The 9 Eating Styles & Why You Should Know Yours

It’s always a good thing to get to know yourself! A Greek Philosopher named Socrates once said it himself, “Know Thyself.”

“Knowing yourself means respecting your strengths and weaknesses, your passion and fears, your desires and dreams, your thoughts and feelings, your likes and dislikes, your tolerance and limitations.”

Lets clarify your eating style as of right now! (not what you want it to be)

Losing weight long term, keeping it off, and feeling your healthiest self begins with an accurate understanding (and acceptance) of your personal eating habits. Be honest with yourself when choosing, as this is the best way to learn more about yourself.

(P.s.- You can have more than one eating style. Different events can trigger different eating styles.For example, when I go out to eat at Restaurants, I’m a #6)

1) Unconscious Dieting Mentality.

• Dieting and not even knowing it.
• Food rules paralyze your ability to eat normally.
• Diet hangovers.
• Avoiding certain foods at all costs.
• Feeling out of control the moment you take a bite of a ‘bad food.’
• Feeling guilt when self-given rules are broken.

Example, I would give myself a rule, “no eating past 7:00.” ( and so so many other made up silly rules that I heard from different ‘Diets.’)  My brain was simply wired to these “rules.”

Problem: Its stressful trying to follow all these rules! Lets face it, it can get pretty confusing to. I found myself asking all the time, “Ok. What in the world. Are carbs going to help me lose or gain weight? What is the right answer!”

There is just much confusion with so many voices going back and forth. This becomes problematic when it starts to take a toll on your Mental Health.

2) The Careful Eater

• Perfect eaters.
• Highly nutrition conscious.
• Outwardly they seem health and fitness oriented.
• Anguish over each morsel of food.
• Grocery shopping trips are spent scrutinizing food labels.
• Eating out they interrogate the waiter. Making sure there is not one speck of oil or other fat being used on their meal.

SIDE NOTE: K before you panic, I do ALL of these. I look at every single food label in Walmart to compare, and yes I’ll ask the waiter to go “lightly on the dressing.” Or “does this have a vegetable option?” THIS IS ALL OK.

The difference is the intensity and the ability to let go of any guilt. If your toast had butter on it and you ate it, can you forgive yourself? Or does it beat at you for a while?

• Usually under eat.
• Spend most of their hours planning their next meal or snack.
• Worrying about what to eat at every hour.
• Usually not on a diet, but punishes herself over every unhealthy,or fatty foods.
• Eats carefully for the sake of WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE, not for the sake of health.
• Strictly follows, “health rules” during the weekdays to earn their right to “splurge” on weekend.
• Weekends often backfire on them, so they often merely contemplate diets.

Problem: It’s OK to want to be healthy. The problem comes when your obsession over eating perfectly at every meal, ruins your relationship with food. You literally fear eating one cookie.

3) The Professional Dieter

• Tried every commercial diet, diet book, or new weight loss gimmicks.
• Dieting sometimes means fasting.
• Cuts back on calories.
• Diets for the sake of losing weight, not for the sake of health.
• If one diet fails, they go to the next one.
• Wakes up morning of their new diet, thinking “this is the new beginning. This time it will work.”
• Tend to have reoccurring problems with the DIET BACKLASH, “The Last Supper.” (see last post)
• The moment they eat a “forbidden food” they often “throw in the towel” and binge, ending their diet.
• Gets frustrated, at the cycle they’re trapped in: diet, lose weight, gain weight, binge, diet….repeat…

Problem: Ok- I used to think Dieting was fun! I loved it! But I’ll be the first to admit, it starts fun, but starts to get frustrating!

The Professional Dieter’s frustration can go to the extreme often times. They want their diet to work, but when it doesn’t they turn to laxatives, diet pills, starvation, anorexia, purging (excessively exercising) or even bulimia.

This makes life hard. Coming from experience, I’ve tried dieting. Just like the Chinese finger puzzle (see post: Of Course I Feared Bread) The harder you try to perfect your diet, the more you get stuck, and the more it can backfire.

