HOW INTUITIVE EATING CAN HELP YOU QUIT DIET CULTURE What Is Intuitive Eating? The concept of mindfulness has fully saturated mainstream culture at this point. Though it’s more likely to conjure up an image of someone sitting cross-legged with closed eyes than sitting at a table looking wide-eyed at mealtime, it’ll serve you just as well on your dinner plate as it will on your yoga mat. What is intuitive eating? Eating mindfully, also known as intuitive eating, is trending in the health and wellness world. But it couldn’t be more different from fad diets or other trends like fasting and cleanses, which have restrictive lists of rules and foods to eat or avoid. Intuitive eating starts by simply tuning in to your body’s needs and cues, but it goes further than that. As a Harvard Medical School article put it, “In essence, mindful eating means being fully attentive to your food — as you buy, prepare, serve, and consume it.” And that includes focusing on how different foods and eating habits make you feel, both physically and mentally.
eating. Even the tried-and-true method of calorie counting has raised doubts in recent years due to inaccuracies in calorie calculations for the nutrition labels and research on how calorie restriction can backfire by changing your hormone levels and even slowing down your metabolism. Kristen Smith, a registered dietitian and the spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, says it’s also linked to disordered eating habits. Intuitive eating may just be the antidote. Singer Demi Lovato, who has been open about her struggles with an eating disorder and body-image issues, credits a more mindful approach to eating with helping her overcome harmful eating patterns. How does it lead to better health outcomes? Having a regular exercise routine and eating well have long been known as the two pillars of physical health. When it comes to the latter, intuitive eating helps you create healthy and sustainable eating habits. The upshot is that when you eat better, you’ll feel better. Being attuned to that connection is the foundation of mindful eating. Most of us know that we should eat whole foods, including lots of fruits and vegetables, but feeling the outcome of increased consumption of these foods will help you stick with and build the habit.
While this may feel … intuitive ... it’s easier said than done in a culture with consistent and often confusing messaging around what constitutes healthy
SERVICE OF THE MONTH Ready for Bikini Season?
Time at the beach is in many of our near futures, and that means we’re all going to want to look our best. One of the great things about modern medicine is that we can choose a lot about our personal appearance — we aren’t “locked in” to what we’re born with, nor are we left to deal with the process of aging without the means to help. Right now, we’re seeing a lot of interest in a few procedures, but in terms of quick recovery time and noticeable improvement, it’s hard to beat breast augmentation or breast lifts (often with augmentation as well). Breast augmentation especially has come a long way in the last few years, and you’re realistically looking at a recovery time of 7–10 days, if that. Although the general process will be the same for everyone, we have a lot of options in terms of traditional silicone or saline implants. Traditional silicone is what many will opt for, and it also affords us the “anatomical” option, which mimics the natural shape of a breast well, for those looking for that kind of enhancement. On the other
hand, saline implants are filled with harmless saline solution and can be inflated after they are placed. In both cases, most April operations will leave you beach-ready by May 1st! Augmentation is a great option for women of all ages. But if you’re interested in specifically countering the effects of time, then a breast lift may be needed, as well — or as an alternative to augmentation. Our clinic specializes in three kinds of lifts, depending on the severity of the sag: periareolar lifts, lollipop lifts, and full mastopexies. In either case, you’re looking at a bit longer recovery time — say, three weeks before you can return to your normal schedule. Still, you’d be trying on that bikini sometime in May, with plenty of time left in the summer. But there may not be a lot of time left in our busy spring schedule, so be sure to reach out and contact the clinic at 281-940-1535 to get your procedure penciled into our calendar!
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