Intuitive Eating

How to Hear What Your Body Needs

The SAD diet (standard American diet) really is sad. Most of us consume so much damaged fat, toxic chemicals, sugar, and processed, unhealthy foods that we have lost touch with what our bodies really need. Eating should be an intuitive process, but there are things that can interfere with intuitive eating.

• Being caught up in research and theories about the "best" diet.
  The value of intuition in eating is lost in our knowledge and science-driven world. Animals instinctively know everything they need to live and they do it. We have the same instinct, but it gets lost in what we are told we should eat by researchers, diet gurus, parents, spouses, talk show hosts, magazines, celebrities and friends.


• Making weight loss your primary focus.
  The weight loss industry in the United States is a billion dollar industry. It can harm your metabolism, your wallet, and your confidence. Many chronic dieters develop long-term side effects from being on the wrong diet, such as fatigue and weakness, anxiety, depression, dark circles under the eyes, headaches, joint pain, and poor concentration. They can deprive your body of essential nutrients that it needs to rebuild and can stimulate the release of stress hormones.


• Chronic stress or illness.
  Many people under chronic stress lose their taste for food. They view food as fuel or they lose sensitivity to hunger signals. Chronic stress can destabilize blood sugar levels resulting in increased cravings and a constant need to eat. People sometimes become hungry soon after meals and feel lightheaded and faint if they are not able to eat. In addition, chronic stress can trigger irritable bowel, bloating, gas, and pain regardless of what you eat.

How to improve your intuitive ability

1. Start by paying attention to how different foods make you feel.
   
   
   • What foods leave satisfied?
   • What foods give you energy?
   • What foods make you tired or unable to concentrate?
   • What foods make you anxious or edgy vs. calm and content?
   • What foods make you bloated, uncomfortable, or cause pain?


2. Reduce the amount of junk foods and sugar in your diet.
   
   
   • Substitute fruit and then gradually decrease. If you have a sweet tooth, try to gradually substitute the sugar in your diet with fruit. Fruit contains sugar but also has fiber, phytochemicals and antioxidants. Gradually taper the fruit until you are at a level that feels right to you.
   
   
   • Use a herbal sweetener. The herbal sweetener Stevia can be used to add sweetness to any dish. Some brands are better than others -- if you try a brand that tastes quite bitter, keep looking.
   
   
   • Try spices with a sweet flavor. The spices cinnamon and cloves have a sweet taste, even though they don't contain any sugar. Try making Chai tea, or adding cinnamon to drinks, sauces and desserts for a sweet flavor.
   
   
   • Healthier sweeteners. If you do use sugar, try mixing unrefined blackstrap molasses with just enough honey or another natural sweetener to take the bitter edge off the molasses. One tablespoon of blackstrap molasses contains about 179 mg of calcium and 518 mg of potassium. All natural sweeteners such as honey and molasses are still forms of sugar, so don't go overboard on these thinking they are okay.