What is health? How do you define it? The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. Personally, I think this is a tall order for most, which is a discussion for another day, but no matter how you define “health,” it is not a destination with a finish line. This is both because your health status fluctuates over time and because you cannot protect yourself from disease.
No, Health is a journey, a partnership between you, your body and mind, and sometimes your doctors or other health care providers. No matter where you are, there is still work to be done, but it is meaningful work.
That’s why I personally (and professionally) like the definition of “authentic health,” or more specifically, what it means to achieve authentic health, in the book Intuitive Eating.
“Achieving authentic health is an ongoing process of dynamically integrating your inner world, including attuning your body’s wisdom and needs to the outer world of health guidelines, which includes exercise and diet.”
From “Intuitive Eating: A Radical Anti-Diet Approach” (4th Edition)
External health guidelines include health policies such as research-based “expert consensus” (which is sometimes problematic when research in a particular area, such as weight and health research, is replete with biases and assumptions and failure to consider things like physical activity and the impact of weight stigma on health). It can also include food philosophies, such as wanting to eat locally produced foods with a low carbon footprint or avoiding animal-based foods for ethical reasons.
The power of coordination for authentic health
As authors Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch (both registered dietitian nutritionists) explain, when you seek authentic health, you decide which aspects of external health guidelines you’d like to incorporate. If you have internal tuning (more on that in a moment), you can incorporate an external value—like a desire to eat local, sustainable food—while still paying attention to hunger, fullness, satisfaction, etc.
However, If you incorporate external health values without internal alignment, there is a risk that these external values become another rigid set of rules.
The 10 principles of intuitive eating work increasing body coordination, or introspective awareness — the ability to perceive physical sensations that come from your body, such as hunger, satiety, a full bladder, or the physical sensations that accompany emotions — helping you develop it or removing obstacles to it.
Four principles—honor your hunger, feel your fullness, discover your satisfaction factor, and move (feel the difference)—help you hone the ability to listen to (and therefore respond to) the physical sensations that arise within your body, such as biological cues of hunger and fullness.
Six principles — ditch the diet mentality, make peace with food, challenge the food police, deal with your emotions with kindness, respect your body and honor your health with gentle eating — helps you remove obstacles that originate mainly from your mind in the form of thoughts, beliefs and rules, such as…
- Rules for what you should or shouldn’t eat
- Beliefs about what a healthy body should look like
- Critical thoughts on “good” food versus “bad” food
Note: I want to quickly acknowledge that cultivating introspective awareness can be challenging for some people, including those who are neurodeviant, have a history of trauma, or currently have a restrictive eating disorder.How coordination can break the chains of food culture
How coordination can break the chains of food culture
Another benefit of continually cultivating introspective awareness, In addition to the positive changes you’ve noticed since you started practicing intuitive eating, it can help you develop resilience from the food culture.
One of my former clients, a fitness trainer, shared with me in one of our sessions that she was surprised how much food she needed to feel truly ripped, which gave her a new perspective on how much she was restricting her food before.
Not only did she notice that her mood improved when she consistently ate enough, but she had more energy during her workouts…and her libido improved.
Because restricting her food contributed to her binge eating—something she struggled with, in part because the binge eating started at night and carried over into the next day—for the first month or so of our partnership, she had to have a company self-care plan (in addition to she eats enough) in order to reduce her excesses on the days she felt coming. afterward he got to the point where he was eating enough on a regular basis and enjoying food again so he didn’t have to actively take steps to prevent overeating.
By digging deep and tuning into how you feel to…
- make peace with food…
- choose ways to move that feel good in your body…
- inhabit your body instead of treating it as an object…
- listen to your body when it tells you what it needs in terms of food and movement and rest…
…will help keep moving towards your personal version of authentic health and away from society’s ideas of how we should look, live and be. And that is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.
learn more
To help you on your ongoing journey, here is a list of books you might want to explore:
You can also book a free 20-minute introductory call to see if my intuitive nutrition or nutrition counseling services are right for you.
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon affiliate I earn on qualifying purchases.
Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, is a registered dietitian nutritionist based in the Pacific Northwest, freelance writer, intuitive nutrition consultant, author, and speaker. Her superpowers include; debunking nutritional myths and empowerment of women feel better about their bodies and make food choices that support pleasure, nutrition and health. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute personalized nutrition or medical advice.
Looking for 1 on 1 nutritional advice? Carrie offers a 6-month Food & Body program (intuitive eating, body image, awareness, self-compassion) and a 4 month IBS management program (How-FODMAP diet coaching with an emphasis on increasing food freedom). Visit the links to learn more and book a free introductory call to see if the program is a good fit and if we’re a good fit!
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