We live in a beautiful time, when people finally start embracing all colours, all shapes and tastes. It got us thinking, what if embracing our natural body type is something to pursue in 2020? Say, following not the diet prescribed by nutritionists but by our inner voice?
They say that on average, we make more than 200 decisions about food each day — but are only aware of a small fraction of them. The rest are performed by our unconscious mind and can lead to mindless eating, which in turn causes overeating and weight gain. But what if we learn to distinguish and listen to our own body’s signals?
Today at The Jar Healthy Vending we explore the rather unorthodox approach to wellness. We won’t go too deep into energy healing, electromagnetic pollution anxiety solutions, biophotonics and just about a dozen of other terms which sound a bit scary, to be honest. Rather, we will talk about simple yet effective so-called holistic biohacking - intuitive eating.
In Ayurveda, the dynamic state of balance between mind, body and environment, the fastest path to good health is living and eating according to your body type or dosha, which can be one out of three: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Feeling metaphysical yet?
These ancient practices may or may not be the key to healthy balanced lifestyle. After all, there are literally thousands of approaches to food consumption and all seem to be so different and contradicting. What's worth contemplating about though, is that historically people actually differentiated each other by a specific body type which needs a specific nutrition.
What if intuitive eating is the key to your healthy body? After all, it is something of a philosophy too, which makes you the expert of your body and its hunger signals, promoting a healthy attitude towards food and body image.
Amid all those changing diets and trends, the only thing that will always be right for you is your own voice, isn’t it? And by trusting diet books and so-called experts about what, when, and how to eat we can very easily float away from trusting our own body and its intuition.
So, what is intuitive eating? Simple - it is just the opposite of a traditional diet. It doesn’t impose guidelines about what to avoid and what or when to eat. The idea is that you should eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full. But there is a little challenge - to eat intuitively, you will probably need to relearn how to trust your body. Start with distinguishing types of hunger:
Physical hunger. This is a natural, biological urge which calls you to replenish nutrients. Signals: growling stomach, fatigue, or irritability.
Emotional hunger. This is a misleading emotional need, which is driven by feelings such as sadness and boredom.
Intuitive eating is based on physical hunger rather than scheduled food intakes, prescribed by diet books.
Now, let’s go through 5 key principles of intuitive eating:
1. Reject the diet mentality
The most common approach to nutrition today is looking for a diet which works best for us - among keto, paleo, vegan and a trillion of others there may never be the one which satisfies your body and soul. Remember - intuitive eating is anti-diet. Do not count calories, do not limit certain types of food, basically allow yourself to eat whatever you want.
2. Honour your hunger
The exact same diet mentality made us see hunger as an enemy. Isn't it just wrong? Hunger is the simple signal from the body that certain nutrients need to be replenished. An easy solution is to respond to early signals of hunger by feeding yourself before you get excessively hungry. Just eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full. Trust your body instead of relying on external cues like a calorie count to tell you to stop eating.
3. Appreciate your food
Food is the source of all good the planet offers us. It is the ultimate source of energy and our bodies intuitively know what they need to function productively. Never blame yourself for what you eat or don't eat and reject the thoughts which make you think otherwise.
4. Respect the fullness
Our bodies always give feedback. Just like you feel the hunger, you should feel the comfortable fullness which is a signal to stop your food intake. As you’re eating, check in with yourself to see how the food tastes and how hungry or full you are feeling.
5. Enjoy from the beginning to the end
This is the most important part about mindful eating and generally living - enjoying each and every activity you do. We are not robots who simply need fuel, we are lucky enough to have taste buds which open the whole new world to appreciating taste. So, make your eating experience enjoyable. When you make eating a pleasurable experience, you may find it takes less food to satisfy you.
The bottomline is - it may not be easy to re-learn how to listen to your true voice. What if it always asks for burger and fries? This definitely can't be right. When the body is healthy - it craves for naturally clean foods. So, the only guideline to intuitive eating would be gently following the basic nutrition principles such as more vegetables, whole grains but if you feel the urge to eat something beyond the healthy chart - do it for your own pleasure, and you will notice that once the craving is satisfied your body may actually reject the unhealthy foods naturally and crave for nutritious, replenishing meals instead.
With intuitive eating, how you eat is just as important as what you eat. Letting your own internal cues of hunger and fullness guide your eating can lead to improved body image and quality of life.
Appreciate the moment and enjoy the delicious mindful snack with
The Jar Healthy Vending!