As is always the case in my industry, new diets and approaches are coming and going all the time, but lately I've seen the terms "intuitive eating" and "mindful eating" being thrown about a lot in particular.

So what exactly is mindful or intuitive eating?

Mindful and intuitive eating involves tuning in to your body’s TRUE hunger or satiety signals (i.e. real, physical hunger rather than emotional hunger), and eating in accordance with them, as well as focussing on other responses to food such as the satisfaction you get from eating your favourite foods. It also often involves ditching the traditional principles of dieting such as calorie counting etc.

I think it's a great approach to eating IN SOME PEOPLE, and I often use some mindfulness strategies with my clients, but I think that there's a fundamental problem with the approach, especially in beginner or non successful dieters.

The problem is that most people are notoriously bad at listening to their body's signals, and this could be a potential reason why some people are overweight in the first place.

Another problem, is that most people are bad at being aware of how many calories they're eating and therefore need to develop an appreciation of this first by keeping a food diary or using MyFitnessPal.

Let's assume however, that you do know how many calories you're eating, you know that you're in a deficit, but you want to make the ride easier by trying out some principles of intuitive eating.

I am going to challenge you to really slow down, be present, and take a look at how you are eating. 

How you eat could potentially be just as important as you we eat… Eating mindfully will give you the ability to eat less overall yet still leave you nutritionally, physically, emotionally, and mentally satisfied.

Basically lose body fat without feeling like total crap in the process.

Take a moment to think about how you feel when you eat slowly while sitting down with close friends and family. My guess is that feeling is much different than when you eat while watching TV, swiping through your Instagram/Facebook feed, or standing at the kitchen counter.

We have all had those times when we ate a meal that left us bloated, regretful, or feeling like we hadn’t eaten at all.  It is likely that during that meal you didn’t really taste your food, you ate very quickly, and your environment didn’t support mindful eating.

What if instead you left the table feeling full of energy, not stuffed but still satisfied? 

This is possible, believe it or not.

However, I’m going to tell you that while it’s SIMPLE it’s not EASY. Like anything, it takes a bit of practice. 

Always, no matter the situation, EAT SLOWLY. 

When people eat fast, they end up eating more.  But even with more food, they don’t feel satisfied.  Five minutes later, they are looking for seconds or dessert.  An hour later, they are looking for a snack. 

Quite the opposite happens to those that eat slowly.  Those individuals usually end up eating a lot less, yet they feel more satisfied.  They also feel calmer and happier.  They don’t have to think about eating less, they just naturally do it.

Your brain doesn’t get the signal that you’re full until approximately 20 minutes after you start eating.  I would bet that most of your meals don’t even last that long. 

The process of seeing your food, to the moment it hits your intestines, to your body making enzymes and hormones to digest the food, and then tell your brain that you have had enough is SLOW.

But here is the thing: your body genuinely does “knows” how much it needs.  Your job is to help it by eating slowly and mindfully.  

This will take practice, and then some more practice...

Most of us eat, or continue eating, regardless of whether our bodies actually need that food.  We often don’t stop eating until the plate (or container) is empty.

Eating to 80% can help us to eat mindfully, “tune in” to our body’s true hunger signals, improve our digestion, and is a foundational practice we can always come back to. 

However, it may give you an uneasy feeling to actually leave food on your plate and listen to the cues your body gives you when it has had enough food. Many people feel this way, I know I certainly do. 

“Wasting food” can feel bad. It's an odd one and can bring up some unwanted emotions. We feel like the food could be going to better use if it's not thrown away, but remember that it's just as wasteful to shove it in your mouth when it's not needed. 

Unprocessed foods (such as fresh vegetables & fruits, lean proteins) will often help you feel full sooner and for longer. It's not that processed foods are inherently bad, but they can be quite calorie dense which means you get a lot of calories for relatively little food, meaning you’ll often never get to the 80% full point.

So, when you eat, stop eating just a little sooner than you normally would. I know some of you will immediately hate the idea of this, but I urge you to give it a go.  Eating slowly will help you to do that. These two habits will take a lot of practice, the idea is to just do a little bit better right now, and then build from there. 

I will tell you that for me personally, eating slowly and doing so without distractions are definitely some of my struggles, but I'm trying to work on it. 

Even us coaches ain't perfect right?

Much love

JB