I love watching my kids eat. I love noticing their habits, the way they experience their meals, and their innate ability to determine the very moment they have had enough food. Its mesmerizing really, because as we grow up to be adolescents and then adults, and assimilate into the confines of the modern world, this ability so drastically diminishes to the point where we aren't sure if we are physically hungry or just want food in our mouths for pleasure. The difference can be very hard to detect!
Part of this disconnect is our way of living which includes multi-tasking and to-do lists that never end. Social media makes us feel inadequate, and it's very hard to feel relaxed and in-control of anything, let alone our eating habits. If we are following a "diet", we restrict, overeat, feel guilty, repeat. It's a vicious cycle that never ends. It leaves us feeling guilt, shame, regret, and overall out-of-control.
Diets specifically perpetuate this cycle because they are defined by restriction which almost always leads to us lashing out in a rebellion against them. Our bodies weren't designed to diet. You didn't fail because you couldn't stick with the diet. Rather, the diet failed your basic instincts as a human to eat.
Ask yourself today, Do you know when you are hungry? Do you know when you are full? Are you able to discern physical hunger from emotional hunger? This is the first step in taking back your own control over food and being in charge of your own body. Stay tuned for tips over the coming months to learn to eat more intuitively and also eat in a way that makes you feel good both inside and out!