For a long time, I’ve said the way to be healthy is to eat when you’re hungry, sleep when you’re tired, drink when you’re thirsty, and move around. The eat when you’re hungry part is basically intuitive eating. It’s the idea that we should listen to our bodies and eat when our bodies tell us to. There is no restriction on the types of foods we eat. It’s just eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re satiated. Nice and simple. In a lot of ways, it’s like reverting to the way we ate when we were babies.
I don’t take my own advice, though. I’d like to, but I’m not sure it’s possible for most people. The problems start shortly after I wake up. I take some medication for my depression every morning. I was directed to take the medicine with food. So, even though I’m not hungry yet, I eat a little something. I don’t really get hungry until I’m at work. But I work in a classroom. I can’t very well start eating in front of the kids. Especially when I’m trying to get them to stop dropping food all over the floor. Then, I get a half hour lunch break where I eat whether I’m hungry or not. It’s the only break I get in my day. When I get home from work, I eat something because I’m hungry (Hurrah!). Next, I start my after-work activities. These include working my second job or schlepping my kid around and things like that. Dinner almost never comes when I get hungry. It either comes early so I don’t miss it, or it comes late after I’ve already been hungry for a long time. And eating after you’ve been hungry for a long time makes it hard to know when to stop.
I don’t think I’m at all unusual in the way I eat. Most people with jobs and families and other obligations probably eat when they can, not when they’re hungry. Right now, the only people who can eat when they’re hungry are the rich that don’t work, children under five, and retirees. Add to that the stress of modern life and all the emotional eating that goes along with that and it’s no wonder our diets are so messed up.
So, how do we get ourselves to a place where we can eat intuitively? I’m pretty sure it would take a total restructuring of our society. Ending work would go a long way. I don’t know. Any suggestions?
What a fantastic content here.
Allow me to see if I have the important points of your article here.
It’s definitely possible to be healthy without following a strict diet or eating when you’re hungry. You’re just like most people, and your body will tell you when it’s time to eat.
Thank you,
KDebbie
That’s right. Listen to your body. Thanks for reading.