Look Great, Feel Great, Eat Great / Three Tips

It's holiday party season and you want to look your best. Because going up and down like a yo-yo physically and emotionally feels awful, and forcing yourself to follow an eating program that feels like a struggle is awful, it's time to stop. To look great you need to feel great.

When you feel great, you know you look great and that makes it easy to eat intuitively. Here are three tips for turning holiday stress into looking and feeling great:

1. Eye Contact : No matter who you are talking to look them directly in the eye. This relaxes you because it's not superficial. Everyone looks best when they are relaxed.
2. Share Tastes : Pick your favorite holiday food and share a taste with someone you want to know better or with someone you want to renew your sense of connection with. It's almost like starting a conversation with a tease of taste. Begin with eye contact and talk about how good the food tastes. This will cause both of you to smile. You look great when you smile.
3. Soul Food : Deepen the wonder of who you are by letting yourself enjoy music, chocolate (in moderation), dancing, prayer, or being playful. Suddenly, you will remember that the gift of being alive is great and that you don't need to force yourself to do anything that doesn't feel right. The purest soul food is self-respect. It's never abusive or mean. Find a place to sit and don't do a thing. Tuning-in to your soul is liberating. You feel younger and you look great!

When you feel good, there is no emptiness to hide or cover. You respond to hunger easily and enjoy the taste and the pleasures of satisfying your body, feeling great and enjoying this holiday season. Here are three tips for eating great:

• Eat with your eyes.
• Taste with your tongue.
• Love with your heart.  

Laugh more, eat less and fill your heart with sparkle that comes from eye contact, sharing pleasures and honoring your soul.  You will look great! Guaranteed.

For practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

---

Taking Smaller Bites

You want to do the right thing which is - not gain weight that your body doesn't need. You are committed to looking your best. So what happens? This is what happens to me: stress, deadlines, bills, social commitments, etc., and before I know it, I've lost my perspective of what I want.

Of course, I want to do the right thing. It's not always easy. When I reach the point of not remembering exactly what my last meal tasted like, I know it's time to take an intuitive pause. This means, I must find some alone time and use my senses to find out or end - what is wrong. Yes, it is wrong to ignore the power of our senses. The more we ignore, the more confusing life becomes. Personally, I don't like feeling confused.

Here's how I tune-in to my intuition. I eat a snack alone. I choose something healthy that I enjoy.  Today it was a piece of crusty bread with a tablespoon of peanut butter smeared across it and some yummy honey spread delicately on top.

• I look at it and pause:
• to realize how lucky I am to have it.
• to see how much I took and if the portion is what I really want to eat.
• I decide to only take small bites instead of eating the whole thing in large mouthfuls
• to really taste what I'm eating. I chew each small bite savoring it, with my tongue. This is surprisingly exciting and satisfying. 
• Because of the size of the bites, I realize I'm starting to relax non-food related emotional tension. Focusing on the food for it's flavor, has liberated me from the dragon of stress.
• I discover I'm enjoying myself. My perspective is no longer tense.

You can even do this with an energy bar or a cup of coffee. The decision to take smaller bites (or sips) and use your senses to see and savor what you are eating, is an intuitive pause that will reset your perspective so you can do the right thing for yourself. Because of the way we are wired, eating with smaller bites resets every part of our being. We relax.

Remember this the next time life is too complex, or confusing or just too busy.

• Take a smaller bite. Chew each well and swallow. Then take another.
• Let each part of your tongue tease your sense of taste so that you feel pleased.
• Be grateful you are not homeless or hungry.

How I feed myself food is a reflection of how I feed myself life. I'm determined to taste and savor every morsel of what life throws at me, because I like to feel very alive. Whether the glass is 1/2 full or 1/2 empty, we can always add more. Sip, don't guzzle, and enjoy the personal satisfaction of self-control.

For practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

Stress and Weight Loss

Stress is emotional pressure that distracts us from thinking clearly. The result is, stress can cause weight loss or weight gain. Because emotional stress creates physical tension, chronic daily stress can cause a hormonal reaction so that your body thinks you're in danger. A result is your body may go into a fat-storing mode, which will make you feel a need to eat more. 

