Our True Nature
We are all born with an intuitive sense of eating. It tells us when we are hungry and full.
Those sensations are very evident to a baby, but as we grow those signals can get confused. They become muted by the voices of your parents, by our culture, by your brain, or even by your own body.
You probably remember hearing a phrase like, “Finish your plate or you won't have dessert”. This is how it begins, these sentences slowly will end up by being engraved in our subconscious and will start to walk us away from our inner voice.
Also, you might of been through a dieting phase or maybe you currently are. And in this phase, you learned that denying your wants and restricting yourself was the key to achieve your weight goal. So every time your body craved fat, sugar, or carbs you learned to say, no. This might be where you started to deny your body’s signals.
There are so many reasons why you can lose the true connection with your body. In today's world, food is all over the place and people keep on telling what you should or shouldn't eat, what you should or shouldn't look like. You just gotta take some time to actually reconnect with your senses.
So now, let's take a moment to talk about how you can reconnect with your true voice and let’s remind ourselves what true “normal eating” looks like.
What is intuitive eating?
Intuitive eating is the state in which you are in tune enough with your body’s signals that you can understand what/when/how much your body needs to eat. Naturally, your body is meant to tell you what it needs to eat in order to function at its best. Intuitive eating means that you find what is "normal eating for your body and actually listen to it.
“Normal eating” is also very different for everyone. For some people it is going to mean eating 5 small meals a day and for other maybe two bigger plates will be satisfying. To different bodies, “normal eating” might include less gluten or adopting a plant-based diet, it varies for each of us. There are no restrictions in this type of diet, everything that feels good to your body when you are in tune is perfectly fine. "normal eating" looks different on every human being.
We should be treating our bodies as if they are our best friends. That means feeding it real, whole foods that give us the energy to fully live each moment. But it also means allowing yourself to have your favorite dessert from time to time. Comfort food is part of our lives. We shouldn't consume it on a regular basis, but if your soul needs some dessert, give it a small piece and you will feel satisfied.
Get Rid of All Food Rules
Get rid of all your beliefs concerning your eating habits: diets, cultural thoughts, every connection between food and weight. This means you can eat everything you want to, there is no food that is ruled out of your diet anymore. This means that if you only have organic foods in your house, Lucky Charms are totally fine. Try to remove all judgments of “good” and “bad”. You are allowed to eat everything but simply make sure to always listen to your body. Never over or underfeed your body. Feed it wisely, with high-quality food to feel good. Treat it with love and it will be the best decision you will ever make.