THAT girl

You know that girl... the one who orders a hamburger and french fries and then picks at it, taking a juicy bite and chasing it with a fry dipped in ketchup.  She eats a few bites, leisurely, happily, not once grousing about feeling guilty.  And when she's done (leaving a fair bit of food on the plate) she calmly pushes her plate away.  Oh, and she's a totally normal size and you never hear her ranting on and on about her thighs or feeling depressed about eating a cookie (not because she doesn't eat cookies - she just isn't depressed about it).

Well, I wasn't born that girl, but I'd like to become her.  Not the girl that starves herself or obsesses over calories or carbs.  Just the girl that eats what she wants, when she's hungry, then stops, until she's hungry again.

That's pretty much what intuitive eating is all about.  Sounds simple.

I can tell you it's not.  Not if you have years of doing it the other way. I've been body-obsessed since those tumultuous teens when my hips seemed to come into their own zip code.  I've dabbled in a variety of diets, workout routines, etc.  None super-successful.  Although I absolutely believe in exercise for health,and general good nutrition - there's just a difference between trying to be healthy and being obsessed with losing another 10 pounds.

So I'm now exploring intuitive eating as a solution to all that mania.

The brilliancy of intuitive eating is it frees me from guilt (and guilt and guilt) and obsession and gives me freedom instead. Discovering I'm no longer fixated on the size I wish I was.  No need to plan or write down every morsel of food I eat.  No more furtive visits to the diet section of the bookstore to scan the new arrivals looking for something inspiring. Goodbye crazy... hello, normal.

In the last couple of months I've let go of nutritional orthodoxy and loosened up, only to find that I feel okay, I'm not any bigger, and now my mind is free to think about stuff besides my body and calories.  Ick.

But to become an intuitive eater I am changing ancient habits, and that requires intention.   So here I go, a little bit at a time.

My goal this week is to listen to my body's hunger and eat when I'm hungry, but not otherwise.

Want instant gratification? I can't recommend enough this gal's videos on YouTube.  She pretty much lays it all out and she's fun to listen to.

Want to learn more?  This book is a classic: Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch