I'm about 3/4 into "Intuitive Eating," and as I mentioned before, I have mixed feelings about it.
(Primarily because I popped 2 buttons in the past few weeks and had to buy new dress pants.)
On the one hand, I think the principles are very reasonable. However, I think they're a bit idealistic for me.
Here are the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating. Green are the ones I've adopted, Yellow are the ones I'm working on, Red I haven't fully attacked yet.
1. Reject the Diet Mentality. I haven't "dieted" since college. Let's just say the Special K diet made me never want to eat the stuff again!
2. Honor Your Hunger. There's no problem here- I'm always eating/hungry!
3. Make Peace with Food. I love food dearly. Undereating has almost never been an issue.
4. Challenge the Food Police. I have definitely eaten things I wouldn't have touched with a ten foot pole in the past (corn fritters? Girl scout cookies?).There are just some foods that I think will forever be ingrained in my brain as wrong. Salads topped with bacon and cheese, red meat, cheesecake. Won't touch em.
5. Respect Your Fullness. I've gotten very good at stopping when I'm full. I'm prone to to tummy issues so that helps as well.
6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor. Whether I bake, make an awesome salad, or am out to dinner- I'm working on savoring my food and determining whether or not the food is good enough to continue eating, or pass on to the human garbage can.
7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food. I can't lie- I eat when I'm happy, when I'm nervous, when I'm bored. I don't stop and take the time to think about/sit with my feelings or distract myself. NEED to work on this.
8. Respect Your Body. Work in progress. I certainly feed, clothe, and exercise my body. Still working on body image.
9. Exercise--Feel the Difference. I love exercise. It really does make me feel strong and happy!
10. Honor Your Health. This last principle is the one that I've always sought to achieve. The problem I've found with Intuitive Eating is that while "respecting my hunger and discovering satisfaction," I've been eating much more than I used to. Although it's glorious and tastes great, I can't help but notice that my clothes are definitely tighter than they have been in a long time. I'm proud to say I haven't weighed myself in 3 months- but a shopping trip for bigger pants yesterday was so disheartening. My "intuition" may point me towards feel-good jelly beans, but I honestly think my body and health are more balanced with straight up fruits, veggies, eggs, and yogurt.
So here's my compromise with Intuitive Eating for the time being, complete with my current goals:
1. I will log my food for ~1 week to get a handle on what's going into my body. I use the iPhone App "Lose It." I did this today and already saw glaring differences from the way I used to eat. There was a long time period when I never ate fat, and surprisingly, the % fat was greater than carbs! Enlightening, to say the least.
2. I will eat more protein. I absolutely adore carbs and certainly eat my fair share of them, but I'm training for a race and need to step it up a bit.
3. I will drink more water. I love that in the hospital there is free ice and water in the pantries. I pack a water bottle and try to fill it up as many times as I can.
4. I will eat less processed food. Cutting out the candy and saltines won't hurt me!
5. I will cut down on added sugar and sodium. Similar to #4, but just omitting the splenda in my coffee and salty salad dressing may help a lot.
6. I will indulge when I feel like it (and not feel guilty). I can have a cookie here and there, just not a weekend filled with pizza, grilled cheese, quesadillas, fries... (ahem last weekend).
To me, these goals are about honoring my health. A principle we all can benefit from :-)
To Be Continued...
(P.S. Don't forget to enter my Chocomize Giveaway! This is definitely one of my "indulgences" I don't feel guilty about :-P)