This is a post that I’ve been meaning to write for a while now, but I’ve been putting it off because I’ve had a hell of a time trying to put my thoughts on the subject into words. Heck, I’m not even sure if my thoughts will come out coherently at this point, but it’s time to stop thinking and just go with it. What exactly is this pesky mind-boggling subject?
Have you guys noticed it? The sudden influx of the term ‘intuitive eating’ being tossed around the blog world lately? I feel like I can’t go a day without reading a handful of blogs talking about it – in a way, it almost seems like the newest cool thing to do, the newest trend. Suddenly everything is all “intuitive this and intuitive that“… and while it’s certainly not the worst trend to get caught up in, I still find it somewhat problematic for a couple of reasons.
First, it continues to encourage an extreme focus on food. Sneakily, mind you, but the obsessive mindset is still there.
Instead of asking “Am I eating the right thing,” people are now asking “Am I eating in the right way” – the focus on eating, eating, eating (!!!) is still there. Analyzing cravings, analyzing hunger, analyzing portions… it’s still analyzing. It’s still putting way too much focus on food when eating should be something that comes naturally and doesn’t require all that much thought. Heck, the very definition of the word “intuitive” includes the phrase “without conscious reasoning,” so you can’t exactly think about something and do it intuitively at the same time, can you?
Now, I know that the beginning stages of intuitive eating require a lot more conscious awareness and analysis – I’ve been there too. Making the transition from rigid meal planning to a more natural and relaxed approach to eating is a difficult journey and it’s perfectly okay to talk/think about all of the struggles/victories you experience along the way… My only hope is that people aren’t trading one obsessive mindset for another, and that they realize that there has to come a point where you need to let go of the whole idea of intuitive eating and just.eat without making a big deal about it.
That expression actually used to drive me crazy when I was in recovery from my eating disorder. People would see me struggling and tell me to “just eat” and I’d be all: “but… but… how!?!? And what?!? It’s not that simple!!” But in all honesty, it really is that simple. Eating is not hard and does not require constant analysis and calculation. Look at kids, the most intuitive eaters out there. If you were to ask them if how they’re eating is intuitive, they’d probably look at you like you’re crazy and say they’re “just eating” – no fuss, no muss, no second guessing. Want cookie, eat cookie, enjoy cookie, [sometimes grab another cookie], move on. Simple as that. They don’t worry about whether that cookie will make them fat, fit in with their macros, make them go over their allotted daily calorie allowance, or any other nonsense. They just eat.
As delicious as it is, food shouldn’t be at the center of our world. We shouldn’t be planning out a day of eats and analyzing where we can fit things in. We shouldn’t be patting ourselves on the back for a meal/food that was properly/bravely eaten. We shouldn’t care so much. Yes, it’s important to fill the tank with healthy fuel, but it’s just as, if not even more, important not to use so much energy stressing over it. Why? Because it’s kind of a waste of time and life…
Want to know my #1 tip for how to eat intuitively? Stop thinking about eating intuitively and just eat – stop worrying about whether or not you’re doing it “right.” Accept the fact that how you eat will never be, and isn’t even meant to be, perfect, and come to peace with that – trust your body to make up for your mistakes. Like I said before, there are days where I undereat, and days where I overeat. There are days where I eat a lot of sugar and carbs, and days where I eat a lot of proteins and fats. There are days where I get my veggies in, and days where I don’t. It all balances out, and lo-and-behold, I’m still alive.
Live. Laugh. Love. Play… Undereat. Overeat. Eat your veggies. Don’t. Take food off the pedestal and stop worrying about it so much. Really. I’ve found that the people who struggle with their eating habits and weight the most are the people who are constantly worrying about those things. A focus on intuitive eating is definitely a step in the right direction, but it’s not the be all, end all – it’s still another clearly labelled way of eating, with guidelines and rules of its own to follow. Those may be necessary during the learning process, but there comes a point where even those need to be tossed aside and intuitive eating replaced with just eating.
