Intuitive Eating vs. Other Stuff

In this chart, Jennifer describes the difference between Intuitive Eating and the ways we’ve “learned” to eat (Other Stuff), which gets in the way of regulating our food intake, quality and quantity, in a natural way.

1.  Intuitive eating vs. “Other Stuff”‘

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Following your natural or intuitive body signals to know when to eat and what to eat is what “Intuitive Eating” is all about.

Other Stuff – Everything else we do to try to regulate our eating that isn’t natural and for the most part, doesn’t work.  Basically, living from our “mental body.”

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2.  Born with the innate ability to eat (babies eat frequently when hungry and refuse food when not hungry) vs.  we don’t know and have to be taught how to eat (schedules/structuring).

[message_box title=”Jordan” color=”blue”]Intuitive eating is paradoxical because ‘most’-of-what-we’ve-been-taught-about-eating,’ how to lose or gain weight, diet & exercise, etc., is just pain wrong.

Instead of trying to ‘teach’ children how to eat with messages like, “clean your plate,” “eat your meat”, etc., we would do better to ‘learn’ from children how to eat.  They naturally eat when they’re hungry and stop when they’re full, before parental and cultural conditioning takes over and breaks the natural/intuitive pattern.

I do think that the processed foods in our culture are designed to create desire, urges and cravings rather than satisfy them.  [/message_box]

3.  Body knows how to perform biological functions to promote health and meet needs vs. Our bodies are just crazy bastards that will grow out of control if not managed.

[message_box title=”Jordan” color=”blue”]Actually, I’m having a little difficulty believing that, “I too, can eat intuitively.”

It’s like I don’t really trust my body or myself to let myself go through my day without constantly monitoring and regulating what I am eating, punctuated by moments of unregulated-uncontrolled food bouts.

When I told Jennifer, that my concern was that, in a way, this intuitive eating things seems like just ‘going-on-another-diet’ and I figure it’ll burn out after awhile, as all diets do.  She just tossed her head back,  laughed and said, “Of course, you would be concerned about that, it makes sense you would be skeptical.  (It did help that her friend Holly assured me that she has had great results and has been intuitively eating for a few years now.)  [/message_box]

4. Eating is a biological function (like going to the bathroom, etc.) vs. Eating is tricky + mysterious + there is some “right way/food/etc.”

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Jennifer explained that, eating is as natural as going to be the bathroom.  The body sends pee signals and we go pee. Eating can be the same way – actually, it IS the same way, we have just learned ourselves out of it by using our “mental body” – ie, thinking – to tell us what to eat, when and how.

Basically, “Thinking-eating” means following a diet, exercise plan, eating by a points system (which is very unnatural, if not downright crazy), the many things we’re all taught to do or not do, to lose or gain weight.

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