Your body knows what it
needs to function well and keep you active, alert and
happy so you can learn, succeed, love and be loved.
People do not need to "control" their eating. When you
learn to trust the wisdom of your body, eating becomes
a function as naturally regulated as breathing or sleeping.
Your body has its own unique
wisdom and can be relied upon to function in a predictable
and well-regulated manner if you take good and proper
care of it.
Here are some examples of how clever your body is:
If you try not to eat and
don’t feed your body what it needs, it will only get
hungrier and will stimulate you to want to eat more
and more. This kind of eating is called gorging.
If a person stops eating
or misses meals regularly, her body goes into a kind
of hibernation which is similar to what happens to the
bear who curls up and sleeps all winter long, eating
nothing. The body’s "metabolism" is a function that
burns up the food you put into it, transforming it into
fuel and energy. If you do not eat enough or stop eating
altogether, your metabolism will slow down markedly;
when that happens, a person can retain or gain weight
eating little or no food at all! Your body’s first priority
is to survive and you can count on its going to any
lengths to do so.
The body requires water
and fluids to survive. If a person does not take in
enough fluids, or if she losses too much through sweating
or diarrhea, the body will make up for this loss by
tenaciously holding onto whatever fluid remains, causing
swelling and bloating in a condition called edema. This
process is similar to what happens to camels or desert
cacti that conserve water to survive the dryness of
the desert.Dieting is the least effective way to lose
weight. Are you surprised? People who diet and restrict
food intake when they are young generally have the tendency
to become fatter adults. This is because they damage
their metabolic function through restricting food and
yo- yo dieting during childhood years.
Fat-free eating is not
healthy eating. The body needs fat throughout your childhood
and adolescent years to develop the nervous system,
absorb vitamins, and allow young girls to become mothers
one day. Fat performs important functions for us throughout
our lives.
How good are you at recognizing what you need? When
you are hungry, eat. When you are full, stop.
When you eat healthfully,
three meals a day of a variety of nutritious foods in
the right amounts, you can count on your body to regulate
itself so that you will not have to worry about becoming
fat. As you grow, your body will find and maintain the
right weight to keep you alert, alive, and energetic.
Once you have stopped growing, eating healthfully and
exercising regularly will allow you to reach and maintain
a "set point" weight, a more or less constant weight
which may fluctuate slightly over time. Our bodies are
houses for our souls. We are only given one body in
our entire lifetime. It is important to care for it
well.
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