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No questions today – I’d just love to hear your thoughts.
I’m thisclose to professing my love for you on the Internet for everyone to see. You are amazing. We give food so much power, which just seems ridiculous. I’m definitely guilty of calculated eating, but it’s something that I hope to get over one day!
i am not a fan of the word mindful or intuitive. I feel like we should not give hunger cues a name. i don’t know.. maybe just me? Like, how about eat or not eat? Hungry or not hungry? We OVERTHINK…yes, i am guilty of that too.
Nope, nope – not just you. We just like our labels.
T.R.U.E. Exactly what disturbed me after a while of intuitive eating and why I dropped the constant asking myself “am I hungry now”. I still have to remind myself in situations where I tend to overeat (you seem to be a person that rarely has problems with this) that it won’t satisfy me as much as eating out of true hunger. But then its fine and I am able to go on and do something else (most of the time).
I totally agree! Great post. You’re so right- over thinking food is where we get into problems. If we just let go and eat then it’s no big deal. I like your reference about eating like a kid. We should return to our eating mentality as a child to find a happy balance. Have a great weekend!
Yes, I see read this all around the blogging community. I do find it interesting. I have to agree that balance is the key. 🙂
I love the balancing elephant! You are so right and if we ate like kids we would prob be so much happier! My step son doesn’t think twice when it comes to his desserts lol. Sometimes I feel like all I think about is food and I hate that mind set!
initially i liked the idea of initiative eating- being all conscious about our food choices but there is a fine line between obsessive thinking about food and practicing that in reality and the latter is very difficult. I think the more I try to be conscious the more I tend to think about food food food but when I just let my body decide-i feel better.
Yes I see what you mean about intuitive eating being the new trend among bloggers. I do think it’s important to be aware how certain foods affect you and why you eat the way you do. Of course it can go too far and be a little obsessive but I think doing this every now and then is fine. Plus I find it really interesting.
I hate to admit it but i’m really bad about eating when my head tells me it wants food. I often am not hungry but for some reason i’ll just want to eat. I am trying to get more in touch with stomach cues and other body cues to understand when I am really hungry and when I just want to eat because I love food.
You know that I echo your thoughts on this subject. Intuitive eating a great idea in theory, but it’s very easy to use it as another way to become obsessed with what goes in your body. I feel like a lot of people read it as: you have to eat ‘exactly’ what your craving, stop ‘exactly’ when your full, so on and so forth. Well, sometimes I feel like driving down to my favourite sushi place and grabbing sushi for lunch (and it’s exactly what I’m ‘craving’ but with a fridge full of leftovers, I’m going for something in there. When I get hungry, I eat – enough said. A big production and thought process isn’t really needed.
Love this/you and all your brilliantness!<3
I love how you threw ‘exactly’ in there. It seems like there’s always so much pressure on sticking to an eating style PERFECTLY, which just kind of defeats the whole purpose of doing it intuitively.
This is an interesting perspective. I honestly haven’t given the IE craze much thought, thought I’ve seen it out there. I guess I haven’t formed much of an opinion on it yet. But I do agree – just eat!
I feel you. It seems like focusing on “intuitive eating” defeats the purpose of what intuitive eating is! I feel like eating should just naturally be an intuitive process. When you try to force anything, it usually doesn’t flow. But, if you just eat when you’re hungry…even if every day isn’t perfect, it all balances out! Like you said. <3
You already know my thoughts on this via e-mail. I’m really glad you decided to write a post because, seriously, I can’t stand the phrase either. If you have to call attention to it, like you said, you’re calling attention to FOOD as well. I think the real “intuitive” is just sitting down at a random day, at a random time, at a random hour and think back on how, “Wow, my eating has changed this past week. I never would have ate — or —- but I did. Woohoo!” But if you’re thinking about it in that moment… You’re still worrying too much about food. Again, kinda like my jelly beans 😉
I really like your point about not being able to think about doing something while being intuitive about it! I think the concept of becoming an expert on your own body can be beneficial (like recognizing a reaction to wheat) it’s dangerous to always keep the focus on a certain way of eating. I might not be hungry after 2 cookies, but if I want 3 I’m just going to eat it!
