I’ll bet you’re wondering why I wrote ‘almost’.
I don’t believe in such a thing as a ‘perfect’ day of eating, nor do I believe that it is possible to eat intuitively perfectly. There are always going to be external factors to consider, even when we are strongly in tune with our internal cues.
I’m often considering my own intuitive eating throughout the day, and how it is impacted by such things as; what leftovers are in the fridge, how busy my morning is trying to get out the door, what my children are eating, if there is a scheduled mealtime as part of a social outing, if I’ve run out of pantry items, and so on.
I decided to keep a ‘Food Intuition’ Journal during the week to help identify what using my internal cues look like in a real-life day-to-day kind of way, and how I am still able to be intuitive despite inevitable external eating impacts on some choices. I have included some of the journal notes below to illustrate my food decision making process.
Sunday
· I ate a big hot breakfast after my workout. Filled me up for the morning and wasn’t particularly hungry for lunch.
· I felt like a snack instead of a big lunch, so I had a piece of avocado, cheese, tomato toast for. Felt content after one.
· I was so engrossed in my work in the afternoon I wasn’t thinking about eating and wasn’t particularly hungry.
· I felt quite hungry at dinner time and once I’d finished my stir fry, I had a smaller second helping. I also finished off my youngest leftovers. Felt content.
Monday
· My youngest wanted to share my muesli/yoghurt/banana breakfast with me so I didn’t get to eat my full breakfast. I wasn’t sure if I was hungry enough to make myself more. I decided if I was hungry again soon, I’d make more breakfast and my youngest can share with me again if she wants.
· I was hungry again a couple of hours later, but I felt like the rest of the banana that I hadn’t used for breakfast. I also just wanted to share the morning tea I made for the girls rather than make more muesli.
Tuesday
· Was feeling peckish throughout the day so I had regular smaller meals and snacks, rather than bigger meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We were home all day to grab fruit and snacks whenever I felt like it.
· Was feeling like eating fruit mostly today. Wanted oranges, kiwi, pineapple mostly.
Wednesday
· We baked a banana cake for morning tea and even though I wasn’t particularly hungry, I had some banana cake because, well, its banana cake!
· I got given a bag of potatoes from a friend and I made lots of mashed potato which the girls said they don’t want so I filled up on mashed potato at lunch. I hadn’t had it in a long time and really enjoyed it. Will have more at dinner!
Thursday
· Had to get the kids ready to meet someone at 3pm so made sure we ate lunch at 1pm. They didn’t finish the lasagne and I wasn’t full, so I finished their lasagne leftovers. I knew we’d be at the shops in the afternoon when the kids and I might want a snack, so I packed some snacks for us all to eat while we are out.
· Full on afternoon running errands and on the phone to a friend in the evening, then a client call. Quite late and I’m tired, not very hungry. I ate an apple and some nuts. Went to bed.
Friday
· I woke up early and was motivated to go for a run first thing. I felt hungry but wanted to run first because I don’t enjoy my jogs just after eating, I get a stitch.
· Ran 7km then showered and felt very hungry.
· I made a big bacon/egg/veggie/avocado/feta brekkie. I knew it was going to be large, so I didn’t include toast, but I’d check in with myself after breakfast and if I was still hungry, I would have a piece of peanut butter on toast.
· I didn’t finish my big breakfast because I felt full. I left about 4 bites on the plate.
· I’m home all day today working so I can eat again whenever I feel like it. I can either make something from what I have in the fridge or buy what I feel like when I get groceries.
After reading through my journal, I learnt that I am in a privileged position as a stay-at-home mum to be able to eat more intuitively than others who must pre prepare meals for work or school or stick to meal schedules.
I noticed that with most of my food decision making, I am taking into consideration my external factors as well as my internal cues, and there is a healthy balance in my decision making.
If we were to attempt a ‘perfect’ day of intuitive eating, by making food choices purely based on our body’s wants and needs, without factoring in any practicalities that exist in our day, it would not be a sustainable position.
For example, if you desire a certain food that you don’t have at home then you must go out and purchase it, even though you have household duties and children at home.
If you’re hungry when you are at work, you wouldn’t wait for lunch break in another half an hour. If you crave a certain food that is not available to you anywhere nearby, you will have to find it immediately rather than settling for something else.
As you can see, it is inevitable that external factors play a role in our eating habits, no matter how intuitive we attempt to be. The best we can do is use our internal cues amongst what is out of our control. I believe that is a balanced and acceptable perspective in our food relationship.
Have you thought about how intuitive you are amongst your own external eating factors?
I encourage you to create your own ‘Intuition Journal’ if you would like to work on strengthening your internal cues and moving further away from external factors (keeping in mind we can’t erase them completely). It’s important that you don’t use the journal with the intent of dieting or manipulate eating habits, but merely as a helpful starting tool to reflect upon and learn from.
If you’d like support in your intuitive eating journey, or just some help with your Intuition Food Journal, I'd love to help you. Reach out to me via my contact details and set up a FREE discovery session.
If you’d like to learn more about what it means to eat intuitively, download my free Beginners Guide to Intuitive Eating below.