Intuitive eating where to start. How to switch to intuitive eating

What is intuitive eating and is it effective for losing weight? This article is devoted to this issue. Let's take a closer look at why:

• a non-dietary system, in which there are no prohibitions, does not lead to the consumption of industrial sweets and semi-finished products;
• what is the connection between overeating and psychological state;
• Diets in the classical sense doom us to extra pounds and suffering.

IP is offered as a technique suitable for those who do not want to count calories and are discouraged by the prospect of introducing disciplinary measures into their lives. What results can you expect and how to prepare for the program - read more.

What's the point

What is intuitive eating - if it is not a diet, not a set of restrictions, then how can you get rid of excess weight using this principle? The fact is that this system suggests reconsidering your relationship with food and making it healthy and harmonious.

Nutritionist's comment:

The problem of obesity is often not only an unhealthy diet, but also largely psychological distress. Excess subcutaneous fat is largely the result of compulsive overeating, when we try to improve our emotional state through tasty foods. And this method works, but not for long. Within 15 minutes after eating chocolate, a feeling of guilt also appears.

Is it possible to lose weight on intuitive eating? Many people are surprised when they learn that there are no restrictions. Indeed, the system does not involve dividing foods into healthy and harmful, and there is also no need to weigh portions and count calories. What then will change in comparison with the lifestyle that led to obesity? To get results, you need to learn to be attentive to your body and recognize the signals of hunger and satiety. What changes should penetrate your life and become an unchanging rule:

• food is not a way to improve your mood, you will have to break the vicious circle of enjoying desserts during the blues;
• You can only eat when you are hungry;
• choose foods that you really want;
• eat slowly, enjoying the taste, temperature, consistency, and appearance of the dish;
• listen to how the body is saturated, what sensations accompany it;
• pay attention to the discomfort that appears due to overeating;
• try to tempt yourself infrequently with foods rich in flavor enhancers, as they make our appetite unnatural.

As a result, you should develop a healthy relationship with food, and this will be the key to a stable low BMI. After all, if there are no restrictions, then there are no breakdowns. This means that you will not have to go through a sharp weight gain again - these fluctuations will be a thing of the past. The absence of violence against oneself is what distinguishes intuitive eating from conscious eating. Such a system can be a real salvation for people who cannot tolerate restrictions and react poorly to attempts to discipline themselves.

Who invented

The model began to take shape in the 70s on the North American continent. The non-diet approach at its core has become a hope for those who have been too susceptible to relapse and weight gain. Nutritionists and psychologists have observed a pattern: the more you control yourself, the more you crave forbidden foods. And at one moment, when we experience serious stress, we can break down and reduce all efforts to zero.

The absence of an irresistible craving for your favorite delicacy, a healthy attitude towards the dish - this is what intuitive eating means. This approach was practiced by American Teyma Weiler. Its effectiveness and growing popularity in narrow circles became the basis for the opening of a center where women who wanted to lose weight stopped torturing themselves with diets and got the desired result.

In the late 70s, a book on the psychology of weight loss, Overcoming Overeating, was published, then this topic is addressed in the popular publication Fat - a Feminist Issue. This is how ideas about the wisdom of the body, which is able to properly regulate appetite without conscious control, become known in society.

In 1995, the fundamental work of nutritionists E. Triboli and E. Resch, “Intuitive Eating,” was published. Here you can find structured detailed information about the technique, its effectiveness, validity and excellent results. Professor Stephen Hawkes brought widespread fame to the system. He tested its effectiveness on himself, losing more than 20 extra pounds without effort, which never returned to him.

Indeed, research on this approach demonstrates that those losing weight intuitively show enviable stability - their body mass index remains consistently low for a very long time. Followers of the method claim that slimness remains with a person forever, this is another important advantage over conscious nutrition.

Nutritionist's comment:

There is an opinion that nature itself came up with a non-dietary method, but due to a perverted attitude towards food as a result of the development of civilization, people have lost the ability to hear the signals of their body. But this is not entirely true, because in fact, eating behavior in ancient times was not controlled by sensations (of hunger and satiety), but by supply. Food - it should be rightly noted - was a resource difficult to obtain, so it was consumed when available, even beyond measure. This explains the fact that overweight people have been considered the standard of beauty and prestige for many centuries. Slimness came into fashion not so long ago.

How to lose weight with intuitive eating - basic principles

What rules do you need to bring into your life in order to forever forget about exhausting mono-diets and find a slim body?

