{"id":55312,"date":"2011-09-05T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=55312"},"modified":"2011-09-02T21:15:53","modified_gmt":"2011-09-03T02:15:53","slug":"learn-how-to-be-a-more-intuitive-eater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/09\/learn-how-to-be-a-more-intuitive-eater\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn How to be a More Intuitive Eater"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Lisa Turner for Care2.com<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As obsessed as we are with food and diets, you’d think we’d be thin and healthy by now. So why are we Americans still universally less-than-fit and soft around the middle?<\/p>\n

The fact is, diet tips, rules and tricks<\/a><\/strong> won\u2019t work if we\u2019re ignoring the mental and emotional side of eating. Why do we still overeat\u2014or eat the wrong things? Most of the time, when we\u2019re craving cookies, we\u2019re really hungry for love, sex, friendship, peace, a sense of purpose and meaning. And when you\u2019re gripped by that kind of hunger, all the tips and tricks in the world won\u2019t save you.<\/p>\n

Next time you\u2019re ready to embark on the next fix-me-fast diet, try something different: instead of focusing on the food, tune in to address the emotions that make you stray. Here\u2019s how to start:<\/p>\n

1. Feel your hunger. <\/strong>After a lifetime of denying our hunger, it\u2019s hard to tell when we really need<\/em> food. But we\u2019re all born with the capability to eat when were hungry and stop when we\u2019re full. As children, we eat in response to our bodies\u2019 hunger signals. As adults, we eat in response to the clock, the latest magazine article, or our uncomfortable feelings.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Get back in touch with your body\u2019s signals<\/a><\/strong> by carrying a small notepad and charting your hunger before<\/em> you eat, rating it on a scale of 1 (starving) to 10 (uncomfortably full). If you do this day after day, feeling your body\u2019s cues will soon come naturally. You\u2019ll know you\u2019re on the right track when you start eating in response to your body\u2014a rumbling in your belly, a slight lessening in your ability to concentrate\u2014instead of your thoughts or emotions.<\/p>\n

2. Stop counting. <\/strong>That means calories, fat, carbs, grams, portions\u2014whatever number you use that keeps you out of your body and in your head. When you count, measure, weigh or calculate your food, you\u2019re eating according to your intellect rather than your body\u2019s cues. For a life-long food counter, the prospect of free-for-all noshing can be scary. Start small: eat one meal a day without counting anything. After several days, eat two meals without counting. Continue at your own pace until you\u2019ve stopped counting your food\u2014and start eating in response to your body, not the numbers in your head.<\/p>\n

3. Examine your cravings.<\/strong> When you\u2019re feeling the urge to eat, what are you really <\/em>hungry for? If you\u2019re craving chips<\/a><\/strong>, does your jaw want to chew and crunch, to relieve stress and tension? Does the noise the chips make drown out the racket in your head? When you\u2019re aching for ice cream<\/a><\/strong>, maybe the soft, creamy texture makes you feel nurtured, or fills up some empty spaces. Once you have a better idea of what you\u2019re really craving, you\u2019re better equipped to make a conscious choice. Maybe you massage your jaw, minimize sources of stress, visit a friend who makes you feel nurtured. Or maybe you have a scoop of ice cream\u2014but you do it as a conscious decision.<\/p>\n

4. Practice mindful eating. <\/strong>There you are, in front of the fridge at 9 p.m. noshing on leftover Chinese right out of the container, with no recollection of how you got there. It\u2019s called \u201ceating amnesia,\u201d where the unconscious, hand-to-mouth action of feeding yourself becomes so automatic that, before you know it, you’ve wolfed down a whole box of cookies. Become fully aware of the act of eating. Always put your food\u2014including snacks–on a plate. Then sit down at the table, remove distractions like television, and observe your plate. Notice the colors, textures, shapes and smell for 30 seconds to a full minute before you take the first bite. As you eat, notice the chewing action of your jaw, the taste of the food, how it feels moving down your throat and into your stomach. It\u2019s such a pleasant practice, it will soon become second nature.<\/p>\n

5. Be in your body. <\/strong>Many of us walk around all day in a state of half-awareness, not really present in the room, on the earth, in our bodies. And when we\u2019re not in our bodies, we can\u2019t tell if we\u2019re hungry or when we\u2019re full. How often are you aware of your body? Tune in right now, as you read this, and check in, starting your toes and moving up through your body. Pause at your stomach, and notice how it feels. Is it empty, or satisfied? Does it feel rigid and tense? Numb or dull? Or is it soft and relaxed? Once you become intimate of your stomach\u2019s sensations, you can begin to identify true hunger.<\/p>\n

6. Pause. <\/strong>When you experience a craving for food, just stop and observe it<\/a><\/strong>. Don\u2019t try to make it go away, but don\u2019t indulge it. Sit with the discomfort of the craving. It may become intensely distressing, even painful; that\u2019s okay. Stay with it, and notice what comes up. You\u2019ll often find a vast ocean of emotions like fear, anxiety, even grief, under the craving for food. It\u2019s a powerful exercise\u2014but quite illuminating, and sometimes life-changing.<\/p>\n

7. Be happy now. <\/strong>Maybe you\u2019ve been postponing your happiness until you lose ten pounds, give up sugar or eat more greens. But the happier you are now<\/em>, the more likely you\u2019ll be to stick to your eating goals. The \u201cdo-have-be\u201d mindset tells us that success breeds joy when, in fact, it may be the other way around. Once you\u2019re able to accept yourself exactly as you are, you\u2019re more likely to achieve your dietary goals<\/a><\/strong>, and less likely to eat from stress, depression or anxiety. And anyway, there\u2019s no point in postponing joy. Be happy now; the rest will come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lisa Turner for Care2.com As obsessed as we are with food and diets, you’d think we’d be thin and healthy by now. So why are we Americans still universally less-than-fit and soft around the middle? The fact is, diet … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3695,58],"tags":[8514,469,23,2108],"class_list":["post-55312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-and-nutrition","category-womens-health","tag-care2","tag-cravings","tag-guest-blog","tag-mindful-eating"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55312"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55315,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55312\/revisions\/55315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}