Mindful Eating vs. Intuitive Eating

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Transcript 

 Hello, there! Today, we're going to talk about intuitive eating. And you may be familiar with intuitive eating, it's somewhat of a buzz-worthy term, but I wanted to take a little time to explain my approach and how it might be similar or different from most intuitive eating approaches or programs.

I like to say my approach is a more mindful way of eating, but I don't usually go so far as to say it's intuitive just since intuitive eating has such a connotation around it. I have nothing against intuitive eating per se, but I will say that my understanding of most intuitive eating programs is there are really no foundations or guidelines. It's just trust your body, trust your taste buds, trust your mood, trust whatever is drawing you to any food.

And I do believe in that to some extent; however, I think it's really hard to know what your body needs when you have no foundation. So if I'm craving Doritos and gummy bears, let's say, and on an intuitive eating approach, I'm only eating Doritos and gummy bears, I'm going to be having these blood sugar swings and hormone imbalances and gut disruption, and that's going to make it really hard to learn my body's real hunger cues.

However, if I set myself up with a foundation of balanced meals, I'm getting fiber-rich carbohydrates and good proteins and healthy fats at every meal, I'm going to have a really good understanding of what it feels like to have steady energy throughout the day and what foods make me feel good.

So, I'm not saying eat raw carrots, if you don't love raw carrots, but I am saying pick some healthier foods that you do enjoy, prepare them in a way that makes them absolutely delicious and also include foods that you enjoy just because they're fricking yummy.

So you can have your Doritos and gummy bears, but maybe alongside a green leafy salad with grilled chicken. I mean, that's just a stereotypical healthy meal example, but you know what I mean? It doesn't have to be all healthy, just maybe not all unhealthy. There's gotta be an in-between.

So that is my mindful eating approach in a nutshell.