You can control this physical reaction to stress by tuning in with your senses when you eat. This works because your senses are physical, not emotional. Using your senses is a way to focus with your body. When you focus with your body, ultimately your mind shows up and it's easy to remember that you don't want to put on weight.

These 3 sensual techniques help solve the problem of stress 'hunger,' by distracting you from emotional eating.

• Breathe deeply into your belly. This guides your body to relax and eases stress-driven emotional hunger by taking the edge off.
• Taste what you eat with your whole tongue. This saturates your taste buds and identifies for your brain the fact that you are eating. It also slows you down so your body relaxes and digests more efficiently and you find it easy to eat less.
• Go into the bathroom and look at yourself in the mirror. Look into your eyes and give yourself a smile. Watch your face relax.

Stress is part of life but it doesn't have to impact your weight. Sensual thinking is a solution for coping successfully with Life stress. Today, use your 5 physical senses to reconnect with your body in a healthy way. Common sense is your 6th sense.

For practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

Control Weight

Control what you weigh by getting in rhythm with your body. When you listen to music, dance! Here's what happens:

• You easily burn calories.
• You stimulate your organs so that your metabolism kicks into gear.
• You have fun. When you're having fun, there is no 'stress or binge eating'.

Control weight creeping up by eating more protein instead of empty calorie salad fillers that don't really satisfy you. Here's how:

•  If you're still hungry after a salad, eat an energy bar with at least 5 g of protein. It will help to stabilize your blood sugar and you will feel satisfied for hours. Always drink a glass of water or have another unsweetened drink with an energy bar to help your body break it down for good digestion.
• When your pants are too tight, cut your carbs in half but don't skimp on the protein. You will still feel satisfied. It takes more energy to burn protein. Eat less, chew more is a weight control mantra.
• Have one hard-boiled egg for breakfast. Eggs contain protein and iron. Both are dependable energy sources. Hard boiled eggs take longer to digest than scrambled eggs, so you stay satisfied longer. It's important to drink at least a full glass of water, full cup of coffee or tea or other non-sugared drink with the hard-boiled egg to aid your digestion. Doing this helps your body break down what you eat to get the nutrients efficiently.  btw: Oatmeal is a complex carb, not protein. Skip it if your pants are feeling tight. 

Getting a good night's sleep on a regular basis helps you control weight.

• Hormones, called Leptin and Ghrelin, are responsible for suppressing hunger  and stimulating our appetite. Getting regular sleep keeps these urges balanced.
• When you're tired, it's easy to confuse fatigue with being hungry. When in doubt about why you want to eat - take a nap for at least 20 minutes. That could do the trick.

Use common sense every time you eat. Be a little bit outrageous. It's important for controlling your weight to have fun by being playful and easy with yourself. An unusual way to control your weight is to Think Positive: Imagine you are standing naked on a stage.  Inhale, lift your sternum up, hold your stomach in and lower your shoulders. Now, listen to the applause. You're starting to take control of your body. You can also do this when you're wearing clothes.

For simple tips for self-control, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

Breaking rules

-->I have discovered that when rules get tedious, it’s time to change them. That feeling is an intuitive nudge. It's physical. Listen to your body. The only rule that makes sense 24/7 is to protect yourself.

Rules are made to be broken. 90% of rules are designed to expire. They should come with a time-stamp. Generally, rules are created to solve a problem or correct confusion. Good rules fix the problem.

Rules teach and we learn. For example, with dieting, you may decide to have desserts only on weekends as an experiment to gently lose weight.You make it a rule. It becomes a handrail to keep you on track and then it becomes automatic, part of you. You feel a calm,  healthy sense of accomplishment. The rule has done its job.

The rules made for breaking are ones that serve no purpose. They are the ones that feel tedious. We need to let go of them and see what needs fixing and what doesn't. It's important to look at the big picture.  Ask yourself:

• If I eat what I want right now, how will I feel about it in an hour? 
• Is this rule important to achieve my long-term eating goals?

