00:00first we need to understand what exactly
00:03intuitive eating is this is when we eat
00:05based on our biological hunger and
00:08satiety signals rather than eating for
00:10emotional or hedonic reasons essentially
00:13we eat when we are hungry and we don't
00:15eat when we are satiated to some extent
00:18we all eat intuitively we have all
00:20experienced what being hungry feels like
00:22and what being satiated feels like and
00:25our ancestors have used these signals to
00:27regulate food intake throughout our
00:29evolution history intuitive eating isn't
00:32a specific diet to follow and it doesn't
00:34disregard all other diet strategies
00:37rather it is better to look at it as an
00:39overarching principle that can be used
00:41in conjunction with other diet
00:43strategies to assist with energy intake
00:45it is a very simple Concept in theory
00:48and not A New Concept but also takes
00:50some practice to implement well in the
00:53world so why should we try to adopt an
00:56intuitive style of eating well there are
00:58a few key benefits of in intuitive
01:00eating that might help us get to and
01:02maintain a healthy body weight the first
01:05is that as we mentioned intuitive eating
01:08is something you have to deal with
01:09whether you want to pay attention to it
01:11or not it is an inbuilt system which you
01:14can't switch off even if you follow some
01:16other diet strategies if you don't eat
01:18you will get hungry and if you keep
01:20eating you will become satiated how much
01:23thought or attention you decide to pay
01:25to these signals is a different story
01:27but they will always be there so even if
01:29you follow follow some other diet plan
01:31it can be helpful to at least understand
01:33how your biology is responding to the
01:37accordingly the second reason is that it
01:40can help make your diet more adaptable
01:42to different contexts and situations
01:44after all we aren't robots who live
01:47pre-programmed lives even if we have a
01:49perfect diet plan inevitably something
01:51will throw our plan off this might be
01:54due to social events family occasions or
01:56work-related situations so a benefit of
01:59adop intuitive eating behaviors is that
02:01it is adaptable to any situation while
02:04you might not be able to eat exactly the
02:06right calorie and macron nutrient
02:08targets you have planned intuitive
02:10eating allows you to mostly stick to
02:12your diet plan without stress we will
02:14explain how to do this later in the
02:16video another benefit of intuitive
02:19eating is that it is a sustainable way
02:21to maintain a fairly healthy diet most
02:24diet strategies focus on hitting certain
02:26targets or following systems and in most
02:29cases these strategies aren't all that
02:31adaptable when we enter different
02:33situations that are outside our normal
02:35routine as we previously discussed this
02:38often makes them less sustainable to
02:40stick with long term because it assumes
02:42100% adherence to the plan which is not
02:45very realistic in most cases adopting
02:47intuitive eating behaviors is something
02:50that everyone can stick with for the
02:51rest of their lives since they
02:53experience hunger and satiety
02:55anyway however there are some situations
02:58where intuitive eating might not be the
03:00most appropriate way to regulate your
03:02diet as we will discuss later intuitive
03:05eating will drive us towards a
03:07relatively lean and healthy body weight
03:09although in some cases we would want to
03:11intentionally manipulate body weight
03:13outside these ranges for performance
03:15related goals for example if you are
03:18intentionally trying to reduce body fat
03:20Beyond healthy levels for a specific
03:22event like a physique competition for
03:25example then intuitive eating is
03:27probably not going to get you there you
03:29can still will pay attention to hunger
03:31and satiety signals but you might need
03:33to go against extreme hunger for a
03:35temporary period of time to get as lean
03:37as you want alternatively an athlete
03:40that can benefit from being at a heavier
03:41body weight such as a heavyweight
03:43weightlifter or certain positions in
03:46contact Sports might not achieve this
03:48through intuitive eating again you can
03:50still pay attention to hunger and
03:51satiety signals but you might need to
03:53eat even when you aren't biologically
03:56hungry as we have mentioned a few times
03:58already intuitive eating relies
04:00primarily on biological hunger and
04:02satiety signals essentially our
04:05physiology attempts to keep us at
04:06homeostasis or a state of balance it
04:09doesn't want us to starve and it
04:11probably doesn't want us to store a lot
04:13of excess body fat both of which are
04:15detrimental for health function and
04:17survival there is thought to be a range