You guys, it’s all about choosing HEALTH over WEIGHT. Always remember this. Health is not defined through a number.

4) The Unconscious Eater

• Eats while doing another activity; scrolling through Instagram, watching a movie, reading ect.
• Has to be eating while doing something.
• Results in chaotic overeating.

5) The Chaotic Unconscious Eater

• Busy life.
• Whatever is available is grabbed (fast food, drive through, vending machines.)
• Nutrition and Diet are important, but not when they’re in hurry.
• Usually don’t notice they’re hungry (because they’re so busy) until they’re STARVING.
• Long periods of time without eating.

6) The Refuse- Not Unconscious Eater

• Vulnerable to any food, whether hungry or full; like candy jars or cookies on a counter.
• Can’t pass up or say no to food.
• Buffets were made for these types of people.
• Not aware they’re eating or even how much.
• Will grab a hand-full of candy out of a car jar on their way to the next room, and not even think about it.
• Social outings with food, are tough.

7) The Waste- Not Unconscious Eater. *ME*

• Values the food dollar.
• Would rather eat food, than throw it away.
• Buffets can be a scary situation with these eaters. They feel the more they eat, the better their money was spent.
• Eats their entire plate clean, even after they’re full (often others plates as well)
• Eats children’s leftovers.

FUNNY STORY: Jake and I were on a date. We both got a piece of chocolate, $2.50 each. Jake didn’t like his, and neither did I. Jake got up to go throw it away, and I said, “NO! I’ll eat it!” I ate the piece of chocolate. I don’t know why. It was gross! I just couldn’t stand the thought of throwing $2.50 in the garbage. Why? Ironically I used myself as the garbage instead. A perfect, yet awful example!

8) The Emotional Unconscious Eater

• Eats food to cope with emotions; stress, anger and loneliness.
• In a stressful time or even a overwhelmingly happy time, often turns to FOOD while experience these high emotions.
• Numbing their feelings through food, has become a habit.

Ladies, I can’t relate to this picture so well. Almost too well!

Problem: The problem with ALL THESE LABELED ‘unconscious eaters’, is when it results in over-eating. You tend to not even notice the taste of the food when its put in your mouth unconsciously. Therefore your brain registers this as, “you haven’t eaten that much.” You’re eating out of pure habit! This gets dangerous.

9) The Intuitive Eater

• Listens to their inner hunger signals.
• Eats whatever they choose without guilt or an ‘ethical dilemma.’
• Fully enjoys eating.
• Is able to eat when their hungry and stop when their full.

Problem: None. This is our goal! Get rid of any ‘fear’ of food. Some may already be here. Like my Mom. We all possess the natural intuitive eating ability.

Remember- we were all born as Intuitive Eaters.

We listened to our bodies as newborn babies. We let mommy know when we were hungry, but we let her know when we were full. Even as kids, there was never a rule for me to “stay away from Doritos.”

Think

This is important. WHERE and WHEN you developed your eating style. Can you remember the first time your Inner Intuitive Eater was disrupted? A magazine? A comment? A T.V. Show? For me it was when I was in Junior High. I remember it as clear as day actually! I remember being an Intuitive Eater as kid once too. I remember eating Pb&j’s for lunch. I loved snacking on fruit, eating toast, having Cheerios for breakfast. I was a healthy girl!

Statistics

Statistics show that returning to a lifestyle of balance and moderation (Intuitive Eating) we realize our bodies are actually smarter than we thought. 2/3 of America is overweight, yet is a “Diet-Conscious Society.” The irony. How is it that parallel to the growth of the Dieting Industry, there’s an epidemic growth of obesity. Again, the irony.

Sum it up: Discover your Eating Style and where and how it developed. How is it that you started looking at food differently than you did when you were young? Reflect on how this became your eating style..

Up next:  What are you Questions? Input? Comments?

These points are from my personal experience, and the book: INTUITIVE EATING. Thanks for reading!!!:-)

Please send me any COMMENTS or QUESTIONS that you may have!

Thanks! Love y’all!