Complete rejection of diets of any kind

As long as you believe in a diet program that is based on strict restrictions but can lead you to your ideal result, you will not succumb to IP. There is no special sequence of foods, there is no need to endure a feeling of acute hunger for several days - you should be comfortable.

Respect for your body

Recognize that people are created different; striving for a single standard is madness. The important task is to change so that you feel good, be active, and energetic. But if you want to get some specific parameters that will ensure you the admiration of men and the respect of girlfriends, then you need to work on motivation. Learn to respect your body, treat it as an asset - with care and understanding.

Weakening and eliminating dietary control

The basic principles and rules of intuitive nutrition follow from the formulation - obey your intuition, and not various tables from smart books. This is not about consuming unhealthy amounts of chips and chocolate, but about stopping criticizing yourself for excesses. If at first there is a place for them, then later they will disappear. After all, the body has wisdom, it knows what and in what quantities it needs to maintain normal weight.

Learn to hear your hunger

Despite the fact that this postulate sounds simple and even primitive, it will not be easy to comply with. After all, we are accustomed to taking the following states as a desire to eat:

• thirsty;
• sadness;
• stress;
• the desire to belong to a group - many had to eat something “for company”;
• fatigue - when it is necessary to take a break from work;
• procrastination - when you have to do something you don’t want to do.

All this should be filtered out. Eat when you are really hungry - this should be the only motivation for eating. It is possible that you will need several sessions with a psychotherapist to learn to distinguish between a true desire to eat and a compulsive unhealthy state when food is perceived as a way to distract from problems.

Treat food without prejudice or hostility

One of the 10 principles of intuitive eating will also require effort, as many have spent years and even decades with the strong belief that food can be the enemy. Remember how many negative attitudes exist, and imagine how much strength they gain, becoming entrenched in our consciousness. We understand the harm of excess sugar and fatty foods. We imagine how the volume of the body increases after salted and smoked food. We count the number of kilometers that need to be run after eating chocolate. All this eventually becomes a real war on food. It should be completed if you decide to learn how to switch to intuitive eating and do it in practice.

Learn to hear and respect the feeling of fullness

Shift your attention from the taste and texture of the dish to your sensations. Saturation comes gradually, your condition changes. Many people prone to overeating eat quickly, anxiously, remaining captive to their problems, tasks and daily routines. In such a situation, we notice a change in state only when we have eaten too much. There is a feeling of heaviness, drowsiness, heartburn, and only then do we stop. There is no need to do this. Listen to your body, don't be distracted by vanity. And then you can track how the feeling of fullness gradually comes.

Feel pleasure and satisfaction

When you learn to fully enjoy food, not sneakily, without guilt, but “legally,” a very important change will occur. To reach the moment when you are satisfied, you will need less goodies compared to previous portions. It's amazing how your appetite changes if you remove inhibitions and allow yourself to enjoy your meal.

Respect your feelings

How to understand whether you are hungry or trying to “eat” irritation - intuitive eating presupposes a healthy attitude towards your emotions. This practice should teach you to treat your psychological state and reactions to others without criticism. Don't suppress, monitor, accept, treat yourself with understanding.

There is no need to strictly evaluate your body

Your physique depends not only on diet and exercise, but also on genetics. Give up the desire for an unattainable standard - such ambitions not only do not help, but also cause nervous exhaustion and loss of self-confidence. Respect and love yourself, only in such conditions can you successfully switch to intuitive eating without violence, learning to listen to your body and not obey public opinion.

Value your health

It is important to choose foods and intensity of physical activity so that the result is comfort. Don't think that this technique involves anyone eating chips and cakes as the main course. If you listen to the body and strive for a pleasant state, then these delicacies will sink into oblivion, since they cause heaviness, indigestion and even cutting pain. The same applies to training - there is no need to set yourself impossible tasks and perform boring sets to the point of exhaustion and severe soreness. Look for a middle ground.

How much can you lose in a month on intuitive eating?

You should not expect quick results from this approach. Perhaps in the first weeks the changes will be very minor, they may even be absent altogether. Or even the scale arrow will swing to the right, indicating an increase. But remember that a slower pace of weight loss means a more stable outcome. Also, exact numbers are hampered by such circumstances as individual characteristics. Some will lose 1.5 kilograms a week on IP, while others will get rid of 5 kg in a month.