04:19of body fat levels that our physiology
04:21tries to keep us within known as The
04:23Duel intervention Theory but this is
04:25something we will touch on later one way
04:28in which our biology attempts to
04:29regulate this is via hunger and satiety
04:32signals which tell us when to eat and
04:34when not to eat if we are low in energy
04:36we feel hungry as a signal to consume
04:39food if we have enough energy for the
04:41current task we feel satiated as a
04:43signal to not eat and we are constantly
04:46in a state of flux between hunger and
04:48satiety in the short term hunger and
04:50satiety are regulated based on how long
04:53it has been since we last ate how much
04:55we ate and what we ate although it is
04:57also regulated by long-term factors too
05:00such as our chronic energy balance State
05:02and our current body fat level so at any
05:05given time we are more or less hungry
05:07based on all these factors according to
05:09this research review this is thought to
05:11be primarily regulated via the hormones
05:14of gin and leptin gin is known as the
05:17hunger hormone which promotes the
05:18feeling of hunger the drive for us to
05:20consume energy leptin is basically the
05:23opposite it promotes satiety or fullness
05:26decreasing our drive to eat going back
05:28to our diagram gin and leptin are
05:31inversely related to satiety and hunger
05:33when we feel hungry gin is high and
05:36leptin is low when we feel satiated
05:38leptin is high and gin is low and this
05:41is a simplistic overview of how
05:43biological hunger and satiety are
05:45regulated and what intuitive eating is
05:48based on however there are also other
05:51drives to eat other than purely
05:53biological signals this can be termed
05:55our desire to eat according to the
05:58Canadian Society of of intestinal
06:00research our desire to eat can also be
06:02influenced by emotions and environment
06:05biological hunger is when our body
06:07craves fuel this is a physiological
06:10response that doesn't have a specific
06:12trigger and doesn't go away until energy
06:15is consumed while other forms of desire
06:17to eat are when our brain suddenly wants
06:19a specific food because it tastes good
06:22because we are bored or for other
06:24emotional reasons so we might eat at
06:26times that we aren't physiologically
06:28hungry but but rather because we see or
06:31smell tasty food it is a specific time
06:33of the day that we normally eat or as a
06:35distraction of an emotion such as being
06:37bored or sad a practical way to tell the
06:40difference between biological hunger and
06:43other forms of desire to eat is if the
06:45hunger goes away or remains if you go
06:48and do another task and you forget about
06:50the craving then it probably wasn't a
06:52real biological hunger although if the
06:54hunger remains and amplifies over time
06:57then you are likely truly biologic
06:59ically hungry there is also a similar
07:02concept regarding satiety biological
07:04satiety versus food satisfaction
07:07biological satiety is when we eat enough
07:10to fuel our energy needs feeling
07:12satiated means our body no longer craves
07:15food at least not for another few hours
07:17and there is often a short delay between
07:19the time we ingest our food and the peak
07:22satiety effect usually around 10 to 20
07:24minutes after finishing our meal food
07:27satisfaction on the other hand refers to
07:29how satisfied you were with the meal
07:31from a taste perspective eating a meal
07:33we enjoy in addition to biological
07:35satiety allows us to feel satisfied with
07:38what we ate whereas our desire to eat
07:41can still be present if the meal
07:43consumed was not satisfactory from a
07:45taste perspective different people and
07:47cultures enjoy different foods and this
07:50might also change depending on the time
07:52of day the time of year and probably at
07:54different body fat levels too but the
07:56point is our desire to eat might still
07:58be present even when we are biologically
08:01satiated so going back to intuitive
08:04eating the idea is to pay more attention
08:06to biological hunger and satiety signals
08:09and pay less attention to other factors
08:11influencing our desire to eat this
08:14however is easier said than done since
08:16the modern environment often takes our
08:18attention away from biological signals
08:21instead we often eat according to
08:23environmental and emotional signals
08:26intuitive eating doesn't mean you can
08:28never eat foods that you enjoy or
08:30participate in social events you
08:31certainly can the point is to just be
08:34aware of our biological signals and
08:36primarily use them to guide diet
08:39decisions so with all this in mind let's
08:42now discuss how to implement intuitive
08:44eating in practice there are four
08:46primary intuitive eating factors to
