Tag Archive for: diet industry

Intuitive Eating is Your “Factory-Installed” Mode

More times than not, a client will sit opposite me (in my office or on video chat) when the light bulb goes on! The light bulb that I’m referring to is the fact that being an intuitive eater came along with their body when they were born. It’s “factory installed” but unfortunately over the years, it became faulty. Today I’d like to explore the reasons why.

Well-Meaning Parents

By no means am I looking to blame your parents. Most parents are well-meaning, although I do recognize that this is not the case all the time. But in most instances, parents want their children to eat well and grow well, and they believe the latter is determined by the former. So, as a baby, if you pushed away breast or bottle as a sign to mom that you had enough, but she felt that you didn’t, she would encourage you to nurse a little longer or drink a little more from the bottle.

As a toddler, when you were more interested in playing than eating, perhaps your mom forced you to sit at the table until you had x amount of bites, or she’d run after you with a forkful of food. In each of these instances (and others that I’m sure you can share), you are getting the message at a young age that you cannot trust what your body is telling you. Mom must be right after all. It’s no surprise then that now, as an adult, you continue to have mistrust in your body’s signals.

The Diet Industry

You decided that it was time to lose weight and you followed a diet because that is the cultural paradigm on how to “manage” your weight. But with each diet you followed, you lost further trust in your own body’s signals. You ate when, how much and what the diet told you to, regardless of whether you were hungry or not. You played by the rules, but with each diet game you played, you moved further and further away from your “factory installed mode” of eating.

Quick story: I have a friend who was on a diet. We were out together and at 11 am she pulled out a bar to eat. She said, “I’m not hungry now, but this diet I’m on says I must eat every 2-3 hours, so I am”. That sounded so wrong to me, but it wasn’t my place to say anything to her.

Have you found yourself in this type of situation too?

The Thin Ideal

It’s very likely that you’ve been effected by society’s messages of the thin ideal, the concept of the ideal body of a woman being thin and slender. That to be worthy in this world, you need to possess a thin body. This concept has led to many disordered eating patterns and eating disorders in young girls and women of all ages.

If you’ve been striving to achieve this body, then more than likely you’ve been ignoring your “factory installed” mode of being intuitive and eating when hungry and stopping when comfortably full.

Resetting to Factory Installed Mode

When the light bulb goes on for my clients, their immediate thought is “we need to come with an instruction manual”, but then they follow that with “wait, we do, It’s inborn.

Yep!

So how do you get back to the way you were born?

  • Step 1: Say NO to Diets – Recognize that diets don’t work long term. Sure, maybe you lost a few pounds (or more than a few) when you were “strict” and “following” the diet. But it wasn’t sustainable and for the majority of people, it never will be.

 

  • Step 2: Tune Inward, Not Outward – Decide today that you will no longer base your eating on external sources, whether that be a diet, a health coach or a guru you find on the internet. If you stop and listen to the signals your body gives you, you will become acquainted with them again. Do know, however, that it takes time. If you’ve been dieting for decades, those signals have likely silenced. Be patient. You’ll be glad you did.

 

  • Step 3: Reject the Thin Ideal – As hard as this step might be, come to terms that your genetic blueprint probably isn’t for that thin body you’ve been chasing after all these years. Give up the chase, work on respecting your body wherever it is now, and allow nature to take its course. Only your body knows what shape, size and weight is natural for it, so take the pressure off your body (and yourself) and enjoy the life you are living.

 

I have many resources that can help you as we move into 2020. Schedule a complementary call with me and let’s restore your body to it’s “factory installed mode” of intuitive eating.

Intuitive Eating is Your Birthright – 5 Day Special

When’s the last time you watched a newborn baby feed? I mean a real newborn, like just a few hours old.

 

I did, on Monday evening, when I went to visit my daughter-in-law and newborn granddaughter! I could have just stared for hours at this little princess; she is just so adorable. But as I was staring at her, I noticed something very interesting. She started puckering up her mouth and moving it side-to-side, her way of telling her mom that she was hungry!

 

Did you ever stop to think about this?

 

Babies cannot speak, their way of communicating is non-verbal, and they get their message across loud and clear. That message of hunger is coming from within, they were born with the ability to know when they are hungry and when they are satisfied enough to pull away from breast or bottle.

 

You were born this way too! You may not remember back to those early newborn days, but you were. We are all born intuitive eaters.

 

So, what happened over the years that caused you to stop being guided by this innate ability of eating intuition?

 

While there are several reasons, the biggest one I feel is you falling prey to the billion-dollar diet industry and your desire to lose weight.

 

When you start listening to food rules and guidelines from external sources (meaning outside of your own body), you are basically telling your body that you don’t trust the messages it is giving you.

