Dealing With Hunger

Diets NEVER help you know when you're hungry!  If the thought of eating begins with frustration, you're a diet victim.

• Diets create stress that puts your mind and body in a state of confusion.
• The result is often an emotional response - cycles of binging.
• Emotional hunger cannot be satisfied by food

Being happy with your body is not about your weight; it's about you. Here are some facts:

• You're naturally in control of hunger by tuning-in to what you notice and how your body feels, not by following a plan where you ignore your body.
  

  • Eating without tasting and smelling your food and noticing how you feel, is like putting gas in your car but ignoring what the engine needs - it's destructive.
  Isn't it time to decide feeling good is worth the effort?
  It's a relief to stop ignoring your body. Eating intuitively is dealing with hunger by being in tune with yourself. Don't ignore what you feel.
  
  
  When you use your senses to relate to hunger and depend on intuitive tools like dignity and determination to stay in sync with self-respect, it feels so good that it becomes automatic.

Eating when you're really hungry is normal. Dealing with hunger is intuitive.

• When you tune-in to your body with your senses at mealtime, your body physically relaxes. 

• You digest food most efficiently when your body is relaxed.
• It's logical to feed physical hunger when you eat. 

Intuition is a total support system that connects with what you value. This keeps your emotions, appetite and personality balanced.  You don't feel ignored and you don't feel like you're fighting with your body.

Believing diet myths means you pay. Discovering diet habits don't relate to your body is like learning you've been paying for something that you never received. It's a relief to stop paying. Spring is around the corner. Dump the diet plan and discover your body.

Confused About Cravings

Do you worry that your craving is an addiction?  It may be. Many processed foods contain chemicals that trick your body into wanting sugar, salt or fat! Deal with this by reading labels and don't buy into the trap of chemical addiction.

Stay clear about this:
Anything that doesn't make you feel good about yourself is bad for you.

Do your cravings hit when you're stressed? Stress creates confusion that feels like angst, dread, or even loneliness or fear. These wreck havoc with emotions and as a result, you may automatically turn to salt, sugar, ice cream or pasta when you're generally stressed. Deal with this kind of craving forcefully by connecting with your inner rebel! You can end abusive stress craving by using intuitive thinking to take control of your eating.

Emotional buttons are a kind of stress and a source of cravings. Everyone has unique nutritional needs, but women tend to be 'victims' of craving binges more than men. What you eat is personal. Don't be a victim. When you recognize the difference between temptation and obsession, you can put the lid on binge eating.

It may surprise you to know that cravings can be a healthy signal! Your body doesn't play games with you. People who diet and have cravings are often protein deficient. Dieters I have worked with report, with amazement, that eating protein reduces cravings! The next time you crave salt or sugar, eat a handful of walnuts or almonds or if you're on the run, a hard boiled egg. If it's mealtime, eat meat, fish or fowl. When what you're eating doesn't satisfy you, try using the 3 Minute Rule.

You don't need to "trick your body" to stop the cravings. Instead, the next time you experience a craving, sit down, close your eyes, take a breath and listen to your body. Your body is always working and tuned in to your health and you naturally crave  what will keep it working best.

Giving up on your body is not an option. Eat for success by being aware that you always have choices. Intuitive eating is easy because it feels like common sense. When you start to relax by depending on your intuitive tools, you'll discover how to take control of cravings.

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

Keeping Weight Off with Intuition

Intuition works like a vitamin that you take to stay good to yourself. It helps keep off the weight you lose by keeping clear about what feels good to your body, heart and mind.

Take this Intuitive Vitamin every morning to reinforce smart choices and stay clear about keeping weight off:

• Every day before you get out of bed, say out loud, "I will notice how I feel before I eat. I will remember my body is the home of my heart and treat it with respect. I will see, smell and taste all food that I eat." 