08:49discuss the first is how much do we eat
08:52well there is no exact amount that
08:54everybody should eat at all meals and
08:56there really isn't a right or wrong
08:58answer either you could eat all your
09:00total daily calorie requirements in one
09:02meal or you could eat just a small snack
09:04either works if you follow the
09:06principles of intuitive eating the
09:08reason for this is because how much you
09:10eat depends on how hungry you are and
09:13how much you eat will influence satiety
09:15for the next few hours and possibly even
09:17the next day the more you eat the longer
09:20you will be satiated for and the less
09:22you eat it will be a shorter time before
09:24you are hungry once again so while any
09:27amount of food will work here are some
09:29practical guidelines to help make
09:31informed decisions in most cases you
09:33would want to eat until you were well
09:35satiated but not overly full a decent
09:38rule of thumb comes from the Japanese
09:40phrase excuse my pronunciation har haibu
09:43meaning to eat until you are 80% full
09:46you want to feel satiated and not have
09:48to think about food for a good few hours
09:50but not feel full to the point where it
09:52is uncomfortable adjust how much you eat
09:55based on your hunger levels if you
09:57aren't hungry it is probably just best
09:59to not eat at all and wait until you
10:01were physiologically hungry but if it is
10:03a lunch break or another time where you
10:06only have a few opportunities to eat
10:08then you can eat more or less based on
10:10how you feel if you aren't really hungry
10:12just a light snack with a tea or coffee
10:14might be enough otherwise if you were
10:17quite hungry eat a bigger meal so that
10:19you feel satiated it is also a good idea
10:22to eat relatively slowly so that your
10:24hunger and satiety signals have time to
10:26catch up there is a delay from when you
10:28inject best food to when your satiety
10:30signals Peak around 10 to 20 minutes or
10:33so so eating too fast can sometimes
10:36result in eating more than you intend to
10:38since your satiety signals haven't fully
10:40registered yet this brings us to the
10:43next question which is how many meals
10:45should you eat again there is no correct
10:47answer here it will be regulated by how
10:50much you eat at each meal and how long
10:52it is before you become hungry again if
10:54your last meal was bigger then you will
10:56probably feel hungry sooner and vice
10:58versa ver in some cases meal frequency
11:01is influenced by work social events and
11:04family life for example if you have a
11:06lunch break at school or work at the
11:09same time and always have a family
11:11dinner every evening those two meals are
11:13guaranteed and this isn't a problem
11:15because you can always regulate what you
11:17eat and how many other meals you consume
11:20throughout the rest of the day
11:21furthermore this might also be
11:23influenced by yesterday's diet too if
11:25you ate a large meal for dinner last
11:27night you might not feel hungry in the
11:29morning and might delay your next meal
11:31until the afternoon maybe this means
11:34only eating lunch and dinner as opposed
11:36to breakfast lunch and dinner as you
11:38normally would here are some practical
11:40guidelines regarding meal frequency for
11:42most people an average meal frequency of
11:452 to four meals per day usually works
11:47quite well and you don't have to stick
11:49to the same number of meals every day
11:52this might mean two meals one day and
11:54three meals the next let time pass and
11:57your biology will let you know when it
11:58is is time to eat the next question is
12:01then when should we eat a meal ideally
12:04you only want to eat when you become
12:06physiologically hungry although as we
12:08have discussed hunger and satiety exists
12:11on a sliding scale there is no single
12:13moment that you become hungry it is a
12:15gradual shift from satiety to hunger so
12:18if we were to use a 1 to 10 scale where
12:21one is as hungry as you can be and 10 is
12:24that you are completely full it is a
12:25good idea to eat when you are at about a
12:283 to 4 out of 10 I haven't seen any
12:30research on this but in my experience if
12:33you let yourself get too hungry it can
12:35be a trigger to make poor food choices
12:37and overeat and if you don't let
12:39yourself get hungry enough you simply
12:41don't need the extra energy and might be
12:43eating more calories than you need
12:45resulting in unwanted weight gain over
12:47time although once again sometimes when
12:50we eat is determined by our work
12:52schedule or by social events in these
12:54cases you can regulate how much you eat
12:56at each meal and your meal frequency to
12:59accommodate and the last consideration
13:02when implementing intuitive eating is
