Intuitive Eating

Intuitive Eating SagePlace:The Center for Well Beings Tammie Fowles, LCSW, Ph.D Lewiston, Maine 207-620-0792

“When You wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say To Yourself?” “What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?” “I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said. -A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Diets Don’t Work Over the Long Term • Diets Can Disrupt Normal Eating • Dieting Can Cause Food and Weight Obsessions and Lead to Disordered Eating

Binge Eating Disorder • Preoccupied with shape and body weight • Bingeing: Consuming an objectively large quantity of food while feeling a loss of control • Declaring many foods as forbidden • Trying to go as long as possible without eating by skipping meals, trying fad diets, etc. • Eating in secret; hiding food

Binge Eating Disorder Continued • Checking shape/weight by weighing daily, pinching body fat, trying on skinny clothes • Disrupted social life because you avoid eating with others • Feeling ashamed about your eating and wanting to be more “in control” • Feeling disgusted with your body

Reject the Diet Mentality • Diets Can Erode Self Esteem, Confidence and Self-Trust • Dieting Can Negatively Impact energy and Performance • Dieting Can Put Your Life on Hold

“ “Losing weight isn't a dichotomy where either you lose weight and you're successful, or you don't and you're a failure. Small losses can make a big difference." --Kelly D. BrownellYale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders

Eating Styles • Unconscious Eater • Chaotic Eater • Refuse-Not Eater / Waste-Not Eater • Emotional Eater • Careful Eater • Professional Dieter • Intuitive Eater

Honor Your Hunger • Don’t ignore natural hunger signs, honor them by eating. • Keep your body fed with adequate energy and carbs (the body’s primary and preferred source of energy.) • Each time you eat, ask yourself , am I hungry? What’s my hunger level?

The older you get, the tougher it gets to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends. - Anonymous-

Food Journal • Type and quantity of food and liquid consumed • Time of each eating episode • Emotional state directly before eating episode • Place where food was consumed

Food Journal Continued • Situation: Events that influenced eating • Type and duration of exercise each day • Each eating episode considered by client to be a binge (these should be underlined with a colored marker).

The best way to lose weight is to eat all you want of everything you don’t like.” -Anonymous-

Make Peace With Food • Deprivation Backlash • Last Supper Eating • Non Forbidden Food Eventually Loses Its Power

Challenge the Food Police • Black or White Thinking • I can eat only foods with zero grams of fat! • Carbohydrates are “bad.” I’m never eating bread, potatoes, tortillas, or pasta again! • I shouldn’t have eaten that cookie. Now, I’m off my diet. I might as well eat the whole box and start over again tomorrow! • I blew it and had a piece of cake for dessert. I feel like such a loser! I can’t do anything

Catastrophic Thinking • I tried so hard this week, but I still didn’t lose a pound. That's it! I give up. I'm never going to lose weight! • I ate a whole bag of chips today. It’s hopeless! I’m always going to be an overeater. I’ll be fat and alone forever! • I can't believe I ate an extra serving of carbs at dinner tonight. Now, I’m going to gain weight!

Pessimistic Thinking • All the food on campus is greasy and fattening! • All healthy foods taste terrible! • When I look in the mirror, all I can see is my fat thighs! • I have no self-control!

Self-fulfilling Prophecy • If I get stressed out, I know I'll binge. • If I eat too much, I have to do something to get rid of it. • If I eat one serving of ice cream, I know I won't be able to stop. • When I go home for the holidays, I know I'll eat everything in sight.

Should Statements • I need to eat only salad for lunch or else I'll gain weight. • I should never eat fast food if I want to be healthy. • I must exercise every day or else I'll have to really restrict my diet. • I shouldn't eat after 6:00 p.m. or else all the calories will turn to fat.

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” The Peace Pilgrim

Changing Your Mind • Listen to your thoughts. • I’ll never lose weight! • Decide if your thoughts help or hurt your progress. • Re-word your negative thoughts to make them into positive messages.

Challenging Negative Thinking • Cognitive Restructuring • Am I being rational? • Is is sensible or helpful to think that I’ll never lose weight because I ate that piece of cake? • Learning Positive Self-talk • "I'm a good person, and I like the changes I'm making." • "Sometimes I make mistakes, but I know how to get back on track."

Feel Your Fullness • Eat Consciously • Pause in the Middle of a Meal and Check in with your Body • Don’t Feel Obligated to Leave Food on your Plate • Eat Without Distraction

Discover the Satisfaction Factor • Ask Yourself What You Really Want to Eat. • Savor Your Food • Eat When Gently Hungry Rather than Over Hungry • Eat in a Pleasant Environment • Check in and Stop When You’re Satisfied

Emotional Hunger is… • Sudden. One minute you're not even thinking about food, the next minute you're starving. You hunger goes from 0-80 within moments. • Your cravings are for one certain type of food, such as pizza, ice cream, or chocolate. With emotional eating, you feel that you need to eat that particular food and that no substitute will do!

Emotional Hunger is… • "above the neck." An emotionally based craving begins in the mouth and the mind. Your mouth wants to taste the pizza, chocolate, or ice cream. • Urgent. Emotional hunger urges you to eat NOW! There is a desire to instantly ease emotional discomfort with food.

Emotional Hunger is… • Paired with an upsetting emotion. Your husband yelled at you. Your child is in trouble at school. Emotional hunger occurs in conjunction with an upsetting or distressing situation. • Often connected to automatic or absent-minded eating. Emotional eating can feel as if someone else's hand is scooping up the candy and putting it into your mouth. You may not notice that you've just eaten a whole bag of chocolate almond kisses.

Emotional Hunger… • Does not stop eating in response to fullness. • Feels guilty about eating. The paradox of emotional overeating is that you eat to feel better, and then end up angry or disapointed with yourself. Next, you promise to atone ("I'll exercise, skip a meal, etc.)

