Intuitive Eating, the Gift that Keeps on Giving

Many of my clients walk in the door hurting. They are plagued by feelings of guilt and shame for eating too much, too little, eating ‘bad’ foods, feeling out of control.  Every single person says, “I know what to eat, I just don’t know how to do it.” They are constantly thinking about food in terms of right and wrong, in control or out of control, eating is confusing and overwhelming. Eating is a struggle: torn between eating what they want to eat, and what they should eat; how much, when.

Once we have had ample time to work through old food beliefs that have kept them stuck and we incorporated Intuitive Eating skills, almost every client reports with excitement, “This is so freeing!” Because it is. When you learn to honor your body and what your body needs with yes, some self compassion, freedom with food begins.  To my clients’ surprise, the new mindset extends beyond food, weight and eating and begins to transform their lives. It’s a beautiful transformation.  

The power of intuitive eating

“So simple yet so profound,” one client said of Intuitive Eating. 

Intuitive eating (IE) is a transformative practice that teaches you to pay attention to how your body responds to what you eat and how it makes you feel. It empowers you to make food choices free from obsession based on nothing else but what your body needs and what makes you feel good. It’s less about what you eat but about how you feel when you eat.

What makes IE so powerful is its ability to bring harmony between food, your body, and mind — and that brings unexpected gifts. 

The gift of awareness

IE gives you the gift of awareness. When you practice IE you become more aware of your body’s cues. You learn to decipher these signals. If you’re hungry you feel it and you eat until you’re satisfied (which might be different from time to time). This also helps you connect to the eating process and pay attention to the taste and texture of your food instead of just gulping it down. IE helps you end emotional, boredom, guilt eating. It restores balance to your life.

IE teaches you to make choices based on what is nourishing to your body AND mind. It empowers you to listen to your inner wisdom and what your gut feelings are communicating. It teaches you to decipher your body’s signals and translate them into feelings that make sense. Once you get the hang of it, you start to learn what to do with these emotions, instead of binge eating, getting angry, over-exercising, and turning to other coping mechanisms. This might apply to relationships, sleep, or the need for setting more boundaries in other areas of your life. Now instead of eating when you feel tired, you learn that you can allow yourself to relax and read a book instead or just go to bed.

The gift of self trust 

Years of false messaging on health and nutrition have dysregulated your connection to your body’s cues, and caused you to think of food in terms of guilt and fear. IE is a self-care approach that helps you get rid of the mentality that eating has to be perfect. It thrives on self-compassion, pleasure and flexibility. It empowers you to trust yourself with food and regain a sense of balance in your life. 

The gift of transformation

I’ve seen firsthand how my clients’ lives are transformed. Once they master the process of IE it’s as if they get a new lease on life.

As you grow and practice the process, it grows with you allowing your body and mind to slowly adjust how you eat during illness or aging. It allows you to make mistakes, learn from them and grow wiser and stronger.

It is the gift that keeps on giving, and once you learn to master it, you too will be able to join my clients in saying, “This has changed my life in a profound way.”

Please join me in one of my IE classes for a gift to yourself that keeps giving.