Speed-Eating helps you gain weight.

I was sitting next to an overweight man in his 20's who believed it was macho to eat really fast. It isn't. It's self-defeating.  Speed eaters don't taste their food, appreciate their meals or get good nourishment from their food. Speed eaters eat more. This man was convinced it's 'military style' to inhale your food. It's not.

People in the armed forces trust their intuition to stay safe. There's nothing safe or smart about speed-eating.

Intuitive eating means keeping clear about priorities like safety and strength.  When you eat at a moderate rate, you get more nourishment from food and can go longer between meals.

Eating slower lets you connect with your own sensuality which impacts other areas of your life.

It gives your body time to really digest food so that you get energy instead of stuffed. 

Eating slower is an intuitive way of controlling your weight because when you eat slower you eat less.

I just got back from a family vacation and meal-time was a big deal. Every meal is a big deal to your body. Your body only relates to food as a means to produce energy and ensure good health. That's why it's right to stop eating before you feel 'filled up'.

Just like you don't fill a coffee cup or bowl of soup to the very top because it will spill or overflow, don't "top off" your stomach when you eat. When you're on vacation and eating with gusto, think of your stomach and slow down. Chew more. Notice how your body feels.

There is a very thin line between healthy eating and over eating. People who eat really fast cross that line every meal. You know you cross the line when you feel bloated, tired, stuffed or general indigestion. Your stomach is designed to be active digesting food you eat. When you stuff it, there's no room for it to work efficiently. You feel bogged down instead of invigorated by your food.

It takes courage to do the right thing. To respect your body instead of stuffing it, is being tuned into your priorities in a safe, smart way. Chew more and you'll eat less.

The Blame Game

Do you play the 'Blame game'?  

Jessi is a dieter who is becoming an intuitive eater. She decided to have a healthy snack and opened a bag of carrots. She took a bite and the carrot tasted strange. The inside of her mouth felt tingly, even fuzzy. Jessi ignored her senses and decided it was her fault for buying the carrots in a bag instead of fresh. Because she 'knew' that carrots were 'good', Jessi assumed she was 'bad' and the source of the problem.

Her mouth was practically screaming that the carrots were unhealthy. But the diet mentality is to blame yourself and ignore your body, and so she did.  She ate 5 carrots and then grabbed a cupcake to get the taste out of her mouth. No one wins the blame game.

When you play the blame game you stop noticing what you notice with your senses. Ignoring your senses betrays your inner dignity. This feels really awful. 

  

Forcing your body to eat what it rejects is not intuitive.  

Eating intuitively is to respond to your body. 

As soon as you respond to your body, you are in control. 

That's all it takes!

Jessi is learning to notice messages from her senses. Her tastebuds told her the carrots were bad. But the habit of diet programs told her she was bad. This blame game had become her habit. Once Jessi realized it was a habit and that she could take control, she felt like a different person. 

Notice what you notice. Habits are hard to break. But self-defeating habits are worth breaking. It is never intuitive to 'blame' yourself. The intuitive choice is to look for options when your senses give you a heads up.