I have a funny (and personal) story for you …
As you might have noticed, this month I’ve been talking a lot about intuitive eating – basically, tuning into your body’s cues and eating when you’re hungry, stopping when you’re full, and focusing on foods that make you feel great.
I wanted to share a quick story about my own experience. Now, your mileage may vary (i.e., this might not happen for you) but it wouldn’t surprise me if it did.
For years, one of my secret favorite treats has been donut holes. They are small, delicious, tasty bites of amazingness.
I actually used to look forward to going to the grocery store, because it meant I would treat myself to 2 to 3 of them. (And a few times, I might actually have come up with excuses to go to the grocery store so I could justify buying a few.)
But then I put myself through my own intuitive eating experiment.
I waited until I was physically hungry before eating … and I stopped eating when I was comfortably full. And I also paid attention to how I felt AFTER I ate.
The AFTER part was especially eye-opening for me.
I realized I had more energy, my digestive system was really happy, and my sleep even improved because I was eating less at night.
But then one day on the way home from the grocery store, I discovered something that made me feel a little disappointed.
Turns out, I really didn’t love my beloved donut holes so much. (Yes, I ate one in the car.) Once I had keyed into my body’s signals, I found that the donut holes tasted too sweet and they actually gave me a stomachache.
I WANTED to like them, but I just didn’t any more. Talk about a mixed blessing! The truth is sometimes I still want to eat them – emotionally, anyway. And I’m not saying I’ll never eat another one again.
But it’s just not worth how they make me feel now. So, it’s becoming a matter of training myself to walk past them at the grocery store, by remembering how they make me feel after I eat them. And that’s not the worst thing, is it?
It’s valuable to pay attention to the cues your body gives you in the hours after you eat.
You might notice that some foods make you feel bloated or tired, while others give you even more energy.
→ Paying attention to your body and KNOWING which foods make you feel good and which ones DON’T is one of the most valuable aspects of intuitive eating.
Do you get bloated after you have a glass of milk?
Do you get tired after you have a bagel?
Do you get itchy after you have too much sugar?
What foods make you feel great?
What foods don’t?
If you spend a minute journaling about what you’re eating and how you feel after, (food and mood journal), it could potentially change your LIFE.
Make it an amazing day!
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