“Diet” is a four-letter word that gets thrown around everywhere. We all know someone who has tried to change their life with Paleo, Keto, or Whole30. And while we’re “those people” on the sidelines jumping up and down with excitement as, together, we work toward healthier living habits, we aren’t the biggest fans of dieting. The Anti-Diet movement disproves the theory that dieting is equivalent to healthy eating. And we agree.
What does “anti-diet” even mean? Christy Harrison, RDN, assures us on her blog that “Anti-diet does NOT mean anti-healthy... [it] means anti-diet culture.” Or, in other words, Western society’s obsession with “thinness...in all its sneaky, shape-shifting forms.” Here at Kodiak, we celebrate all shapes and sizes while inspiring healthier eating and active living.
Page Smathers, RDN and owner of Positive Nutrition, also weighed in on the dieting subject. “Dieting is not health promoting at best and can be really harmful at worst. Long term, the outcomes of dieting are weight gain, binge eating, and eating disorders.”
So how do we eat healthier and live fuller lives without the negative loop cycle of dieting? A great start is through a concept called Intuitive Eating.
Dietitians Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole developed Intuitive Eating back in 1995. It’s all about listening to your own body and its cues relating to your health. For some, this comes naturally. For others, especially those who’ve started and stopped multiple diets, it’s a bit tougher but definitely possible.
Intuitive Eating is a middle ground between the strict diet and eating uncontrollably. It starts with putting diet mentality in the rear-view and speeding toward more balanced eating habits, such as getting adequate amounts of carbohydrates, fats, protein, and fiber. Our bodies need it, contrary to what popular fad diets might tell you. This balance helps increase energy levels and improve mood.
Diets can be harmful because of the extreme restrictions that are hard to sustain long term. Intuitive eating is all about balance. So instead of cutting sugar from your diet and perhaps eating an entire cake a few weeks later, try consciously adding more quality nutrients into your daily food intake and treating yourself to a slice of cake when you’re craving it for dessert—without the guilt.
Whether you’re wrangling your kids at the playground, mustering enthusiasm to crush a presentation, or backpacking through the mountains, you need fuel...ahem, the right foods...to get you through it. As we adopt the mindset that food is fuel, our focus shifts and we want to fit more veggies and whole grains into each meal because it makes us feel better and helps us achieve our goals.
Intuitive eating is all about incorporating nutrient-dense foods like whole grains, fruits, and veggies. When compared to enriched white flour (gross!), whole grain flour packs in more protein and fiber with fewer calories. Whole grains give you the whole package, including the vitamins and minerals that are typically stripped during the refining process for enriched grain.
When thinking about our food choices, Smathers says, “The closer your food is to how it comes in nature, the better you will feel. It will help you feel full, have more energy and, ultimately, allow food to do its job for you.”
Our mission here at Kodiak is to inspire healthier eating and active living. So naturally, we use real ingredients in our foods—like 100% whole grains. Each Kodiak product supports healthier food choices and encourages Intuitive Eating—which means that we can also have a brownie and feel good about it, too!
To learn more about Intuitive Eating and positive nutrition, we suggest visiting intuitiveeating.org and checking out Paige Smathers’ Nutrition Matters Podcast.
How has Intuitive Eating helped you better honor your health? Share your story with us on Instagram and Facebook by tagging @kodiakcakes!