Today, nearly everywhere, rules are broken. It's time to think outside the box. Problems, like everything else, change. This is part of the topography of living. Everything upgrades, including your needs and your eating goals.  Upgrade is another word for change.  If your needs have changed, ask yourself:

• What has changed? How can I use it to my advantage?
• How does my body respond to this old rule? Does it still make sense for me?

With intuitive eating, instead of rules, we have guidelines - universal values that are easy to feel -  such as curiosity or dignity. No rules, just guidelines to help you think with your senses and feel with your mind. What do you see? What do you feel? What do you think? It's time to think differently by tuning into your body. That is way to respond to what's real instead of trying to fit what you eat into a neat box of rules. Change is normal. Living and eating need choices. Stress and daily surprises all create unpredictable circumstances at mealtime. Listen to your body. You will know when to break the rules.

For great eating tips and easy insights for making your own rules, download Am I Really Hungry?.



#janebernard

Eat What

Have you noticed what an invasion it is - that people constantly tell us what to eat!? Putting anything into your body is sensual. It's a personal balance, a comfortable place - where cravings are satisfied, but you are not stuffed. Sensual eating puts a high value on comfort. Don't let anyone tell you what to eat because they cannot feel your hunger - or your comfort level.

The intuitive way to deal with generic diet advice is not take it too seriously. Instead, we may listen to what we hear, and then balance it with how we feel - - before we take it to heart. Eating is extremely personal. It's natural self-defense to think for yourself. It's intuitive to respond to what your body needs.

A healthy diet changes with the seasons. Listen to the weather and you will lose weight. Nature is a spontaneous response to changes in the environment. Nature continually trims the fat and fuels for efficiency. What you eat needs to be a genuine, spontaneous response to your unique needs, stress and goals.

Every day, I hear about someone who is losing their hair, has a gallstone or worse -- as a result of extreme dieting.T oday, I heard about a man who lost 60 pounds in one month.  He died 2 months later. Extreme dieting ignores healthy signals from your body.

Everyone in the world has different fingertips, DNA and digestive systems. Your body is impressively unique. Use sensual eating to respect your body. Sensual means to tune-in to your physical appetite by using your senses.

• Vary what you eat.  
• You will eat less because the taste is not a habit. Habits make us overweight because they are not a response to genuine needs.

Nothing is good to eat all the time, except Love. Love is something that nourishes us through all of our senses Love is so complicated, except when it comes to meals. Be spontaneous. Eat what feels right. The best love is felt spontaneously.

• Intuitive eating is being tuned in sensually to how you feel and to following nature. Your senses are spontaneous. Here's how:
1. Smell, taste and see your food. 
2. Only eat what you love.
3. Remind yourself of your eating goal. Eating goals include:

• Get Energy, 
• Build Muscle Mass, 
• Lose a Few Pounds, 
• Celebrate.

• Enjoy food physically and sensually. 
• We know it's important to eat for good physical energy and quality of life. The equally important sensual reason to eat, is to satisfy appetites for the pleasure of eating and the pleasure of sharing the pleasure.

Eating is social. You are sensual. The next time your friend wants you to try something, give it a taste. Then, check in with your body. If it doesn't feel good, it isn't for you. Eating is intimate. It can be sexual, sensual or simply to survive. It's easy to tell the difference. Bon appetite! (*J

For practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

NEED RHYTHM?

Taking just one normal breath into your heart is a personal commitment to feeling your natural rhythm. Breathe more, eat less. Notice your heartbeat. That's your rhythm. 

Breathing into your heart, before each meal or snack puts you in rhythm with your needs. For best digestion, breathe relaxed when you eat. 

Everyone needs a breather to reconnect mind and body. It's how we stay in tune with ourselves. Intuitive eaters take breathers to check in with their senses and personal priorities before they eat. It’s an orgy of the eyes and tongue that considers taste, timing and the desire to look and feel good. Intuitive eating is a personal commitment to finding the right rhythm.