But if the technique can be mastered, then the problem of excess weight will be solved forever.

How to switch to intuitive eating and lose weight

In order for this approach to bring a positive result and not disappointment, attention should be paid to the following aspects:

• learn to eat mindfully;
• increase sensitivity;
• be guided by your own desires when choosing products, and not by the recommendations of magazines and nutritionists;
• do not allow severe hunger;
• pay attention to the stages of saturation;
• notice the state when your body is sufficiently saturated, you feel good, filled with energy, but you can eat more - this is the moment when you should stop.

Intuitive eating is not about rules and restrictions, but about learning to listen to your body.

Stages of transition to individual entrepreneurs

This process cannot be simple and quick, since it requires a fundamental restructuring of consciousness and a qualitatively different attention to one’s body. This is unusual. Therefore, we come to the technique gradually, we list the stages:

• Denial - there is no need to radically change your approach, you can go on your usual diet and quickly lose weight to the desired level.
• Contemplation - after several episodes when the diet program did not bring the desired changes, but, on the contrary, caused harm, many begin to doubt the advisability of the restrictions. At this moment, information about intuitive eating attracts, I want to find out what it is and how to start using a comfortable method.
• Preparation for action is not yet a full-fledged transition, but rather an attempt to change habits: a person eats more slowly, tries to look at “forbidden” foods without bias, and monitors changes in his emotional state.
• Action - at this stage practice begins. The ability to recognize body signals becomes more confident, and respect for one’s physique and mental processes also grows. Food ceases to serve as a comfort, but serves only as a source of energy, as it should be.

How to maintain a healthy lifestyle

The more dietary experience a person has, the stronger the beliefs about strict diet control, the more likely a breakdown is. Maintaining IP in such a situation will require more effort and attention.

To successfully maintain your favorite menu within the framework of intuitive eating and make progress in losing weight, it is recommended:

• find like-minded people who would share their experiences;
• get support - put your friends, relatives, spouse in a positive mood;
• notice changes, do not downplay the importance of even small improvements;
• Be patient - you won’t be able to implement all the principles and lose weight right away.

It is believed that the development of IP occurs in a spiral, so it is quite normal when episodes of regression are noted.

Svetlana Bronnikova introduced Russian LiveJournal, and then the whole country, to the principles of intuitive nutrition. So what is it and how to lose weight without dieting?

Principle 1: Giving up control

At this stage, Svetlana Bronnikova advises learning Right recognize feelings of hunger. What does it mean? You have to understand Where you feel this same hunger. Press your hand to the place where the emptiness is felt most strongly. If it's the stomach, then everything is fine. If it is a little higher, closer to the chest, then you are not experiencing physical hunger, but anxiety. And you eat exactly that.

When you feel hungry, break it down into symptoms. How do you feel when you are hungry? Is your stomach growling? A sucking sensation in your stomach? Weakness? Loss of consciousness? Does it get dark before your eyes? If you show the last three signs of hunger, it means that you do not know how to detect hunger at the very beginning and are driving your own body to the extreme.

What to do with all this? Keep a food diary! Svetlana advises creating a private Instagram account where you can take pictures of everything you ate during the day. And make captions - when you ate it and why. Mom forced me, for the company, I wanted it. Based on this data, you can work with setting hunger and satiety signals.

Principle 2: You have the right to eat

There are many food taboos in our culture. Nutritionists forbid us absolutely everything, with a few exceptions in the form of “Sunday treats” (#sekta) or cheat meals. Only certain categories of citizens are allowed to eat whatever they want - those recovering from an illness or pregnant women. By the way, when these two groups of citizens start eating whatever they want, they do not become catastrophically fat. But a pregnant woman with an already disordered eating pattern will eat what doctors advise and indulge in delicious food - and will definitely gain too much.

Our body is very wise. Believe me, even if you start eating absolutely everything you want, you will not stop walking through the door. But it is important to learn to eat when you want, and stop eating when you don’t want to - that is, to hear yourself.

There are several stages in satiety: overeaten, completely full, just full, half-full, slightly hungry, hungry, very hungry, dying of hunger... And each of your sensations should be run on this scale in order to understand exactly what is happening to you.

When you feel that you are full, but at the same time there is a distinct feeling that you want something more, do not insult yourself, do not call yourself a glutton. Respect yourself. It’s better to voice it like this: “I feel like eating, but I’m not hungry. Apparently, something is bothering me, and this is the best way to calm down.”

