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Learning To Listen To Your Body
One of the most important ways for you to become
a healthy eater is to learn to listen closely to what your
body tells you, to recognize what it needs and desires in
order to feel fit and comfortable. When you listen long and
hard enough to your body, you will begin to differentiate
sensations and feelings, and to become aware of your own capacity
to react to hunger and satiety.
Your body will not lead you astray if you know
what it needs and can respond appropriately. If you are capable
of taking good care of your body, it will perform well for
you.
How well do you listen to your body?
- Do you know when you are hungry?
- Do you know when you are satisfied?
- Do you know when you are full?
- Do you know if you are too fat, too thin or just right?
- Are you unduly preoccupied with your body shape and size?
- Do you know what to eat to satisfy your body?
- Do you know how much is the right amount for your body?
- Are you aware of what you are feeling? - Do you feel frightened
of food or of becoming fat? - Do you feel guilty after you
eat?
- Do you know when you are eating to quiet your nerves or
to soothe your sadness?
- Do you know how to ask others for what you need or want?
- Are you used to establishing goals for yourself and accomplishing
those goals?
By learning to listen to your hunger and satiety
gauges, you’ll also be getting good practice in becoming responsive
to your feelings in general. Your feelings are guideposts,
coping tools, indicating what you need in life, when, and
why, and how to go about securing it. Through accessing your
feelings, you will learn how to make healthy demands of yourself
and others, to recognize and enforce boundaries between yourself
and others, and to resolve conflicts effectively.
Listening to yourself will help you to solve
problems effectively and eat responsibly.
The problem is how to achieve good health
and fitness.
The solution is to give your body nutritious and varied
foods regularly, in the form of meals and snacks, and to remain
active in your daily lifestyle.
The problem is how much to give your
body.
The solution is just what your body needs to feel satiated,
no more, no less. You must learn to listen to and to hear
your body’s signals. It will let you know what it needs.
The problem is when you feel that your
internal gauges or perceptions of self are not functioning
accurately, and not giving you adequate signals.
The solution is to attempt to make your next meal healthier,
and never to skip a meal. Set small goals for yourself and
gradually work your way towards accomplishing them, one by
one.
The problem is to help yourself when
you feel “stuck,” or unable to achieve what you know you would
like or need to accomplish.
The solution is to solicit help from your parents, school
counselors, or a nutritionist who can assist you to devise
a meal plan containing the foods you most enjoy eating in
the appropriate amounts.
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About the Author:
Abigail H. Natenshon, MA LCSW has been a psychotherapist in
private practice specializing in the treatment of eating disordered
individuals and their families for the past 28 years. She
is co-founder and director of Eating Disorder Specialists
of Illinois; A Clinic without Walls, and the author of "When
Your Child Has an Eating Disorder: A Step-by-Step Workbook
for Parents and Other Caregivers" (Jossey Bass, San
Francisco, October, 1999). Visit her web sites at www.empoweredparents.com
/ www.empoweredkidZ.com
and www.treatingeatingdisorders.com
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