The 10 guiding principles of intuitive eating #1

If you're not that familiar with intuitive eating, I'd recommend reading my previous blog on the basics of intuitive eating before getting into this one. 

Like with learning any new skill there’s no point in running before you can walk, so the steps of intuitive eating are taken in a particular order. For example, the very first thing to do is rid yourself of the diet mentality and the very last thing is to learn some fundamental nutrition. This is because if you introduce ideas about nutrition too early these can be internalised as rules and disrupt listening to your internal signals.

In part 1 of this blog I will briefly walk you through the first 5 steps of intuitive eating as an introduction to how intuitive eating can begin to take shape in your life.

1. Ditch diet culture

This involves getting mad at the lies that diet culture has sold us for our entire life and starting to recognise how pervasive diet messages are. Knowingly or not lots of us use diet tools every day including calorie counting apps, online diet plans and weighing scales. All of these are external factors telling us how much, when and why to eat. 

But you’re the only person who really knows what’s right for your body! No-one knows you like you. This important first principle helps you to shake off diet culture and allow you to start reconnecting with internal signals of hunger, fullness and true enjoyment of food.

2. Honour your hunger

You know what hunger feels like right? Sure, everyone does! But can you recognise the subtle feelings of hunger, or the different types of hunger? With this principle you’ll really get to explore what hunger feels like to you and allow you to start satisfying that hunger BEFORE you get to the point you’re so ravenous you’d eat your cutlery as well as your food.

3. Make peace with food

A tricky one for nearly everyone. For many of us (in the past I would definitely have included myself in this) food is difficult. Feeding ourselves can feel like a daily battle; waging war on ourselves when we don’t eat the ‘right foods’ and praising ourselves when we choose healthy options, even though we’re not satisfied or full.

Through this principle you can start to forget food rules, call a truce on the fight against food and give yourself unconditional permission to eat (which by the way doesn’t mean you’ll only eat cookies for the rest of your life, I promise).

4. Challenge the food police

The food police is the (seriously unhelpful) voice in your head that tells you you’re a good person for eating minimal calories or bad for eating cake. This voice enforces the rigid rules that diet culture creates and makes it near impossible to eat in peace and free from guilt.

Ridding yourself of the food police and cultivating positive self-talk is a hugely important step in the process of intuitive eating.

5. Respect your fullness

How many times have you eaten so much you feel uncomfortable and maybe even sick? Yeah, me too. With the previous 4 principles in place though you’ll be able to eat to a comfortable level of fullness (yes you CAN eat just a scoop of ice cream instead of the whole tub!) because you’ll know you can just have more tomorrow.

For insight into the final 5 principles check out part #2 of this blog series.

If you're intrigued and would like to get in touch to find out more about how intuitive eating could help you to sort your shit around food please email at hello@nondietnutrition.co.uk or give me a call on 07403896800