Yes. Yes to this entire post. I don’t know if I think it’s possible to eat intuitively after an eating disorder or a period of restricted eating. The hunger cue are just so off. I definitely am trying to rework those cues but I know I’m not at a point where I can eat intuitively, especially since it isn’t about not thinking, the way other bloggers are doing it. What everyone is saying right now is the total opposite of intuition- it’s just thinking about everything in another perspective with the same amount of obsession.
We must read a lot of the same bloggers, because I can think of at least two who have been jumping on this “#IEWIN!!!” bandwagon lately.
I think you are spot-on, but I think like you said, it’s important to recognize that it IS a process, coming from the eating disordered mindset. That being said, a good way to stop with it is to STOP BLOGGING THE THINGS YOU EAT. When you take away the whole “must show every morsel to my faithful readers!!” aspect, it becomes a LOT easier to eat intuitively in my opinion.
I wholeheartedly agree. Stepping away from blogging really helped me heal my relationship with food, and even though I missed blogging, it was nice to be able to come back and feel a lot more confident with my own choices and beliefs.
I completely agree with how you feel on intuitive eating. Obsessing over what you eat is really bad but not caring at all about eating healthy is bad too. Finding balance is key. I think it is important to make healthy food enjoyable and also to listen to your body when it comes to eating the bad food. If I eat a half donut, my body’s like, “Okay, I guess I’ll take that.” A whole donut and it says, “No…Why?” My body lets me know my limits so I try to eat to feel good which includes giving into cravings if I want. Just not giving in too much. 😉
People tend to get so caught up in what their eating and how their eating it that they’ve forgotten that food is also about pleasure. Nourish your body with healthy, whole foods and enjoy it is my motto.
I love how you questioned this new big “trend.” It’s so easy to get caught up in something without asking ourselves what it all means exactly, so thanks for giving the definition of intuitive. Also, this, along with you Happy List post, has made me question what the best things are in my life. I don’t want to always worry about food, having a “good” day of eats should not equal a good day, just like having a “bad” day of eats should not equal a bad day! There is so much more to life than food and meal times.. there simply isn’t enough time to worry anymore! So thanks for reminding us to stop the calculating and worrying and just LIVE.
Yes, exactly. I’m more than over some bloggers awarding themselves gold stars because they “honored their cravings” with some egg white-stevia-avocado concoction.
Haha yes!! Seconded.
I second this as well!
I love this! It seems like intuitive eating is popping up everywhere lately and to be honest if we are really acting intuitively there should be no thinking involved! Balance is key! Love love love this post!
I think the “intuitive eating” craze is a good stepping stone for those who are generally very restrictive or very controlling with food. I do think it’s funny though that it has a name. I mean, isn’t it just “eating?”
It has to have a name so people can market it 😉
Agree 100%! It’s tough in the blog world because it’s hyper focused on food, but I agree with you… it doesn’t have to be so effort filled and stressful!
I’ve been really obsessive with counting calories even though I’m no longer trying to lose weight. I also was eating on a schedule. This month, I’ve worked on not counting my calories (but not going crazy) and listening to my body’s hunger signals instead of following my eating schedule. If I’m hungry, I’m gonna eat! If I’m not hungry, I’m going to do something else! I’ve also been analyzing if I’m TRULY hungry versus “bored hungry.” It’s helped me to feel better about myself and my body. Although, I am still slightly terrified about gaining weight.
It took me a while to get over the fear of gaining weight if I wasn’t being super diligent too, but stick to it and you’ll see that nothing bad happens 🙂
This is a great post. Seems like you wrote down my exact thoughts.
Thanks for your refreshing posts..they really have helped me a lot.
🙂
Love this.