Principle 3: Take food to go

The most important rule in becoming intuitive eating is to give yourself as many food choices as possible. Stock up on food wherever you can - at home and at work. Carry as many different foods as possible. When you want to eat, first ask yourself - what exactly do you want? To what extent? Is it tasty? This way you will learn to make peace with food.

At this stage, you will learn to try different foods, recognize different tastes, and rebuild your relationship with food. It may turn out that those foods that were forbidden fruit for you are not at all as tasty as they seemed. It may turn out that you cannot stop and continue to eat even when you are full. It's OK. This is an intermediate stage and that's normal.

What to do in a situation where you have dinner planned in a restaurant or a meal with your loved one in the evening, but you want to eat now? What if the meeting is still two hours away? Don't even think about drinking coffee or grabbing cookies. Are you hungry now? Eat what you want. Just not a full portion, but a quarter of the usual portion. Stop as soon as you feel the first slight sensation. Now you're full, you'll enter the restaurant hungry enough to appreciate what they serve.

Learn not to hide your desires and not to act to please others. Be an autonomous eater. Develop your autonomy, because it is people whose autonomy is not sufficiently developed who most often eat away their psychological problems. Soon you will learn to determine what you want to eat in, say, two hours, and you will be able to postpone the feeling of hunger with the help of a small sandwich or fruit.

At this stage, it is important to create a list of “priority” products. This is the food that you are ready to eat every day and really love. Do not ignore your desires - this is a question of the body’s current needs for certain substances.

Principle 4: You have the right to eat everything

Learn to hear yourself. If you are a visual person, then imagine the food you would like to eat now. Or concentrate on the sensations you would like to experience. Do you want something warm, enveloping, tasty, spicy, warming? Maybe pilaf? Do you want something fishy or spicy? Sushi? Something warm and sweet? Porridge? If you learn to hear yourself at this level, then you will feel real harmony from what you eat.

With practice, you will learn to hear yourself better. You may find that you no longer want to eat red meat. Or a few evenings spent with stomach cramps after delicious pasta will make you understand that it is best to deal with pasta during the day. Listen to yourself and experiment!

Principle 5: You have the right to eat what you want.

For a compulsive eater, there is usually almost nothing in the refrigerator. There are eggs, some milk, some greens. If the eater lives in a family, then there is food for all family members - for the husband, for the children, in case of guests - but not for the eater himself. Stop acting like this. Fill your fridge with what you love, giving yourself maximum choice!

Principle 6: You have the right to stop eating.

Give yourself time. Your body will not immediately understand that now everything is suddenly possible for it, and at first it will not react in any way. But when he realizes that you have finally let him off the leash, he will calm down, stop storing excess weight, and you will lose weight.

Principle 7: “Help! I can’t stop eating!”

Remember that intuitive eating is not something you learn overnight. This is a set of skills that can only be mastered gradually. Naturally, this path cannot be smooth; a variety of barriers await you here.

In fact, the most common problem is to stop eating when you are already full, but there is still something left on the plate. This is a common problem. It often happens that the body, accustomed to restrictions, cannot stop and continues to eat and eat until the bag of chips runs out. And if the bag hadn’t run out, you wouldn’t have stopped either.

It is very important to understand the difference between a decision and a ban. A prohibition is always external, a decision is your internal one. When you make a decision, you accept its consequences, both positive and negative. By choosing a ban, you are trying to avoid negative consequences and the need to accept them.

Unfortunately, in people with eating disorders, the satiety signal is often suppressed. This signal develops if a person moves a lot, and obese people move little. The result is a situation similar to clinical depression, when a person sleeps, but still feels overwhelmed when he wakes up.

What if you are in a unique situation and are trying to get more from him, knowing that you will not be able to repeat him soon? For example, you find yourself in an expensive restaurant and eat, knowing that you are unlikely to be able to go here often. Or you came to visit a friend who cooks amazingly. What to do?

It is necessary to deprive this experience of its uniqueness. Find a more affordable restaurant with the same dishes. Visit your friend more often. There is no need to preserve the uniqueness of the moment - make it something very accessible and ordinary.

One more problem. If you buy food in the supermarket just for yourself and if you are a large person, then you will encounter judgmental glances and chuckles. Please don't tolerate them. You don't need to be a warrior. Order goods for delivery, buy in a store far from home, travel with your family.

