Activities to Help You Become an Intuitive Eater

By:
Nan Allison
Carol Beck

Learning How to Listen to Your Intuitive Eater
The following activities are designed to help you recognize the messages you are getting about what to eat. Often, we are so chock full of those messages that we have little room to make sense of them, much less to hear the voice of your own intuition. Exploration is the first step of unlearning and finding that voice. (Hint: You may want to turn off the phone and television and find a quiet corner to complete this activity.)

Imagine yourself in the TV section of a local appliance store, surrounded by television screens full of talking heads, faces clear and voices blaring. On one, a talk show host tells you to do what she has done for her weight; on another, a competing talk show host sells her approach to eating and health; on another, a model demonstrates weight loss exercises you ought to do. Don't miss the screen of your parents, their eyes rolling at even the thought of you wanting seconds of your favorite food. Of course, one screen has your coworkers discussing all the pounds they've lost on their latest regimens. Your spouse is on the next one reminding you what your body could be like if you would just do what he or she does. Competing with these, a screen flashes a magazine listing of low-fat foods you should eat. The next screen babbles on with an interview of a researcher about a new anti-food diet. And, finally, you fill in the rest of the screens with messages you've received that we haven't even suggested. Who else polices your food? What else pressures you to eat a certain way?

Now, surrounded with all the flashing screens and blaring voices, pick up the remote control and, one by one, shut off each screen -- zap, zap, zap. With all the screens blank, take a moment just to feel the silence. This quiet space is where unlearning begins. This quiet is where you begin to discover and explore your own inner wisdom about food. This quiet is where you can begin to hear your own voice, rather than what the latest talking head tells you to do.

Ask yourself:
What foods make me feel satisfied?
What amounts of different foods give me energy?
When am I hungry?

We've all had many opportunities to collect more and more voices and talking heads. It's so noisy and confusing we don't even notice one more … until we take time to be quiet.

This might sound simple. Yet, it is often scary to experience such silence and not have any direction or guidance about food. It's difficult to feel comfortable moving around in the uncharted territory of self-discovery. But, once you do, you will be able to decide from your inner knowing rather than from absorbing information. (Excerpted from Full and Fulfilled: The Science of Eating to your Soul's Satisfaction.)

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