Everyone wants to eat intuitively, but not everyone really understands what that means.
Intuitive eating is much different than just having intuition. We don’t naturally know what food choices to make, so if you try to “listen to your body” with no nutrition knowledge whatsoever, you’re going to have no idea what it is telling you.
It goes much deeper than simply eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full.
It would be like trying out for a basketball team with no knowledge of the rules. Maybe you can pass and shoot, but if you don’t know the basics, you’re going to seriously struggle.
Let’s assume you don’t really know the basics: if you want something sweet, you might think that anything with sugar is terrible for you, so you refuse to eat it. But if you truly understand the basics, you’d know you can enjoy your favorite sweets in moderation without concern.
On the flip side, maybe you try to listen to your hunger cues. If you find yourself super hungry on Pizza Friday, you might decide to “listen to your body” and have a few slices since you are so hungry. But with an understanding of the basics, you might grab one slice and some salad, knowing you’ll feel better and that the salad will fill you up even more.
You can eat multiple slices of pizza whenever you want, of course. There’s no “right” way of eating, this is just an example, and that’s what makes intuitive eating difficult. Nobody can tell you how to do it- it’s about learning what feels best for YOU.
Listening to your hunger cues, ditching so-called “food rules,” and eating what you want, when you want, is truly empowering. But it’s not something you can do with no knowledge.
Equip yourself with the basics of nutrition, learn what feels best for YOU, and take it from there.
