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Session 6

Body Image and Normal Eating

Session 6

Intuitive Eating

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It’s okay if you are...

Not moving your
body nuch right now

Stress
eating

Eating out
of boredom

Comfort
eating

Snacking
ALL DAY LONG

Having challenging
body image thoughts

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Quiz Time!

Warm up

Name the food or drink brand



You got: 0/0

Walkers
Hellmann’s
Pot Noodle
Cornflakes
Blue Dragon
Doritos
Burger King
Cathedral City
Starbucks
Nandos
Tango
Birds Eye
Twister Ice Lolly
Dr Pepper
Answers

Factors affecting energy in Quiz

Select whether you think it is an internal or external factor

Internal
External
Answers

  • Nutrient stores in the body

    I think this is...

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  • Hormone signals

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  • Social setting

    I think this is...

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  • Nerve signals 

    I think this is...

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  • Expected taste from food

    I think this is...

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  • Volume of food in the gut

    I think this is...

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  • Body fat levels

    I think this is...

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  • Smell of food

    I think this is...

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  • Sight of food

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  • Blood glucose levels

    I think this is...

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  • The time

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  • Eating Habits

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Energy Balance

Food and drinks
containing calories

Our bodies use energy:

• To maintain 24/7 basic functions that
keep us alive inside the body e.g.
heat, lungs, organs, brain.

• For exercise

• To digest food eaten

• For general movement in the day

Our bodies like balance and work hard to stay
in balance. See how below.

Body response to excessive food intake above energy needs.

• If you overeat in one sitting the body will increase of metabolic rate to use the excess energy in the body. You may notice feeling hot, sweaty, restless, and slightly nauseous.

• Consistently eating above your energy needs will result in storage of excess energy as fat and weight gain.

Body response to reduced food intake below energy needs.
The body will:

• Slow down functioning in the body to conserve energy (reduced metabolism)

• Increase hunger signals (Fat loss reduces Leptin, which is the fullness hormone, triggering Ghrelin, the hunger hormone, sometimes nicknamed the ‘growl’ hormone).

• Increase preoccupation around food (due to restriction of usually variety and quantity of food)

Energy output spotlight on:

Regular exercise can:

Make you feel rejuvenated

Improve social connections

Improve mood

Improve cardiovascular health, bone strength and muscle strength and stability

Current physical activity guidance for young people (5-18years) is to aim for at least
60 minutes moderate to vigorous intensity activity per day.

EXERCISE

Helpful Exercise

Rejuvenates the body

Can make the body feel tired, but not run down or exhausted

Allows for rest whilst exercising

Allows for rest days based on how the body feels

Promotes positive emotional and physical outcomes

Allows for variety of movements and activities

Allows varied intensity of movement e.g. lighter activity days and more intense workout days

Promotes positive social interactions

Exercise within Government recommended health guidelines

Is enjoyable!

Harmful Exercise

(excessive, driven, compensatory)

Leaves the body feeling exhausted (over exercising)

Extended bouts of exercise >60 minutes/day for multiple times in the day (*This may not apply for some young athletes)

Doesn’t allow for breaks

Increased stress, anxiety and low mood in relation not being able to exercise

Increased guilt if not able to exercise or with reduced intensity of exercise

Exercising as a punishment for eating or to allow you to eat

Exercising in secret

Inability to change type of exercise session or intensity of sessions

Still exercising when ill or unwell

Still exercising while injured

Inability to have a rest day (Compulsion to exercise more)

Exercising to give yourself permission to eat

Exercising to cancel out calories from food intake

Exercising more and more to achieve the same desired effect

Helpful
versus
harmful exercise

Let’s look closer at one of the confusing signals – irregular intake/skipping meals

Restriction
of intake

Increased Psychological
hunger for
avoided foods; increased
physical hunger

Increased thoughts about food;
fatigue; impaired
thinking; irritability; craving for
higher energy foods

Poor food choices;
overeating

Guilt from overeating or potentially
giving in to eating certain
avoided foods

Young people with high exercise
and activity levels

Young athletes who participate in regular high intensity activity and competition, or who have multiple hours of exercise, will be using more energy.

If this is you, you will require greater intake to make sure there is still enough energy for your bodies basic functions. This is termed Energy Availability.

Low Energy Availability (LEA) is when there is not enough energy left over after exercise to cover basic body functions and so the body needs to compensate in it’s functioning to ensure the most essential processes still occur e.g. our brain functioning, heart pumping, lungs breathing, organs functioning.

Long term low energy availability can lead to Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDS), which encompasses the multitude of physical and psychological impacts from consistent low energy availability. If you think you may have some signs of REDS, you can learn more about REDS on the Sport Ireland Institute fact sheets https://www.sportireland.ie/institute/performance-service/nutrition/red-s

It would be recommended to see your GP and a Registered Dietitian for further support in resolving REDS.

For young athletes, a more structured and regular intake, rather than an intuitive approach to eating is required to ensure there is appropriate fuelling for training and competing and to prevent unintentional low energy availability. This can sometimes mean eating even when you are not necessarily feeling hungry.

