Lunch every day at twelve o'clock sharp and dinner at six o'clock? According to some, a bad idea, because your body tells you when it wants to eat and what. Eating according to your intuition would be much healthier and better for your body.
Are you a bit scared of the scale after all those end-of-year drinks, dinners and breakfasts? Then you might be tempted to grab your calorie counter app or that new diet book right away. But there are also people who say that you shouldn't do that:the intuitive eaters. Because, they say, if you learn to listen carefully to your body and learn to sense when and with what it wants to be fed, you will never have to diet again. That sounds great, but how exactly does intuitive eating work? How do you tune in to your body? And once tuned in, how do you feel what and how much your body needs?
Read also: "Is your stomach or head hungry?"
The intuitive eating method is not new:it was invented in 1995 by the American dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch as a response to all the strict diets of the nineties. They wrote their book Intuitive eating:a revolutionary program that works as a 'recovery book for chronic dieters' and formulated ten principles for a – according to them – healthy eating style. According to Tribole and Resch, we need to go back to how we used to eat, when food was still a necessity. And that means:not necessarily three meals a day at fixed times because that's normal, but eat and drink when your body asks for it, so when you get hungry or thirsty. For that you have to learn to recognize your body's hunger and thirst signals again. And, more importantly:learn to eat and drink based on satiety, so stop because your body tells you to and not because you have reached the maximum number of calories allowed or because you want to eat your plate empty. There are no 'forbidden foods', say the American dietitians:your body itself indicates what it feels like and you have to listen to that.
Intuitive eating is therefore a kind of anti-diet lifestyle, because in black-and-white everything is allowed:whatever you want, how much you want and whenever you want. Yet according to Sharon Numan, blogger at Voedzo.nl and co-author of the book Intuitive food, it is more than that. Sharon:“For me, intuitive eating is mainly about freedom and self-love. Finally let go of all existing prejudices about food and foods, listen to what my body needs and feel what works for me and what doesn't.”
Sharon first heard about the method five years ago. “I had tried all kinds of eating patterns for years in an effort to reduce my asthma, headaches and allergies. I ate alternately sugar-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, gluten-free and organic or vegetarian. But after all these years of constantly watching what I ate, I realized:those diets haven't changed anything. Yes, eating too much sugar gave me more headaches, but that was the only finding. Tribole and Resch write that there is no perfect, ready-made diet that works for everyone, according to them food is tailor-made. So it is important to listen carefully to your body. Because what is good for one person may not necessarily be good for another. In their view, food is mainly about taking care of yourself and your body, not about limitations. I found that such a liberating insight that I decided to get started with it.”
For Sharon, for example, that meant having breakfast whenever it suits her. “My house is always busy in the morning, because the children have to have breakfast, get dressed and go to school on time. I realized that I always quickly gulped down a bowl of oatmeal because I'd read that it was so healthy and satiating, but actually eight times out of ten I was hungry again after a few hours. So I didn't find it that satisfying at all. And I often wasn't even really hungry, early in the morning." So Numan left the oatmeal for what it was and now "breakfast" them only with a cup of coffee. “I need that when I drive to school. When I come home afterwards and I'm hungry, I often eat some Greek yogurt with fruit. That creates a much firmer base than oatmeal, so it works better for my body. And if I'm not hungry, I just wait until I get hungry."
When Sharon has to go to work, she chooses to have an early breakfast, because that is also intuitive eating:planning when necessary. “I don't take good care of myself when I'm at an appointment with a rumbling stomach. So I go through a checklist in my head several times a day:how am I feeling? What does my program look like and how can I take this into account as best as possible?”
If you want to get started with intuitive eating, you may find that it is a bit of a quest at first. There are few rules, and what if you suddenly get an uncontrollable urge to eat two bars of chocolate? “When I started intuitive eating five years ago, I was afraid I would go crazy if nothing was forbidden anymore,” says Sharon. “But that went really well. I noticed that when I get a craving for sweets, there is often something else going on:for example, I'm stressed because of an important appointment or I haven't slept enough. Tune in to your body and your feelings, then you will feel that this is the actual reason for your snack attack and you can respond to it, for example by taking a break or calling a friend. Intuitive eating is therefore also a good way to combat emotional eating, because you stop and become aware of your feelings.”
In addition, you will automatically feel nauseous if you do give in to that craving and get rid of an entire bar. “No body asks for a whole bar of chocolate, at most a piece or three cubes,” says Sharon. “If you do eat that bar, you can conclude that it doesn't make you feel better. That is also a signal from your body. You can learn to trust that, just by trying.”
Sharon has maintained the three meal times in a day since she eats intuitively. “Some intuitive eaters also throw that eating schedule overboard, but I find that eating three times a day works well for me. Besides, I have a family that needs rhythm.” She does notice that her need for snacks has decreased. “I used to have serious afternoon dips, but not anymore. That's because intuitive eating is also mindful eating and planning:I eat every meal calmly and mindfully. This way I can taste the flavors better, I am aware of how much I have to eat to feel full and I wonder:is this enough until the next meal? If you consciously eat enough, you have less need for snacks.”
Read also: 'Intuitive eating in 6 steps'
With Sharon, intuitive eating also influences her weight:she has lost about five kilos over the years. “That's because I end up eating less than before. But the most important thing is that I feel a lot better. My head was unconsciously filled with eating prohibitions and beliefs for years. If I ate carbohydrates, there was always a little voice that said:that's not good for you. If I once took a piece of gingerbread, I felt guilty that I had eaten sugar. So unconsciously I was preoccupied with food a lot. And that involved a lot of negative emotions. Now I weigh less and I feel freer, more positive and healthier. Food actually matters less than it used to, the focus has shifted to taking good care of myself.”
The Nutrition Center also sees the positive sides of the lifestyle. A spokesperson:"It can help to eat less if, for example, you often eat for fun or eat until something is finished, when you were already full." The Nutrition Center does emphasize the importance of a healthy and varied diet:“Perhaps people think they can sense which nutrients they need, such as a lot of proteins or carbohydrates, but there is no scientific evidence that this is correct. So it remains important to continue to make healthy, varied choices.”
Do you want to lose a few kilos? Then it is ultimately better to opt for an intuitive eating style than a diet, as has now also been scientifically proven. Especially when it comes to the long term:According to an article in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition, people who eat intuitively stay at a healthy weight longer than people who diet. And:this research also shows that intuitive eating is better for your head:people who eat on the clock and diet, generally feel less psychologically good.
Text Priscilla Borgers | Image:Shutterstock,Getty
