What is intuitive eating, anyway?
some of the links/content from February newsletter
Challenge: try eating something you’ve avoided and enjoy it thoroughly.
Good Food Versus Bad
Want to know the best thing I did in the past year? I stopped thinking about food as either “good” or “bad.” I don’t judge anyone else about what they choose to eat. But I have definitely judged myself. And until recently I didn’t question the whole notion of “clean eating.”
| From Smarter Living: “This is the time, it doesn’t matter your age, to do a self-exam,” said Dr. Zhaoping Li, director of the Center of Human Nutrition, and chief of the division of clinical nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Use this window of opportunity to figure out what is good for our bodies, what can we do for our bodies, and then hopefully you have a plan when everything restarts again.” |
| Learning to be mindful of our eating habits now can help us ease back into a more normal life, whenever that is. |
In this 2020 launch of my new website and Forage zine, I’m sharing some of my favorite guides to a new approach, called intuitive eating. One of the principles of intuitive eating is that food is for nourishment as well as for comfort. You heard that right: it’s healthy to eat for emotional support as well as sustenance.
This is a whole new way of thinking about food and our bodies–and what it means to nourish ourselves. I first read about intuitive eating in the summer of 2018. I wrote this self-care post about what I’d discovered. And I wanted to learn so much more. So, I spent a year reading, researching and trying it out for myself. It has changed my whole approach toward eating and attitude toward myself. (Hello, self-acceptance, gray hair and all!)
I wrote about my experience in a personal essay for the print-only edition of Eating Well magazine. I wish I could find an online version to share with you because this feature was packed with great information about what intuitive eating is and what it isn’t. You can find it in the January/February 2020 issue on newsstands now.
Here are 3 top takeaways:
- Dieting is a no-win battle with the body and mind that ultimately leads to unhealthiness and unhappiness, no matter your weight. The anti-dieting movement is the alternative to all the noise and so-called wellness plans.
- Our bodies come with an innate wisdom of how, when and how much to feed ourselves, and we can relearn to tune into its signals. Many of us will need help to override years of self-destructive messages, and intuitive eating guidebooks and bonafide counselors can help.
- There is a growing body of research to support an intuitive eating–non-restrictive/starvation–way of life, but it is not a plan or a program or anything that comes with a money-back guarantee. It is a mindset and an approach to food as life-sustaining and life-enhancing.
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