A client looked at me the other day frustrated and said, âI understand the concept of intuitive eating. But how can I think about eating intuitively when I canât even hear what my body is saying to me? And even more importantly, when I canât trust what it is saying to me?â
What a great question it wasâŚ
Another question I get a lot is “Does intuitive eating really work?” We discuss the answer in length over here in this post.
Intuitive eating is a way of eating that tunes into the body. Yet for many of my clients, they have no idea how to do that because they lost trust with their bodies long ago.
From parents who told them they couldnât possibly be hungry, they donât need seconds or that no-one couldnât have room for dessert after a meal like thatâŚto parents who fed them ice cream to reward them for good grades, to help them feel better, or to keep them quiet, or who made them finish their plate even if they said they were full.
The disconnection and distrust of our own body’s signals, especially around hunger and fullness, started long ago due to these experiences and has only gotten stronger and more automatic with time.
Intuitive eating is about beginning a journey back to yourself.
In the past, I would judge, compare, criticize and abuse my body and allow my mind to take charge.
It would say things like:
- You donât deserve to eat that
- You shouldnât be hungry
- I canât believe you ate all that, no wonder your pants donât fit
- You have no willpower
My brain had full and complete control over my body. I had completely tuned out my bodyâs physical cues.
When it screamed hunger, I screamed back âSHUT UPâ, when it screamed fullness, I screamed back âTOO BADâ
My mind had hijacked my body’s cues.
It was finally just before I turned 50 when I was ready to take them back. The rescuers? Intuitive eating, rejecting dieting for good, and recovering from diet culture.
You see, there is no ONE SIZE FITS ALL body size, meal plan, or exercise routine. We are all different. We have different hair colors, size shoes, talents, personalities, and genetics. How could one way of eating, moving, or looking work for everyone?
By the way, you can click here to read more about the benefits of a playful, non-traditional approach to exercise.
Intuitive eating is individualized for you. It’s designed to turn down the volume of diet culture, society’s thin ideal, and the stories and beliefs your mind has captured and turn up the volume on tuning into your bodyâs physiological and biological cues.
It’s about listening closely to the guidance of your bodyâs wisdom, allowing your body to speak to you and then hearing, listening and acting upon what it says.
For example, when it says it’s hungry, what do you hear? How would you like to act upon that knowledge? When it says it’s full, what do you hear? How do you act upon hearing that news?
Intuitive eating is a PRACTICE, the practice of listening, honoring, respecting and trusting yourself.
If your journey is anything like mine or my clients’, this takes practice, patience, support, curiosity, experimentation, and compassion.
It takes daily tuning into yourself in a new and different way. With trust and respect.
The NYSER Method for Intuitive Eating
After you begin to tune into your physical hunger, you honor it by eating. This becomes another challenging step, so I developed the NYSER method to help myself and my clients get started.
N-Nourishment
Understanding the nourishing value of the food you eat for individual growth and health. Your body needs all the macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates & fats) in order to perform efficiently and effectively. Food fuels your body to do the things you want and need to do.
Y-Yumminess
The enjoyment and pleasure of the foods you eat. Giving yourself full permission to eat the foods that taste yummy to you, by eating them slowly, mindfully and joyfully. It is about noticing how they taste as you continue to eat them too. For way too many years, I ate foods that I did not even like the taste of.
S-Satisfaction
Feelings of satisfaction and comfort after eating. When you choose meals because you think you âshouldâ or âhave toâ your body and mind feel deprived and lack satisfaction. This leads to overcompensation of food intake through grazing, binging or foraging. Ask yourself what you would likeâŚsomething warm, cold, crunchy, soft, etc. and then think about what type of food satisfies that need.
E-Energy
Making sure you have enough energy for what’s coming up next in your day. When choosing foods, take into consideration what you are doing for the next couple of hours, and also, when your next opportunity to eat is. Eating a veggie salad for lunch and then expecting your body to take a walk, have a meeting and write a paper is an unrealistic expectation of the energy the meal will provide. Adding some protein to the salad and maybe some cheese and crackers would give your body more energy.
R-Reaction
Becoming aware of how the food you eat feels in your body after you eat it. Did that meal help you feel energized and able to focus on your dayâs activities? Or did that meal lead to feeling lethargic, bloated, gassy, and unfocused? Foods respond very differently in all of us. This is tuning into how foods make you feel physically in your body and really trusting what it tells you.
Are you ready to take a journey back to yourself, start to listen to the wants and needs of your body, and use the NYSER Method? Start by saying goodbye to diets and diet culture and saying hello to YOU.
Need some guidance and support getting started? Let’s chat. Click here to sign up for a free intuitive eating coaching session. Want a copy of NYSER? Email me at anne@thebodyjoyful.com and I’ll send it along to you.
Be sure to check-in for future blog posts where we’ll explore intuitive eating and other ways to guide you from weight worries, frustration and self-doubt to self-acceptance, food freedom, body confidence, and peace of mind.
Are you ready to learn more about eating intuitively? Click here for a free Body Joyful Breakthrough session.
If you enjoyed this article, you wonât want to miss these either:
3 Steps for More Positive Self Talk
Diets Donât WorkâŚBut This Does
9 Steps to Ultimate Self-Acceptance
