By Catrina Bengree
With the countless number of diet and weight loss programmes available, the general idea is always the same, "eat less and exercise more!" This makes absolute sense. Simply eat fewer calories and burn more off and the excess weight will disappear. So why doesn't it work? Why are there millions of people in the world who are over weight or obese? Why isn't there one programme that is failsafe that will work for everyone?
Unfortunately the theory of eating less and exercising more only deals with the physical need of humans and not the emotional needs. Those of us who are over weight don't simply eat when we are hungry, we eat for comfort as well. By telling someone to eat less, but not taking care of the emotional need, will simply have the opposite effect. As soon as we try to deprive ourselves, we are telling ourselves we are not good enough as we are and emotionally we can't cope. We turn to food to cheer ourselves up, to make ourselves feel better in the moment and before we know it we have overdone it yet again! This creates a never-ending cycle of bingeing and deprivation, surviving on willpower for as long as we can and finally giving in once we can't stand it any longer.
I believe the only way we can ever lose our excess weight and keep it off for ever, is to learn how to listen to our own body. By doing this, eventually we will only eat when we are hungry and stop when we are satisfied. Most of us are in a "habit" of eating. We don't eat when we are hungry - we eat when it is time to eat. There is a significant difference. The process of "Natural Eating" allows us to learn to listen to our bodies. We tune in to what they are telling us. We learn to know:
- When we are actually hungry
- What we actually want to eat
- When we are satisfied
- What we need to do afterwards
When we eat "naturally" we eat smaller portions regularly throughout the day, normally about six times. This means we are never hungry, we are always satisfied, we have lots of energy and feel the need to exercise and treat our bodies kindly.
Ironically, what ends up happening is that we start to eat less and exercise more. Not because we are forcing ourselves, but because we are no longer depriving ourselves. Because we eat when we are hungry and eat what we truly want we will stop sooner. This is because we are satisfied more easily. When we are not hungry, we won't want to eat, because we will find other positive things that give us pleasure instead.
I am a Natural Eating Consultant, wife and mother who has recovered from 6 years of depression, a side effect of which was bulimia. I used to binge on food uncontrollably and then exercise excessively to get rid of it. In my mid thirties I was introduced to Natural Eating which together with personal development, allowed me to learn to love and trust myself enough to make a full recovery. My weight settled at 49 kilos in 1998 and has remained at this level for over a decade. Previously, I'd had weight and food related issues for over 20 years. I have now written an e-book entitled "Empower yourself by eating what you want - how to lose weight naturally without dieting." For a FREE copy please click the following linkhttp://www.weightlossandpersonalgrowth.com/Home.html
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