When did we stop listening to ourselves?

Think about how incredible our bodies our, they pump blood through our veins without us asking, our heart beats without us telling it to. We can create another human without giving our bodies any instructions. How amazing is that? 

Yet when our bodies are calling to us, telling us what they would like us to eat or what we should or shouldn’t do we don’t always listen.

We live in a day and age where we have access to so much information at our fingertips. We’re inundated with health and nutrition trends. There are thousands of diets out there with captivating headlines saying things like “this will make you live a long healthy life and avoid disease” or “this diet will allow you to shed weight and never be hungry”. With all this information, it’s no wonder why we’ve become totally out of touch with our bodies. 

We have innate wisdom inside us that we can learn to tap into - our intuition.  Our bodies actually tell us what they want. If you tune in you might know that in winter you feel like warming nourishing foods and in summer your body might feel like fresh, lighter foods, but because the latest advice might say that a smoothie is the best way to start the day we end up drinking ice cold smoothies in the middle of winter. Or how many times have you felt like something, avoided it and ended up overeating when you eventually give in.

I’ve been practising intuitive eating and it’s had such a positive impact on my life. For once I actually ask myself what I feel like and as a result I feel so much more satisfied, I think about food a lot less and I feel a lot better for it. 

You might think that giving yourself permission to eat foods that you see as ‘unhealthy’ or forbidden will make you overeat and go crazy on them but trust me that won’t happen. No one likes to feel deprived and that is what makes you overeat. If you change your relationship to the foods that you’re depriving yourself of, you’ll find that it’s easy to have a small serving, really enjoy it and be satisfied. 

We’ve become so disconnected from our intuition. It takes slowing down, practising yoga, meditation, journaling or even just a walk in nature to reconnect with your intuition through giving your self the silence to tune in. 

This doesn’t just apply to food but life decisions, career and relationships - try to tune in, blur the noise of the outside world and listen to what you really want.