What is Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive eating is focused on listening to your body’s cues and learning to feel and understand different physical sensations to establish how hungry you are and what you believe you can eat to satisfy that hunger. Intuitive eating emphasizes learning to connect with your body and decipher the messages it’s sending you, so you are able to differentiate between physical hunger and emotional hunger.
Although the concept has been around for quite some time, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch coined the term “intuitive eating” in 1995 when they wrote the book Intuitive Eating, now in its 4th edition. Since that time, numerous studies have reinforced the importance of intuitive eating and its association with health and well-being.
Tribole and Resch formulated 10 key principles of intuitive eating, which include the following:
Reject the diet mentality: Forget quick fixes and failed diet promises.
Honor your hunger: Eat when you’re hungry! Listen to your body.
Make peace with food: Avoid restrictive eating behavior.
Challenge the food police: There are no “good” or “bad” foods. All foods fit into a wellness-based eating lifestyle.
Respect your fullness: Pay attention to what your body is telling you and know it may take time to feel full and satisfied.
Discover satisfaction factor: Food is supposed to be enjoyed. You’ll feel more satisfied by eating without judgment.
Honor your feelings without using food: Deal with the source of emotions as they occur instead of eating for emotional hunger.
Respect your body: Appreciate and respect your body for what it does for you instead of focusing solely on what it looks like.
Exercise - feel the difference: Focus on the positive ways you feel when being active.
Honor your health with gentle nutrition: Pay attention to how food makes you feel, and choose foods that honor your health.
Intuitive Eating and Eat Move Groove
While the Eat Move Groove program provides a flexible structure for meal planning, intuitive eating is a cornerstone of this plan. Listening to your body, eating foods you enjoy and foods that make you feel good and taste good to you, and moving your body (and grooving!) in ways you enjoy are all positive ways to take care of yourself. The Eat Move Groove program is built around YOU and how you live your life.
Practicing intuitive eating principles has been linked to more positive body image, more positive eating practices, and even less depression in women. If you're tired of the dieting mentality or focusing only on the numbers on the scale, the Eat Move Groove program is for you.
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