I’m just now getting around to reading the book I picked up from the library, Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. I’m planning on reading a big chunk of it on vacation…hopefully that will help me stay mindful of my eating and not go vacation-crazy!
Anyways, I’ve made it through 4 chapters so far, and I’ve just been taking notes on things that I have found interesting or have hit a note in my head. I figured I’d share them on here. Maybe it will hit home for other people or spark some interest in the book. I’ll keep providing my notes and things I find interesting as I read.
**Note: All things written below are from the book. They are direct quotes. None of this is my own thoughts (I’m very unoriginal).
Webster’s definition of process: “a continuing development involving many changes,” and “a particular method of doing something, generally involving a number of steps or operations.” (They define process in the book to explain that the path to intuitive eating is a process…you will have days when you are very in sync with what your body needs and other days when you slip and eat out of boredom or to respond to an emotion that you don’t want to deal with, or for any other reason that you overeat…or undereat.)
**Focus on how you feel as the goal, rather than on weight loss**
A major theme behind Intuitive Eating: You know that once-forbidden foods will always be there, and if you really want to eat them, you can—so they lose their alluring quality.
**Give yourself unconditional permission to eat!**
Intuitive Eating is based on 10 principals, which I listed in a previous post last week. The first four chapters of the book go over general ideas behind Intuitive Eating. The following chapters start delving more specifically in to each principle.
Principle #1: Reject the Diet Mentality
Throw out the diet books and magazine articles that offer you false hope of losing weight quickly, easily, and permanently. Get angry at the lies that have led you to feel as if you were a failure every time a new diet stopped working and you gained back all of the weight. If you allow even one small hope to linger that a new and better diet might be lurking around the corner, it will prevent you from being free to rediscover Intuitive Eating.
(They say “rediscover” here because we are all born with the ability to be Intuitive Eaters…as young children, we are able to eat when we are hungry and push the food away when we are not. Somewhere along the road, this ability was ‘snuffed out’ by influences in our lives. This book focused on rediscovering the ability that we were born with.)
Fear: I don’t know how to eat when I’m not dieting. Reality: When you banish diets and become an Intuitive Eater, you will be eating in response to your inner signals, which will guide your eating. This is like learning how to swim for the first time. The feeling of being surrounded by water can be terrifying to the novice swimmer, especially when totally submerged. Similarly, being surrounded by food can be terrifying to the chronic dieter who is learning how to eat again.
So, how do you reject the Diet Mentality???
Step 1. Recognize and acknowledge the damage that dieting causes (biological and emotional).
Step 2. Be aware of diet-mentality traits and thinking.
*While food guidance may come from elsewhere, you should ultimately be responsible for the when, what, and how much of eating.
Step 3. Get rid of the dieter’s tools.
So, no more counting calories, weighing yourself and being affected by the number on the scale (they recommend not weighing yourself at all), no eating only low-fat, low-cal foods.
Over my vacation this weekend, I’m not going to count calories or even think about it (or at least try not to). I’m going to start listening to what my body wants and craves and not stick to anyone else’s eating schedule!
Stay tuned for more Intuitive Eating info!
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