Day 1: The Intuitive Eating Adventure
Intuitive Eating
Here's the deal: since we're kicking off from scratch, I've got a full play-by-play of my day at the top of this post, and a summary of what I actually ate (with bullet-point takeaways) down at the bottom of this post. Scroll through the noise if you aren't interested in the nitty gritty.
THE PLAY-BY-PLAY
I woke up, made some coffee, sat on the couch, closed my eyes, and asked myself, "am I hungry right now?" I've listened to mixed pleas from various nutritionists touting the benefits of both eating within an hour of waking and flat-out skipping breakfast. I have always been conflicted on when to take my first bite of fuel. So I put it on my body—what do you think, body?The answer was a resounding, "not right now." Well, alright then. That settles that. I chose to ask one more question, to take advantage of this moment of quiet:
"when you are ready to eat, what will nourish you best?"
I wanted to make sure I didn't ask myself what I was craving. My goal this week is to let my body guide me toward a state of healthfulness. I want to give it what it needs, not simply what it wants. So I wanted to be careful that I don't confuse the two. That said, I don't want to deprive it of something "unhealthy" if that's truly what it needs. So I chose to ask it simply, "what will nourish you best right now?" The answer: "roasted broccoli." Not really a breakfast food, but unsurprising because I have been craving roasted broccoli consistently for weeks. And I eat a ton of broccoli. Like, maybe too much. But, hey, the body wants what the body wants? And I was secretly glad the answer wasn't "donuts, stat." So I heated the oven to 400 and roasted up some broccoli and onions. By the time it was ready, my stomach was rumbling. I had a full plate, but there were a few pieces left on the pan. So I asked my body, "are you full or are you still hungry?" Turns out I was feeling pretty satiated, so I left those last few pieces for later.
One hour later...
My stomach starts to groan. Hungerr! But for what? I am in the middle of working so I totally ignore it (bad habits are hard to break).
One hour after that...
I can't ignore the hunger anymore. So I do my best to take a second and think about what I want. What does my body need? I sift through all the options in my pantry: strawberries? no. Oranges? nuh-uh. Uh... something quick and crunchy? Yes. Salty? Yeah. Plantain chips? DING-DING-DING. So I pour myself a bowl of plantain chips. Here's the thing—my stomach wasn't feeling too hot after my plantain binge sesh, so I don't know what was going on there. But it was the only option from my "quick to make" list that my body didn't give a resounding "no" to... so, there's that?
Two hours later...
Once again the hunger hits hard. I'm starting to learn that I totally ignore my body's hungry cues until it's way too late and by then my choices become pretty limited. I make myself an almond butter / almond milk / banana / cacao / collagen powder smoothie because I know it will tie me over and I can argue that it has some health benefits. And it's fast. And when I tried to "tune in" to my body, it wasn't like, "hell no." I'm beginning to sense a theme here.
One hour after that smoothie...
By now it's 4pm. How am I feeling RIGHT NOW? Full-ish? Eh, not really. I could eat, I guess? But what am I hungry for? I HAVE NO IDEA. I do my best to think about all the things in the world, regardless of whether I have it in my house. Salads? Sandwiches? Mac & Cheese? Ice Cream? Pizza? Rice Bowls? Sushi? I'm traveling down the list... Ugh. I lay down on the floor and close my eyes. WHAT DO YOU WANT, BODY?! My dog starts to whine. "Easy for you, you only eat dog food." This part is hard because I don't feel full and I don't feel hungry. So I pour myself some water, because according to the whole world, that's the go-to in these situations. It does kind of help. But not enough, so I did another mental-scan. Landed on an orange. And an orange turned out to be the perfect snack to hold me over to dinner.
Prepping for two by dinner...
When you eat with a partner (or family) I imagine it can be tough to play the intuitive game. Lucky for me, I'm the one who chooses what to cook 90% of the time, so I whipped up a chicken & veggie stir fry. I am always feeling this dish, so it was easy to get a clear thumbs-up from the ol' intuition. I ate dinner around 6:30 and finished by 7pm. That gave me 30 minutes to prep for my restorative yoga class at 7:30pm. (My intuition told me to choose a slow-moving class, since I'm still crazy sore from the weekend 😉). I wasn't hungry after yoga, but was in the mood for a solid amount of water, so that settled that!
HERE'S WHAT I ACTUALLY ATE TODAY:
9am: coffee 11am: roasted broccoli & onions 1pm: about a cup of plantain chips 3pm: almond milk smoothie 5:30pm: orange 6:30pm: chicken, veggies, shirataki noodles (huge fan of this GF noodle to add some kick to a stir fry) Water: 70+ ounces (pretty proud of this one, considering I wasn't even trying)
THE TAKEAWAY:
Honestly, it doesn't seem like I ate a lot of food today, but I did feel pretty satiated after each snack, and I'm pretty proud of my bod for sounding the hunger alarm pretty consistently—almost every two hours to the T. A few bullet-point thoughts as I reflect on the day:
I tend to miss my hunger cues until it's too late, and by then I'm scrambling
This might be more helpful in determining when I'm hungry and when I'm full than it is re: what to eat (considering my pantry is limited)
In general, I lean more toward warm foods than anything refrigerated
I was surprised that I didn't crave cheese in any form—my usual go-to craving if I feel like I have free reign to eat whatever I want
Meal-prepping might be the answer to eating as soon as I get hungry
Maybe I don't need a lot of food? OR DO I?! I just don't know. Body, help me out here!
Let's see how it all plays out tomorrow!