Physical Hunger is… • gradual. Your stomach rumbles. One hour later, it growls. Physical hunger gives you steadily progressive clues that it's time to eat. • open to different foods. With physical hunger, you may have food preferences, but they are flexible. You are open to alternate choices.

Physical Hunger is… • based in the stomach. Physical hunger is recognizable by stomach sensations such as gnawing, rumbling, emptiness, and even pain in your stomach. • patient. Physical hunger would prefer that you ate soon, but doesn't demand that you eat immediately unless you have allowed yourself to become over hungry.

Physical Hunger… • happens out of physical need. Physical hunger occurs because it has been many hours since your last meal. You may experience light-headedness or low energy if overly hungry. • stops when full. Physical hunger originates from a desire to fuel and nourish your body. As soon as that intention is fulfilled, you stop eating. From: Constant Craving: What Your Food Cravings Mean and How You Can Overcome Them.” by Doreen Virtue

Childhood is that wonderful time of life When all you have to do to lose weight is to take a bath…

Emotional Eating Triggers • Boredom and Procrastination • Bribery and Reward • Excitement • Depression • Frustration, Anger, Stress • Fatigue

Coping With Emotional Eating • Ask Yourself: • Am I biologically hungry? • What am I feeling? • What do I need? • How can I meet this need? • Research indicates that individuals who respond to a negative situation with both positive thoughts and constructive action are able to avoid emotion-based eating 85% of the time.

I Feel… Because… • I feel… because… Angry they expect me to visit too much Frustrated I can’t get home as much as I’d like to Afraid They’ll think I’ve abandoned them Devastated They’re going down hill so fast Worried They might need nursing home care soon Irritated They don’t seem to appreciate me Bitter They’ve ignored me for much of my life Resentful My brother doesn’t take his turn visiting From: “Life is Hard. Food is Easy.” Linda Spangle

Food Tracing • Food Memory and Feeling Corn Chowder Mom made it on snowy Saturday afternoons before … we went sledding. I felt festive, excited, happy, anticipating fun. . Cheese Curls My cousin and I pigged out on them when she was pregnant. I felt older, more mature, connected Donuts My grandmother made them each morning when we went to visit. I felt loved, special, warm, safe, nurtured From: “Life is Hard. Food is Easy.” Linda Spangle

Food and Needs • Simple Needs: Pleasure, fun, feeling better, stress relief (corn chowder) • People Needs: Connecting, pleasing others, attention, appreciation (cheese curls) • Emotional Needs: Safety, love, reward, comfort, avoiding painful feelings (donuts)

Gather Your Needs • What do I need? How could I get it? Time Limit house work Connection Make plans with friends at ………………………………least once per week Hope Establish some goals Be Centered Learn Mindfulness

Wild Geese “You do not have to be good.You do not have to walk on your kneesfor a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.Meanwhile the world goes on.Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rainare moving across the landscapes,over the prairies and deep trees,the mountains and the rivers.Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue airare heading home again.Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,the world offers itself to your imagination,calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--over and over announcing your placein the family of things.” MARY OLIVERDream Work

Eating and Relationships • Who are the five people in your life you are closest to? • How frequent is your contact with each of them? • What is your eating like before, during, and after you see them?

Eating and Relationships Cont. • What are two expectations you have for each of these people? When they are not met, what do you do? • What roles do you tend to play in relationships with others? Do certain roles that you play leave you feeling "hungrier" than others? • What are the satisfying and unsatisfying aspects of these relationships? How can you make your relationships more satisfying?

Create a List of What you Love, and Do at Least One Thing Each Day. • Soft, flowing, soothing music • Long, warm, scented baths • Bed with a cup of tea and a good book • Finishing a brisk walk along the river with a great book on tape • Taking a nap with my puppy • A really good movie • Long, soulful heart to heart talks

“Enjoy life to the fullest. Remember all of those women on the Titanic who waved off the desert cart.”- Irma Bombeck -

Steps to Freedom From Emotional Eating • Love yourself • Give up perfectionism • Break out of the "Being-Nice" trap • Find alternative means of coping • Connect with self and others • Use the mantra: “Is this what I really need?” Use this mantra to get you through moments of difficulty. From: http://www.mental-health-matters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=504

Four Steps Before Eating • Stop • Breathe • Reflect • “Why do I want to eat right now?” • “Why this food?” • “Is this what I really need?” • Choose

Respect Your Body • Accept your genetic blue print • You don’t have to like every part of your body to respect it. • Stop body bashing • Your body deserves to be fed, treated with dignity, dressed comfortably, etc. • The Loving Heart Exercise (see http://primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/library/weight/feelings.htm for instructions) From: Overcoming the Legacy of Overeating by Nancy Kathryn Fuchs

According to Studies on Depression and Exercise: • Exercise has proven to be a beneficial antidepressant both immediately and over the long term. • Although exercise significantly decreases depression across all age categories, the older people are, the greater the antidepressant effects of exercise appear to be. • Exercise is an equally effective antidepressant for both genders.

Depression and Exercise • Walking and jogging are the most frequent forms of exercise that had been researched, but all modes of exercise examined, anaerobic as well as aerobic, were effective in lessening depression at least to some degree. • The greater the length of the exercise program and the larger the total number of exercise sessions, the greater the decrease in depression with exercise. • The most powerful antidepressant effect occurred with the combination of exercise and psychotherapy.

Exercise – Feel the Difference • Forget militant exercise • Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body vs. burning calories • Don’t deprive yourself of needed nutritional energy • Focus on exercise as a way of taking care of yourself • Include strength training • Make exercise a non-negotiable priority • Consider an exercise log

Intuitive Eating