Tips for intuitive eating?

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K_ROSE_
K_ROSE_ Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hope you are all well. Does anyone have any tips for intuitive eating? Weight loss is 100% a mind game for me and I need some help to not eat when I’m not hungry. I’m so used to just eating meals and snacks but when I think about it, I’m not even really hungry.

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  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,670 Member
    edited October 2023
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    Intuitive eating is a whole process. There is a book that outlines the "rules", or basic tenets. I don't know that you'll find many advocates on here. Keep in mind, intuitive eating is 100% NOT designed to lose weight. In fact, most people find they gain weight... and a fair amount of it. It's about checking in with yourself. If you're hungry, or just want to eat, you eat. And you eat whatever it is that you're wanting to eat. And you eat until you feel completely satisfied. If you're not hungry or don't feel like eating, you don't eat.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,017 Member
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    I don't know how to put intuitive eating into context, sorry, as I think there must be certain guidelines or strategies to facilitate individual needs, and therefore intuitive eating is a non sequitur. I think we need to fight against our success as a civilization where food is now omnipresent thanks to the industrial food complex, and where a healthy persons only represents about 12% of the population. For me satiety reins supreme and I'll follow that where ever that leads, which for me personally, is my fight against our modern civilization. cheers. :)
  • herringboxes
    herringboxes Posts: 259 Member
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    When you find yourself eating when you’re not hungry, do you know why?

    Because other people are eating?
    Because a snack was tempting?
    Because you always eat when you’re watching TV?
    Because you get comments and pushback from other people if you don’t?
    Because you’re not sure what hunger feels like?
    Because you feel crabby, low energy, or weak?
    Or something else?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    neanderthin wrote: »
    I don't know how to put intuitive eating into context, sorry, as I think there must be certain guidelines or strategies to facilitate individual needs, and therefore intuitive eating is a non sequitur. I think we need to fight against our success as a civilization where food is now omnipresent thanks to the industrial food complex, and where a healthy persons only represents about 12% of the population. For me satiety reins supreme and I'll follow that where ever that leads, which for me personally, is my fight against our modern civilization. cheers. :)

    The only context I can really put intuitive eating in is children...or at least my 11 and 13 yo. They basically eat when they're hungry and stop when they're satisfied which means they often leave food on their plate. Even with desert types of things, they will usually leave some on their plates unfinished and they're fine with it. We've never done the "clean your plate" thing that I grew up with so that may be part of it.

    I don't know if at some point that just breaks down or what...I don't really track calories (except in my head) but I wouldn't call it "intuitive eating"...I have rules, I keep a rough tally in my head, and I'm mindful of what I'm doing. The mindful part is about as close as I would get to "intuitive" but it's not the same thing I wouldn't say.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,686 Member
    edited October 2023
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    Years ago I read a book called, "Thin for Life" which was similar to my understanding of intuitive eating. It involved paying attention to your hunger cues and only eating when you were actually quite hungry, then halfway through the meal checking in again to see if you were still hungry or just eating because the food was in front of you. It included doing nothing else while eating, no books, television, phone, etc. so you pay attention to every bite rather than eating mindlessly. IIRC, I kept a log that listed when I ate, what level my hunger was at (i.e. 6 out of 10 with 10 being starving and 0 not hungry at all) and how I felt after, what my mood was when I ate (i.e. stressed, depressed, etc.) I can't remember the rest. She also believed that you should choose your meals based on what your body was craving, so if you wanted just dessert, don't eat a sandwich first, but also pay attention to the times your body is craving protein or comfort food etc. A lot of what we eat is done by habit and not by either need or desire.