13:04what you should eat this is an entire
13:06topic itself and isn't specific to
13:08intuitive eating you can really eat
13:10whatever you want since your overall
13:12calorie intake is primarily what will
13:15regulate hunger and satiety in the long
13:17term however what we eat May influence
13:20daily calorie intake via its effects on
13:22desire to eat for emotional
13:24environmental or behavioral reasons if
13:27you always indulge on high palatable
13:29Foods it makes it more likely for you to
13:31overeat at a meal since food volume is
13:34usually lower for the same amount of
13:36calories compared with most minimally
13:38processed foods this makes it more
13:40likely to consume greater total calories
13:42over the course of the day and more
13:44importantly the entire week furthermore
13:47you may not get adequate macro and
13:49micronutrients for body composition
13:51goals and good health here are some
13:54general recommendations for what to eat
13:56for the purposes of reducing body fat
13:58Maxim imizing muscle retention and
14:00supporting General Health try to include
14:02some fruits or vegetables with each meal
14:05these Foods generally provide a high
14:07concentration of micronutrients to
14:09support overall health and function
14:11include a decent serving of protein with
14:14each meal you don't necessarily need to
14:16calculate how much protein you get with
14:18each meal but including high protein
14:20foods in each meal can ensure you
14:22accumulate a high total daily protein
14:24intake this will assist with muscle
14:26growth or preservation assuming distance
14:29training is also being performed and
14:31make sure you eat meals that you
14:32somewhat enjoy it doesn't need to be
14:34your absolute favorite food each meal
14:37but eating relatively tasty Foods is
14:39important to satisfy your Cravings if
14:41you eat Foods you don't particularly
14:43enjoy chances are you will still want to
14:45eat even if you were physiologically
14:48satiated now that we understand how to
14:51implement intuitive eating in practice
14:53how can it be used for weight loss and
14:55weight management purposes well the
14:57first thing to understand is that
14:59intuitive eating doesn't necessarily
15:01have the goal to reduce body weight the
15:03goal is to pay attention to your
15:05biological signals and adjust your diet
15:08accordingly however in most cases people
15:11tend to eat fewer calories when
15:12implementing intuitive eating and as a
15:14result weight loss is often achieved
15:16without intentional effort this was seen
15:19in this meta analysis which assessed the
15:21effects of mindful or intuitive eating
15:24strategies on body weight change it was
15:26found that compared to no specific diet
15:28intervention intuitive eating results in
15:31Greater weight loss as we can see with
15:33the diamond towards the left side of the
15:35midline although compared to other
15:37calorie restricted diet strategies
15:39intuitive eating appears to be similarly
15:41effective for weight loss so intuitive
15:44eating will usually result in consuming
15:46fewer calories and often results in
15:48weight loss the reason for this is
15:51probably because our habitual diet in
15:53the modern world is highly influenced by
15:55our external environment which usually
15:58drives us to consume more food food
16:00marketing convenient access to food high
16:03stress levels and a lack of physical
16:05activity can all drive us to eat without
16:07being biologically hungry so when we
16:10bring our attention back to biological
16:12systems we may start to eat in line with
16:14our actual energy needs kind of like
16:18machine so if we eat intuitively where
16:22will we end up well if we were to eat
16:24purely based on biological signals we
16:26would probably end up maintaining a
16:28relatively lean and healthy body weight
16:30over time this is based on what is known
16:33as the Dual intervention Theory
16:35according to this research review this
16:38Theory essentially suggests that there
16:39is a body weight range that we are
16:41healthy and comfortable at our
16:43physiology therefore attempts to
16:45regulate our diet and exercise habits so
16:48that our body weight falls somewhere
16:50within this range if we are above this
16:52range known as the upper intervention
16:54Point our biological signals will try to
16:57promote a decrease in body weight and if
16:59you are below this range known as the
17:01lower intervention Point our biological
17:04signals will try to promote an increase
17:06in body weight it isn't entirely clear
17:08what this range is and it probably
17:10differs between individuals although as
17:12a very general range this seems to be
17:15somewhere around 8 to 18% body fat for
17:18males and around 16 to 26% for females
17:22so essentially if we were to eat purely
