There are numerous kinds of diets that intrigue people because of their health benefits but each one of those requires you to either cut off from one food type or just remove sugars, or just not eat for a certain part of the day. While these different diets are extremely healthy and have proven to show immaculate results, they aren’t exactly always interesting. You don’t want your food to be boring and then expect yourself to be motivated for a healthy lifestyle. Hence, if we tell you that there is a type of diet that requires you to eat whatever you love, wouldn’t you want to hop on it?

Intuitive eating is a mental kind of diet that doesn’t focus on the type of food you are consuming but is rather about your relationship with food. Before you jump onto a diet you need to have a good bond with the food you are consuming and never starve yourself. Thus, an intuitive diet encourages body positivity and asks people to embrace their hunger because it’s a normal thing and moves forward from there. In this diet, you don’t just take care of your physical health but also your mental health. You don’t get tags to certain food items being good or bad, you just consume them as your mind tells you.

The basic principle of this diet is that you eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. This is an intuitive nature of our body but for people who have been struggling with body image issues or are someone who has been on diets forever, this doesn’t come easy to them. Intuitive eating is this form of diet that will help you pull back yourself to reality and cherish your hunger. This is normalizing it and allowing you to eat what you want, in a healthy way, until you are full and your body tells you to stop. This is a good way to break societal standards of beauty and allow yourself to splurge and regain the nutrients you tend to miss out on because of certain forms of “diet”.

How to start an intuitive diet?

1. REJECTING DIETS

This is a form of anti-diet and the first and foremost thing to do is to reject the idea of diet from your head. When you think of eating as a part of your diet, you forget exactly how much your body requires for you to eat, and most of the time you are undernourished. You need to realize and respect your hunger and cravings and understand it’s normal for you to have them.

2. HAVING DISHES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER

You don’t have to avoid junk in this case. If you want a slice of pizza once in a while, it is normal to indulge in it. you need to realize that your cravings are fine and everyone gets those. Having one piece once in a while won’t make you gain weight and you will still be the same person just with a happier outlook towards your food. Enjoy your meals to the fullest.

3. ACKNOWLEDGING HUNGER

Realize when your body tells you that it is hungry and eat then. Eat in the right portions and consume all nutrients to have a healthy and filling diet. Ignoring the signs of hungriness just goes against the whole process of intuitive eating. Give your body the food it needs and learn to enjoy every meal you consume without feeling embarrassed or ashamed of it.

4. EMOTIONS CAN BE OVERWHELMING

Realize that you are not a slave to your emotions. If you are feeling sad, anxious, lonely, and scared, or there’s any other emotion, try not filling those up with food or rejecting food at those same times. Talk to friends and family. If it is more serious than that, consult a therapist and keep your mental health good.

5. RESPECTING YOUR BODY

Embrace your body for, however, it is. don’t try to change it. find every beautiful thing about your body and learn to love it to the fullest. If you feel like you can change it for good, put the effort into making a better self for yourself.