How To Apply Intuitive Eating To Your Life.

You’ve most probably heard about intuitive eating and mindfulness around food before, am I right? But, maybe you don’t exactly know what it means or if you do, perhaps you don’t know where to start or how to incorporate it into your life?

One of the ways in which I’ve been addressing my past disordered eating has been learning the technique of ‘tuning into’ myself and actually listening to my body and what it’s telling me. This especially applied to when I felt like bingeing, understanding when I’m full and differing hunger from boredom, sadness or a need to use food as a ‘soothing’ mechanism instead of sitting through the discomfort.

We all have different eating-habits due to a variety of reasons. Those who are suffering or, have suffered in the past, with an abnormal relationship to food, can usually acknowledge that food has both been what’s been causing them a tremendous amount of pain, but it’s also been the ‘reward’ or ‘relief’ when either something good or bad has happened to them. And so, the evil circle continues, and we teach ourselves that food solves everything, whether it’s on good or bad. We turn to food and quickly we create habits and patterns for ourselves that aren’t healthy.

Studies show that food can have the same effect on our brains the way drugs or alcohol can have on addicts. Because food is enjoyable, when we chew it releases dopamine in our brains (the feel good ‘drug’) that then sends a signal to the rest of  our bodies, making us feel amazing. Hence, why addictive people may fall into disordered eating, and like I suffered from, binge eating. Not knowing when to stop, and feeling a lack of self-control when around food.

This is where Intuitive Eating can come in.. But remember, if you are still struggling with disordered eating in the sense of anorexia, bulimia or binge eating, please seek help from professionals that can help you.

This article is in no way, shape or form targeted at reducing food or deprivation. Its intention is simply to share my story with intuitive eating and is a guidance only.

Below are steps for you to try in order to practice intuitive eating:

1. Identify Your Hunger:

Are you actually hungry or do you want to eat because you want to soothe a feeling? Are you angry, sad, lonely, happy? Sit down and understand whether you need food or if you’re simply trying to ‘run away’ from something that’s uncomfortable. Sit down and write down your feelings if you identify your ‘hunger’ as being emotional. Identify what they’re triggering; feelings, foods, emotions. Take some time to understand that emotions and feelings aren’t you. They cannot make you go to the fridge and pick out food to binge. Only you can decide that.

2. Cook Your Own Meals:

When it comes to intuitive eating, there’s a big difference in the regulation and your tuning into yourself and your signals when you cook your own meal, or if you eat out/eat someone else’s cooking. Why? When we cook our own meals we take time to connect with the food. We, subconsciously, check in with ourselves every step of the way; from choosing the meal we want to cook, to deciding on ingredients, to touching the food etc. We make decisions all along the way to nurture the hunger-need we have within. Try to take a few weeks where you cook the majority of your own meals and see if you can feel a difference.

Find some of my recipes here.

3. Relax, Rewind & Breathe Before You Eat:

It’s so important for us to eat our meals in a relaxed state. Doing a few deep breaths before tugging into your plate can help a lot – not only with how you’re feeling during your meal, but also after. When we’re stressed and chowing down the food, we don’t allow our brains to send signals to our stomach, preparing it for food. This means we can end up feeling bloated and having digestive issues later, because we’re not present whilst we eat.

4. Pause Regularly Through Your Meals:

And I don’t mean to check your phone or TV. Put all devices away and turn off the TV whilst you eat. Take regular breaks to checkin with yourself to see how your hunger-levels are coming down. Remember that if you’re absolutely stuffed, just because there’s food on your plate, doesn’t mean you need to force yourself to eat this. And vice versa; if you’ve finished your plate of food and still feel hungry, have a bit more. Just remember to checkin with yourself on whether it’s true hunger or if it’s to stimulate an emotional need and feeling.

5. Take Your Time After Your Meal & Give Gratitude:

I’m a firm believer in that the energy we put out when eating, goes back into our bodies withe every bite we take. So, the first few steps are so important, because the energy mimics our thoughts and minds. After you’ve ended your conscious and intuitive meal, take a few moments to give thanks for this meal. A prayer or manifestation I say before and after every meal is:

Thank you, Dear God & Universe, for this beautiful meal. Please let it nourish my body, mind and soul. Let it make me stronger. Thank you all Angels, Spirits & Beings. Amen

You do not have to use my prayer, you can decide what works for you and speaks to your heart.

Just, try as best as you can, to really tune into your body. What is it craving? What is it telling you? There is no right or wrong. Sometimes we crave fries and sometimes we crave broccoli. The lesson is also to give our bodies what it asks us for. Balance, I believe, is always the key to any consistent practice. And don’t put a time-limit on yourself. There’s no deadline. Intuitive Eating takes time.

All my love, Caroline xx