Intuitive eating works because you learn to know when you're physically satisfied and when you're being physically abusive. For example, you're at a party and aware that your favorite party pants are feeling tight, but there is a tray of your favorite cookies. You don't feel hungry but your friends are eating the cookies and you want to be 'social'. Also, you know you can't eat just one.

• Ask for help: Friends will be surprisingly supportive. Tell the truth - you're not really hungry. 
• Help yourself: Grab a glass of something to hold or put something you don't really 'want' on a plate and hold it as you socialize. It's intuitive to protect yourself from old defeating habits.
• Reward yourself at the end of the evening: Look back at the evening and the way you handled yourself. Give yourself credit for taking steps to keep your body looking and feeling good. 

Intuition works like common sense.  For example, you lose 15 pounds:

• You like the way you look and feel. 
• You decide you want to stay looking and feeling good. 
•  You commit to yourself.

If you're not sure how recognize your intuition, then grab a copy of Am I Really Hungry to learn how to defeat social and emotional hot buttons that make you feel like overeating. Or download a copy so you can refer to it any time. Intuition is something you were born with and you can connect with it 24/7.

Be good to yourself. Use your intuitive vitamin to keep weight off long-term:

• Feed the body you like.
• Eat when you are hungry to maintain your energy and health.
• Choose not to eat what you don't need by respecting your body.

Keeping the weight off is really satisfying.
It gives you time and energy to focus on finding satisfaction in other areas of your life - and you will!

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

Over-indulge Yourself for Valentine's Day

When you eat, you are offering strength and pleasure to your body. It's sensual and practical. The truth is that when you love yourself, you can be open to loving others. Don't be afraid to feed yourself some love.

Instead of approaching Valentine's Day from the place of thinking about what you don't have, feed yourself love by making an unconditional commitment to be kind to yourself.

Obsessing about weight is a kind of fear. You experience it by measuring, hoping, anticipating or dreading your meals. All of this results in defending, contriving and forcing yourself into a defeating emotional and ultimately physical pattern.

Instead, decide to be open to seeing yourself at your healthy weight and use your senses, including common sense to eat for health and pleasure. You can be sensual and practical.

• Give yourself a fresh perspective by realizing that every day is new. 
• Remember : You deserve the best of everything life can offer. 
• Never settle for fear.

Valentine's Day can be a time of overindulgence if you go out. Instead of overeating:

• Overindulge in complimenting your Valentine. 
• Overindulge yourself with a clear vision about keeping your body healthy so that you can do everything that feels good. 
• Forgive the past. Accept the present. Keep an open mind about tomorrow.

If you're alone,  frustrated, angry or sick, Valentine's Day can be an arrow going through your heart. Think of the arrow as a strand of warm light that is part of who you are. 

• Use Valentine's Day to love yourself and eat a meal that feels good.
• Reach out to help others on this day. Share the love by giving a smile to a sick child, an elderly acquaintance or a total stranger.
• Make a pact to indulge yourself with respect, dignity, courage and kindness. That's real love.

Follow this 30-minute rule.
No matter how busy you are, take a half-hour each day just for yourself. Go for a walk, plan healthy meals or simply relax and recharge. You're not being selfish—you need the time to focus on your own well-being. After all, if you're not healthy, how can you take care of anyone else? I did feel guilty at first, but following this rule helped me lose the weight, and it enables me and my family to live a healthy lifestyle. (Abigail Cuffey)

Indulge yourself with kindness this Valentine's Day. 

"There is a voice inside of you that whispers all day long, 'I feel this is right for me, I know this is wrong.' No teacher, preacher, parent, friend or wise man can decide what's right for you - just listen to the voice that speaks inside." (Shel Silverstein) 

Relax and lose weight.

Time flies and habits happen and next thing you know, your pants are too tight. What does it mean? It means you're probably tired and working hard. It means you deserve to take 5 minutes today to relax. Yep, that's the intuitive solution to keep from gaining weight due to stress and exhaustion: RELAX.