I’m always amazed at how much you’ve come through and how you were able to turn it around into such a positive light and I also love hearing your thoughts on intuitive eating. It’s been something I’ve been thinking more about recently. I’m not quite there yet, but I know that when the time comes I’ll most likely adapt a more healthy approach. I’m sure it just takes time.
I agree the act of eating shouldn’t require thought, because then it leads you into that analytical thought of food, which we know isn’t good.
I always love your posts about this stuff since I find myself agreeing and nodding my head all the way through!
Happy Friday love!xox
I think you’re right, Amanda. I know this is something I’m working on personally because it’s been so long since I’ve really eaten what I wanted, instead telling myself that I “have to eat this this and this because it’s healthier than that” that I fell into a pattern of feeling guilty when I had more than one meal that was what i actually wanted, even if it wasn’t the healthiest (if that makes sense). Now, I’m really trying to get rid of that mindset once and for all, so I am thinking about what I want to eat more, but not in an obsessive way (usually…not perfect so still happens occasionally but getting there). Usually these days, I just think about what sounds good for meals and go with that…for now, i think that’s ok for me, since I’m still working on getting rid of all the mental stuff I’ve built up/got left behind from my ed days, but I’m also working toward not having to think at all…just eat is my goal and one that I know I’ll accomplish since i’m determined not to give up. As far as the ie craze sweeping blog land, i don’t even read them anymore honestly, since it’s not something i want to get caught up in
So you pretty much said in a way better way what I was trying to explain in my post on this a few days ago. 100% agree with it all and I’m glad to see a lot of others feel the same! That’s why so many look up to your attitude with food and hope to someday have a similar approach to it/life.
Amen sister! Great put. I think it’s amazing to see that you are in that place today after all you were going through.
I did not think about participating this challenge, because I know I am not there yet and because I know I would would just obess about this new approach and would want to make this perfect. At the moment I am still planning my meals, but I got so much used to it, that I almost feel relaxed. This is probably not the best thing, but it’s still better than to be surrounded by anxieties all the time.
It’s all baby steps, hun 🙂 You’ve come such a long way already and you should be proud of yourself.
“There are days where I eat a lot of sugar and carbs, and days where I eat a lot of proteins and fats. There are days where I get my veggies in, and days where I don’t. It all balances out, and lo-and-behold, I’m still alive.”
That is gold! I’m in the process now of cleaning out my diet for other health complications, but even with the limit: on what I can currently eat I don’t make it an obsession. I eat what I want out of my fridge and by the end of the week everything is gone 🙂 Putting to much thought into food takes all the fun out of it (and there is nothing healthy about that)!
I know exactly what you mean. The whole concept of “intuitive eating” should not require thought, when in fact in makes the whole action of eating MORE susceptible to over analyzing. Kids DO have it right- i remember freely saying no to dessert when i was younger because i was simply full from dinner, or reaching for carrots as a snack not because I thought it was the healthier option, but because that’s what i wanted.
I could not agree with you more. When I first found out I had Celiac disease I couldn’t stop thinking about food. What food I could eat, what I couldn’t, where I could eat, where I couldn’t. It got to the point that I would have dreams about eating foods filled with gluten and then remember I wasn’t supposed to eat them. While it was necessary to think so much about food, in order to make sure I was not consuming gluten, I think that doing that for an extended period of time could certainly lead to disordered eating habits. Now that I know what I can and cannot eat, I don’t spend my time thinking about food like I was initially.
Gluten nightmares? Oh girl, now that just sounds hilariously horrible; and I actually think that I’ve had similar dreams involving peanuts 😯
Amen, girl!! It has suddenly appeared everywhere. I had tried it for like 3 days, not all of it by any means, just the eat when hungry part! It wasn’t right for me. I knew I wasn’t eating enough and it was dumb to constantly be thinking and asking questions about food!!
