Intuitive eating.. your opinions?

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angiechimpanzee
angiechimpanzee Posts: 536 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am on the worlds biggest seesaw when it comes to my relationship with food. Sometimes I feel like, if I don't delete certain foods from my diet completely (cookies, chocolates, desserts, & on some occasions chips, fries, pizza, etc) I'll binge on them endlessly and become huge (& yes I've had this fear become reality many times before, & it's always involved those same foods). If I aim to eat only healthy foods 100% of the time, I will never have to worry about binging & the weight will fall off effortlessly. Last year when I lost almost 10 pounds in two months, that was how I did it. I had a few days of slip ups, but after those I got right back on the "100% healthy food train". & it worked. Until the holidays came around.

Sometimes, I think I can join the whole "moderation" club, and permit myself to have x amount of aforementioned food items x often if it fits into my calorie limit. I've never been able to successfully carry this out though, because that "just one cookie" has most often turned into 2, 3, 4, then the whole box, for whatever reason. Hence why I usually find myself running back to the abstinence mindset.

And sometimes, especially more recently, I'm just like, screw calorie counting altogether because I know I can't be doing this my whole life. I want to learn to eat like a normal person. Small/reasonable sized portions, paying attention to hunger, never eating out of boredom or emotions. Managing my eating habits in ways that don't have to do with numbers & counting & constantly thinking about food.

Lately I've come across the theory of "intuitive eating", which centers around giving yourself permission to eat whatever you want whenever you want. The theory states that when you detach guilt and anxiety from any foods, and just trust yourself & listen to your hunger signals, you'll be able to stop overeating and stop obsessing over food while still being able to lose weight.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean the thought of telling myself "Okay, Angie. Eat WHATEVER you want" scares me into thinking that most days I'll be living off of Golden Oreos and Burger King. At the same time though, I know from eating like that in the past that it not only gets old, but I don't feel very good either when I'm eating really poorly. I get constipated, tired easily, headaches, extreme bloating, moodiness. and I start eating for no reason instead of because I'm hungry, i start feeling like a slave to the food. And I think thats where the whole "listening to your body" aspect of intuitive eating comes to play. If I was truly listening to my body & paying attention to how I felt the whole way, there's no way I could bring myself to eat a whole package of oreos or half a pizza.

Still, I'm a little skeptical. But I'm ready to pursue a new set of eating habits & a better relationship towards food. Any opinions/experience with this?
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Replies

  • AngryDiet
    AngryDiet Posts: 1,349 Member
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    Most of the people here are here because of intuitive eating.
  • BaconMD
    BaconMD Posts: 1,165 Member
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    I gave myself permission to eat however much I wanted, of whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it.

    Then my weight stopped registering on my scale (see image in my ticker).

    Then I started exercising and tracking my food and eating an appropriate amount of food for my body composition, and my weight is going back down again.

    That's my experience.
  • angelams1019
    angelams1019 Posts: 1,102 Member
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    There is a book called Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. I would suggest reading it. My therapist suggested it to me a couple years back :)
  • skylark94
    skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
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    There is a book called Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. I would suggest reading it. My therapist suggested it to me a couple years back :)

    I've read it. I think it's a great idea for folks who are very self aware, but for many (myself included) it could be disastrous.
  • samhelen
    samhelen Posts: 98
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    In a sense that's how I eat now only I'm aware of calorie content. It its soemthing i want, I eat it. I just record everything so I am accountable to myself about the reprecussions. I also take note of how i feel when I have x, y, or z that I've been craving and if I do eat what it is that I want when I want it, I find it a lot easier to eat a more moderate amount of it than if I keep telling myself no I can't have it. It takes time to get used to listening to what your body wants but it can be done.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    Most of the people here are here because of intuitive eating.

    Pretty much what I was going to reply with.



    One thing to consider - if intuitive eating is eating when you are hungry and not eating when you aren't, if I'm engrossed in a computer game, I can go without eating for hours then have a nibble and go to bed. Great! Not really - I'll massively under-eat and you know what happens then.

    I still haven't decided what the best way of maintaining is. Perhaps practising IF regularly and eating everything you fancy whenever you want?
  • Reza151
    Reza151 Posts: 517 Member
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    Intuitive eating has helped me alot. I dont obssess over numbers and get terribly stressed and I notice how food affects me. People dont realize that intuitive eating has alot to do with listening to what your BODY wants, not just your mind. It;'s about removing that special power that certain foods have over you, so that carrots can equal the same as ice cream, and therefore youd be more likely to moderate.
  • HealthyBodySickMind
    HealthyBodySickMind Posts: 1,207 Member
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    Intuitive eating works for me. I don't recommend it for everyone.
  • dawnemjh
    dawnemjh Posts: 1,465 Member
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    Most of the people here are here because of intuitive eating.

    agreed!
  • Davina_JH
    Davina_JH Posts: 473 Member
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    Intuitive eating with a healthy and viable intuition is great. You need to change your thought process and your views about food in order for anything to work. You may have one cookie "because you can", but then you find yourself eating six more. Your true reason for eating them may be different. Stress, loneliness, fear, guilt, etc. Can't go wrong with therapy! :flowerforyou:
  • NYCNika
    NYCNika Posts: 611 Member
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    You forget how processed so many of those desirable foods are (cakes, cookies, bread) are.

    You might get a "full" signal from eating unsweetened steel cut oatmeal, but throw in sugar and processed foods and it hit your "signal's" snooze button. Sugar suppresses leptin production and you will in fact want to eat more.