When you get stressed emotionally, it tenses your body making it think you're in danger. The physical response is to hold on to fat cells so you have extra fuel to 'fight the danger.' That's one reason stress makes you put on pounds. Here's how to relax to take them off.

• Before you eat or go out to eat, go to a quiet place and sit or lie down for 5 minutes with your eyes closed . This will calm your body.
• Put your fork or spoon down between bites This relaxes your urge to chew so fast.
• Before you get out of bed in the morning, vow - out loud - to notice what you're eating at every meal. Be sure you hear your voice. Be sure you mean it. This programs you to slow down. Do it every morning. In 2 weeks you'll discover changes.

Habits often come from frustration or exhaustion. Instead of grabbing a bag of cookies or chips when you're at that point, it will relax that urge to drink a glass of water and if possible, go for a simple walk around the block. A change of scenery  is surprisingly refreshing. Getting out of the house can reset your perspective.

Your body is a barometer for your spirit and your heart. You gain weight because these parts of you carry the burden when you are too tired, stressed or frustrated. Relaxing nourishes your heart and spirit and this relaxes your body. Then it has no reason to hold on to extra weight.

My book, Am I Really Hungry? is full of tips for knowing yourself better and for ways to relax and protect yourself in eating situations that push your buttons. It contains tips like creating an eating plan that responds to your lifestyle, and how to recognize different kinds of hunger and how to feed it.

When time flies and you lose track of taking care of your body, it feels yucky. Winter is flu season and avoiding that too, takes awareness. The more relaxed you are, the more aware you feel.

Remember, spring is around the corner and your body is going to feel the change of seasons. Be ready for spring by using winter to keep your body trim and relaxed. You'll be so glad you did.

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

#1 Diet Resolution : The Best Revenge

The #1 way to know you will be your healthy weight in 2013 is resolve to Be Good To Yourself. You will look good and you will feel good.

Because life is unpredictable, you cannot know what eating challenges lie ahead. Whether you're an emotional eater, a stress eater, a lonely eater or just a food lover, resolving to be good to yourself will keep you happy with your body. Here's how to do it:

• Tune-in to what's pushing your buttons. Eating will never satisfy emotions, beat stress or be your best friend. Instead, when buttons are pushed try this:
• Wait for 3 minutes to see if the urge to eat passes, which it probably will.
• Plan an alternate activity to use to diffuse these feelings.
• Call your mother/cousin/friend to see how s/he's doing. Everyone gets lonely.
• Take a brisk walk around the block to diffuse anger. Focus on what is essential for you and adjust accordingly. If someone is making you angry, it's their problem, and the way to deal with it is to honor yourself.

• Don't let eating be a habit. Volunteer to help others and discover how lucky you are. Helping others is cool. You will make new friends by being good to yourself and end mindless eating.

• When you eat check in with how your body feels for clues . 
• Notice personal changes and respond to them.
• Notice how smelling and tasting what you eat makes you feel.
• Notice when you're no longer hungry.

• Feed social and emotional hunger as often as you feed your body.
• Talk more, eat less.
• Share portions.
• Feed others. 

Being good to yourself is choosing to deal with the changes happening around you by going with the flow, but not compromising your priorities. You don't need permission to trust yourself, because you know what feels good and what doesn't. Trust yourself.

Intuitive tools will always protect you, as long as you use them. So, for 2013, here's how to be the #1 star in your life all year long. 

• Be curious before you eat to notice how your body feels and to respond to it.
• Use foresight as self-defense to think about how you'll feel tomorrow if you binge today.
• Connect with dignity when someone or something pushes your button. It takes energy to take the high road, and that burns calories. It has been said  "Looking good is the best revenge". Be determined to look good!

Feeling good and looking good go together. Take time to know your body. Share the pleasure of  enjoying tastes and the comforts of relaxing with someone you love. Have a Happy New Year and remember, you are #1.

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 Habits & Emotional Eating

Eating habits are a rut you get in from letting someone else dictate what your body needs to be a healthy weight. You gain weight because habits are not a response to your body.

