I want to tell you a bit about Intuitive Eating, as well as TWO benefits of Intuitive Eating that can make your life SO MUCH BETTER (though the actual list of benefits is much longer)!
Not that I'm trying to make outrageous claims, but seriously, eating intuitively can lead to feeling at peace with food, your body, and life in general.
Whoa! Life in general?? Yes, because when you stop obsessing over food, health or your body, you're able to focus more on the things that bring you joy and pleasure.
What is Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive Eating is a self-care eating framework and is aligned with Health at Every Size. It is an inner journey of discovery that puts you front and centre; you are the expert of your own body. Only you know how hungry you are and what food will satisfy you. No diet plan or guru knows this about you.
Intuitive eating is re-learning to trust yourself when it comes to food and eating. It's becoming more connected to your physical and emotional senses, while slowly quieting the messages of diet culture.
Intuitive Eating is made up of 10 principles designed to help you: 1) increase interoceptive awareness (the ability to perceive physical sensations that arise within the body in order to get your needs met); 2) remove the obstacles to that awareness.
That's Intuitive Eating in a nutshell. For a more comprehensive description head to the Intuitive Eating founders' page (Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch).
Now, for the TWO Intuitive Eating Benefits that can make your life SO MUCH BETTER...
The first reason is that you never have to diet again. AND you won't feel bad about it. It is, however, a process. At first, dieting is tempting (if it's something you're used to engaging in). For many women, dieting is the way we know how to control our weight and health. And since dieting is HARD to sustain long-term, we feel like failures when we give up. It's an unpleasant cycle. And it does NOT contribute to happiness.
When you choose to put dieting behind you, I want to emphasize, you're NOT giving up on yourself, you're NOT letting yourself go. What you're doing is taking care of your mental health and well-being.
When you ACCEPT that dieting hasn't been "good for you" and you break up with it, you start to feel a sense of relief. Like, "Phew...never doing that again!".
In our society, it feels like dieting is a MUST. You don't really question it. It's just something you do, especially women. And you don't need to buy into this nonsense anymore.
The second reason Intuitive Eating can make your life SO MUCH BETTER is that you get to eat whatever you feel like. But wait, before you go into panic mode - because most people equate "eat whatever you feel like" with stuffing their faces with fast food - hear me out.
Eating whatever you feel like means a few things:
One, it means learning to tune into your body and listening to it, like what it feels like eating in a given moment. Is it cold or hot food? Is it sweet or savoury food? Spicy? Mild? Crunchy? Smooth? What do YOU feel like having (not the diet or wellness guru that thinks they know everything about you)? This is tuning in to satisfaction.
Two, it also means making peace with food. There are many foods women restrict and feel bad about eating. These foods are usually sweet, rich, fried, carby, beige, or deemed "treats". These are the foods people think of when we hear "eat whatever you feel like", because they're "bad" and "forbidden".
Making peace with some of these foods usually comes a little later in the Intuitive Eating process. Making peace with food means learning to feel neutral about them. I repeat, this takes time! This can be one of the hardest parts of Intuitive Eating and I highly recommend getting some support from a Certified Intuitive Eating counselor.
When you make peace with ice-cream, for example, you can keep it in the house without constantly thinking about its existence.
Eating stops feeling stressful and chaotic.
You start trusting yourself around food.
And this may lead to feeling at peace in life, since food and body struggles are a huge source of stress for so many women.
And there you have it! Two reasons Intuitive Eating can make your life SO MUCH BETTER!
If you're left scratching your head in confusion or you're curious to know if Intuitive Eating is right for you, head to my Diet-Free, Happy Me! program info page for some guidance.
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