Intuitive Eating: What It Is, What It's Not, and How It Might Transform Your Training, with Pam Moore (#231)
Jan 16, 2025
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Pam Moore, an intuitive eating coach and journalist known for her contributions to major publications like The Washington Post and Runner’s World, shares her insights on the transformative power of intuitive eating. She discusses how to embrace mindfulness in eating, recognize bodily cues, and reframe the approach to nutrition, moving away from tracking calories. Pam emphasizes the importance of fostering a healthy relationship with food to enhance athletic performance and mental well-being, encouraging listeners to prioritize satisfaction and self-awareness.
Intuitive eating emphasizes listening to one's body and recognizing personal hunger cues, challenging restrictive diets and cultural norms around food.
Increased awareness of food choices and establishing regular eating patterns can significantly enhance athletic performance and overall well-being.
Deep dives
The Role of Nutrition in Cycling Performance
Nutrition plays a crucial role in athletic performance, serving as both fuel for training and essential for recovery. Understanding food choices extends beyond mere calorie counting; it's about finding what works best for the individual athlete. Healthy eating habits contribute not just to sports performance but also to overall happiness and well-being. Emphasizing the importance of individualized approaches, the discussion reveals that knowledge and experimentation with food are key to finding one's optimal diet.
Intuitive Eating: A New Perspective
Intuitive eating promotes the idea of listening to one's body and recognizing personal hunger and fullness cues rather than adhering to restrictive diets. This approach challenges cultural norms that often dictate what constitutes 'healthy eating' and stresses the significance of personal choice in dietary habits. By allowing oneself to enjoy a variety of foods without guilt, such as occasionally indulging in dessert, athletes can foster a healthier relationship with food. Ultimately, intuitive eating encourages individuals to prioritize their own needs and preferences over external pressures.
Avoiding Food Restriction and Its Consequences
The conversation highlights how food restriction can lead to a cycle of cravings and overindulgence, often resulting in negative feelings surrounding food. Restricting certain foods can create an obsession or emotional reaction that complicates athletes' relationships with their diet. Normalizing all foods and recognizing that there are no 'bad' foods assists athletes in developing a more balanced and flexible eating pattern. This allows individuals to focus on how foods make them feel and can improve both physical performance and mental well-being.
Developing Awareness Around Food Choices
Increased awareness of food choices is paramount for athletes looking to improve performance and recovery. Simple practices, such as paying attention to how different foods affect energy levels and overall well-being, are crucial. Establishing regular eating patterns, including three meals and snacks, helps prevent extreme feelings of hunger that can lead to poor food choices later. By fostering this awareness, athletes can cultivate better eating habits that support their training and align with their personal values around food.
Overview: Intuitive eating coach and journalist Pam Moore joins Coach Adam Pulford to discuss the ins and outs of "Intuitive Eating", what it really means (hint: it's not just eat whatever you want whenever you want), why it might be important for your lifestyle and eating habits, and how to incorporate it into your nutrition program.
Topics Covered In This Episode:
What is Inutitive Eating?
Examples of cues or prompts that fit into intuitive eating
Why we lack awareness of how we're actually eating
Is there a place for tracking calories/macros in intuitive eating?
Going from "the least you can get away with" to "the most I can tolerate" during exercise.
Guest:
Pam Moore started out as an Occupational Therapist before committing to her passion for writing and becoming a journalist. A regular contributor to The Washington Post, her work has also appeared in Time, The Guardian, and Runner’s World, Bicycling Magazine, and for well-known brands like Peloton. She earned a certification as an Intuitive Eating Counselor, and says, "As an occupational therapist and a journalist, I bring my intuitive eating coaching clients a deep understanding of human motivation, what it takes to make sustainable behavior change, and most importantly, how to ask the right questions and listen deeply to the answers."
Host Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for more than 14 years and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.