Habits cause emotional eating, which is you rebelling against what doesn't feel right.

So for the New Year, make a resolution to Be Your Own Boss. It takes time and energy, but so does everything worth having. The cool thing is the energy burns calories.

The way to do it is by paying attention with your senses and your mind.

Here's how:

• Think with your senses. Do this by checking the way your body feels before and while you're eating. If you see a huge piece of cake in front of you and check-in with your body, your brain may put up a red flag saying: cut it in 1/2 & put what's okay to eat on separate plate. Or your body may already be full. This means you are free to leave the table. 
• Feel with your mind.  Do this by using intuitive tools like foresight, courage, dignity and curiosity. Before you eat ask, "How will I feel about myself if I eat this?" It's intuitive to respect and protect yourself, but if it's not your habit, you won't do it. Once you use your intuition by doing this, you will feel liberated because you will be in control.

Using your senses makes you feel fresh, while mindless habits make you feel old and trapped.  Open up your life by thinking with your senses. Feel with your mind.  You'll look younger because you will be happier. Don't be in a rut.

Here's the bottom line about eating habits that cause emotional eating:

•  Eating Habits limit choices and kill spontaneity, which makes you look drawn and wrinkly, even if you're overweight.
• Habits Avoid letting the moment unfold in the present, which means you stay in the past, which is full of emotional hot-spots.
• Bully & bluster often justify habits that age & delude you into eating when you're full.  
• Habits Ignore problems and inhibit the truth, which - like doing drugs  - is a temporary fix. It wears off; then you get the nudge, the gut feeling, the inability to sleep. Ignoring self-control doesn’t mean abandoning self-respect.  
• Habits are Traitors to your soul. Habits turn a blind eye to possibilities and ignore problems. 
• Stuck is how habits make you feel, and that feeling creates anger, frustration, loneliness and emotional eating. 

Take a breath and take the time and energy to give yourself a chance. Stay in the present and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it - because you absolutely can! By this time next year, you'll look at holiday parties and yourself in a whole new way. 

Food Plan That Works

The perfect plan is at your fingertips and tattooed on your DNA. Use your senses to connect with your body and watch it work!

How To Start:  Learn from your past. Take time to see yourself and live in your potential.

• Live with your weight goal. Remember what matters to you. If you're happy but could lose a few pounds, post a reminder where you will see it on your computer/refrigerator/bathroom mirror. If you need to lose 20 pounds, go out and buy 20, 16 oz cans of soup. Carry it around to be clear about what you want to lose. When you lose the 20 pounds, give the bag of canned soup to a homeless shelter.
• Losing or maintaining weight is not a choice; it's a decision. Balance what you eat with what you need. Do this by tuning-in to your body, not emotions around food. Tasting food more with every mouthful guarantees that you eat less. To drop weight effectively, give up regular desserts and drink more unsweetened drinks. 
• Don't be ruled by ideas or emotions when you eat. Overeating is  psychological hunger. Your senses are your natural physical inner guidance system. This includes your 6th sense which we often call common sense. Respecting your body is how you are in control - by taking control.

How To Stick With It:  Respect your soul because only you can understand it.

• Focus with your intuition, not your mind. Intuition is physical, so you feel it, you don't think it. **Be curious about how the food you're eating will impact your body. Curiosity is intuitive; you feel it. **Connect with dignity before eating a plate of food - How much feels dignified, and how much feels like a pig? You know your answers. **Use the 3-minute rule when you feel the urge to binge.  For 3 minutes: Notice your state of mind, notice what's triggering your urge and use your 6 senses to notice if you are physically hungry. 
• Feed your social appetites to maintain your weight. As often as possible, change the topic away from food! If the topic is food, use conversation to talk about how good it tastes. Everyone likes to share ideas and experiences about pleasure.
• Don't compromise because of social pressure to eat. People respect a person who respects herself. Don't make a fuss, but be firm. 

