HOW TO GROW YOUR FOOD INTUITION
Want to know how to interpret your body’s signals? Read on to learn what your body is saying, how to know when you’re in need of change, and what to do about it.
There are many ways to build intuition, but they are all based on one principle: know your body. You can’t understand what your body is telling you if you aren’t aware of what is typical for you. In order to have intuition around food, you need to know your baseline needs. You’ll need to zoom out and look at the big picture, and also get really comfortable sitting with your thoughts and physical sensations from minute to minute.
What is your body saying?
THINK ABOUT THE LAST TIME YOU FELT GOOD
Write down what food you were eating, what movement you were doing, and what your environment was like. Can’t remember? That’s ok. You can also look back and identify what food, movement, and environment was present when you were a kid. How did you respond physically and emotionally to that environment? To the food and movement?
You might have fond memories of your childhood, which is usually a sign of some sense of balance between play, fuel, and rest. Or, you may have a vague sense of unease or strong negative feelings, which indicates some things were out of balance. What foods did you eat a lot of? What did you love? What did you hate? What strong emotions come up when you think of eating with your family?
Also list the foods, routines, and physical symptoms, and emotions that you remember as an adult. Your knee didn’t hurt during the summer last year, and you were swimming and eating a lot of fresh produce. Two months ago you didn’t have any digestive problems, but other than a new job, nothing seems to have changed. Or, your mom has made a special recipe on your birthday every year, and that always makes you feel loved.
What do those emotions feel like? What physical sensations can you remember? How was that moment different then today? It’s important to know what it was like when your body didn’t have strong negative sensations, so you are able to tell when you get there again.
TRY MAKING A TIMELINE
Next up: list up to ten major life events that occurred over the last ten years. Then, put in place a timeline of when your symptoms showed up. Notice any correlations? Stressful events (such as weddings, divorces, deaths, births, and job changes) are often huge triggers of physical symptoms, but they don’t always show up right away. It can be helpful to talk with someone who knows you really well, because they can probably make some insights that you’ve missed.
A timeline can help you identify times in your life when you were taking care of yourself with food, and times when you weren’t. For example, if you notice that there was a phase in your life where you didn’t make time for breakfast in order to get your kids to school on time (and you also notice that you tended to doze mid-morning), you can use that information to build a schedule that includes breakfast time.
Or, you remember that your hormones/digestion/skin started acting up while you were in college. Those symptoms were likely triggered by the stress of school, so it may be wise to avoid any stressful life changes while you learn how to eat intuitively. No such luck? Add intentional stress management practices to your routine so that your perceived stress is as minimal as possible.
A timeline can also help you connect the dots on how unexpected or important life events may have caused you concerns about your body, like trying lose weight for a wedding, or feeling unproductive and useless while suffering from a chronic illness. Learning to truly listen to your body’s needs is challenging enough with all the static of diet culture coming through! Work to push away those thoughts for the time being so you can get a clear signal.
KEEP A JOURNAL
Not the typical kind…a food/symptom journal is especially helpful if you have any chronic physical malady (such as IBS, diabetes, heart disease, or an autoimmune condition). If mood is your major concern, make a food/mood journal instead. There are many ways you can do it, but here’s a simple version:
1) Create a graph of columns and rows (hand-drawn, printed, or electronic) with a row for each hour after you typically wake until you go to bed. Include overnight options if you tend to wake up with symptoms or work fluctuating shifts.
2) In the second column (after the times), record what, when, and how much you eat. Include snacks, fluids, and supplements/medications.
3) In subsequent columns along the top row, list your typical symptoms (physical or emotional) and make checks in the appropriate column and row when that symptom occurs. Here’s an example:
IT’S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT TRACKING FOOD IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR EVERYONE. IF YOU ARE ACTIVELY ENGAGING IN DISORDERED EATING BEHAVIORS OR HAVE EVER BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH AN EATING DISORDER, PLEASE CONSULT WITH YOUR HAES-INFORMED THERAPIST/DIETITIAN/NUTRITIONIST BEFORE LOGGING YOUR FOOD.
