Restrict. Binge. Repeat. According to the Boston Medical Center, 45 million Americans follow this pattern as they cling to a new diet each year. Whether they’re too obsessed with French fries, or too fixated on calories, most Americans don’t interact in a healthy way with food. In 1995 two registered dietitian nutritionists, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, recognized the need for people to return to a healthy food relationship and developed the intuitive eating approach to help break the dieting mentality.
The health and wellness framework is centered around equipping people to become more in tune with their physical and emotional needs, as they pertain to food. It disregards calorie counting and food group restrictions, while improving body image, and good cholesterol. Altogether, it’s based on 10 principles.
Ditch the Diet Mentality. Most diets fail you in the long term. Choose to ditch them forever.
Honor Your Hunger. Relearn how to gauge hunger/satiety cues and to eat when your body is hungry.
Make peace with food. Certain foods are often restricted due to a lack of trust. Unrealistic restriction usually leads to binging.
Challenge the food police. Learn to eat without having guilt or shame accompany you to the table.
Feel your fullness. When you relinquish food rules, you often eat less because you know that you’ll be able to have the food again and can therefore stop when you’re full rather than stuffing yourself on “special” occasions.
Discover the satisfaction factor. Eating what sounds good allows you to feel satisfied while eating less, rather than eating what you “should” PLUS what you truly wanted.
Cope with your emotions without using food. Food is not your counselor.
Respect your body. You do not have to love what you look like, but you do need your body with the same respect you give your pet. Walk it, feed it, be nice to it.
Exercise-feel the difference. Find physical activity that brings you joy, and do it.
Honor your health with gentle nutrition. Establish an overall lifestyle of healthy eating, while also eating to enjoy life to the fullest.
Intuitive eating brings freedom to the table. If you deal with shame, guilt, or confusion when it comes to food, intuitive eating might be a great next step. Reach out to Mikyah Owens, RDN, LD at Honest Nutrition for a free consultation.
INFO:
www.honestnutritioncda.com
208-215-8727