What About Calories, Exercise, Food Choices?  Thinking with your senses and feeling with your mind is the food plan that works. Am I Really Hungry has the eating plan for this. 

• All calories are not equal. Think about quantity, not calorie count. 
• Exercise is personal. If you move as little as possible and find you're watching TV a lot, chances are you have some personal pounds of fat that would melt off if you gave yourself a chance. Exercise doesn't have to mean sweating or going to a gym. Take 5 minutes to focus on enjoying every day by taking a 5-minute walk. This will exercise your mind and your body.
• Food choices that are common sense plus convenient, are intuitive. Choose for energy and health. Don't eat what doesn't look or smell good, or when you're not hungry. Beware of portions that put on pounds. Take control by asking for a second plate or container to remove half of the portion from your plate; then either put it away for another meal or give it away.  

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

Addicted to Food

You may think you're addicted to food, but you're not!  Knowing why you're hungry and what you're hungry for, is as important as realizing when you're hungry. Then you know what you need.

• Food isn't addictive, emotions are. 
• Fear and doubt are sharks that devour inner grace and cause bad choices.
• Don't eat when you feel emotional. 
• Emotional food addiction happens when you eat to soothe, hide or vent.

You can stop letting your emotions rule your life.   

Use intuition instead, to take back self-control.

Make social and personal pleasure a priority at mealtime.

Addiction doesn't happen if you focus on enjoying food as a way of nourishing your body and getting the most out of living. It's intuitive to enjoy eating. Eat for the pleasure of taste, touch, smell and physical comfort. That's how to love your body. Thinking about food as love makes fear and doubt small.

•  Food is love, when it's shared and when it's savored. 
• You eat less, when you talk about how your food tastes. 
• You don't gorge, when you share eye contact during a meal. 
• Take time to breathe between bites, and you'll discover your body is responding to the food.

Because eating brings physical satisfaction and takes the edge off the anxiety of starving to death, you may confuse eating with love. It's natural to be addicted to love because real love brings out the best of who you are. 

"Just as food is needed for the body, Love is needed for the soul." Osho

• Feed your soul with music, eye contact, conversation and laughter.
• Be grateful for little things and you will eat less. That's a promise.

"Life is what we make it. Always has been, always will be." Grandma Moses

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

Beat Emotional Holiday Eating

Do the holidays push your eating button and make you wanna gorge? You're not alone. Because of diets, we use food as a reward, a consolation, a weapon, an obsession and even a place to hide. 

Don't let it happen this year!

Media urges us to gratify every craving, without gaining weight.  Media blows life out of proportion and we become addicted to the myths it creates. 

Get help before being sabotaged by holiday eating by tuning-in to your intuition .

 Holidays are coming. Why not learn to connect with your body now so you can enjoy the parties?

The point of holidays is to celebrate living.  

It's intuitive to celebrate life!

Our senses provide physical cues  24/7. These cues are for protection. What you sense connects with your heart, your mind and your body. Protecting yourself is intuitive.

The reason why diets don't work is because your intuition is more powerful than any diet.

Diets demand rigid eating. Life is unpredictable and healthy eating is flexible. Instead of rules, use intuitive tools like curiosity and self-respect to stay aware of messages from your body.  Trusting your body and your intuitive values tunes you in to your healthy weight.

No matter how hard a program tries to make you ignore your body's messages,

your intuition -  with your senses, always guides you to recognize your unique needs.

• A big limit of dieting is that it's generic. You and your best friend - who have totally different body issues - may decide to do a certain program together. Does this really make sense? Do you have identical physical and emotional needs?
• Holidays are the perfect time to respect and celebrate your body. Overeating or starving causes dissatisfaction that leads to binging. 
• When you share the taste of pleasure with family and friends, you fill the void of emotional and social hunger.  When you talk about how food tastes, you connect your mind with your body and your emotions and you will discover satisfaction. Guaranteed!

