Intuitive Eating

Intuitive eating is the opposite of dieting.
It involves eating in response to your body’s needs, rather than counting calories and following rules. Supporters of intuitive eating suggest that eating in response to internal hunger and fullness cues; allow us to eat all foods. This helps us reach our “natural" weights, the weight range genetically predetermined.
Some research supports the idea that dieting undermines our internal eating cues and natural appetite. When we eat using an all-or-none type system, built around eating rules rather than internal hunger/satiety cues, it is referred to as restraint eating. This type of eating can make some of us more likely to over eat because once we break one rule, we break them all.
When disconnected from our internal satiety cues, we are more susceptible to external eating cues. External cues are triggered by emotions, “time", the sight or smell of food, and personal or cultural rules of eating.
Getting in touch with internal eating cues takes some time and attention. Small groups are an effective way to work on this while learning about the external cues that influence us. In our complicated world of food it helps to have a strong nutrition framework while exploring the forces encouraging us to over eat.