17:24based on biological hunger and satiety
17:27we will probably settle somewhere Within
17:28These body fat ranges while it is
17:31difficult to study this topic in modern
17:33society where our environment has a
17:35large influence on eating and exercise
17:37Behavior This research review looked at
17:39diet and exercise habits of various
17:42hunter gatherer populations body fat
17:44percentage of a hunter gatherer
17:46population in Tanzania was an average of
17:49around 9% for males and around 24% for
17:52females throughout adulthood while this
17:54isn't clear evidence of our intervention
17:57points these popul ations are likely to
17:59eat more based on biological signals
18:02since they are not influenced by many of
18:04the modern environmental drivers to eat
18:07we should also understand that intuitive
18:09eating is somewhat of a skill that takes
18:11intentional practice with experience we
18:14will have more awareness about when we
18:16are feeling true hunger and satiety and
18:19when we are influenced by external
18:21triggers to eat we also get better at
18:23knowing what these signals mean in our
18:25context and how they change in different
18:27environment ments and situations so
18:30ultimately we can make better decisions
18:32about when to eat what to eat and how
18:34much to eat throughout our everyday
18:36lives it is also a good idea to have a
18:39decent understanding of calories and
18:41macronutrients too understanding what
18:44foods are more or less calorie dense and
18:46are higher and lower in different
18:48macronutrients can help make appropriate
18:50food choices when it is time to eat a
18:53good strategy to implement at times is
18:55what I like to call a diet audit the
18:57idea is to accurately track your normal
19:00food intake for one whole day or even
19:02multiple consecutive days using an app
19:05or other method the goal is to see the
19:07calorie and macronutrient profiles of
19:09the foods you regularly consume and the
19:11diet as a whole this allows you to
19:14assess what an average day of eating
19:16looks like for you so that you can look
19:17at improving your diet if needed for
19:20example you might find that total daily
19:22protein is lower than you would like to
19:24meet your muscle growth goals so you can
19:26intentionally try to include more high
19:28protein foods in your everyday diet
19:31taking all this information let's
19:33establish some practical recommendations
19:36intuitive eating is when you use your
19:38hunger and satiety signals to guide food
19:40intake you eat when you are hungry and
19:42don't eat when you are satiated although
19:45we should be aware that this refers to
19:47actual biological hunger and satiety not
19:50our desire to eat or satisfaction of
19:52food intuitive eating can be beneficial
19:55as a diet strategy as it can allow you
19:57to meet your your nutrition goals in an
19:59adaptable and sustainable way which is
20:01often an issue with conventional diet
20:04approaches however we should also be
20:06aware that if you were trying to gain or
20:08reduce body weight Beyond normal healthy
20:10ranges intuitive eating probably isn't
20:13going to get you there alone in practice
20:16intuitive eating can be implemented by
20:18eating until you were satiated but not
20:20overly full eating until you are around
20:2380% full is a good rule of thumb try to
20:27only eat when you physiologically hungry
20:29not when you were craving food for
20:31emotional or hedonic reasons a good time
20:34to eat would be when you reach around a
20:367 to 8 out of 10 with 10 being maximal
20:39hunger this would usually result in
20:41eating somewhere around 2 to four meals
20:43per day but this might change based on
20:45your individual hunger and satiety
20:47signals ensure your meals are of a
20:50fairly high quality meaning try to
20:52include fruits or vegetables with each
20:54meal and get a decent serving of protein
20:56with each meal and it is also a good
20:59idea to eat Foods you enjoy otherwise
21:01you will likely still crave food even if
21:03you were physiologically satiated while
21:06the goal of intuitive eating isn't
21:08specifically to lose weight weight loss
21:10is often a byproduct this is because our
21:13physiology attempts to regulate food
21:15intake to support a healthy body weight
21:17range as theorized by The Duel
21:19intervention model the modern
21:21environment in developed locations
21:23usually drives us to overc consume often
21:26causing weight gain above our
21:28intervention point so eating in
21:30accordance with biological signals often
21:32results in weight loss and helps us
21:34maintain a healthy bodyweight
21:37longterm thanks for watching and
21:40hopefully you got something out of this
21:41video check out Flo highper
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