“Take food off the pedestal and stop worrying about it so much.” …this sentence resonates a lot with me. I need to take food off the pedestal and JUST EAT. I’m mostly there, but it’s still a work in progress for me. Thanks for this 🙂
You worded this perfectly. I think it’s so true that to truly eat intuitively you just need to eat and not think about it so much. Of course like everything, it takes time, but in the end it’s so much better than counting calories and worrying about every little thing you eat.
I work at a daycare and it amazes me as to how little the kids really focus on what they’re eating. They know when to stop when they’re full and they never stress about eating too much. I think we could learn a lot from them.
I.couldn’t.agree.more.
It’s kinda weird seeing all these intuitive eating challenges and posts in the blog world right now. Sometimes when I go away for a while and am around people from the ‘real’ world, I realise that ‘intuitive eating’ is what they all do. What they’ve been doing all their life. They don’t care if they screw up one day, and they don’t care if they get hungry 1 hour after a big lunch. They just eat and move on.
I guess the blog world, having a bad relationship with food in the past, and all the diet myths just skews the perception of something as simple as eating. I’m not 100% perfect, but I realise that the less I think of it and keep busy doing other things, the more naturally it comes.
these are pretty much the same thoughts i’ve had on the whole intuitive eating thing that is sweeping the blog-world – it’s exactly NOT intuitive. laying in bed thinking for a long time about whether or not your body is craving blueberries and are you honoring your cravings by having the egg yolk WITH the egg etc. etc. is exactly not intuitive. intuitive to me is when i go in my fridge, grab the stuff that looks good and make it into a meal. i didn’t think about it, i just went with what i felt like would taste good. yes there’s more to it than that (especially when battling disordered thoughts – i know this can lead to people really needing to assess what they’re eating and think a lot about it), but my gut reaction to this whole movement is that people are doing it wrong. i think it comes from a genuine place and i’m kind of interested in reading more about it (outside of the blog world, to be honest) but i think it’s being abused and misinterpreted in the blogosphere. people who do not eat enough are not ready to intuitively eat, in my humble opinion. intuitively, they will continue to not eat enough and now they have an excuse – i wasn’t hungry, i didn’t eat. sometimes ya just need to eat.
Well said Miss Molly – totally agree!
heyoo just someone going through the IE thing right now, it’s kind of the tools that we are using to get out of disordered eating habits. we are trying to get to the “just eat” phase too when we know we can go to the fridge and just grab something! so I think we’re on the same page! at least I am…or maybe we are in the intro and you’re on chapter one? we are striving for a natural/childlike eating, but have to reconnect with the inner child after so many years of disconnect, if that makes sense?
Ah you summed up my thoughts to a T, Amanda! Kudos to all those weaning of calorie counting/ macro obsessing in order to eat intuitively BUT it worries me when I see multiple posts discussing the thought process behind why exactly the choices are intuitive…I’m not an expert but something tells me that if you’re lingering over a meal long after its over, it’s not exactly intuitive. I’m going against the grain here but for those people who want to eat intuitively, a step away from the HLB might work wonders…it might help them really focus on themselves and their life. Depending on your relationship with food, being part of such a food-centered community (which is fab for that matter) might do more harm than good by fuelling an obsession to eat a certain way.
I kind of have to agree with taking a step away from HLBs. My year-long hiatus did me a world of good when it came to figuring out what style of eating worked best for me, and even though I missed the community, it was worth it to take time off and be able to come back in a more stable place.
I think this is a really good concept and wish I felt safe putting it into practice, but sometimes I worry that the little monster in my brain will trick me into saying i NEED to eat when I don’t or should eat something on a whim that I maybe don’t need…I think I need to build up more trust in myself and confidence that I can control myself before I would be able to eat like that
It definitely takes time, and I don’t think it’s ever a 100% fool-proof way to approach eating, but the freedom is a wonderful thing 🙂
hmm i’ve never heard of that term.
i see food as fuel; as long as i’m eating clean, eating a well-balanced meal filled with all the macronutrients i need, then i’m good and my body will do what it does best and process/absorb everything it needs. the end.