The first Christmas party of the season and I think it is time I reviewed my year and saw where it has taken me.  In January with the discovery that I had osteoporosis, I became fearful of losing weight at a cost to my bone density and suddenly fitness was my first body priority.  I eased back on the slimming and focused on toning, building muscle, and in doing so strengthening my bone.  This proved beneficial; I can do a lot more without injuring my back these days.

The main concepts I follow are to listen to my body, eat when hungry and stop when satisfied, eat what I desire to eat, as I am interested in health and nutrition this will inevitably lean toward the healthy, I do however allow myself to eat whatever I choose.  I learn to respond to my emotional needs in ways that do not involve food.  I observe what does not work, learn from this and plan ways I can make things easier and more successful next time.  This is my version of Intuitive eating.


Intuitive eating is:


- Eating when you are hungry. Tuning in to your body's hunger signals and responding to them.


- Eating whatever it is you feel like, be that chocolate or apples, ice-cream or salad. Throwing away any rules about what is a 'good' food and what is a 'bad' food. Ignoring rules about meal times, what is an 'appropriate' food to eat at a certain time of day, etc. All of this with the knowledge that if you trust your body to choose what it wants, it will eventually, naturally, lead you to a balanced, nutritionally sound food intake, without you having to restrict what you eat.


- Focusing on your food. Removing distractions such as TV, books, magazines etc from your meal area. Putting anything you eat on a plate, sitting down with it and focusing on it.


- Listening to your body's satisfaction signals, and stopping when you're satisfied.


- Working on the emotional issues. Owning your body. Satisfying yourself in ways other than eating. Understanding the emotional cause of your weight gain, and working on those issues.

The sources for the above description of Intuitive eating, are from the book Thin Within by Judy wardell (original version)  Beyond Chocolate, as well as a few other resources (Geneen Roth, the Normal Eating website).

INTUITIVE EATING books:
"Intuitive Eating" by Evelyn Tribole Elyse Resch
"Thin Within" by Judy Arthur Halliday  Kathy's suggestion:-For an eaier read, try to get a coppy of the original 'Thin Within, by Judy Wardell'.
"Diets Don't Work" by Bob Schwartz
"Why Weight?" by Geneen Roth