Ditching the Diet!

Question
Hi Cari, thank you for reading my question.  It concerns intuitive eating.  I cannot begin to count how many diets I've read about, tried, then quit after only a few days.  I adore food and cooking, and just couldn't live the rest of my life knowing I'd never be able to eat certain foods.

Since I've given up the diets for good (about a week now) I've noticed a few things.  First of all, when I really listen to what my body is telling me, more often than not, I want those foods that are usually labeled as "good".  This includes fresh fruit, vegetables, lean meats, etc.  I've also learned that no matter how "good" it is for you, I cannot stand whole grains.  Before when I dieted, or watched what I ate, I always ate sweets as a reward for being good.  Now that I have given myself permission to have them, I find that they don't appeal to me as much as before.  

My other major discovery was how little I actually need to eat.  I'm wondering if this is a normal progression through intuitive eating.  If I really eat slow and pay attention to every little taste and texture, and really pay attention to when I am satisfied, I tend to eat a very small portion of my food.  For example, this morning I made pancakes with real maple syrup.  I made four of them, and right now I have 2 and a half sitting in front of me.  That was about 15 minutes ago, but I'm finding I'm getting a bit hungry again.  

It's weird when I'm at a restaurant or something.  I usually take half of my order home regardless, but even so I feel that I've pushed myself too far eating half of it.  I usually feel overly stuffed even just eating that half.  However, if I eat what I need to eat at the time, eat what satisfies me, I end up picking away at it about 15 minutes later or so.

I'm just curious as to whether or not I'm on the right path.  I feel like such a grazer, just eating bits and pieces of food here and there.

Thanks!
L.

Answer
You're exactly on the right track... and yes, when we are truely tuning into what our body wants rather than our head, it's simply amazing to find that once we've fully legalized all the candy, cakes etc... that it's good healthy food that we find ourselves enjoying.  You see, so often when we're heading what our head thinks we want we're so busy wolfing it down that we don't take the time to really taste the flavours and really notice how synthetic, over-sweet, over-salty etc... etc... they really are.  When we slow down and savor the flavor, eating becomes an experience of joy-filled eating rather than something to be anxious about.  And yes, it is rather scary how little we actually need.  It's only our heads that think we need a lot more and our body copes much better with smaller amounts more often than one huge big amount. As for your eating 15 minutes later.... here's what I'd suggest..... before you start eating again, just tune into your body and ask it what it's level of fullness is?  You see it takes about 20 minutes for your fullness levels to register, so it might well be that you body feels it could do with just a little more and if that's the case go right ahead and have a few more moutfuls - still savoring.  On the other hand, you might find it's your head intefering and if that's the case then try to figure out why your head would want more when your body is hungry.  Well done, it sounds like you're on the right track.
Kind regards
Cari

1. Prev:Experts on cleansing and meal replacement
2. Next:30 inch