Binge Eating Help - Natural Eating is All About Being Mindful When Eating Not Mindless!

Sometimes when I am explaining about eating "naturally" and talk about eating small portions often throughout the day, someone will say, "Oh you mean grazing". Grazing however is the complete opposite to Natural Eating. When you are grazing you are not conscious of what your body wants. You tend to eat haphazardly throughout the day, generally going from one thing to the next. This may be because you see something nice and suddenly decide you have to eat it, not necessarily because you are hungry.

Natural eating on the other hand is being mindful all the time about what your body wants and needs. You are tuned in to your body so that you recognise when you are actually hungry and eat at that time. Awareness is absolutely crucial, especially in the early stages because it is very easy to miss hunger signals especially if we are busy or focussed intensely on something else. In general I find that the majority of people eat 3 times a day. This may be because it fits in with their work environment/home life but generally I find that most people have simply got into a habit of eating at those times. Often because they were told as youngsters, "Don't eat in between meals", or they eat 3 large meals and are usually over-full after eating and wouldn't want food any sooner.

People also believe that if they don't eat in between meals, they will lose weight or maintain their current weight. They often tell me they have to be strict with themselves to not have morning or afternoon tea. In my opinion this isn't necessary. If we are hungry we should eat. Our body is telling us it wants food. If we ignore the signal, it then goes into starvation mode and stores the food, thereby slowing our metabolism down. Ultimately we then eat when we are over hungry, which causes us to make inappropriate choices or overeat because we are "starving."

When we eat naturally we are eating regularly when our body needs it, so we don't go through the emotions of being either starving or full. We feel comfortable throughout the day, our energy levels remain high and we are easily satisfied. This is because if we eat when we are starting to get hungry, it is easy to ascertain exactly what we want. Similarly we are then able to recognise when we are satisfied and stop at that time. Consequently we never feel the urge to binge because we know we can eat whatever we want whenever we need it. The need to use food for comfort loses its appeal because we are well aware of how our body feels when it is overfull.

So treat your body kindly, be mindful of what it wants and give it what it needs at that time. You will then be eating in a completely "natural" way.

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 link http://www.weightlossandpersonalgrowth.com/Home.html