THe 10 DIET BACKLASHES

I didn’t know I was Dieting.

9:00 am I didn’t have time for breakfast; I forgot to make make myself a sandwich, so I grab a Protein Bar at school to get me through my workout. When Jake and I got home, I make a healthy dinner; Chicken, Broccoli and Rice. Yum! I’m full, and now all ready for bed…… and wait, I’m STARVING. Like over the top, stomach growling. I can’t sleep, so I ravenously go through the pantry. Next thing I know, I’m making myself toast, leftovers, cereal, having a bite of ice-cream, and some string cheese.

“Why? I just ate a big dinner?”

You’re having a DIET BACKLASH.

“But, I’m not on a diet?”

Yes-true, but you did starve yourself today.

“But, I didn’t starve myself. I just didn’t have time to eat anything!?”

Same thing! Your body knows no different!

I was ‘Dieting’ and I didn’t even know it!

THE 10 DIET BACKLASHES.

Have you ever tried a diet? Maybe you were ‘on a diet’ but just didn’t know it. Crazy enough, but my husband Jake falls into this scenario. Read through these 10 DIET BACKLASHES and pick which one(s) you relate to.

1) The mere contemplation of going on a diet brings me urges and cravings for “bad foods.”

As soon as someone asks me to start a ‘Juice cleanse’, all a sudden I wanted foods I knew were ‘bad.’

2) After ending a diet, you binge and feel guilty.

Studies show that 50% of those who diet, binge once they finish. How could you not feel guilty indulging in something you’ve been told was “off limits?”

3) You have little trust in yourself with food.

People blame themselves for not finishing a diet. This causes a trust issue between you and food. All a sudden, you can’t trust yourself to have a package of Oreo’s in the house, or a batch of cookies sitting on the counter.

4) Feeling that you don’t deserve to eat.

“I’m overweight, so I shouldn’t eat _______(insert favorite ‘fatty food’)_______.” Or maybe you weighed yourself, and you gained two pounds. You think, “I shouldn’t eat today.”

5) Shortened diet.

Dieting spans usually become shortened over time. 6 months goes to 3, and next thing you know you’re googling, “how to lose weight in 2 weeks” for your vacation. Notice ‘Slim- Fast’ advertises that their diet will work in one week now! They smart.

6) The Last Supper AKA MY #1 DIET BACKLASH.

Diet=not eating foods the way you used to. This is WHY I eat more right before I start a ‘diet!’ It’s kind of like a‘farewell to food’ party. It’s because your BRAIN doesn’t know any better. Your brain interprets the night before your diet as a “preparation for a famine.” Before I started any sort of restriction or cleanse diet, I would spend Saturday night eating an extra big meal. I would have more desert than normal. This is because the brain doesn’t know any better. If you tell yourself, “I won’t have sugar for a week.” Your brain registers this as, “You are never going to have sugar again. You are going into a sugar famine.” I found this SO interesting.

7) Social withdrawal.

Fearing if you will be able to stay in control and not break your diet rules at some sort of social event like Christmas, The Super Bowl, or girl’s night out, ect.

8) Slowed metabolism

Fueling your metabolism is like building a fire. If you remove the wood- the fire blows out! Same with our bodies, if you stop eating, your body slows down. When Jake tells me he is tired, I’m always telling him, “EAT!” This is because Food = energy. The word calorie literally means energy. This brings me to #9.

9) Using caffeine to survive the day.

We all know someone who loves their caffeine. These drinks are often abused as a tool to get energy, while being underfed. Jill drinks Diet Coke for Lunch to get her through work. She relies on caffeine for energy. Jill would be someone who falls in the “Doesn’t realize she is dieting” category. Yes- you could be dieting and not know it, which is why you could be feeling some of these DIET BACKLASHES.

10) Eating Disorders.

Usually the first step to an eating disorder is dieting.

You’re not crazy.

