A lot of people believe that macro counting and intuitive eating are at odds. They say things like, “I don’t want to be a slave to tracking everything I eat. Our bodies are designed to eat intuitively.”
But the reality is, in contrast to the many generations before us, in our modern culture, food is abundant. Not only is it abundant, but made with ingredients that are highly palatable, sometimes even addictive which makes intuitive eating, a high level skill that we need to not only learn, but teach to our families.
After an intense workout, I could easily eat an entire box of pizza in one sitting. In fact, I think my body would intuitively gravitate towards the pizza. The only thing preventing me from eating the entire box of pizza is the knowledge and experience I’ve gained about how my body thrives eating macro balanced. I don’t think pizza is evil. I won’t ban pizza from my house. I just know from my experience with tracking my macros that I can have a slice of pizza along with a chicken breast and a side of vegetables and still feel great.
A lot of people that choose the intuitive eating route without a significant amount of knowledge surrounding macronutrient composition gravitate towards eliminating food groups all together. I just won’t eat bread. I’ll eat a strict no grain, no dairy, nothing processed diet. But from our experience working with thousands of women for years we know this not only doesn’t last, but paired with intense training/ high volume exercise, has the potential to wreck your hormones which could lead to metabolic damage overtime. It’s not quantity VS quality. It’s not one or the other. The magic happens when you combine quality AND Quantity.
If you want to learn effective intuitive eating, you have to know the macro basics. You have to learn portion control and incorporate nutrient dense foods. You need to be able to identify which foods have which macros and what nutrient dense foods your body needs to stay satiated and thrive. Is this a skill you can work up to? Absolutely. Do you have to track your macros the rest of your life? No, but it’s certainly a tool, at least the way we teach it in our program, that will significantly increase the knowledge you need to get there.
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