Tired of Dieting?
Try intuitive eating
Remember when you were two?
Me neither, but pictures of that time of my life show me smiling, laughing and eating an ice cream cone while wearing a bikini and standing in my baby pool. That was long before I knew that ice cream was 'fattening' or that you had to look a certain way to wear a bikini, and eating ice cream wasn't the best way to achieve that look.
I'm not sure when it happened for me, but research suggests that somewhere between the ages of 2 and 5, most of us lose our ability to eat healthily and naturally on our own. Rather than listening to what our bodies are telling us that we need, we learn to eat for:
Social reasons (e.g., birthday parties)
Emotional reasons (e.g., having a bad day)
Sensory reasons (e.g., passing a bakery and you have to go in even though you just ate lunch)
Over time, we begin to ignore internal cues (i.e., hunger), and pay attention to external cues (i.e. taste, smell, variety; especially high fat and/or high sugar foods). In fact, 30-50% of us engage in unconscious or ‘mindless’ eating on a fairly regular basis and all of us have done so at one time or another. This can cause “conditioned hypereating” and make you twice as likely to be overweight. Or we make 'rules' about what we should and should not eat to look a certain way. Or because we think our way of eating is 'correct.' I certainly fell into this latter category. As a result, many of us start to view food as the enemy. We forget the way we used to eat with joyful abandon. And instead food becomes not fuel for our bodies, but something we think we should have control over - or alternatively, feel that food controls us.
According to Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, this alters our relationship with food in such a way that we form different types of eating personalities.
Careful Eaters - very aware of and pay attention to what they put in their bodies. On the outside, they seem to be “perfect” eaters, as they are very nutrition-conscious. However, if you look closer, you’ll see someone who: Displays agony about every bite of food allowed into their body, carefully analyze food labels for ingredients, fat grams, and calories – or carbs depending on which ‘diet’ they are on right now. Ask the waitstaff numerous questions about nutrition content and preparation before ordering a meal
Professional Dieter - constantly dieting. They know a lot about portions, calories, and dieting, but they are constantly diet because dieting has never worked for them. Their eating choices tend to be based on losing weight not health. If they are not currently on a diet, they are anticipating their next diet. Because they tend to label foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ they often binge eat or partake in Last Supper eating when a forbidden food is eaten. They feel like they have to “eat now” because they cannot eat these foods tomorrow when they start their diet, so it’s their ‘last chance.’
Unconscious (Mindless) Eater - The unconscious or mindless eater engages in paired eating: eating while doing another activity. Tribole and Resch in their book Intuitive Eating break mindless eating into 4 categories:
The Chaotic Unconscious Eater - very busy people. They usually have an overbooked life and will eat whatever is available. They recognize that nutrition and diet is important but they don’t have time to focus on it. They may go long periods of times without eating due to their hectic schedule. So when they do eat, they often over eat because their bodies are deprived of calories and nutrition.
The Refuse-Not Unconscious Eater - very vulnerable to the presence of food, whether they are hungry or not. If food is lying around at meetings, candy dishes, or on a counter, it will be gone in no time flat! Most of the time they don’t realize they are eating or the quantity of food they are consuming. Thus, social events centered around food are problematic because they will mindlessly over eat past the point of satiety.
The Waste-Not Unconscious Eater - often grew up in poverty or in a nutrition-deficient household. They focus on the monetary value of food and are driven by getting as much food as possible for their money. As a result, they will clean their plate and possibly others, so as not to waste any food.
The Emotional Unconscious Eater - uses food as their primary coping mechanism, especially when they have to deal with uncomfortable emotions, such as stress, anger, and loneliness. Their ‘coping’ ranges from eating a single candy bar to chronic binge eating.
Now that you know what problems you may have with food, it’s time to focus on what to do about it. According to Tribole and Resch, there are 10 steps to recovering a healthy relationship with food.
Stop dieting attitudes and behaviors – restricting your food intake sets you up for mindless eating because you are so hungry
Honor your hunger and fullness – relearn what it feels like when you’re hungry and when you’re full
Make friends with food – there are no ‘bad’ foods and labeling foods as ‘off-limits’ only makes you want them more
Challenge those who question your eating habits (even yourself) – Say no to grandma’s seconds and ignore the nay sayers who ask “are you going to eat THAT?”
Respect your fullness - if you’re hungry, eat; if you’re full, stop.
Enjoy your food – that’s right. Taste it. Savor every bite. Wolfing down your food leads to overeating because your brain doesn’t realize it’s had enough to eat.
Learn more appropriate coping skills – food is your friend, but it is not the solution to all of your problems.
Respect yourself and your body – learn to love yourself and your body as it is now. Only then will your body work with you to lose that unwanted extra weight.
Get out there and move – ‘Exercise’ is a loaded word, so let’s use play or movement. Just get out there and do something you enjoy that gets your body moving every day.
Honor your health – By all means, if your doctor has put you on a special diet for a medical condition, follow it; but also do your own research and learn as much about your condition and how to maintain optimal health.
What step will you take today to repair your relationship with food?
Source:- http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/diet-is-4-letter-word/201406/tired-dieting
Professional Dieter - constantly dieting. They know a lot about portions, calories, and dieting, but they are constantly diet because dieting has never worked for them. Their eating choices tend to be based on losing weight not health. If they are not currently on a diet, they are anticipating their next diet. Because they tend to label foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ they often binge eat or partake in Last Supper eating when a forbidden food is eaten. They feel like they have to “eat now” because they cannot eat these foods tomorrow when they start their diet, so it’s their ‘last chance.’