If your food/symptom journal looks like this, you may notice that bloating, gas, and fatigue happen multiple times during the day. With only one day of data, it’s hard to say for sure, but the bloating could be due to your body having difficulty digesting the large salad and the milk in the latte. Or, coffee could be causing some digestive distress. The frequent fatigue could be related to the digestive issues or more dependent on your blood sugar fluctuating too much. Lastly, I’d want to know what diarrhea is doing in your everyday routine if you’re not sick with a bug.
You’ll need at least 3 days, and preferably 1-2 weeks, to get enough information to make a good assessment of what foods may be causing symptoms. Look for patterns, and keep in mind that some symptoms don’t show up immediately after eating the “offending” food. If you’re having trouble figuring it out (or if your symptom list is really long!), consider reaching out to a qualified nutrition professional for help understanding the big picture.
It’s often more complicated than simply eliminating the foods that bother you! Usually, foods that cause mild to moderate symptoms are technically not “offenders” at all, but your body is interpreting them as sources of internal stress. It can be helpful to temporarily avoid or minimize them, but that won’t fix the main dysfunction. Ironically, mild malnutrition and IBS/low blood sugar symptoms can show up when you avoid certain foods because you’re scared of them. This is especially common in disordered eating.
Ultimately, the purpose of the food journal in this situation is to allow you to notice how foods make you feel. You’ll use this information to make informed food choices as you practice eating intuitively, and eventually it will be habit!
What’s Next?
Ok so you have data. Now what?
TUNE IN.
Identify one main thing to focus on while you practice listening to your body. All day, every day. Based on all the information you’ve gathered, what symptom or situation sticks out to you as the most important? Keep that in mind as you go about your days with movement and food. What helps you feel better? What might be making the situation worse?
For example, you might notice that you raid the pantry at 4 pm (or 11) with uncontrollable hunger. No matter how “good” you’ve been eating, you feel out of control at this time and then guilty and/or physically uncomfortable afterword. So watch the pattern. Does it happen every day? What is your routine leading up to it? Did you eat a balanced lunch, “just a salad?” Maybe you were starting to get hungry at 3, but you ignored it? Maybe you created a sense of deprivation by thinking “I did (or will do) an intense workout today so I’ll burn it off” or “it’s ok, I’m starting a new meal plan tomorrow so might as well enjoy all my fave snacks now.”
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.
Once you identify your “one thing,” now is the time to actually practice what you’ve been preparing to do. You get to experiment with how food, movement, and external circumstances affect your “thing” and document or remember anything of note.
In the above example, you might eat something different than a salad for lunch, or eat a protein-rich snack at 3 (even if you’re not really hungry, just to see what happens), or intentionally limit your exercise so you can’t “burn it off.”
I’m not gonna lie, this is going to make you uncomfortable. And that’s the point! In order to create sustainable change in your relationship with food, you have to be willing to try new things. When you step outside your typical experience, it’s much harder to be on autopilot. This means your brain is more aware of physical sensations and feelings! And when you shake up your routine, it’s much easier to identify how/why things are the way they are in your typical setting.
This may be part of the reason why you often rearrange the furniture, get a new job, or start a new diet. It’s not just because your current situation is stifling, but because you know on a primal level that creating a new reality will allow you to get a clearer picture of what’s happening internally. Or perhaps you use these external things to cope with your knowledge that your internal situation is not good. But I digress…
If your routine has been altered to to the global pandemic, now’s a great time to notice how your body is (or isn’t) using food to cope with the stress. You may not need to intentionally change your routine if it’s been changed for you! So take a closer look: What are you craving? What physical sensations are you experiencing? What foods are you eating? How do they make you feel?
This process doesn’t ever really stop or come to a final resting place. That’s because you, as a human being, are fluid and changing (I hope!). As you grow, your food preferences and needs will changes as well. So keep practicing. And ask for help if you’re stuck. You deserve to find peace with food!
ONLINE RESOURCES:
https://www.intuitiveeating.org
http://intuitiveeatingcommunity.org
INTUITIVE EATING CONTENT ON INSTAGRAM:
https://www.instagram.com/evelyntribole/
https://www.instagram.com/intuitive.eating.nutritionist/
https://www.instagram.com/encouragingdietitian/
https://www.instagram.com/thegoodyolk/
https://www.instagram.com/mollybcounseling/
https://www.instagram.com/theintuitive_rd/
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