Breathing easy finds a rhythm that helps you lose weight because it keeps you balanced:

·      It connects you with your body.

·      It connects you with your heart.

·      It resets your mind, alleviating stress and refreshing your perspective.

Do this before you eat: Breathe in and think of your heart, and breathe out, one slow focused breath.

·      Remember, you can always eat less.

·      Be aware of signals from your body.

·      Don't rush yourself. Be patient.

·      Be thankful for having food and your life.

Intuitive eating responds to natural rhythms in your life. It's going with the unexpected & taking advantage of your body's rhythm by depending on it. It's breathing easy instead of counting breaths.

Before you close your eyes to sleep, a nice normal breath focused into your heart resets your body rhythm. This is a healthy habit that feels soothing, gentle and polite. It’s an intuitive way to respect yourself. It's a smart way to program your body/mind/self to stay in rhythm.

Resetting your natural rhythm reduces stress eating and inhibits binging. Diets and the ‘count the calories’ mentality lose sight of what eating is all about. Eating is personal. It's about pleasure, comfort and survival. Use breathing to check in with your body to find rhythm when you eat. 

It’s already mid-August. How does summer affect your appetite? Mine gets out of rhythm. So, I take a breather. 

For practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

What's Love Got to Do With It?

Food as Love:  warning - sexy.

Are we addicted to eating? What do we need? They say "all we need is Love".  So, do we know what Love is?  If food is love, then what is enough? What are the flavors of love? What does it smell like? How does it taste? Will I like it? Will it be good for me?

Definitely, intuitive eaters relate to food as love. They get intimate with the way it looks and the way it makes them feel about themselves. They get physically turned on and off by smell, and what goes in their mouths, inside their bodies. Eating gets under their skin. It looks good. They have affairs - wild cravings they keep to themselves.

People get bored or are notoriously loyal and then, tastes change. Too much of a good thing can leave us with a belly ache that feels like betrayal, bloating, mistake, discontent.  How do you know when it's time to put a love affair with chocolate on hold?

The answer is: when you feel really satisfied and the fresh memory tells you you'll be wanting more. We're supposed to savor the love, to luxuriate with the taste of it. Sometimes it's time to move on, but that doesn't mean you can't have another meal with your old love, to see if the thrill is still there? or if it's gone.

Appetites change. Things end; things begin. Stuff happens and nothing is ever the same. Every meal is the opportunity for another taste, enhanced pleasure, a different experience - satisfying or not. Love changes us; so does what we eat. Use your senses; get intimate and demanding with your food. Be turned on by what you're eating or find another meal. Might as well face it, we're addicted to love.

 

Intuitive eating .. What's love got to do with it? Everything!

For practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

4 Kinds of Hunger

--> There are four kinds of hunger we need to feed. These are physical, mental, social and emotional. All are easily confused with the need for food. Knowing why you feel hungry and what you feel hungry for can help you lose weight.

1. Physical hunger: is your genuine bodily need. It is satisfied by eating nourishing food, not by junk food or the ‘wrong’ food. Although foods with no nutritional value may have bulk, they do not satisfy physical hunger. Your body wants and needs more.      

• Physical hunger signs include: growls, pangs, hollow feelings in your stomach 

• Mental signs of physical hunger include: fogginess, lack of concentration, headache, short temper, fatigue

2. Emotional hunger: Emotions can trigger abusive eating. Emotional eating can be a response, a defense or even habit, with no connection to your nutritional needs. It's often a reaction to loneliness, anger, emptiness, happiness, guilt, fear or stress. Emotional hunger can be satisfied by play, touch, nature, romance, music, art, love and excitement. When satisfied emotionally, people often forget about food and are instead 'high on life'. 

3. Mental hunger:  includes psychological, intellectual, social or habitual hunger.  It is satisfied by conversation, hobbies, entertainment, reading, playing games for fun. Sharing the passion of play can consume your attention to the point of forgetting to eat. Even casual encounters have an impact on satisfying this appetite. When not satisfied, mental hunger can trigger emotional eating.