And further. Very often, healthy food becomes disgusting because of childhood memories when the child was forced to eat it, implying that he was fat and needed to lose weight. This causes problems in mastering intuitive eating. For example, you feel like you now want a vegetable salad with olive oil - but you understand that this is the same hated healthy food, and refuse it in favor of a bun. What to do? Just buy foods that you find gross. Sooner or later you will try them, you will like them and you will start eating them.

Principle 8: Learning to regulate emotions

It has been noted that overly sensitive people usually suffer from bulimia. It seems to them that under the pressure of emotions they will literally be torn apart, so it is necessary to dampen the intensity of these experiences as soon as possible. Be caring and attentive to yourself. Feel like you're overeating? Listen to yourself - why are you doing this? Maybe you got sick? Then go home and go to bed. Take care of yourself.

Principle 9: Intuitive Movement

Movement is important. And it’s not so important to pump like a professional athlete. Nobody needs this. But 40-minute activity, divided into 10-15 minute segments, is the path to health. Why? It has been proven that movement changes us. Good changes occur in the muscles that are stressed, and the changes persist for an hour after the end of the workout. Movement even changes our DNA. DNA is static, but the phenomenon of "gene expression" exists. Genes turn on and off like a traffic light. Genes, when turned on, make the body work by regulating the release of protein molecules, which have a variety of effects on our body.

Svetlana cites studies that prove that overweight people with a high BMI can be metabolically healthy if they move a lot. As a result, an overweight woman with a high BMI who moves and exercises a lot will be healthier and live longer than a thin woman who does not move at all and eats little. So keep moving!

Give up various trackers and bracelets that tell you how many calories you have burned. If you turn them into food (100 kcal?! One pancake?!), you will certainly be disappointed and quit. And you should move as much as you can. No extra effort required: the human body is designed for walking, not running. If walking is difficult, do Nordic walking with poles. If it already hurts, swim.

What else? Try a load that is not typical for you. If you are a modest person, go to boxing. If you are used to commanding and building, go to yoga or Pilates. Try to discover some new unknown traits in yourself.

Feel free to move. There is no need to give up going to the fitness club because you are afraid of sidelong glances - “here, the fat guy has come to his senses.” Remember that the vast majority of people are ashamed of their body - that’s how we exist.

You should not invest a lot of money in your sport. Otherwise, you will have another incentive to postpone activity - until you have money for a personal trainer or a sports store starts a sale.

Don't listen to your inner perfectionist. He will advise you to spend an hour and a half in the gym every day, but you will get tired of it very soon. Rest assured, if you weren't moving at all before, even 30 minutes every other day will make a significant difference. Count all your activity, sum it up at the end of the week, evaluate yourself positively. Stick to the “every other day” sports rhythm.

Principle 10: The body is my friend

To hear your intuitive eater, you need to learn to accept yourself and your body as it already is. Stop buying yourself a size smaller in hopes that you will lose weight and look great in it. You will only develop complexes for yourself. Relax and love yourself now. Get rid of bathroom scales and clothes that are too tight. Start working with a mirror: just stand in front of the mirror and describe yourself without subjective assessments. Feel what emotions you experience when describing yourself. Stop putting off important moments in life until you lose weight.

More interesting things

Svetlana Markova

Beauty is like a precious stone: the simpler it is, the more precious it is!

Content

How can you lose weight without a diet? Women are surprised, because the main condition for weight loss is calorie restriction. Now they have invented a new method of intuitively getting rid of extra pounds - nutrition based on the principle: the body knows what to eat. The system is simple and has virtually no restrictions.

What is intuitive eating

It often happens that a person, exhausting himself with physical activity and diets, never achieves the desired slimness. The body protests against this attitude and ultimately forces it to take into account its needs. An alternative way to get rid of excess fat is an intuitive diet, which categorically denies the use of any restrictions. The weight loss system is based on the principles that allow you to consume baked goods, sweets, chocolate and effectively reduce in size.

The technique was originally developed by American professor Stephen Hawkes, who himself lost weight using a variety of diets to no avail. After many years of unsuccessful attempts, he began to listen to his body and, based on the findings, compiled a diet on his own. The intuitive approach was positive. He helped the professor lose 22 kg and maintain the weight for a long time. Stephen Hawkes argues that the problem of excess weight should be approached this way:

• recognize the signals your own body sends;
• learn to control your appetite;
• take breaks while eating;
• intuitively recognize when hunger occurs and when overeating occurs.

