Often, what we eat, when and how much gets put second behind our demanding job, busy mom-life and social commitments. But by not paying attention to our eating habits, it can lead to health problems that affect other aspects of our lives. Let me break down the importance of eating the right amount.

Making Time for Food in a Busy Working Life

A SUPER common scenario I see with clients is:

👉🏼 Under-eating

And most often, it’s UNintentional under-eating.

However, your body doesn’t know the difference if it is intentional or not, nor does it care. It only cares that it gets what it needs to function well. And when it doesn’t get that, it starts to send you some not-so-awesome signs.

Those signs might look like:

Low energy
Constipation
Moodiness
Poor sleep
Difficulty losing weight
Lots of cravings
Feeling insatiable
No sex drive
Lack of strength
Low motivation
Extreme or even mild fatigue
Night time wake ups
Skin issues
Hair loss

The long term consequences of malnourishment & too little calories can cause impaired thyroid function, autoimmunity, loss of muscle, lowered immunity, infertility, & much more.

If you still feel like you “need to lose weight” yet you are experiencing some of those consequences, in order to lose, you’ll likely need to increase your intake and get your body feeling safe enough to drop the extra fat.

Sound counter-intuitive?

Then you have a lot to learn. And we’re here to teach you.

Too much work to eat, coffee replaces nutrients

Your Hunger Cues Will Not Always Tell You if You are Eating Enough

Think about the last time you were stressed or got a poor night’s rest. How did you relate to food? Did you skip a meal? Did you overeat? Did you have specific cravings?

It is important to remember that your body will send cues from where it is at that moment. This could often be supported by emotion, environment or stress. If you have a particularly busy week at work, you might put hunger to the back of your mind; grabbing another coffee or an apple to substitute lunch.

If where you and your body are right now isn’t optimal or isn’t your goal place, you likely need to intentionally eat, not intuitively. So, consider how much energy you’re using when you’re squeezing in your morning workout before the school run and your 9am meeting. You’ll need more than that extra coffee or apple to sustain you.

What You do Most Often is What Your Body Will Get Used to

The problem is, under-eating for long periods of time causes not so great repercussions.

Remember, food = nutrients.

Nutrients allow your cells (body) to function. When it doesn't get what it needs, functions start to slow down and issues start to occur.

To break the cycle, you need to start to strategically nourish your body to create new and better cues. Both the intention of eating more nutrients and increasing your intake (ie. reverse dieting) will help to make your body feel more safe.

It might still seem like there’s not enough time to think about eating when you’re on the go, but once you include intentional eating in your routine, you will have way more energy to get your to-do list done!

This is Why Intuitive Eating Can be Very Difficult for

Supporting Health Objective and Shape Goals

If you’re thinking “but I’m just not hungry”... not having an appetite is not a good sign.

As a consequence of repeated bouts of intentional, unintentional or restrictive eating, many of us have altered hunger cues and imbalance hormones which can lead to lacking an appetite.

The more you ignore your hunger signals, the more your body feels threatened, the less energy you’ll have and the less you’ll feel hungry.

Take a look at your symptoms, do they match any of those discussed? If so, start to consider your food intake for the day the night before or even on a Sunday to kick-start the week intentionally. A big chunk of time spent on meal prep is just thinking of what to prep, right? So take a look at any of my meal prep blog posts for some super easy and nutritious ideas.

If your symptoms are concerning you and you feel like you have tried to combat this yourself unsuccessfully, book in a consultation with me or one of my coaches, we have helped many others in this same spot to learn and confidently increase intake without fear of gaining.

Why Intuitive Eating May Not Be the Answer for You Right Now

Intuitive eating can be great, but it might not be the correct path for you right away. Find out why in this talk below, it won’t take long and could shift your mindset totally!

Intuitive eating does not work for most individuals who are looking for physique or health changes. It also does not work if you've been chronically dieting and restricting.

I talk about the strategy of food logging and the strategy of intuitive eating and when each are best utilized in one's health journey.

HOW TO TELL IF YOU ARE EATING ENOUGH FOOD