 

This is not your fault. The diet industry and those health coaches promoting diets are at fault. But you can do something about it today. You can stand up and say NO MORE DIETS! You can tell yourself that you CAN learn to TRUST in your own body again.

 

Because I am telling you, YOU CAN!

 

Getting back to becoming an intuitive eater is a journey of discovery and growth. There is no start and end point. It will become a daily practice that is second nature again, just as you were born.

 

Maybe you are already on your intuitive eating journey. That’s great!! Practice and support will continue to guide you to coming home to your body.

 

In honor of my new granddaughter, I have a SPECIAL OFFER for you!

 

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For you – If You’re Just Starting Your Intuitive Eating Journey:

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Not sure which program is right for you? Email me and let’s get on the phone and figure it out together.

Blame the Diet Industry NOT Yourself

Did you know that Americans spend more than $60 billion dollars annually to try and lose weight?

 

Let that sink in for a moment.

 

That number includes weight loss programs and money spent on diet foods and beverages.

 

That’s a lot of money to spend blaming yourself when the “product” you are buying doesn’t work. Right, that’s what you do? You blame yourself when you can’t follow the diet or you don’t lose weight despite following the diet.

 

The Source of the Blame

 

Think about it.

 

If you purchased a new iPad, and it didn’t work, you’d complain to Apple about the device being defective.

 

If you bought a wall clock at Target and it stopped working, you’d return it telling them it was a cheap clock.

 

If you were working on a home improvement project and the drill stopped working, you’d blame the manufacturer for a faulty drill.

 

But when it comes to the diets you’ve tried, and the weight you regained (plus some) you don’t blame the diet company, you blame yourself.

 

What’s Wrong with Me?

 

Once off your diet, you start to say to yourself “I didn’t follow the rules correctly”, “There’s something wrong with me, I need to try harder” or “I’ll never get this right.”

 

I’m not going to name diets, it doesn’t matter which ones. The diet industry is brilliant, really, they are. They have set themselves up to be the winner over and over again. They’ve created this cycle of dieting that has led you to keep coming back.

 

Play it Out

 

Here’s what happens.

 

Desire/Action:  You want to lose weight, you go on XYZ diet.

Feeling: Excited

Result: You lose weight and meet your goal.

Feeling: Yay, celebration!

 

6 months later, you’ve regained the weight, plus more. 

 

Feeling: Disappointment

Result: You spend a few weeks or months feeling sad, ashamed and berating yourself.

 

Desire/Action: You want to lose weight. You go back on XYZ diet.

Feeling: Excited

Result: You lose weight and meet your goal.

Feeling: Yay, celebration!

 

3 months later, you’ve regained the weight, plus more.

 

Feeling: Disappointment

Result: You spend a few weeks or months feeling sad, ashamed and berating yourself.

 

Desire/Action: You want to lose weight. You go back on XYZ diet.

Feeling: Excited

 

AND ON AND ON IT GOES!

 

How many times do you think you have repeated the above sequence of events?

 

If you are being true to yourself, then most likely you have tried a particular diet more than once.

 

Why is that?

 

Because the diet industry has set it up that they are the winner when you lose the weight.

 

And, they are there to pick you up when you fall and gain the weight back.

 

I want you to listen up, because this is not normal! Stop blaming yourself, you are NOT TO BLAME.

 

The diet industry is the ONLY industry where the product user blames themselves. Shame on you diet industry for making so many people feel so badly about themselves.

 

If you are reading this, please know that you are not alone in trying to break free of the diets and the manipulations. You have it within yourself to trust your body to make the decisions around what to eat and when to eat! Speak back to the diets you’ve been on. No, actually, YELL at them. Show them that you are on to them and their deceit. You don’t need them anymore.

 

Once you’ve made the decision to fight back against the diet industry, you will feel a weight lifted from your shoulders and you will be empowered to take the next step towards reclaiming your birthright – body trust and being an intuitive eater.

 

If you’re looking for help breaking away from the dieting industry, head over to TalkWithBonnie and let’s set up a time to talk! I’m here to help you.

 

End Your Struggle with Food and Dieting!

It’s interesting. Many people know their struggles in life, but choose not to do anything about it. I sometimes wonder why that is. Why would someone identify a challenge they are having in their life, but not want to do what they need to do to change it?

 

While I can be speaking about so many things right now, such as hating your job, a difficult marriage, a strained relationship with a parent or child, what I really want to address with you is your relationship with food and your body.

 

Is one of your biggest struggles in life food and eating?

 

Is one of your biggest struggles in life being unhappy with your body?

 

If you answered YES to the above questions, then are you struggling with dieting?

