Hello Ladies! Have you ever heard about food freedom, intuitive eating, and mindful eating? All three of these terms refer to an agenda to reduce the excessive restrictions on the diet that cause damage to our relationship with food. The agenda aims to eliminate the possibility of guilt, shame, or other negative emotions arising from consuming "forbidden" foods or foods considered "bad."
Food freedom, intuitive eating, and mindful eating are used for flexible dietary guidelines that promote a good relationship with food. Although the three have similarities, there are differences between these three diets. Come on, let's get to know one by one!
Food Freedom
Food freedom is a complex term that has not been well defined. The definition of food freedom refers to an agenda to reject the culture of strict diets by giving permission to enjoy all foods in moderation, as long as there are no allergies or certain health conditions. Food freedom can also be understood as the original form of intuitive and mindful eating to bridge the gap between weight loss, calorie restriction, and increasing flexibility with food.
As a non-diet approach to health, food freedom frees you from the image that thin is good, diet culture, unsafe weight loss, and yo-yo dieting. Food freedom also includes tuning the body's hunger and satiety cues, separating food and morality, and focusing on health-promoting behaviors. Thus, there is a positive and judgment-free relationship with all types of food to relieve guilt when eating.
Intuitive Eating
Intuitive eating emphasizes the mind-body connection mainly rooted in a weight-inclusive approach and serves as the core of a health paradigm at every level. That is, intuitive eating emphasizes that everyone has a different body size and has the right to be satisfied with any body size or want to have any body size. Therefore, everyone is expected to appreciate these differences by placing themselves in the same position as others.
Intuitive eating has ten principles that are built on the concept of rejecting rules from outside the body and adjusting to cues from within the body, namely:
- Reject the diet mentality
- Respect hunger
- Make peace with food
- Challenge "good" and "bad" labels on food
- Find the factors that make you full
- Appreciate satiety
- Don't use food as an emotional outlet
- Respect the body's desires
- Sports with the desire to move from the heart
- Appreciate the health of the body
Mindful Eating
Mindful eating is the art of being "present" when consuming food. Mindful eating stems from the Buddhist practice of living with the awareness and intention of being fully "present" in the present moment. That is, mindful eating invites us to be aware of what we are eating and how we eat it without thinking about other things besides what we are doing. Furthermore, mindful eating is a meditative practice that is built on a mind-body connection that fosters awareness not to judge food by involving the senses of sight, smell, taste, and feeling in eating.
In principle, like intuitive eating, mindful eating is also not focused on weight loss. Mindful eating focuses on freeing the body to gain a natural weight according to the body's "desires." However, mindful eating still helps the body find and carry out good habits that improve health, reducing, increasing, and maintaining weight. Because of this, mindful eating and intuitive eating are often used to support recovery from various eating disorders that adversely affect nutritional status and food relationships.
How about you, Ladies? What kind of eating method are you interested in applying? Food freedom, intuitive eating, and mindful eating can positively impact your diet because all three emphasize the importance of an approach to changing habits with an emphasis on a positive body image and healthy eating habits.
To find out about other information related to diet and health, keep reading the articles on Fitie!
Sources:
Alexis, A. C. Finding Food Freedom: Ditching Diet Culture and Learning to Trust Your Body’s Cues. [Posted 2022 Jan 12]. In: Healthline [Internet]. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-food-freedom-getting-started-weight-loss-and-tips
The Original: Intuitive Rating Pros. 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating. In: IntuitiveEating.org [Internet]. https://www.intuitiveeating.org/10-principles-of-intuitive-eating/