The Best Diet Ever: Intuitarian

Paleo enthusiast? Vegetarian? Not sure? Here’s a new one for you, it’s called ‘Intuitarian’.

There’s a brand new diet on the block, and if you’ve been feeling overwhelmed with the world of options popping up online of late, you will really like this one. Every day, you’re probably inundated with new findings, research, diet and lifestyle tips, filling your news feeds and leaving you panicked; how the hell are you to know what’s going to work for you? How will you know what isn’t just a ridiculous fad? How will you know of certain diets’ longterm side effects? And why does everything you read tend to make you feel bad about yourself? Here’s a diet (well, it’s more of a way of life than a diet) that will give you a break.

One of our favourite wellness sites, Mind Body Green, are bringing the notion of the Intuitarian to the fore. As the name suggests, it’s all about listening to your intuition. If you feel like eating cake, eat it. If you feel like yoga is working for you, do it. Though it sounds rather laughable, it’s not a bad idea. As we are learning more and more, health isn’t just about how you look or feel physically, it’s about your sense of overall wellbeing, emotionally too.

Though the mind/body/spirit approach to living used to be considered the reserve of those who hug trees in their spare time, more and more of us are tuning in to this personal, fundamental metric of success. Are you satisfying your mind, body and spirit? Are your actions serving you well? You might have read that avoiding carbs is a must if it’s a flat tummy you’re after, but is it good for your overall sense of wellbeing? Does it make you miserable?

Though some of us might take the Intuitarian a little too literally, deciding that our intuition is really telling us to eat pizza five nights in a row, it’s something worth considering. As you experiment with what may or may not work for you, Mind Body Green writer Dr Kelly Neff suggests you ask yourself three key questions: How does my body feel? How does my mind feel? How does my spirit feel?

If you feel good, keep it up, if you don’t, change what it is you’re doing. Your body is incredibly adept at speaking your mind and is often one step ahead of your conscious thinking; it knows intuitively what will and will not work for you, so trust it! High-intensity cardio may work wonders for one person while another may feel a wealth of benefits from a morning yoga routine. It’s not possible that every health or diet claim can hold true for all individuals, we’re just too different.

So for a fancy term to describe that you do what works for you, cut through the barrage of confusing and contradicting diets and consider yourself an Intuitarian.

@CarolineForan

Mind Body Green