4. Intuitive hunger:  is the desire for clarity, balance and protection because these are the source of success, excitement, comfort and inner peace.“Just as food is needed for the body, love is needed for the soul.” Osho

            It's natural to enjoy food. What makes food enjoyable, besides taste, is understanding what it does for your life. The food you eat is an investment in your future. Sometimes eating is like taking medicine because your body needs a nutriment to be healthy. Sometimes a food will give your skin a glow or give you a good night's sleep. Using curiosity keeps you aware of food that feels good, and food that doesn't. “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Hippocrates 
         Intuitive tools, working with the 5 senses, keep clear where hunger is coming from. You can recognize if hunger is caused by stress, frustration or physical need. When you know why you're hungry, you know what to eat to feel satisfied.

         Without intuitive connections to understand the source of hunger, internal traffic jams, that feel like confusion, occur. Confusion leads to unhealthy habits and vicious cycles of frustration. Tune-in to yourself. 
         This is a excerpt from - Am I Really Hungry, 6th Sense Diet Intuitive Eating 
If you want to understand why you're eating, to stop being a victim of the diet mentality or to maintain your healthy weight intuitively, buy this book.  

“If you don’t know when you’re hungry, you don’t know when you’re full, so you won’t know when to stop eating.” Elisabetta Politi, RD, Duke University Diet &Fitness Center

For practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

Eating Appetites

Have you ever felt like you were hungry when you knew you were not? Have you ever craved ice cream after finishing off a big dinner with dessert? Hunger is compelling. It drives us because we  intuitively associate it with survival. But, hunger is not always about food.

Your appetites are sometimes driven by unpleasant sensations like boredom, anger, frustration or loneliness. These kinds of appetites are your mind or soul needing some 'food'.

But, conversation is not something you buy at the store, and friendship is not something you keep in the pantry. It's not as easy to feed your head or heart as it is to feed your body, because you're not used to recognizing this kind of appetite. However, it's real. Your appetites for stimulation, for comfort, for understanding and for affection are an important part of what makes you unique and wonderful.

These kinds of appetites are satisfied by:

• self-respect: You acknowledge that boredom, loneliness, frustration or anger is driving you to eat.
• determination: You decide to protect your body from self-abusive eating.
• prudence: You weigh alternative ways of stopping the physical urge.
• I had a client who kept a rubber band on her wrist because she realized boredom would compel her to stare into the refrigerator. Now, as soon as she starts to feel that urge, she snaps the rubber band and reminds herself, she's not really hungry.
• Another client kept a sign on her refrigerator that said "Why?", which stopped her mindless eating. 
• honesty: Being deeply honest with yourself means not using food to avoid what is unpleasant. It doesn't work. The fact is, it's like covering a mess on the floor with newspaper. The mess is still there.

The odd thing about this kind of appetite is that your body thinks you're hungry, but your intellect knows you are not. Our bodies are the result of our habits. If, over time, you have programmed your body to expect food when you are bored, lonely, frustrated or angry, then you will feel driven to overeat. That's why the simple rubber band works. It's a physical signal that you're okay. You can reprogram your body.

Tune-in to yourself and trust your intuition. Intuition is always self-protective. You can sense if you're making the dignified choice. Be honest and review the facts in your head. You're in charge of and responsible for you, your body and soul.  Self-respect, determination, prudence and dignity are all intuitive tools. Use them and take control.

Learn more. Download Am I Really Hungry? 6th sense diet : intuitive eating and get more insights into what makes you eat and how to take control of your appetites.

Summer Eating Challenge, 3 Intuitive Tips

Summertime - especially at outdoor social gatherings - it's a challenge to keep your weight down. Here are 3 intuitive tips for beating the summer eating challenge.

1. Drink more water. You need it to stay hydrated, plus water will dull your hunger.  Drink between meals and between bites. If you prefer flavor, try putting cucumber slices, fruit slices or mint leaves in your water, or drink cool, naturally sweet fruit/herbal teas (with no additional sweetener).