Body systems affected by REDS

Factors affecting how much
energy our body uses

Gender

Males have higher energy needs than females, generally speaking, due to higher muscle mass and larger bodies

Food intake

Thermic Effect of food

Weight

Larger bodies means greater mass and cells requiring energy, therefore larger bodies actually have higher metabolic/energy needs compared to smaller bodies

Muscle Mass

Muscle requires greater energy due to it’s active nature of protein synthesis and breakdown

Growth

Adolescents and puberty is period of rapid growth, increases in weight and height, requiring additional energy to feed additional mass

Anxiety

Increases cortisol, stimulating greater fat and carbohydrate metabolism toproduce energy – essentially to provide sudden energy to ‘fight or flight’, if required!

Hormones

Chemical messengers, therefore they signal for increased or decreased energy needs

Anxiety levels

Greater exercise or movement in the day requires greater energy

Energy In

Our bodies get energy from foods and drinks

How do I balance my
energy input and energy
output to be healthy and
well?

This is where concepts of Intuitive eating and mindful eating were developed

Intuitive eating is: Trusting your inner body wisdom to make choices around food that feel good in your body, without judgment and without influence from diet culture.

Intuitive eating is: Trusting your inner body wisdom to make choices around food that feel good in your body, without judgment and without influence from diet culture.

What impacts eating intuitively?
- Confused signals ?!

Can make it harder for the brain to make rational and clear decisions
Can slow signalling in the body e.g. hunger and fullness signals are disrupted
Stomach content removed, when the body was preparing for digesting and using the food.
Confuses body signals and disrupts energy systems.
Can lead to deficiencies.
Disrupting hormone regulation (Hormones are the chemical messengers in the body)
About food that can override listening to body signals
Requiring very high energy needs due to their sporting demands, which might mean intake is needed even when not feeling hungry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1jRaHrpokA

How do I work toward being more intuitive in eating?

Intuitive eating starts with curiosity and Mindfulness!

  • Being aware what your body is saying when around food
  • How you feel physically, emotionally, socially
  • Listening for internal and external cues.

Mindful eating
Food and it’s link to mood

Carbohydrate intake

Carbohydrates help transport tryptophan into the brain

More serotonin can be made

Mood boost

Reflect on the extent of your avoidance behaviours. Which avoidance behaviours occur? How often?
Reflect on the extent of your avoidance behaviours. Which avoidance behaviours occur? How often?

The Hunger Scale

Mark where are
you on the hunger scale right now?

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Reflections

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image
image

Well Done!

- Completed
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References or Creators Credit

My Notes

Supporting Videos

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If you could change one thing about your body, what would it be?

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Recently Added FAQ’s

The aim of this website is to support young people to identify and reflect on their eating behaviours and work toward a better relationship with food and their bodies through self-guided modules. Modules include exploring topics linked to food and eating behaviours and body image.
Eating behaviours can be described within a spectrum from optimal eating to eating disorders, with disordered eating sitting somewhere in the middle. Disordered eating can include normalised eating behaviours such as skipping meals, overeating, undereating, binge eating and extreme dieting. It can also include other behaviours associated such as obsessive or excessive exercise. Eating disorders, on the other hand, are diagnosable conditions characterised by persistent and extreme disturbances in eating behaviour. There are different types of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) and others. Eating disorders are accompanied by intense negative thoughts, feelings and behaviours towards food, weight and body image.  In summary, disordered eating is a more general term that encompasses a broad range of eating behaviours, while eating disorders refer to specific, diagnosed conditions with specific symptoms and criteria.
Disordered eating – a term used to describe eating difficulties that don’t require a clinical diagnosis – is becoming more common and can often be the first signs of someone developing an eating disorder. The NHS is treating record numbers of young people for eating disorders, so the need to intervene before diagnosis has become a matter of urgency. As ELFT clinician, Erica, says:  “A better eating disorders’ prognosis is linked to a shorter duration between onset of illness and start of treatment. Early intervention is therefore important to allow targeted support at a time when symptoms are more malleable and less entrenched, at times preventing the deterioration of the symptoms to developing into a full-blown eating disorder.”
There are many coping strategies for disordered eating, including:
  • Mindfulness and self-care practices, such as yoga, meditation, and exercise
  • Talking to a therapist or support group to process feelings and emotions
  • Practicing self-compassion and positive self-talk
  • Engaging in hobbies and activities that bring joy and fulfillment
  • Challenging negative thoughts and beliefs related to food and body image
  • Focusing on nourishing the body with balanced and satisfying meals
  • Reaching out to friends and loved ones for support
  • Following body positive accounts on social media, such as @bodiposipoet or @antidietriotclub
  • Seeking professional help, such as seeing a registered dietitian or seeking treatment for an eating disorder.
It's important to remember that everyone is different and what works for one person may not work for another. It's essential to find the coping strategies that work best for you and to seek help from a mental health professional if needed.

Energy-saving

Saving Energy