Principles of Intuitive Eating

American Teyma Weiler continued to develop an effective method of losing weight. She opened the Green Mountain establishment, where she offered women to lose weight without food restrictions. The main method was aimed at studying the correct sensation of one’s own body and was built on Hawks’s theses. So, 10 principles of intuitive eating:

1. Refusal of diets. Any dietary restriction is harmful.
2. Respect for hunger. You need to give your body the right amount of nutrients.
3. Challenge power control. You should forget about the rules that teach you when you can or cannot eat.
4. Truce with food. You need to allow yourself to eat.
5. Respect for the feeling of fullness. We must learn to recognize when we are full.
6. Satisfaction factor. You need to understand that food is not a pleasure, but a necessity, so you need to enjoy not the process of eating, but every bite.
7. Respecting feelings without eating. You need to understand that loneliness, boredom or anxiety are feelings that cannot be calmed by food.
8. Respect for your own body. You should learn to love yourself, regardless of the numbers on the scale.
9. Training is like movement. You need to be active not to burn calories, but to get a boost of energy.
10. Respect for your health. You need to learn to choose foods that take care of both your taste buds and the health of your body as a whole.

The essence of intuitive eating

The modern approach to nutrition returns a person to nature, because it has provided the most universal tool for assessing something - intuition. To understand whether food is needed at the moment, you just need to listen to the body and feel the presence or absence of hunger. Modern man has long forgotten that the most healthy nutrition is intuitive. People start eating with company or when there are a lot of tasty dishes or snacks within walking distance.

The essence of the food system is that there are no rules. You are allowed to eat everything, but only if two requirements are met: you need to feel hungry and intuitively understand that the body really wants to accept the chosen product. At this stage, many adults experience difficulties. However, they are easy to overcome if you watch children - they eat as much as they need. The desire of parents to stuff too much into their child often turns into a major scandal.

Is it possible to lose weight with intuitive eating?

There have been debates among nutritionists for a long time about such a system, but ultimately they came to the conclusion that it is an effective analogue of a healthy diet, calculated from a psychological point of view. How much can you lose with intuitive eating? According to reviews from those losing weight, this system helps you easily lose 5-7 kilograms in a month. I would like to note that the intuitive method of getting rid of extra pounds will not be effective for people suffering from bulimia, since this is a psychological problem that requires the intervention of a qualified psychotherapist.

How to learn intuitive eating

It is difficult for a person who is used to dieting on a schedule to learn to listen to his body. At first, everyone has difficulty determining their own feelings of hunger and satiety. Over time, the understanding comes that you need to eat only when there is rumbling in the stomach or sucking in the pit of the stomach, and not in company with someone. Intuitive eating for weight loss is vital for the following categories of people:

• victims of diets whose lives have become a tactic of restriction and relapse;
• emotional people who eat away their experiences;
• accustomed to separating foods, counting calories, eating strictly according to a schedule and according to the BJU ratio.

How to switch to intuitive eating

You can learn to intuitively evaluate eating behavior if you stop dividing food into healthy and harmful, bad and good, and also stop meeting accepted weight standards. You should get rid of the fear of becoming ugly or fat. Switching to intuitive eating is about changing your relationship with food, not about losing weight. Even if at the initial stage you gain a couple of extra pounds, this is normal. Especially among those people who previously limited themselves in delicacies. When there is no prohibition, then the craving for them will disappear, because, as you know, only the forbidden fruit is sweet.

How to eat intuitively

The body is genetically programmed to demand from the owner only those products that it currently lacks for normal functioning. When creating an intuitive eating menu, you should pay attention to body signals and avoid compulsive overeating. Refusing dietary thinking, you need to allow your body to eat everything. From his point of view, a serving of boiled broccoli for dinner is no better than a plate of fried potatoes. When eaten according to the body's desire, it will not lead to weight gain, but will only replenish the energy balance.

Intuitive Eating Diary

It's not easy to start eating intuitively. The desired result will not come soon if the mind constantly throws up thoughts about food. A diary will help to facilitate the process, in which you need to methodically record the foods you eat and how you felt about them. A couple of weeks will pass and the notes will help you analyze what time of day your metabolism is active, when food is digested slowly, and what foods provoke you to drink heavily.