• How it works: 
• Water fills you up by taking up room in your stomach so that you don't feel starved to eat. 
• Because you sweat more in the summer, you physically need more water. You won't be running to the bathroom too often because your body will absorb the water to replace perspiration.
• It's easy to confuse thirst with hunger. In fact, when it's really hot outside, your body may be more satisfied with water than a second helping of apple pie. If you emotionally want that 2nd piece of pie, go look at yourself in the mirror, right into your eyes, and think it over. Then do what feels right.

2. Eat smaller portions. Digesting food raises your body temperature slightly. That means, the more you eat, the more likely you are to suffer from hot weather indigestion. Eat less, socialize more.

• How it works:
• Eating less means you consume less calories. You feel lighter and your body isn't burdened by the task of digestion for so long. You will feel more energetic.
• This gives you time to enjoy other physical pleasures like swimming, kissing or just relaxing. This is important because it feeds other types of hunger you have - for activity, for intimacy, for relaxation.

3.  Be kind to yourself. You work hard, you're stressed and you barely take time to reflect on what really makes you happy. Stress makes you look and feel old. Before you eat, take 5 minutes to reconnect with peace of mind. Do this by breathing slowly and deeply in and out a few times, so that you really feel your body - not just your hunger - but also your heart. You matter to a lot of people.

•  How it works:
• When you are kind to yourself, people relate to you differently. As a result, for many reasons, you experience less stress at mealtime. Less stress means less emotional eating, less binging.
• When you're kind to yourself, your body relaxes. When your body relaxes, it's easier to lose weight. When you're stressed, your body 'thinks' you're in danger and it will hold on to, or produce fat, to protect you from famine. 

Use your intuitive tools of determination, tenacity and self-respect to beat the summer eating challenge. Imagine how good you'll look and how good you'll feel emotionally and physically. You  won't have to depend on anyone but yourself to do it!

Power Skills for Intuitive Eating

You feel in control when you balance what you eat, with what you need and how you feel. Balance is a power skill. Another name for intuitive eating is eating with an open mind. An open mind looks at the big picture, weighs the facts and sees what matters to achieve balance. The big picture is more important than calories. It's about you. Breathing drives power skills for intuitive self-control.

Here are 3 Breaths to Intuitive Eating:

1. Take a bite.

• Breathe slowly to recognize if you are very hungry or not. Listen to your body. Notice how you feel physically. Have you ever been too tired to eat?

• How it works: Breathing slower is the way to connect with your body to be clear about hunger.  Hunger is physical. Decide to listen to what you feel physically. Respond to your body.

•  Power skill: Tenacity. Tenacity is being true to yourself - mind, body and spirit.

2. Taste your food.

• Breathe naturally to connect with your normal rhythm. Notice how you feel in your head: Happy? Bored? Stressed?  Notice your food. If you're not tasting what you eat, stop.

• How it works: Natural breathing connects with your emotions and state of mind. Taste connects with what matters. When emotions drive eating, it offends you in your core by ignoring or abusing your body. Give yourself a break. Binging, no matter what the reason, hurts- because it's unbalanced.

• Power skill: Dignity. It's not what you do, but how you do it. Dignity is self-respect. You can feel it.

3. Put both of your hands in your lap.

• Take 1 quick deeper breath in and out to refresh the way you look at things, wipe your head clean and connect with the big picture. What is your overall state of mind? 

•  How it works: A quick breath is your reset button. Putting your hands in your lap gives your lungs more space to expand. A quick deep breath resets your rhythm. It thrusts you into the moment to uncover new options. When you take a full view of how you feel, what you feel & what you need, it creates a balance. The result is: your options change.
• Power skill: Prudence. It's like comparison shopping. Prudence is comparing options. You can always choose to get what you need from what you eat.

This is so easy that you may find yourself a little giddy. That's okay. Intuition connects with your 'funny bone.' Like your sense of humor, how you eat is personal. That's why the best way to know what to eat, is to check in with yourself. You have the power.

