Food Eng. Oguz Yildirim

What is Intuitive Eating? What are the Basic Principles?

We are with you with a new term in the field of healthy living: “intuitive eating“. So what is this intuitive eating? Intuitive nutrition, which has been a very popular topic lately, is actually an innovation that requires being at peace with foods in the simplest sense. If we summarize the logic of intuitive eating in one sentence, "Eat if you feel hungry, don't eat if you feel full!' we can say. Now, let's look for answers to your questions such as can I lose weight with intuitive nutrition, what is its contribution to me, what is intuitive nutrition education, what are intuitive nutrition book recommendations.

What is Intuitive Eating?

It is a way of eating that will allow you to move on to a healthier life by noticing all the signals your body offers you, removing strict diets from your life and improving your relationship with food. We are talking about an approach that will help you focus on reactions such as hunger, fullness and pleasure by completely changing your eating mentality, instead of concepts such as calorie calculation, long and difficult lists, portion controls, as the opposite of a standard and strict diet.

The most important difference from other diets; By eating more carefully and slowly, your ability to detect cues of satiety increases. In this way, even though you are not hungry, consuming food just to eat will become a distant action for you.

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Basic Principles of Intuitive Eating

  • Get rid of the diet mentality completely
  • Declare peace with whole foods
  • Respect your hunger
  • Discover the pleasure and happiness you get from food
  • Realize that you are full
  • Respect your body
  • Experience the difference on the go
  • Put your health first

If you pay attention to all these principles, you will realize that your awareness increases over time, that you do not eat when you do not feel hunger, and most importantly, you will realize why you eat. If you wish, it may be logical to choose 1 meal a day in the first step. For example, you can adopt an intuitive eating habit for your breakfast and apply intuitive nutrition for your other meals in the future.

intuitive eating woman

Considerations in Intuitive Nutrition

  • Never rush while eating
  • Chew food very well
  • Turn off the technological products in the environment where you eat
  • Focus on how you feel while eating
  • Consider your five senses
  • Let the taste, smell and appearance of the food be important to you
  • When you feel full, never try to finish the food you eat, stop immediately.
  • Ask yourself questions while you eat! “How useful is it to me and am I really hungry right now?” as…

Intuitive Nutrition Education

It is an education that helps the individual focus on the moment he lives and leave the worry of losing weight behind and concentrate only on the food he eats. After this training; By focusing on your emotional health, you can manage your intuition more easily, increase your awareness and move on to a better life… Today, there are online or face-to-face trainings.

Book Recommendation for Intuitive Eating

  • Susan Albers – Eating Mindfully

This book touches on the fact that your emotional ups and downs are entirely in your hands, not at dinner. So why not have a better life with the help of mindfulness?

  • Justin Sonnenburg – The Good Gut

Apart from nutritional psychology, it is a book that talks about the effects of the foods you choose on your health. The author also discussed the interaction of some drugs with food.

  • Evelyn Tribole, Elyse Resch – Intuitive Eating

It is a book that will help you gain more respect for your body by explaining the importance of establishing a healthy relationship with food. It is a complete bedside book on intuitive eating and its principles.

In summary, if you don't want to feel like you are on a diet and you want to eat whatever I want without restriction, you may prefer to turn to intuitive eating. If you think that a conscious life style provides you high benefits in every field, you will be able to distinguish which food you should eat and when with the help of intuitive nutrition and awareness. Stay healthy…

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Stating that his eating and drinking habits started from childhood, Oğuz Yıldırım completed his higher education in Food Engineering. He is currently serving his clients as a nutritionist in his own office.

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