Intuitive Eating – Video with Emily Rosen

Intuitive eating has been a popular topic in the nutrition world for the past few years. Maybe you’ve heard the term and thought it sounded interesting, but you weren’t sure quite what it was, how it worked, or whether it might be helpful for you. In this intriguing new video from #IPEtv, Emily Rosen, Director of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, shares five simple techniques that anyone can use to bring the benefits of intuitive eating into their relationship with food. Whether you’re a long-time advocate of this approach to eating or you’re exploring it for the first time, these tips will help you charge up your diet with a big breath of fresh air!

Here is a transcript of this week’s video:

Hi, I’m Emily Rosen, Director of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating.

Today we’re going to talk about Intuitive Eating.

There can be a lot of confusion out there about all the different ways to eat, with as many diets as there are days in the year. It’s great to have knowledge of nutrition, digestion, and healthy lifestyles, but all that knowledge can lead to confusion. And it can be hard to know what’s right for you.

Without body wisdom, it’s almost impossible to know which dietary approach to follow for health . While a particular nutritional system may be good for the person who designed it, and useful for certain people, it may simply not be right for others. And it’s also possible that a nutritional approach may be great for you for a time, but then lose its effectiveness and even become detrimental to the body.

That’s where intuition comes in. It’s the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. It comes from your gut wisdom and inner truth. Intuition can be informed by what you know, but it doesn’t need knowledge to know what’s true. It’s your body talking in a clear and wise voice. It’s that quiet unwavering whisper that gets louder if you don’t hear the message right away. Intuition speaks in dreams, symbols, and gut feelings.

Here are 5 steps to using intuitive eating:

Step 1 – Notice if you’re hungry.

Is your belly rumbling or getting tight? Are you having difficulty concentrating? Is your energy dwindling? Or do you just notice you are thinking about eating a particular food? Are you just a little hungry for a snack, or ravenous for a five course meal? Are you actually just bored or lonely? If so, is biological food what you want? If you’re hungry for food, eat. If you’re not, don’t.

Step 2 – Check in.

Ask your intuition about what it’s craving. Is it something harmful or beneficial to your body? If you’re not sure, imagine having this item, or take a bite and track the sensations in your body. Is your body contracting or expanding, happy or anxious?

Step 3 – Honor your body.

Select foods that fuel your body. You may not know this right away, but the more you follow your intuition, the more trust you’ll develop in your body’s signals. You’ll start to have a shorthand, and you’ll know what your body needs. Give your body the foods that heal and nourish, rather than destroy. Listen to the cravings, but learn to discern what is a craving from wholeness versus a craving from a condition like Candida or parasites.

Step 4 – Stop.

When you have had enough, stop. In order to hear this message from your body, you’ll need to go slowly enough to listen. If you’re not sure, stop for a moment and check in. Bodies function best when they aren’t starving or so full that digestion is impeded, so stop when you still have a little room left.

Step 5 – Enjoy!

Eating food is a pleasurable experience. When we give ourselves permission to take pleasure in our food, our bodies feel good and our mood elevates, we can remain open to our body’s signals, and life is good…

I hope this was helpful, and I hope you can begin to reap the benefits of intuitive eating! Please email us at info@psychologyofeating.com if you have specific questions and we will be sure to get back to you. Thanks so much for your time and interest!

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