 

Most probably if you struggle with food, eating and your body image, then you are struggling with dieting. I can say this with certainty because you’ve been led to believe that in order to “fix” your eating and your body, you need to diet. You need to be told what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat. Let someone else tell you all these things so you don’t have to make any decisions about food, and that’s how you will achieve the body you’ve always wanted.

 

Well, this is a lie.

 

And, I guess that you have realized this lie, but you are caught in the web of deceit in diet culture.

 

Diets are SO tempting. Heck, if someone told me I can lose 30 pounds in 30 days, I’d be suckered into trying that too. Except that I have broken out of the web of lies that diet culture has you believing. But I realize that it’s not so easy.

 

I also want to say that I know that some of you reading my blog have stopped dieting because you know that diets don’t work. But you are still spinning your wheels. That’s because diet culture is very sneaky. You THINK you’re no longer dieting, but you very well may be and not even know this.

 

Now, I am only bringing this to your attention because I want you to stop and ask yourself if you are ready to do what it takes to stop the diet madness. If you are ready to finally break the spell that diets have over you.

 

If so, then click below for an ONLINE EXPERIENCE that will get you started.

 

Yes, it’s free! But it doesn’t mean it’s easy. And that’s okay. Because if you are serious about finally ending the biggest struggle in your life > FOOD AND DIETING > then join this unique experience and participate to the fullest.

 

Click here if your biggest struggle in your life is food and dieting!

 

I hope to see you in the experience!

 

 

How the Diet Industry Positions Users to Blame Themselves

I was thinking about something the other day. It was about the diet industry.

 

According to data by Marketdata Enterprises, a market research firm, Americans spend more than $60 billion annually to try to lose weight, on everything from paying for gym memberships and joining weight-loss programs to buying diet foods and beverages.

 

That’s a lot of money to spend blaming yourself when the “product” you are buying doesn’t work.

 

Think about it.

 

If you purchased a new iPad, and it didn’t work, you’d complain to Apple (“this is a defective iPad”).

 

If you bought a wall clock at Target and it stopped working, you’d return it to Target (“this is a cheap clock”).

 

If you were working on a home improvement project and the drill stopped working, you’d blame the manufacturer (“this is a faulty drill”).

 

But when it comes to the diets you’ve tried, and you’ve regained the weight you lost PLUS a few extra pounds, you don’t blame the diet company, you blame yourself.

 

“I didn’t follow the rules correctly.”

“I must have done something wrong.”

“There’s something wrong with me, I need to try harder.”

“I’ll never get this right.”

 

And eventually, because you are so desperate to lose weight, you go running right back to the diet that you’ve tried multiple times.

 

I’m not going to name diets, it doesn’t matter which ones. The diet industry is brilliant, really they are. They have set themselves up to be the winner over and over again.

 

Here’s how:

Action                                                                                               Feeling

You want to lose weight, you go on XYZ diet.                            Excited

You lose weight and meet your goal.                                          Yay, celebration!

6 months later, you’ve regained the weight, plus more.         Disappointment

You spend a few weeks or months feeling sad, ashamed and berating yourself.

You go back on XYZ diet.                                                              Excited

You lose weight and meet your goal.                                          Yay, celebration!

3 months later, you’ve regained he weight, plus more            Disappointment

You spend a few weeks or months feeling sad, ashamed and berating yourself.

You go back on XYZ diet.                                                               Excited

 

How many times have you repeated the above sequence of events, with the length of time between diets getting shorter and shorter? Let’s figure it out together.

 

Doing the Math

  • Take a piece of paper and make 5 columns.
  • Label your columns: Diets I’ve been on/Pounds lost/Length of time weight stayed off/Pounds regained/# times I’ve tried this diet

 

Reflect on your chart. What did you discover?

 

If you are being true to yourself, then most likely you have tried a particular diet more than once. Why is that?

 

Because the diet industry has set it up that they are the winner when you lose the weight (“Our diet works). And, they are there to pick you up when you fall and gain the weight back (“It’s okay, you had a stressful few months, come back and try again, it works when you follow it”).

 

People, listen up!! This is not normal! Stop blaming yourself, you are NOT TO BLAME.

 

The diet industry is the ONLY industry where the product user blames themselves. Shame on you diet industry for making so many people feel so badly about themselves.

 

If you are reading this, please know that you are not alone in trying to break free of the diets and the manipulations. You have it within yourself to trust your body to make the decisions around what to eat and when to eat! Speak back to the diets you’ve been on. No, actually, YELL at them. Show them that you are on to them and their deceit. You don’t need them anymore.

 

Once you’ve made the decision to fight back against the diet industry, you will feel a weight lifted from your shoulders and you will empowered to take the next step towards reclaiming being an intuitive eater.

 

Comment below with your commitment to fight back against the diet industry!!