What is your eating type?
Dieting can be so ingrained into our lifestyle that we might not even realise we are ‘Dieting’.
There are many eating styles that are actually a form of dieting and can derail your efforts to eat intuitively.
Primary Eating Styles
In their book, Intuitive Eating, a revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch have found most people fit into the following eating styles:
- The Careful Clean Eater
- The Professional Dieter
- The Unconscious Eater
You may find you have a dominant eating personality trait such as a Careful Clean Eater but during a particularly stressful period of your life you may become another.
The Careful Clean Eater
The careful clean eater can be obsessive, spending much of their time planning their next meal or snack and worrying about the quality of everything they shop for or choose in a restaurant.
Although you might think this shouldn’t be an issue, it can be an issue for their mental health.
Worry about ingredients, over analysing food labels and being overly critical of themselves for every ‘bad’ food they consume can affect a healthy relationship with food.
The Professional Dieter
The professional dieter can seem very knowledgeable about nutrition and being healthy. They will usually have tried the latest food fad or diet gimmick. They are usually following some kind of meal plan, fasting or cutting back.
Chronic dieters are optimistic and hopeful. They feel excited about the hope a new food plan gives them and enjoy the ‘last supper’ binge before starting, knowing that this time will be different. Unfortunately its this type of eating that leads to the Dieters Dilemma. Frustration and desperation can lead to diet pills and dangerous dieting aids.
The Unconscious Eater
The unconscious eater is usually a multitasker engaging in another activity whilst eating such as watching TV, reading, or scrolling through social media. There are different types of unconscious eater.
The Chaotic Unconscious Eater can often be too busy, they have a chaotic lifestyle which can see them grabbing anything or not not eating until the realise they are ravenous.
The Refuse-not Unconscious Eater is vulnerable to food lying around at home or in meetings. Food can be popped into their mouth without them even registering they have eaten anything.
The Waste-not Unconscious Eater knows the value of food and is influenced by getting as much food as they can for their money. They are usually clean platers too, their own and others such as the children’s leftovers.
The Emotional Unconscious Eater uses food to cope with emotions such as stress, sadness, boredom, loneliness and anger. Food is used to comfort and zone out.
Which are you?
Did you identify yourself amongst those eating styles?
I know I did. I think I have probably fallen into most of those at some point during my 46 years!
Once we are more aware of how we eat and what triggers us we can move towards eating more intuitively.
The journey to becoming an intuitive eater is not an easy or straight forward one.
You may experience self doubt but you will learn a lot about yourself and learn to treat yourself with kindness on the journey.
The thought of implementing some of the Principles such as ditching dieters tools and eating unconditionally can seem scary at first, but with support they help you through the journey to achieve freedom from diets for life.
My new course will be available in the coming weeks. If you would like to be added to the waitlist email me at [email protected] .
If you have any further questions, let’s chat.
Have a lovely weekend.
With love
Sue x