Learning to Follow Your Intuition

It is often believed that decision making based on “intuition” or a “hunch” is an unsuitable approach as it can lead to bias and bad advice. On the other hand, some argue that intuition is the result of human evolution and that the intuitive response is specifically shaped by its past. Now let’s think about this for a moment. Intuition had it’s role in assisting humans to get to where we are today. Intuition is developed with experience and repetition in any given area of knowledge or expertise. Are we experts now? Do we no longer need intuition?

An article in Analytics Magazine shares that brokers often claim that their decisions are highly based on “gut reaction” or “intuitive feeling” suggesting that our stock market is controlled partially by intuition. It's important to note that these are experts of their trade and that their intuition has been nurtured with experience. Still, if intuition has a place in managing America’s livelihood, using it to improve your awareness of eating habits doesn’t seem like such a stretch.

So How Do We Do It?

1. Pay more attention to the way food makes you feel.

This includes noticing how you feel before you eat, during your meal, and after. Not only immediately after, but also notice a couple hours after, or even a day or more. Are you gassy? Trouble waking up or getting out of bed? How does your mind feel? Aches or pains?

2. Listen to the hunger signals.

There’s a difference between physiologic hunger and cravings.

Physiologic Hunger:

· Rumbling stomach after not eating for a few hours

· Headache, weakness

· Not for any specific food

· Can be satisfied with a piece of fruit or something healthy

· Won’t go away until you eat something

Cravings:

· A desire for a certain food or type of food

· Provides a temporary sense of satisfaction. In some cases, followed by guilt

· Passes with time

· Often a result of negative emotions

It is normal to have food cravings and it’s okay to satisfy those cravings sometimes. Let’s not beat ourselves up but instead exercise the behavior of noticing the difference between the hunger and cravings so we can build an awareness for our habits. As we learned above, this can help us establish a strong intuition around food through repetition. Be the expert of your own body!

3. Acknowledge your feelings.

Many of us turn to food for comfort as a result of uncomfortable emotions. As a teacher and practitioner of yoga, we emphasize the power of sitting with our most harsh emotions. Find a safe place where you feel comfortable or simply close your eyes wherever you are and just observe where your mind and heart take you. Some of us turn to food because we’re bored.

4. Distract yourself.

When you feel yourself heading to the fridge or the snack cabinet to reach for the foods that you’ve observed to make you feel in undesirable ways, try something new. Just once. Then maybe twice. Then slowly it becomes a habit.

· Go for a walk

· Strike a yoga pose (video)

· Enjoy the beauty of a flower or the sky

· Call a friend

5. Try something new.

Having a hobby can increase the overall quality of life and those that participate in a regular hobby have a decreased risk of depression! Is there something that you’ve been thinking about starting? There’s no time like the present!

6. Help someone else.

An article in Psychology Today says that helping others not only benefits those receiving help but it also helps the helper and suggests a link between generosity and happiness in the brain. Through validating their feelings and helping them see the situation in a new way, we regulate our own emotions. So, help a neighbor, volunteer, donate to a charity.

7. Avoid negativity.

Our intuition develops with positive feedback and is disrupted with negative feedback. When participants of a study were asked to use their intuition to answer questions and received negative feedback before making a decision, they were confident (and correct) about prior, their decisions were obstructed. link Be careful of the company you keep and what you allow to influence you. It could be interfering with your ability to follow your intuition!

Like anything else, being able to listen to your intuition for guidance with diet choices will not happen overnight. You will need practice. Sit down. Ask yourself what you want and what’s important to you. Dig deeper than the aesthetics. Who are you? What do you have to offer the world and how are you going to do it? However small or big, or unimportant it may feel, your place is valuable. Honor yourself by trusting your intuition.

This advice by no means is meant to take the place of any medical advice provided by your physician or other health care professional. It is intended to encourage you to work with your team of health professionals to pursue your intuition. The true power lies in using their evidence of the science and your evidence of your body to achieve a level of understanding that allows you to make more informed choices for you health. More and more registered dietitians are using an intuitive approach to nutrition counseling. Click here to find a dietitian in your area!