The diary should have its own personal hunger scale on the first page, and notes should be made next to each item. For example, opposite the “overeat” level, write down your feelings from this process – painful bloating or something else. A “full” paragraph would indicate fullness, while a “very hungry” paragraph could indicate irritation. During the first days, constantly check the scale and determine the intensity of your hunger. This will help you avoid overeating and distinguish between emotional emptiness and a real desire to eat. You will notice that saturation comes much faster than before.

Intuitive Eating for Children

The child makes choosing foods much easier, because he knows how much he needs to eat, intuitively relying on body signals. Small children, even with a great appetite, at one moment get full and don’t want any more, and they don’t like their parents’ attempts to force-feed them. Baby food, according to intuition, is about minimizing control over the amount of food a child eats. Even a baby is able to ask for food - he cries until he receives food. Let your child, from a young age, retain the ability to hear intuitive sensations and understand the difference between satiety, appetite and hunger.

Many people dream of losing weight without significant food restrictions, and this has become possible thanks to a new system called “intuitive eating.” Its basic principle is that the body knows what it needs to function properly, so you need to listen to your desires.

What does intuitive eating mean?

There are many examples when a person exhausts himself with diets and physical activity, but does not achieve the desired result. This is due to the fact that the body simply protests such restrictions. The psychology of overeating and intuitive eating are directly interconnected, since this technique allows for the consumption of all foods in the quantities required by the body. Ideal, but it looks unrealistic. Stephen Hawkes suggested intuitive eating after experiencing it himself. He claims that you can achieve results if you learn:

• recognize your own body signals;
• control your appetite;
• understand when you feel hungry and when you feel overeated.

Intuitive eating - principles and rules

There are certain principles that help you learn to understand your body and lose weight:

1. Complete rejection of diets, since temporary restrictions on food give only short-term results.
2. You should not ignore it, because the body may think that a crisis has come and it is necessary to stock up for the future. In addition, it is important to understand that hunger and appetite are different things. The principles of intuitive eating are based on fractional consumption of food, with a portion being approximately 200 g.
3. There is no need to perceive food as the main culprit of excess weight. Don’t scold yourself for wanting to eat sweets, as this is how your body signals a lack of glucose.
4. Intuitive eating is based on recognizing the feeling of fullness. Use a scale from 1 (very hungry) to 10 (overeating). You should focus on a value of 5-6 points.
5. You should not perceive food as the main joy in life. It is important to switch to enjoying quality rather than quantity.
6. Intuitive eating, the rules of which are simple and clear, involves avoiding stress eating and rewarding with food. Instead of a cake, it’s better to buy a new dress, and get rid of a bad mood with the help of music, and so on.
7. Love yourself with all your flaws, because you can only lose weight with a positive attitude.

Intuitive eating or healthy eating?

In fact, it is wrong to compare these concepts, since they are very similar. The thing is that many people have the wrong idea about proper nutrition, because this is not a strict diet at all, but a principle when a person eats healthy foods. The best solution, according to experts, is intuitive nutrition, the menu of which is based on the principles of a healthy diet. The only clarification is that if you really want to eat an unhealthy burger or chocolate bar, then do not deny yourself the pleasure.

Cons of Intuitive Eating

The disadvantages of this nutritional method are not significant; it is worth noting the difficulty in creating a diet. Its author does not offer a menu, so you have to do everything yourself, focusing on existing rules and the basics of a balanced diet. Many, describing the shortcomings of intuitive eating, note that you should always have your “favorite dishes” on hand so as not to overload on buns, fast food, and so on.

The intuitive nutrition system is designed for developed and intelligent people who have good nutrition, understand their desires, and so on. Another disadvantage of this technique is the lack of discipline, which increases the risk of failure. The developer has not provided any restrictions on time, frequency and volume of food, so there is always a temptation to break loose and eat something extra. In addition, there is no exact figure that people who want to lose weight should focus on.

How to switch to intuitive eating?

Taking the first step is difficult, so to switch to intuitive eating, it is recommended to focus on the following rules:

1. You need to eat at the table, protecting yourself from all distractions, that is, TV, the Internet and conversations on serious topics. All attention should be focused on food.
2. The transition to intuitive eating means that you should sit down at the table only when you feel hungry, but when the first signs of satiety appear, you need to immediately get up from the table.
3. Determine your taste preferences and before each meal ask yourself what you want to eat.
4. Start moving more, and the results of intuitive eating will be even better. Choose a direction in sports that will bring you pleasure.

