In our recent Expert Insights main features, we’ve looked at two fairly opposing schools of thought when it comes to managing what we eat.

First we looked at:

What Flexible Dieting Really Means

…and the notion of doing things imperfectly for greater sustainability, and reducing the cognitive load of dieting by measuring only the things that are necessary.

And then in opposition to that,

What Are The “Bright Lines” Of Bright Line Eating?

…and the notion of doing things perfectly so as to not go astray, and reducing the cognitive load of dieting by having hard-and-fast rules that one does not second-guess or reconsider later when hungry.

Today we’re going to look at Intuitive Eating, and what it does and doesn’t mean.

Intuitive Eating does mean paying attention to hunger signals (each way)

Intuitive Eating means listening to one’s body, and responding to hunger signals, whether those signals are saying “time to eat” or “time to stop”.

A common recommendation is to “check in” with one’s body several times per meal, reflecting on such questions as:

• Do I have hunger pangs? Would I seek food now if I weren’t already at the table?
• If I hadn’t made more food than I’ve already eaten so far, would that have been enough, or would I have to look for something else to eat?
• Am I craving any of the foods that are still before me? Which one(s)?
• How much “room” do I feel I still have, really? Am I still in the comfort zone, and/or am I about to pass into having overeaten?
• Am I eating for pleasure only at this point? (This is not inherently bad, by the way—it’s ok to have a little more just for pleasure! But it is good to note that this is the reason we’re eating, and take it as a cue to slow down and remember to eat mindfully, and enjoy every bite)
• Have I, in fact, passed the point of pleasure, and I’m just eating because it’s in front of me, or so as to “not be wasteful”?

See also: Interoception: Improving Our Awareness Of Body Cues

And for that matter: Mindful Eating: How To Get More Out Of What’s On Your Plate

Intuitive Eating is not “80:20”

When it comes to food, the 80:20 rule is the idea of having 80% of one’s diet healthy, and the other 20% “free”, not necessarily unhealthy, but certainly not moderated either.

Do you know what else the 80:20 food rule is?

A food rule.

Intuitive Eating doesn’t do those.

The problem with food rules is that they can get us into the sorts of problems described in the studies showing how flexible dieting generally works better than rigid dieting.

Suddenly, what should have been our free-eating 20% becomes “wait, is this still 20%, or have I now eaten so much compared to the healthy food, that I’m at 110% for my overall food consumption today?”

Then one gets into “Well, I’ve already failed to do 80:20 today, so I’ll try again tomorrow [and binge meanwhile, since today is already written off]”

See also: Eating Disorders: More Varied (And Prevalent) Than People Think

It’s not “eat anything, anytime”, either

Intuitive Eating is about listening to your body, and your brain is also part of your body.

• If your body is saying “give me sugar”, your brain might add the information “fruit is healthier than candy”.
• If your body is saying “give me fat”, your brain might add the information “nuts are healthier than fried food”
• If your body is saying “give me salt”, your brain might add the information “kimchi is healthier than potato chips”

That doesn’t mean you have to swear off candy, fried food, or potato chips.

But it does mean that you might try satisfying your craving with the healthier option first, giving yourself permission to have the less healthy option afterwards if you still want it (you probably won’t).

See also:

I want to eat healthily. So why do I crave sugar, salt and carbs?

Want to know more about Intuitive Eating?

You might like this book that we reviewed previously:

Intuitive Eating – by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

Enjoy!

First though, for the sake of being methodical, let’s quickly note the basics:

• Aim for 7–9 hours per night
• Set a regular bedtime and (equally important!) regular getting-up time
• Have a 2-hour wind-down period before bed, to decompress from any stresses of the day
• Minimal device/screen usage before bed
• Abstain from stimulants for as long before bed as reasonably possible (caffeine elimination halflife is 4–8 hours depending on your genes, call it 6 hours average to eliminate half (not the whole lot), and you’ll see it’s probably best to put a cap on it earlier rather than later).
• Abstain from alcohol, ideally entirely, but allow at least 1hr/unit before bed. So for example, 1hr for a 1oz single shot of spirits, or 2–3 hours for a glass of wine (depending on size), or 3–4 hours for a martini (depending on recipe). Not that that is not the elimination time, nor even the elimination halflife of alcohol, it’s just a “give your body a chance at least” calculation. If you like to have a drink to relax before bed, then well, only you can decide what you like more: that or actually getting restorative sleep.
• Consider a warm bath/shower before bed, if that suits your schedule.
• Wash and change your bedsheets more often than seems necessary. Or if that’s too onerous, at least change the pillowcases more often, which makes quite a difference already.
• Lower the temperature of your bedroom shortly before bedtime; this will help cue the body to produce melatonin
• Make your bedroom as dark as reasonably possible. Invest in blackout blinds/curtains, and remove any pesky electronics, or at least cover their little LEDs if it’s something that reasonably needs to remain on.

Ok, now, onwards…

Those 7–9 hours? Yes, it goes for you too.

A lot of people mistake getting 6 hours sleep per night for only needing 6 hours sleep per night. Sure, you may still be alive after regularly getting 6 hours, but (unless you have a rare mutation of the ADRB1 gene) it will be causing harm, and yes, that includes later in life; we don’t stop needing so much sleep, even stop getting it:

Why You Probably Need More Sleep

With this in mind, it becomes important to…

Prioritize your sleep—which means planning for it!

When does your bedtime routine start? According to sleep scientist Dr. Lisa Matricciani, it starts before breakfast. This is because the things we do earlier in the day can greatly affect the amount (and quality) of sleep we get later. For example, a morning moderate-to-intense exercise session greatly improves sleep at night:

Planning Ahead For Better Sleep

As for quality, that is as important as quantity, and it’s not just about “soundness” of sleep:

The 6 Dimensions Of Sleep (And Why They Matter)

“What gets measured, gets done” goes for sleep too

Sleep-deprived people usually underestimate how sleep-deprived they are. This is for the same reason as why drunk people usually underestimate how drunk they are—to put it in words that go for both situations: a cognitively impaired person lacks the cognitive function to realize how cognitively impaired they are.

Here’s the science on that, by the way:

How Sleep-Deprived Are You, Really?

For that reason, we recommend using sleep-tracking software (there are many apps for that) on your phone or, ideally, a wearable device (such as a smartwatch or similar).

A benefit of doing so is that we don’t think “well, I slept from 10pm to 6am, so that’s 8 hours”, if our device tells us we slept between 10:43pm and 5:56 am with 74% sleep efficiency because we woke up many times.

As an aside, sleep efficiency should be about 85%, by the way. Why not 100%, you ask? It’s because if your body is truly out like a light for the entire night, something is wrong (either you were very sleep-deprived, or you have been drugged, that kind of thing). See also:

An unbroken night’s sleep is a myth. Here’s what good sleep looks like.

So waking up during the night is normal, and nothing to worry about per se. If you do find trouble getting back to sleep, though:

How to Fall Back Asleep After Waking Up in the Middle of the Night

Be careful about how you try to supplement sleep

This goes both for taking substances of various kinds, and napping. Some sleep aids can help, but many are harmful and/or do not really work as such; here’s a rundown of examples of those:

Safe Effective Sleep Aids For Seniors?

And when it comes to napping, timing is everything:

How To Nap Like A Pro (No More “Sleep Hangovers”!)

Want to know a lot more?

This is the book on sleep:

Why We Sleep – by Dr. Matthew Walker

Enjoy!