Intuitive eating.. your opinions?

dakotababy

I have read the entire book "Intuitive Eating" cover to cover. There are many valuable points from the book...especially practicing using your "hunger scale" from 1 - 10, not labelling foods as either "good" or "bad' but to just look at food for what it is. It is a necessity to live. Which in turn, alleviates any guilt from eating certain foods.

It also is a good technique to discover your emotional eating habits. There are many good books by Geneen Roth regarding this as well.

Intuitive Eating takes years to get down, if ever. Most of us already have a distorted signal system when it comes to our hunger. It clashes a lot with the more scientific methods of weight loss. Intuitive eating also does not really address the "health" part in foods, as it does promote to eat what you are craving rather than what you "Should" eat instead. (As in - you want a burger with cheese? go for it! it doesn't matter if you already had french fries, chips, pizza this morning)

I personally tried it - could not stick with it. I struggled with "stopping" eating once i got started...and because i was not feeling any guilt - i just kept going.

There is a bit of information if you google intuitive eating - you will notice that there is no "secret" behind it, so you don't really have to buy the book...all of the information you need is posted already. Learn the basics, try it out for a week - see if it works for you!

kooltray87

I'm starting The Whole30 plan in April and it sounds like something you could benefit from. Its a 30 day program geared to reset your body's natural hormones/functions while improving your relationship with food. I just got done reading the book and I already have a different outlook on food and the way my body works because of the things I eat :-) PLUS for the 30 days there is NO CALORIE COUNTING or weighing or measure AT ALL.....

http://whole9life.com/category/whole-30/

Starsight248

I've been practicing intuitive eating after reading the book 'Overcoming Overeating' and browsing on the principles of the 'Intuitive Eating' book online.

I can tell you this - it does work.

It will not work if you're looking for the "lose 30lbs in 6 weeks!" results though. It's a much slower process.
For me, and everyone is different, it took two full years before I started eating intuitively 99% of the time.
The first 6 month I gained around 10lbs, and I maintained that 10lb weight gain for another 18 months.

And now that I've started eating intuitively 99% of the time the weight literally is falling off.

Trust your body, don't treat it like a criminal that will destroy you if you let it have its way.
I'm telling you, you learn so much about your body - yes they'll be a few days were you're asking yourself "is this really working?" -and try to begin dieting again but if you just trust the process.. You'll realise that you're body has all the answers.

Also, when I say it works, I mean more than just weight loss - it rewires your brain and the way you think about food..
I find myself craving salads...... Like seriously??? That never happened before.
I also crave chocolate, and I'm able to stop eating when I'm satisfied.. That never happened before either.
But it is a loooooong process though. It won't happen overnight.

In the first few months of practicing IE, I realised, for the first time, what real hunger felt like.. I literally don't think I had ever felt REAL hunger for years. But if you just listen to your body and trust it - it will gently retrain and guide you through finding your way back to the way we used to eat as babies - intuitively.

I wish you guys the best of luck on your journeys!

symonspatrick

I am happy for you if this is something that will work for you. I have found something that is working for me which is keeping track of how much protein and carbs and fat I am putting into my body. When I eat more calories than my body needs I gain weight and when I eat less calories than my body needs I lose weight. Hopefully after eating the correct amount of calories for long enough it will be such a habit that it will seem more natural and the keeping track of everything will no longer be needed.

Lyadeia

When I do the whole "intuitive eating" thing, I gain weight. I guess my intuition just plain sucks, but honestly, if it didn't suck, I wouldn't need to track and plan my calories on MFP to begin with! I log my calories ahead of time because my intuitive eating is just that bad that I need to have a plan before hand.

MissNordicLight

I've been practicing intuitive eating after reading the book 'Overcoming Overeating' and browsing on the principles of the 'Intuitive Eating' book online.

I can tell you this - it does work.
...
I wish you guys the best of luck on your journeys!

I'm very glad to hear that this has worked for you. I have the "Overcoming Overeating" book and I love it, I have read it several times already, but have not fully embrased every aspect of intuitive eating. Your post encourages me and I will try to "let go"!

LouMonoLou

I'm sure that people are not here because of intuitive eating. All the overweight/obese people I know *including myself* don't eat because they're hungry. They eat because of various reasons such as boredom,anxiety,happiness,sadness,surprise and generally when they're not hungry..

By counting calories,I learnt how to eat right,controlling my portions and generally learn the nutritional value of many foods. Now I'm going to intuitive eating a chance and see how it goes :drinker:

cranium853

Permission to eat whatever I want without guilt or counting calories is called Hedonistic Eating. If I did that with sexual partners, did whatever I wanted, with whomever I wanted, because it seemed like a good idea, you would call me a slut. So maybe Slut Eating doesn't work so well for most of us....

neandermagnon

intuitive eating, i.e. just following my appetite and listening to my body, works fine for me for maintenance. It does not work for cutting, I need to track to cut.

Graelwyn75

It works, if you are not an emotional eater, or someone who is attached to the taste of certain foods.
However, I don't think that is very many. I cannot do it. Like you, I will often continue eating after I am full, simply because I am enjoying the taste of the food a little too much. And this applies mostly to the combination of sugar and fat...ice cream, cake, cookies, doughnuts, pastries, milk chocolate etc. It seems, some people can just have these things as a treat and not feel inclined to keep eating, because the discomfort in their tummies, overrules the enjoyment of the taste. Sadly, I am not one of those people.
I too swing between trying this intuitive eating, and then back to near abstinence. I feel crap when I eat too many products containing wheat and sugar, but that has not been enough to stop me eating more, both for the taste, and the emotional high (I am prone to depression).