Exercises to switch to intuitive eating

There are various tricks that will help ease the transition to the new menu. It is recommended to create a personal hunger scale. For this intuitive eating exercise, you need to draw or print a ruler and write different levels of sensations next to it, for example, “hungry,” “full,” “overstuffed,” and so on. Opposite each gradation, describe your own sensations in the body. It is important to constantly check this scale throughout the day to determine the intensity of your hunger.

Intuitive Eating Diary

Starting to eat based on your own feelings is not easy, because it is very difficult to get rid of thoughts about food. In order for intuitive nutrition to give results, it is recommended to keep a diary, where you should write down a list of foods eaten and your own feelings while eating them. After some time, it will be possible to conduct an analysis to understand when metabolism is active, when food takes a long time to digest and a feeling of heaviness arises, which further provokes appetite, and so on. Continue recording the sensations as you make adjustments.

Intuitive eating for weight loss

It is worth saying that the presented method does not help all people lose weight, since not everyone is able to correctly follow the basic principles of intuitive eating. In addition, it should be noted that it is not suitable for people who are predisposed to gaining excess weight. For those who are interested in how to lose weight using intuitive eating, it is important to know that people who find good results achieve. While following the rules of a healthy diet, do not forget to treat yourself to delicious food.

Books about intuitive eating

If you are interested in the presented method of losing weight, then it is recommended to read the following books:

1. Svetlana Bronnikova " Intuitive eating. How to stop worrying about food and lose weight" The most popular book among people who want to find harmony in their relationship with food. According to reviews, the information presented in this work helps to understand yourself and your body and change your attitude towards food.
2. Evelyn Tribole: book " Intuitive eating. A revolutionary new approach to nutrition" The author of this work worked next to the founder of this movement. The book helps you look at your diet differently and learn to live wisely and inspiredly.
3. Dr. Mazourik " Intuitive eating. How to guarantee weight loss?" The author of the book uses his own example to talk about how he was able to change his eating habits and lose weight. The pages describe in accessible language the mechanisms of hunger and satiety, as well as other rules of intuitive nutrition. The author focuses on the problem of emotional overeating.

Starve yourself, suffer from the chocolate you eat, and always count, count those stupid calories... No. This can be avoided, and my experience is proof of this. But to clarify everything that I said in the first lines, I propose to rewind time and pause at the point where I finally went crazy from diets and everything else.

Exactly a year ago, sitting at the table in the evening and finishing the last piece of cake, I firmly decided to go on a diet. I scoured the Internet for a very long time in search of a suitable diet and workouts for myself. Finally, a suitable option was found (it was a month-long course of effective weight loss). It was something like drying, only not so exhausting.

My first breakdown happened within a week, but I didn’t pay any attention to it, as the weight began to come off quickly, and I was melting before my eyes. A month passed, and during this month I lost more weight than lost weight, because the diet was strict. As a result, I only gained extra pounds, but I did not despair and found new diets, staying on them too (that is, with breakdowns).

Six months later the weight returned. I am exhausted and tired, plus I started having health problems. My skin was a nightmare, my nails were peeling, my hair was split and was so dry that I didn’t even want to touch it. My self-esteem has plummeted. I looked at myself in the mirror with disgust...

She talked a lot about intuitive eating, that it is a very young concept, and it is only gaining momentum. Its essence is very simple: you eat whatever you want until you feel full. And I decided to try (why not, because I definitely won’t make it worse for myself).

First, I need to understand myself and put everything in its place. I threw all the garbage out of my head. I stopped counting calories, tried to forget about the scales altogether and began to slowly live in harmony with myself and my body. I'll be honest - it was difficult at first. The hand was always reaching out either for cookies, which I no longer wanted to look at, or for a second helping of borscht.

But every week it became easier. I ate when I really wanted it. I ate whatever I wanted, like fried potatoes or a bun with coffee. The most important thing is not to forget that you need to eat only when your body wants it. I stopped overeating, a feeling of comfort appeared in my stomach and intestines.

After a month of eating this way, I lost six kilograms, and after three, I lost eighteen. I became more confident in myself, much slimmer, more beautiful, and most importantly, healthier.

My story is confirmation that you need to listen to your body and never limit yourself. You need to understand what and when he wants, and then you can achieve excellent results without compromising your health.

The story of weight loss using intuitive eating was sent by Valeria