Unconscious (Mindless) Eater - The unconscious or mindless eater engages in paired eating: eating while doing another activity. Tribole and Resch in their book Intuitive Eating break mindless eating into 4 categories:
The Chaotic Unconscious Eater - very busy people. They usually have an overbooked life and will eat whatever is available. They recognize that nutrition and diet is important but they don’t have time to focus on it. They may go long periods of times without eating due to their hectic schedule. So when they do eat, they often over eat because their bodies are deprived of calories and nutrition.
The Refuse-Not Unconscious Eater - very vulnerable to the presence of food, whether they are hungry or not. If food is lying around at meetings, candy dishes, or on a counter, it will be gone in no time flat! Most of the time they don’t realize they are eating or the quantity of food they are consuming. Thus, social events centered around food are problematic because they will mindlessly over eat past the point of satiety.
The Waste-Not Unconscious Eater - often grew up in poverty or in a nutrition-deficient household. They focus on the monetary value of food and are driven by getting as much food as possible for their money. As a result, they will clean their plate and possibly others, so as not to waste any food.
The Emotional Unconscious Eater - uses food as their primary coping mechanism, especially when they have to deal with uncomfortable emotions, such as stress, anger, and loneliness. Their ‘coping’ ranges from eating a single candy bar to chronic binge eating.
Now that you know what problems you may have with food, it’s time to focus on what to do about it. According to Tribole and Resch, there are 10 steps to recovering a healthy relationship with food.
10 Principles of Intuitive Eating
1. Reject the Diet Mentality Throw out the diet books and magazine articles that offer you false hope of losing weight quickly, easily, and permanently. Get angry at the lies that have led you to feel as if you were a failure every time a new diet stopped working and you gained back all of the weight. If you allow even one small hope to linger that a new and better diet might be lurking around the corner, it will prevent you from being free to rediscover Intuitive Eating.
2. Honor Your Hunger Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Otherwise you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage for re-building trust with yourself and food.
3. Make Peace with Food Call a truce, stop the food fight! Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. If you tell yourself that you can't or shouldn't have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and, often, bingeing When you finally “give-in” to your forbidden food, eating will be experienced with such intensity, it usually results in Last Supper overeating, and overwhelming guilt.
4. Challenge the Food Police .Scream a loud "NO" to thoughts in your head that declare you're "good" for eating minimal calories or "bad" because you ate a piece of chocolate cake. The Food Police monitor the unreasonable rules that dieting has created . The police station is housed deep in your psyche, and its loud speaker shouts negative barbs, hopeless phrases, and guilt-provoking indictments. Chasing the Food Police away is a critical step in returning to Intuitive Eating.
5. Respect Your Fullness Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. Observe the signs that show that you're comfortably full. Pause in the middle of a meal or food and ask yourself how the food tastes, and what is your current fullness level?
6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor The Japanese have the wisdom to promote pleasure as one of their goals of healthy living In our fury to be thin and healthy, we often overlook one of the most basic gifts of existence--the pleasure and satisfaction that can be found in the eating experience. When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting and conducive, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content. By providing this experience for yourself, you will find that it takes much less food to decide you've had "enough".
7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food Find ways to comfort , nurture, distract, and resolve your issues without using food. Anxiety, loneliness, boredom, anger are emotions we all experience throughout life. Each has its own trigger, and each has its own appeasement. Food won't fix any of these feelings. It may comfort for the short term, distract from the pain, or even numb you into a food hangover. But food won't solve the problem. If anything, eating for an emotional hunger will only make you feel worse in the long run. You'll ultimately have to deal with the source of the emotion, as well as the discomfort of overeating.
8. Respect Your Body Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of eight would not expect to realistically squeeze into a size six, it is equally as futile (and uncomfortable) to have the same expectation with body size. But mostly, respect your body, so you can feel better about who you are. It's hard to reject the diet mentality if you are unrealistic and overly critical about your body shape.
9. Exercise--Feel the Difference Forget militant exercise. Just get active and feel the difference. Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie burning effect of exercise. If you focus on how you feel from working out, such as energized, it can make the difference between rolling out of bed for a brisk morning walk or hitting the snooze alarm. If when you wake up, your only goal is to lose weight, it's usually not a motivating factor in that moment of time.
10 Honor Your Health--Gentle Nutrition Make food choices that honor your health and tastebuds while making you feel well. Remember that you don't have to eat a perfect diet to be healthy. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day of eating. It's what you eat consistently over time that matters, progress not perfection is what counts.
Stop dieting attitudes and behaviors – restricting your food intake sets you up for mindless eating because you are so hungry
Honor your hunger and fullness – relearn what it feels like when you’re hungry and when you’re full
Make friends with food – there are no ‘bad’ foods and labeling foods as ‘off-limits’ only makes you want them more
Challenge those who question your eating habits (even yourself) – Say no to grandma’s seconds and ignore the nay sayers who ask “are you going to eat THAT?”
Respect your fullness - if you’re hungry, eat; if you’re full, stop.
Enjoy your food – that’s right. Taste it. Savor every bite. Wolfing down your food leads to overeating because your brain doesn’t realize it’s had enough to eat.
Learn more appropriate coping skills – food is your friend, but it is not the solution to all of your problems.
Respect yourself and your body – learn to love yourself and your body as it is now. Only then will your body work with you to lose that unwanted extra weight.
Get out there and move – ‘Exercise’ is a loaded word, so let’s use play or movement. Just get out there and do something you enjoy that gets your body moving every day.
Honor your health – By all means, if your doctor has put you on a special diet for a medical condition, follow it; but also do your own research and learn as much about your condition and how to maintain optimal health.
What step will you take today to repair your relationship with food?
Source:- http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/diet-is-4-letter-word/201406/tired-dieting
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