Good Life Cuisine

I've dedicated this week to making peace with food. I learned a lot about the depths of deprivation and how I need to take my time and be patience with some specific foods. I learned that it's not just about making peace with heavy foods, but also with light and healthy choices as well. But most of all, I am re-discovering the fun of preparing and eating all sorts of foods.

I woke up too early and had a long day at work. I caught myself reflecting on the way home of whether I should eat or not, as I was not yet feeling hungry (diet-style thinking about whether I "deserve" to eat or not).

When I entered, I smelled brownies. I was kind of planning to eat something light, rest and go swimming, and then treat myself to a brownie. But I realized I was coming down with a cold, so better stay home.

Weight loss is sometimes compared to to dealing with problem drinking. Indeed the underlying process of change may share some basic mechanism. But I would like to point out a key difference.

I had a mindset-changing insight. I initially though Intuitive Eating was about learning when to stop eating when satisfied. This was diet thinking. I though: it's a skill, all I need to do is practice. What I start to see now is that it is about teaching our bodies that we will not deprive them any more. That is why the first three principles are all about that: reject the diet mentality, honour your hunger, make peace with food. The power of deprivation is real and deep. Messing up with these fundamental bodily mechanisms (by dieting) is bound to lead to trouble. Intuitive eating is mainly a healing process.

We're in the week of making peace with food. I had a mindset-changing insight. I initially though Intuitive Eating was about learning when to stop eating when satisfied. What I start to see now is that it is about teaching our bodies that we will not deprive them any more. That is why the first three principles are all about that: reject the diet mentality, honour your hunger, make peace with food. A difficult point for me to understand was the power of deprivation. It has a tremendous power. Where does it come from? Here is my theory. Deprivation draws on the power of survival. But why? Surely we can live without sweets. Or at least without certain kinds. Surely this is not needed for our survival. 

This is all about eliminating deprivation. Last week we saw how our bodies need to be fed, and if we don't honor our hunger, we're at risk of over-eating simply because our body and our mind will do eveything in their power to get the nourishment they need. This week’s principle is about not restricting certain types of food. It’s based on the following observation: if you feel deprived from a food, chances are higher you will over-eat it. The authors call this “Last Supper” eating, when we engage in “what the hell” behaviour, or a binge.

Diet,

we go a long way back. We've been together through thick and thin, but the time has come for me to say goodbye, and get on with my life on my own.

I'm so happy I decided to do this 10 week challenge. To be honest, I didn't expect to learn so many new things in the first two weeks. What I found however, is that by simply taking the time and setting the focus of the week to a principle, by doing some simple exercises - but mainly reflecting on it, I gain some important insights. When I began this week, I had no doubt in my mind  I usually honor my hunger. But what I realized yesterday is that often I wait just a bit too long to eat to get the most out of this principle. 

I posted about the mindfulness aspect of honoring our hunger - it's about being mindful of our feelings of hunger throughout the day. But ultimately, it's about honoring our hunger, meaning, eating when we are hungry. So the obvious question - for me so obvious I ignored it - is: when should we eat?

Intuitive eating is a lot about eating mindfully. Being mindful about our satiety levels. Being mindful about how we feel. Without being mindful about our body signals and without being in the moment while you eat, it's difficult to naturally stop once we feel fullness and satisfaction. Especially if we're not used to. 

The interesting thing the authors point out is that our bodies are not able to distinguish dieting from starvation. If your body thinks you’re starving it, the basic defense mechanisms kick in. There’s nothing you can do about it. Your body and your mind will try to do whatever is in their power to get you fed. “Once you reach the moment of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting and irrelevant” says the summary of the principle.