Prepare for holiday party challenges this year by keeping aware of your senses to stay in control of your choices. Be loyal to you at holiday parties. It takes courage.  Fortunately, courage is intuitive. That's why people surprise themselves when they are brave. 

Holiday help is in your mouth and comes through your nose and eyes. Courage comes from your heart. Don't let your holidays be sabotaged by rigid mental attitudes. Be flexible. Tune-in to your attitude and intuition and Have Fun!

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

 

Stop thinking about food.

Get rid of fat from the inside out. Stop thinking about food. Instead of focusing on what you're putting into your body, think about how your body feels when you eat.

Learning to respect your body is part of the rite of passage from dieting to intuitive eating. Rites of passage are life changing. Change your life by changing your eating habits.

Getting rid of old habits gets rid of old fat.
Your body is more important than what you eat.
Start connecting with your body when you eat - instead of thinking about food. 

When you tune-in to how your body feels, it's automatic to make food choices that keep you feeling comfortable. As a result you will:

• Stay clear about your priorities. 

• Respect and protect your body by acknowledging it when you eat.  

• Develop healthy eating habits.

Lose fat from the inside out with these simple intuitive tricks:

•  Eat less by chewing more. Chewing burns calories. It helps you get more benefit from what you eat because digestive enzymes in your mouth prepare food for your stomach. The result is you feel full sooner.

• Make it a point to put down your fork or spoon between bites. This gives you time to chew. It also makes it natural to talk to the person you're eating with. Talk about how good the food tastes. It's a sexy topic for everyone. You will eat less.

• After you tune-in to your body, only eat what you really want. Check in with how you feel between bites. Notice if your food tastes good because this helps you stay in tune with your body. You will discover you are not always that hungry. Stop when you feel full. Soon, you will notice old eating habits that ignore your body, and now you can stop them.

When you do these simple tricks, your clothes won't feel as tight.
You'll have less indigestion and less insomnia.

Being overweight is often the result of stress and the self-defeating habits it creates. Intuitive eating  guides you beyond the diet mentality to experience a common sense way of eating and body awareness. It's common sense that if eating habits are making you fat, it's time to get rid of them.

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

Feel Good Food Connection

You want to have a certain look. You need to eat, too! What's the connection?  It's you!

When you feel good about yourself, it's easier to have patience with your eating choice. Feeling good tunes you into being kind to yourself.
 
Intuitive eating is all about you. Being unhappy with the way you look means it's time to change the way you treat yourself.

• Binging is a way of beating yourself up.  It's like banging your head against the wall.
• Rushing through a meal is like inhaling calories. When you rush, your body doesn't have time to feel full.
• Sneaking a bag of cookies is like poisoning yourself. It's doing to yourself the opposite of what will make you feel good.

You deserve respect. The first person you need to get it from is you!

• Eat for energy or do not eat.  This is different from eating just because you're hungry. Try it!
• Share the pleasure of eating. When you really like what you're eating, pause to taste it better. Then, talk about the satisfaction you feel.
• At parties, put something you don't like on your plate. Instead of eating, carry it around and talk to people. BUT don't talk about food or eating. Parties are for feeding social hunger. Don't let food get in the way of finding social satisfaction.

Still not happy with what you see in the mirror? 

• Wear a different color.
• Smile at yourself.
• Vow to respect your body and your heart at the same time. Since your body is the home of your heart, this makes a lot of sense.

If you feel like you've gained weight, you can be sure you're gained some bad habits. Bad habits are often created by stress.  Take the pressure off by giving yourself a chance to eat intuitively. Time is your tool. Take time to notice what makes you feel good about yourself.

• Eat less, chew more.
• Take control by being kind to yourself.
• Recognize self-defeating eating habits and decide you've had enough!

Dealing with Frustration Around Food, Try Ice Cream!

Feeling deprived is not the same as feeling hungry. Give yourself a chance to notice if you're hungry before  you eat.

Intuitive eating means paying attention to your senses and ignoring emotions when you eat. If you're not hungry, you don't need to eat. But don't wait until you  feel starved, because that makes your body think you need to gorge or binge to survive.

