God designed us, every single one of us, with an instinct to feed ourselves when we need fed and how much we need fed, and when given choices even what we need fed. Think of a brand new baby. They are born knowing exactly when to eat and how much to eat as needed for their growth. But our culture has disrupted that instinct and it starts at birth as well, when the nurses tell you to feed your baby every three hours. If they are sleeping, wake them up. I remember with my first baby the nurse would even take off my daughters clothing so that she would respond to the coldness- to wake up and eat. Don't let them fall asleep eating, make sure that they are eating __ amount of ounces or feeding for ___ amount of minutes on eat side. Disrupting from birth their natural instincts to eat intuitively- when and how much their body needs. With my last few babies- I learned to tell the nurses what they wanted to hear and let my babies eat when they were ready, they never starved and they definitely will let you know the second they want to eat. I understand that there are situations where a baby may need to gain weight quickly for health reasons or premature issues or an upcoming surgery etc, and of that I am not referring to. Just an average, healthy baby.
The disruption only continues through our lives. Start solids at ___ months old, even if she shows no interest in them yet. As we get older our portions are given to us and our diets micromanaged by someone else. If we wake up at age 5 and tell our mom we are not hungry, she makes us eat anyway. Disruption. If your child is not hungry for breakfast, they will not starve to death. This pattern continues and worsens with age when the cultures standard of thinness and health begins to influence us and all of sudden, we don't know how to eat anymore. We can't listen to our God given instincts, we've never in our lives been able to. This person eats this way and look how amazing they look, this person raves about this diet or this program. It all begins with that disruption and we are here. Overweight and looking for answers, trying to figure out HOW to eat, HOW to lose weight and keep it off, trying every diet and program available only to gain the weight back.
Intuitive eating is so well described here :
"It means eating until full and satisfied; without the need to envision ‘fullness scales’, ‘hunger charts’ or chewing each mouthful in a slow, meditative trance; stopping at 80% full (whatever that is) and re-evaluating in 20 minutes. It means aiming for complete and utter satisfaction: a stomach that has no desire to eat more. It means relying on your body to gauge fullness signals well, without second-guessing or panicking about getting it ‘right’ down to the exact mouthful: knowing that if you eat too much at one meal, you will be less hungry at the next – and vice versa: that your body will sort it out."
So intuitive eating is getting back to the place where we listen to our bodies cues and trust our bodies instincts to eat when we need to eat, how much and what. Your body wants to be healthy, and if you pay attention to it- you will naturally eat when you are hungry, you will naturally eat foods that are nourishing, you will naturally stop eating when your body is "full" (and that doesn't mean when you feel full/stuffed).
So how does this work with losing weight? First, you have to throw away any preconceived ideas about how much you should weigh based on any charts from any organization. Throw them away. Your body will settle you into your natural healthy weight and it is most likely not what the online charts tell you you should weigh, because they continue to lower the standards of the BMI charts.
In the book "Health at Every Size", the author writes about her time as a PhD candidate at the time the BMI standards were lowered. Her mentor was on the NIH Obesity Task Force. The author expressed her surprise and concern about the standards being lowered (when I say standards being lowered it means that if the chart currently says you should weigh 145lbs, they are now lowering that weight and saying that now you should be smaller-etc). There was significant evidence in support of raising the standards, not lowering them. She presented her review to her mentor, which was laughed at. In the end, her mentor told her "we were pressured to make the standards conform to those already accepted by the World Health Organization." The decision to lower the standards of the BMI charts and tell you that you need to be even smaller, was made for political reasons. Not because it was supported by science or for the betterment of health. Stop looking at charts and online weight calculators. Also in her book she traces back further with the WHO BMI standards and it becomes even more disturbing. I cannot recommend this book enough.
Second, you have to accept that what your natural body weight is may not align with what YOU want it to be. Just because YOU want to be 130 lbs doesn't mean that is what YOUR body should weigh (and is also the reason why if 130 is not your natural body weight, you will have to fight forever to maintain that weight). Often, our expectations are not realistic for our bodies OR genetics.
If you are eating intuitively, eating when your body tells you and only eating as much as your body tells you, your body will stabilize and maintain at it's natural healthy weight. If you are 160 pounds and begin to intuitively eat, and your natural healthy weight is 150, your body will naturally shed those pounds because you are giving it exactly what it needs to do that.
There is so much to explore in this subject and I am excited to be exploring it all alongside my current group! In part II I am going to explore HOW to start this way of life.
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