This is to simply inform you, that you’re not crazy, and it’s not YOUR willpower as to why you are experiencing these symptoms. They are all totally normal effects of dieting. Maybe you experience one of these every day, maybe you just vaguely remember experiencing one. Either way, it’s helpful to know your DIET BACKLASH and why you are having them so you can say “toodaloo” to dieting for good!

My body was preparing me for my morning famine.

Like I said, I am totally not a breakfast eater. I never knew why I would eat, and snack so late at night, and feel like I “couldn’t control myself.” I am happy to know now, that it was a DIET BACKLASH. Every night, my body was preparing me for my ‘morning famine.’ It’s still hard to be a breakfast person, but I know the DIET BACKLASH that will happen if I skip! I couldn’t be happier that it’s not an issue anymore.

SUM IT UP: Notice your DIET BACKLASH and the effects of Dieting. Recognize if you are dieting and you don’t even know it! Recognizing these, is a step closer to becoming an Intuitive Eater!

These 10 points came from the book, Intuitive Eating. I expounded through personal experience, and the things I’ve learned.

Of Course I Feared Bread.

They say that blogs should be no more than 600 words, because we as humans have a short attention span. Warning: This blog is 864 words. I’ll try harder next time to keep it close to 600. (Don’t lose focus too soon!!)

Let’s talk about Sandra.

Sandra really thinks dieting works. Dieting includes any sort of meal plan, restrictions, cleanses, or week/month long ‘challenges’. Sandra thinks she is not the 95% who will gain their weight back or more in the next 1-5 years.

CARA THOUGHT: So, if 95% of all diets fail, that leaves you with 5% that work right? Think of models and their lifestyle. They get paid to look the way they do, or else they lose their job. Also: fitness coaches. It’s their job to look the way they do. Not all of us have that lifestyle, pressure, time, and salary. Unless it’s your life and job 24/7 to look a certain way, your chances are less than say, models or fitness coaches. With all that being said, I personally believe that your chances of keeping your weight off permanently through dieting is more like 1-2%. Just sayin’.

After every diet fail of Sandra’s, she believes the next one will work.

Sandra became obsessed with food. Throughout her dieting years she became obsessed with, calorie counting, her looks, her weight, and her body. Sandra thought dieting was the way to reach your goals of losing weight and being healthy. Food was always on her mind. “This time, it will work. I will keep the weight off.”

Age 30, Sandra hated dieting. She was frustrated because she was trying so hard, but she kept giving in.

This story of Sandra (that is very similar to me) makes complete sense now. With dieting: “The harder you try, the harder you fail.” Think of those Chinese finger things. The harder you try to get your two index fingers out of the cylinder, the more they get trapped.
This is why dieting is so tricky. Usually with most things in life, the harder you try- the better you succeed, right? I love pushing myself. I love seeing how fast I can run a half-marathon, or how well I can do on a math test. IMPORTANT: that’s just not the case with dieting. You will only get more trapped in the Chinese finger puzzle. You don’t need to be on a diet, and you don’t need to try a diet to look your best!

I wanted to lose weight after my mission. Of course, I looked into weight loss programs. About a month after, I came in contact with someone named Lacey. She was a ‘Nutritionist’ for a well known dieting company. Lacey sold products to me. One day Lacey informed me of a ‘Bikini Body Challenge’ that she, and her other clients were doing.

⎯ No refined food for 28 days.

⎯ This means; no bread, granola bars, cereal, sweets, candy ect….

⎯ A gallon of water a day.

⎯ If you give in, you have to do 100 burpees for every time you ‘cheat’

K did y’all hear that?

I said, 100 burpees AND a gallon of water. 

Can you see how these challenges, meal plans, and diets, give you a bad image of food? Of course I feared that free, unlimited bread at the cheesecake factory. “To eat or not to eat, that is the question…” It was always a question. Of course, I chose eat. Of course, I gave in. Of course, as soon as I got home I felt guilty. Of course, I felt like a loser. And OF COURSE I surely did not want to do 100 burpees after that meal!! I shouldn’t have to feel bad about these things. I shouldnt have to fear bread. Dieting only sets you up to feel bad about yourself. Dieting is not your answer- ever.

