INTUITIVE EATING IS NOT ENOUGH WHY
BY ASHLEY CARTER YOUNGBLOOD
Intuitive eating, or merely paying attention to our body to guide what we should, does not take into account two important components: cravings and addiction.” BEGINNING WITH MINDFULNESS
CRAVINGS
The research about the impact of mindfulness on healing a variety of different kinds of topics is conclusive: it works! Chronic pain. Trauma. Alcoholism. You name it. And, ideally, we should do everything with a deep sense of intention as we listen to what we need in the moment.
The body has cravings, whether for food, sex, or a good movie. This is a natural part of our human existence. However, as Marc David outlines in his book, “Nourishing Wisdom: A Mind-Body Approach to Nutrition and Well-Being,” we have three types of cravings. This makes it difficult to discern if that craving we are having for bread is really because our body needs additional fiber via a certain grain or if it is because, put simply, bread tastes good or serves an emotional need at the time (e.g., a reminder of that bread your late grandma used to make).
However, given that humans are different from other creatures in the way we feed ourselves (e.g., sometimes for pleasure, as opposed to always being a response to a primal drive), intuition can only get us so far. So, suppose we are using the “intuitive eating” approach of merely paying attention to our body as a guide to what we should eat. In that case, we are forgetting about two important components: cravings and addiction. And, if we want to avoid overeating and learn how to nourish our bodies in a healthy way by choosing foods that are supportive, we cannot forget about these two important factors.
18
June 2021
Supportive Cravings – These are the cravings that are instinctively healing and biological, like when a dog eats a certain food high in a nutrient that helps settle its upset stomach. While these instinctual drives may not make scientific sense, they restore us.
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