    We are not eating the same way. Food is not produced the same way. Our environment has changed greatly from what is was thousands years ago when those body mechanisms developed. But our brains and bodies did not change much. So this won't work in a modern diet. You have to be aware, read, learn and calculate. Especially if you are already overweight and as one is getting older. That is an unfortunate truth.
  • CynthiaCollin
    CynthiaCollin Posts: 406 Member
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    I love food....all types...healthy , fast food.... you name it, I love it. I was successful losing weight because I didn`t give up the foods I love.... I eat 1200 calories a day....made of of good choices.... and I exercise to earn my treats... I like to finish off my day with a counted bowl of chips or popcorn and a nice 1/2cup of ice cream.... so every day I go to bed, I don`t feel deprieved....and for me that is key.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    Intuitive eating works for me. I don't recommend it for everyone.

    Interesting. Do you never fancy eating more than your requirements as per your daily targets? What about eating at restaurants?
  • MissNordicLight
    MissNordicLight Posts: 140 Member
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    I have exactly the same thoughts as you. I think I would really like to be an intuitive eater, but I just want to lose some weight first ... and apparently that kind of thinking is just keeping me in the diet-binge cycle. I'm afraid, I'll admit it, that if I let myself eat what I want when I want I would be very obese. However, it's not eating when I'm hungry that got me overweight in the first place, it's the emotional eating (for me).

    If you want to make it work I think you have to be super super careful and really listen to your body. At the same time you have to deal with all your hidden feelings/issues behind your emotional eating.

    Right now I'm re-reading a great book:
    'Overcoming Overeating' by Hirschmann and Munter

    'Fat is a Feminist Issue' is also a great book and of course anything by Geneen Roth.
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
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    Just as a personal note, I don't track calories as much when I'm deciding what to eat, unless it's something new. I've been doing this long enough that I know (at least aproximatly) what certian foods will be, so I'm not sitting there mentally calculating it. I still track it, simply because when I'm hyper-focused on something I can munch and not always realize how much, but I don't have to obsessivly track like I did when I first started. So, maybe after time, it will become eaiser because you'll learn what your favorite foods will be and can adjust accordingly.
  • HealthyBodySickMind
    HealthyBodySickMind Posts: 1,207 Member
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    Intuitive eating works for me. I don't recommend it for everyone.

    Interesting. Do you never fancy eating more than your requirements as per your daily targets? What about eating at restaurants?

    Haha, I often eat more than "my requirements". There are days that I eat close to 4000 cal and there are days that I eat less than 1300. I never try and hit any goal. I just eat and log. My "goals" in my diary are just averages of my daily intake for calories and macros. I probably should have refrained from commenting here as I'm more interested in maintainance. I thought that might be where the OP was, too, since she only has a few pounds to lose according to her ticker.
  • NikoM5
    NikoM5 Posts: 488 Member
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    I eat intuitively 99% of the time. I only use MFP tracking for the first couple weeks when I have a new weight goal. I try to mostly eat meals that have a good portion of protein in them and moderate carbs. There are exceptions for sanity of course but I make a mental note of those and try to correct for them over the next day or so.
  • wannalose25
    wannalose25 Posts: 69 Member
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    The 1st problem, in my opinion, is those "edible food like substances"! That juke we crave that makes us FAT and SICK! If we ate only vegatables, fruit, whole grains, and beans-kept as close to natural as possible, then we could all eat as much as we'd like. And we wouldn't have to spend hours working out each day, a nice, daily stroll would suffice.

    The 2nd problem is chosing a healty lifestyle when nearly everyone around you has not.

    It's not easy. I think about food way too much, but counting calories is the only method that works for me. there are days when I thought I hadn't eaten much, but in reality I probable consumed 2500 calories.

    I pray I can stick with MFP this time!
  • MissNordicLight
    MissNordicLight Posts: 140 Member
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    You forget how processed so many of those desirable foods are (cakes, cookies, bread) are.

    You might get a "full" signal from eating unsweetened steel cut oatmeal, but throw in sugar and processed foods and it hit your "signal's" snooze button. Sugar suppresses leptin production and you will in fact want to eat more.

    We are not eating the same way. Food is not produced the same way. Our environment has changed greatly from what is was thousands years ago when those body mechanisms developed. But our brains and bodies did not change much. So this won't work in a modern diet. You have to be aware, read, learn and calculate. Especially if you are already overweight and as one is getting older. That is an unfortunate truth.

    You certainly got a point there, the way food is produced has changed and also the access we have to it. It's around us all the time and we don't have to do a thing to get it.

    But, I do believe that if we REALLY listened to our body, we wouldn't want to eat the crap, because it makes us tired, bloated and so on. Eventually, we would naturally select what's good for us. And if we do want something that is not so 'good' we would eat it in moderation, because we don't like the way it makes us feel. As I said before, I think it might work, but you have to be very aware and sit down to every meal and eat it mindfully and frankly I don't know if I could make it.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    Intuitive eating works for me. I don't recommend it for everyone.

    Interesting. Do you never fancy eating more than your requirements as per your daily targets? What about eating at restaurants?

    Haha, I often eat more than "my requirements". There are days that I eat close to 4000 cal and there are days that I eat less than 1300. I never try and hit any goal. I just eat and log. My "goals" in my diary are just averages of my daily intake for calories and macros. I probably should have refrained from commenting here as I'm more interested in maintainance. I thought that might be where the OP was, too, since she only has a few pounds to lose according to her ticker.

    I think your comments and insights are valuable here. It's something I've been thinking about in the long term. I expect that at some point in the future, I won't have the time nor inclination to log. Counting can't be the only way. I'm sure not every lean-but-healthy person logs.

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