    I learned some helpful things from the book, but some of it wasn't really practical for someone who is working and living with others. i.e. mealtimes were dictated by my work schedule, since I couldn't eat while at work, and since I lived with other people, they influenced what and when I ate as well. I did try to be more mindful while I ate and not eat when I really wasn't hungry, but those lessons are easily ignored too much of the time.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,017 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    neanderthin wrote: »
    I don't know how to put intuitive eating into context, sorry, as I think there must be certain guidelines or strategies to facilitate individual needs, and therefore intuitive eating is a non sequitur. I think we need to fight against our success as a civilization where food is now omnipresent thanks to the industrial food complex, and where a healthy persons only represents about 12% of the population. For me satiety reins supreme and I'll follow that where ever that leads, which for me personally, is my fight against our modern civilization. cheers. :)

    The only context I can really put intuitive eating in is children...or at least my 11 and 13 yo. They basically eat when they're hungry and stop when they're satisfied which means they often leave food on their plate. Even with desert types of things, they will usually leave some on their plates unfinished and they're fine with it. We've never done the "clean your plate" thing that I grew up with so that may be part of it.

    I don't know if at some point that just breaks down or what...I don't really track calories (except in my head) but I wouldn't call it "intuitive eating"...I have rules, I keep a rough tally in my head, and I'm mindful of what I'm doing. The mindful part is about as close as I would get to "intuitive" but it's not the same thing I wouldn't say.

    Yeah, it's a difficult puzzle to unravel as far as I can see. My activity, mostly NEAT isn't on the same planet now as compared to when I was younger, so there is a lot of nuance around this subject for how people, especially children behave today. Portions and food availability I think is important as well as what percentage is actually real food. Feeling full (stuffed) after a meal needs to go away, never to return, lol. I don't count calories either and not something I would ever consider doing and like I said it's about trying to keep the foods I consume as whole as possible and at the same time control my blood sugar, this seems to work for me, and obviously there's more to it but there is no perfect solution.
  • bubbeE787
    bubbeE787 Posts: 34 Member
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    Check out Michael Pollan. He is an author and advocate for intuitive eating.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,080 Member
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    bubbeE787 wrote: »
    Check out Michael Pollan. He is an author and advocate for intuitive eating.

    Here, I'll Cliff Notes Michael Pollan for you:
    Quote by Michael Pollan: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
  • Giniac
    Giniac Posts: 36 Member
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    One question to ask yourself is - Do you eat when you're bored?

    If you feel like you do, then using a method called Delay, Distract, Decide might be useful to try out.

    If you've already had something to eat, and you're feeling like you want something, you're more than likely not hungry, your mind is just not being stimulated enough.

    The automatic process for this will be to have food to stimulate your mind with a new taste/texture. So you don't really want food, just to be stimulated.

    So the next thing you're feeling like this, ask yourself what do you like to do?

    Think along the lines of hobbies that will keep your mind and/or hands occupied

    How many times have you been engrossed in something, and time has flown by?

    It's flown by, because you've been engaged by that activity.

    So think about when you last felt like that, what were you doing? Writing out a list of ideas close to hand can be useful to use a check sheet for next time these feelings arise :smile:
  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,670 Member
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    bubbeE787 wrote: »
    Check out Michael Pollan. He is an author and advocate for intuitive eating.

    Here, I'll Cliff Notes Michael Pollan for you:
    Quote by Michael Pollan: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

    I like the simplicity of it. I think we overcomplicate diet. But simple doesn't sell.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
    edited October 2023
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    bubbeE787 wrote: »
    Check out Michael Pollan. He is an author and advocate for intuitive eating.

    I loved Michael Pollan and borrowed all of his books from the library.

    Unfortunately, my elderly mother read "How to Change Your Brain" and received the message "caffeine bad; psilocybin good."

    1. My brother is mentally ill and drank a lot of coffee to counteract the effects of Thorazine. My mother decided he should stop taking Thorazine. He did and got psychotic. Bad things happened. Our relationships will never recover.
    2. Not going in to this here, but it wasn't good either. Fortunately, not as bad as the recent incident with the Alaska Airlines pilot. But again, our relationships will never recover.

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