Where was my willpower?

I have willpower. I have a lot of willpower!

Sure enough, Lacey would do the challenge again, and I’d fail, again. Hmm.. Why was I failing?

WATER FAIL: With drinking a gallon of water, I ended up breaking my belt because I had to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes, all day long. Struggle was real.

I was getting frustrated. I’m drinking these shakes, trying these challenges, trying not to not eat ‘bad food.’ I just didn’t have enough willpower- or so I thought.

Why was nothing working?

1- It was NOT lack of willpower.

This is why I RAN, as far away as possible from any diet, and why you should too. Honestly, I still gave in a few times. A friend would tell me about how excited she was to start this new ‘challenge.’ She would ask for me to do it with her.

“Why not?!” I’d think. I mean doesn’t a sugar free challenge sound like a good idea?! Shouldn’t this be good for me? No brownies? No sugar for a week? Right?

No! You were NOT right Cara!

It was like I had 4 toes in the Intuitive Eating water, but kept one toe in the world of dieting. I was too afraid to put my whole foot into Intuitive Eating. Diet Backlashes would happen over and over again.

As soon as I stopped trying so hard, everything fell into place. I started loosing weight, I started feeling better about myself. I realized I didn’t need a diet. NOTE: I didn’t decide to just give up on myself. It wasn’t a decision to throw in the towel with my health, and it wasn’t letting myself go.

Now that I’m over dieting, I am free of any Dieting Backlash, and it is liberating.

SUM IT UP: Stop trying so hard to finish that diet. It’s not going to work.

NEXT: What are your Dieting Backlashes?

NOTE TO MY YOUNGER SELF: “Stop. Dieting. Love yourself.”

P.s.- If this post sounds a lot like the last, it’s because the first few chapters of Intuitive Eating are all about getting it into your head, that you need to drop your dieting mentality (whatever that may be) A.S.A.P… That’s now!

Intuitive Eating

The book starts out with some good facts….

DIETS DON’T WORK.

“Diets are a lot like cars. If you take your car into a mechanic for a regular tune-up, and after time and your money spent, the car stops working. Who do you blame? Not yourself! You take that car right back to the mechanic, and demand your money back! The fact of the matter is, diets fail 95% of the time. However, we don’t blame the diet. We blame ourselves! This is why the dieting industry in America is a $60 billion dollar industry, yet 68% of America is still obese or overweight.” –IE book.

This is where Intuitive Eating comes into play! I found this example in the beginning of the book and I thought,

“Oh. Ok. Wow. Huh..True.. Interesting… Dang. We are so dumb.” THIS was my light-bulb-moment-hook to this book.

P.s.- Interesting: Meal Plans & diets are the SAME THING. Anything you’re doing with any sort of restriction = D.I.E.T. (so you could be on a diet and not even know it.)

What exactly is Intuitive Eating?

Intuitive Eating vs. Mindful Eating

I’ve heard the phrase mindful eating a lot & you probably have too! Mindful eating is awesome. Intuitive eating is mindful eating, there’s just more to it. Think of it like the Gospel. ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ is a Christian religion. They believe all that Christians do. They don’t take anything away from what people already know, they ADD to what people know. (thanks Sister Olsen) That’s the same with Intuitive Eating!  Think of mindful eating and everything you know about healthy eating, plus more. The plus more stuff, is why I found it to work so well for me. It was like the missing puzzle piece to becoming more in control with my body.

ACTIVITY:

What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you see these donuts? (from my wedding)

First thing that comes to your mind?

Thoughts?

Well- some might think, “YUM.” Some might think, “give me 5 right now” or “dessert.” or “sweets, stay clear” or “wish I was at her wedding.” Ha ha.

Intuitive Eating helps us see food as NEUTRAL. There are no types of food we should obsess over, yet no food you should stay clear from. You know how I said, “A salad is not good, a brownie is not bad.. ect.?” (We’ll get back to that later)

Intuitive Eating helps us see all foods on neutral ground, and get rid of those voices in our head with labels on food! I’ll be getting to the how in these next few posts. Just realizing that diets dont work is the first step!