Relate to genuine physical hunger when you eat by noticing taste and smell. This is the only way to tune-in to healthy physical comfort.

Because you have been training to diet for years, it will take time to undo all of that 'training'. It takes calorie-burning effort to stop rebuking yourself for what you eat. Remember, you owe yourself some kindness because you are working hard to reconnect with your natural appetites.

Natural hunger is a gentle feeling. Trust that you can learn to recognize it.

Try this: Pretend you're very young and give yourself the pleasure of tasting flavor. Notice texture and smell what you eat. If you feel like having ice cream, act like a kid who never tasted ice cream and lick it. Intuitive eating is fun. When possible, eat with a friend or relative to share enjoyment. The result of focusing on what you're enjoying is:

• You will eat less. 
• You will eat slower.
• You will recognize when you're full.

It's important to give yourself permission to smell and taste your food before you decide if you're hungry. 

• Smell food at mealtime and if you feel turned off, don't eat.
•  If it smells good, take a bite. 
• When you taste it, make it a rule to chew and savor the flavor. This will connect what you're tasting with your mind, and your stomach will respond. If you still do not feel hungry, you are not. But if you are hungry, it's important to enjoy food by really tasting it while you're eating.
•  When you enjoy your food, you burn more calories. 
• When you really taste food, you feel full sooner. So only eat what you feel like having, and stop eating when you feel comfortable, but not stuffed. 
• Feeling "filled up" is usually a signal of overeating. Feeling comfortable is the signal from your body that you're full.

Read how to  Create Your Plan in Am I Really Hungry, which is available on amazon or kindle.   This will help you when you're slipping and protect you from destructive choices like binging. You need tips and tricks to fully understand yourself and to free yourself from dieting, binging or over-exercising.

You are already building a caring foundation for the rest of your life. Use the key for long-term success. Be kind to yourself. The only thing that matters around eating is what you're doing now. Yesterday is history.

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

Food Fight!

Is every meal you eat a food fight?

You can throw food into your mouth, but not be fighting. You can throw your hopes away, but not be eating. The point is, you are in control of what you fight with, what you eat and how you socialize.

Ever been so frustrated at meal time that you would rather throw food than eat it? Food fights are usually emotional, but eating is always physical. Some people don't know how to connect with what they really want.  The next time someone throws food at you, give them a gentle kind hug.

Stop throwing food. Make love, not war the next time you eat. When you reject your body, you're fighting with yourself.  It's the kind of food fight you can't win.

If you're in the habit of food fighting, here's how to get juiced instead of junked around food.

• Before you start a meal or snack, be honest with yourself, Do you really physically feel like eating? If not, then leave the food fight and do whatever you want - as long as it's not eating.
• If you are genuinely ready to eat, look at what's on your plate and decide you will taste every bite. 

Leave emotional fights out of eating. Learn to connect with your body by eating intuitively.  Your common sense solution is sensual.

• Be determined and tenacious. Do not let yourself down.
• Don't take food for granted. Be grateful that you are able to eat.
• Really taste your food. Make tasting a priority.

To really taste your food there are rules:

•  Eat only for physical pleasure and the opportunity to socialize.
• Let people you eat with know that you will probably be eating slower and as a result, eating less, because you are going to really taste every bite that goes into your mouth.
• Chew with your mouth closed. This way, your taste buds can give you real physical taste satisfaction. 
• Swallow before you add food to your mouth.
• Do not talk with food in your mouth. Even if someone asks you a question, keep your mouth closed and taste your food. They can wait for you to speak.

When you're fighting with yourself,  zig-zag thinking makes you look at your body when you eat as if it's alien. Eating intuitively keeps you in touch with your body, because it's a response to physical cues like hunger. You feel satisfaction.

Take your time. When you respect your choices, you will notice that others do, too. Don't let a food fight block common sense.

 

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Parting quote: When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. Tecumseh