Get practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

4 Intuitive Steps to Slim

Because intuitive eating includes self-respect, being slim is a personal pact with yourself. Intuition is something you feel, not something you think. Sometimes it feels like curiosity. Sometimes it feels protective. Be curious about how your body feels before you put food in your mouth. This is how to protect yourself from mindless overeating. 

4 Intuitive Steps To Be & Stay Slim

1. Recognize when you feel curious or self-protective around food. Pay attention to yourself! These are physical signals from your intuition. The more you notice the signals, the clearer they become. 

• Why it works: Your body is always talking to you - especially before and while you are eating. Tune in to how you feel.

This is how you learn to eat when you're hungry and stop when you're not.

2.  Sincerely decide that losing weight long-term or staying slimmer matters to you. Your 'little voice' will remind you when you go off track. Listen to it.

• .Why it works: When you are sincere in a private way, you make a pact with your heart that is registered by your brain.

When you eat with this mindset, you eat less.

3.  Don't starve yourself and don't eat until you're stuffed. Survival is intuitive. Starving your body is not. Physically doing this sends signals to your body to store fat! Eating with curiosity and being protective of your body reduces stress.

• Why it works:  Our body is  a machine that works for best health when it is not starved or overloaded. You will notice that you have more energy when you keep your body feeling comfortable but not stuffed. 

When you stress less, you eat less.

4.  Smile more when you eat. It's a fact that digestion works more efficiently when our body is relaxed. That means your body burns more calories and gets more energy from food when you're relaxed while eating. If you inhale food like a 'vacuum', you are not relaxed. You know you're relaxed when you enjoy and remember the taste of what you are eating. 

• Why it works: You cannot chew food and smile at the same time. Smiling slows down your eating and gives you time to notice the way your food tastes. This helps you relax. If you're eating with others, your smile will send them signals to relax. Smiling helps to satisfy social needs at mealtime.

Enjoying social and physical pleasures of eating is healthy. Good health feels sexy.

Your body is your personal priority. Make a pact with yourself and let the good times roll.

Get practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

6th Sense Eating - easy answers

6th Sense eating is automatically relaxing and refreshing. It feels like common sense. Common sense is a shortcut to the 'right answer.' The point is that by using your senses, it's easy to control your decisions. Everything you sense is clear because you can feel if choices are right. You can literally think and feel with your senses. 

Intuition, like what you see or smell, is personal. That's why we all don't 'like' the same tastes or smells.  Unlike taste, touch or smell, your 6th sense comes with universal intuitive tools that are guides. 

The first tool of your 6th sense is curiosity. Curiosity is the intuitive search for satisfaction.

• Curiosity gives you x-ray vision and super hearing because it means looking closer and hearing more. 
• When you eat, use this advantage to question how your body feels and notice what really matters to you.
• Questioning your choices is the 6th sense way to maintain self-control.

The point of meals is to nourish your body and enjoy social interactions. Take time to be curious about where you are, who you're with and what's on your plate. We eat to satisfy physical hunger. It's smart to put down a sandwich or fork between bites. This gives you space to notice if you're still physically hungry. Eat what feels right to your senses.

Another universal intuitive tool to stay in control of eating choices is patience.
Patience is the intuitive source of confidence. It keeps boundaries and priorities clear.

• Patience provides breathing room that refreshes your perspective with common sense_.
• Patience is an intuitive 20-second pause that connects with natural self-protection. 
• For the expected and the unexpected, you can depend on patience to stay emotionally clear.

During mealtime, take an 'intuitive' pause to share a thought, joke, gossip or just vent. That's how you feed yourself socially. You will eat less and learn more about people who share your life. Meals are not just about food.

Tips on using the 10 universal intuitive tools as guides to make smart eating decisions are explained in every chapter in Am I Really Hungry, 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating. If you are tired of frustration and ready to have satisfaction, this book is the resource that will keep you company when the going gets tough.