This is what they call, “cognitive distortions.” (It’s fine. I never heard of it before either.)

WHAT INTUITIVE EATING HELPED ME WITH

1. With Intuitive Eating, I have been able to be pickier with what I put inside my body.

2. I don’t reject sweets at social gatherings or celebrations, nor do I limit myself to just one because of my ‘diet’ to only secretly eat a dozen at 1:00 a.m. a week later or on ‘cheat day’. P.s.- You can’t call me crazy- because more than half of dieters end their diets on a binge! I know I’m not alone here….

3. Another major thing that Intuitive Eating has helped me with, was making working out something I crave! It’s no longer a “chore” or a “task” for me; it’s something I can’t go without because I don’t want to. I do it to feel good now, not look good.

4. Also; Intuitive Eating has stopped me from ever touching foot or even inches from any sort of diet. Literally, anytime I read or hear the words: ‘meal plan’ or ‘diet’ or ‘limit yourself to this’ or ‘cleanse’ or any ‘advice’ or ‘give up this’ or about what ‘to eat and not to eat.’ Literally a red flag goes up. It can kind of bug me now to be honest! Just because I wish so badly everyone would know that a cookie really isn’t what is going to make you gain weight.

(More on this later. I’m just trying to do an introduction and it’s super tricky to not start ranting on everything I’m touching on. Ha ha.)

Don’t get me wrong ladies, I still use all the knowledge I have about nutrition. I love using applesauce instead of oil while cooking. I love adding spinach to my eggs. I love a yummy ‘all natural’ smoothie. I’ll add extra egg whites to my eggs. I’m not saying throw this out the window, it’s important to know how to use this knowledge, without judging!

5. Most importantly, I’ve learned how to truly respect my body. No matter what I look like. This process of Intuitive Eating has made me grow spiritually, that- I can say, is my favorite benefit.
“Changing your relationship with your body, is a requirement for changing your relationship with food.”

SPOTLIGHT:

A LITTLE BIT ON THE BRAINS BEHIND INTUITIVE EATING:

I wish I could have been the smarty pants of this discovery. However, Tribole and Resch, have been professional nutritionists for 30 years, written 8 books, and now train health professionals. After years of working with their patients they noticed that their patients kept coming back diet after diet, regaining back their weight, and sometimes more. They decided to try a different approach——.> “Meal Plans.” She talks about how they let the patients choose chicken, turkey, fish or whichever meat they would like to have ect. They were allowed to have sweets, but just one a day. They were allowed to have carbs, but only WHOLE GRAIN. Eventually they did meet their goals, but all of their patients came back to them. They had gained back their weight eventually, and sometimes more.

So run away from the diet! Run run run.
Google “Biggest Loser.” for another great example.

Contestants on the Biggest Loser, and several other Americans trying a ‘diet”, are given lifestyles that are nearly impossible to keep for the rest their lives! Your brain simply doesn’t know how to comprehend restrictions and diets. (I can’t wait to touch on this more later. Super interesting!)  My teacher described a diet as, “anything that you’re doing right now, that you can’t keep life long.”

“Intuitive Eating shuns dieting and hails body acceptance.” -IE

I’m not kidding y’all! I kicked my diet (whatever I was doing) to the curb, and it was so worth it.

To wrap things up:

If you want to keep dieting (or meal planning, or restricting whichever you want to call it) because you fear it’s the only thing that will work… I promise you- that it will work… short term! I don’t deny that! If you want to hit a life time goal of body satisfaction and a healthier self- I promise this works, longterm! Hey- You guys should buy this book and follow along with me : )

THIS POST SUMMED UP: As soon as I stopped dieting, I started loving myself more.

NEXT: “But I really do think dieting works… so now what?”

Til next time!!

A note to my younger self:

“You are beautiful. Stop your cleanse, diet, meal plan, or your sugar-free-challenge that you’re on. Use your knowledge for something better. Let’s start something lifelong.”