconscious Eater will eat whatever’s available.  He or she may not recognize that they’re hungry and may inadvertently skip meals.
• The Refuse-Not Unconscious Eater just eats because the food is there.  Candy jars, boxes of donuts, pizza in the break room are all just opportunities for this type of eater to grab something without realizing it.
• The Waste-Not Unconscious Eater won’t throw out food and wants to get the best “bang for her buck” so may opt for the “Super Size” deal for an extra 20 cents.  This person will probably eat others’ leftovers.
• The Emotional Unconscious Eater may not realize that he’s had 6 cookies after a stressful phone conversation with his mother.

For some people unconscious eating isn’t a problem, but when it results in unwanted pounds, feeling uncomfortably full, or just chronic overeating, it probably is  a problem.

On page 14, the authors introduce us to “The Intuitive Eater.” These people eat when they’re hungry, they eat what sounds good to them and they don’t feel guilty or bad about the food choices they make.  Intuitive Eating is about trusting yourself and your body’s natural hunger cues and signals.  It’s how we all ate when we were toddlers but it got mixed up somewhere along the way.  Some parents “push” food, others worry that their children are gaining weight, sometimes children see the disordered eating of their parents and it affects them.  Those well intentioned “clean your plate” and “there are starving kids in Africa” comments at mealtime don’t help either.  And of course, living in a society that is obsessed with dieting and body image is a huge contributor.

In my next post about Intuitive Eating, I’ll discuss the principles of Intuitive Eating as set forth by the book.

May you be happy and healthy,

Regan