Tag Archive for: body trust

3 Big Reasons to Take Down Diet Culture

How many times have you seen, heard, or gotten into a heated discussion on the topic of the latest diet trends or weight loss tricks?  It’s everywhere these days, on TV, social media, books, and people claiming they have the hot new approach to help you shed weight fast!

Being a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, I am constantly asked what I think about the latest diet trend that has been pushed on us.  I have spent the last many years of my career helping clients break the spell of diets and dismantle Diet Culture beliefs.  And, when I’m asked those questions about recommending a new diet, it reminds me that there is so much more work to do to help people learn to trust in themselves again.

A major reason that I am so passionate about helping people break free from diets is because of the harm that Diet Culture causes.  Diet Culture is a system of beliefs that focuses on and values weight, shape and size over health, and it equates thinness with higher status and worthiness.

I see the damages of Diet Culture starting younger and younger. Little girls just 9 and 10 years old asking their moms for a diet. These little girls covering themselves up with sweaters and baggie clothes because they are ashamed of their bodies.

This makes me sad. But it also makes me angry at Diet Culture and lights the fire under me to continue to push back against Diet Culture and help women, and these young girls, love themselves for the beautiful person that they are  and respect their bodies for the amazing things it does every day to keep them alive.

3 Reasons to Shut Down Diet Culture

#1: Diet Culture is Dishonest

“Stay away from carbs, they make you fat”.

“The reason you aren’t losing weight is because of all the dairy you consume”.

“Cut out gluten from your diet, it’s really bad for you”.

Diet Culture has spent a lot of time and money trying to convince you that there are certain foods out there that are “good” or “bad’ for you. The food they characterize as “good” will help you lose weight, while the “bad” foods will make you gain weight.

Food fads are encouraged by Diet Culture with the support of the food industry. When scientific research is published, Diet Culture cherry-picks the information that best supports their agenda and launches campaigns to herd consumers to jump on their bandwagon, spending money on their products, lining their pockets.

Listen, there is a difference between implementing nutrition guidelines for your health, and demonizing foods because of the belief that it’ll make you gain weight (or prevent you from losing weight). Now, you might say “no, I’m avoiding this food because it’s not good for my health”. If in fact, this belief is not tied in any way to your thoughts about your weight, then yes, perhaps not eating that food might be in your best interest. But if that belief is tied in any way into your body size, then it is being co-opted by Diet Culture.

If you need further clarity on this, just hit reply!

#2: Diet Culture Disregards Your Best Interest

Any eating pattern that emphasizes how you look over your mental and physical well-being is detrimental. Diet Culture thrives on black-and-white thinking. Eat foods on the “good” list and you’ll lose weight (“good”); eat foods on the “bad” list and you’ll get fat (“bad”). Thin = win in Diet Culture’s mind.

Here’s the thing – people are literally dying to be thin and Diet Culture completely disregards this. Maybe you have suffered with an eating disorder or know someone that is. It destroys your life. Every waking moment is spent worrying about what you’re eating, wearing, how you look, how other people are looking at you etc. It is all consuming. Yet Diet Culture continues to push and push and push.

Your body does so many amazing things for you every day. Just imagine if you didn’t have the use of your hands, legs, or eyes. Would how small your body is be important then?

There is peace in accepting your body as it is in this very moment. This doesn’t mean that you’re “giving up”. This just means that you refuse to let Diet Culture push you any longer. And, instead, you will focus on giving your loving body the respect it deserves, while feeding it well and moving in a way that feels good.

#3: Diet Culture Destroys Your Self-Worth

One of the biggest reasons to shut down Diet Culture is because it’s constantly giving you the message that you’re not good enough. It makes you question your self-worth, often calling attention to things you never considered flaws before.

“Got a muffin top? Never eat these 5 foods again to get rid of it!”

“Do your thighs touch? Do this cleanse to fix that problem!”

Messages like these are toxic to women of all ages. It’s teaching them from a young age that they are nothing more than a sum of their parts and if those parts don’t add up to an unrealistic ideal, they need to do whatever it takes to get there. This has the potential to lead them into a dangerous relationship with food and exercise, twisting their self-perception. Diet Culture destroys your self-esteem and ultimately your self-worth. You come to believe that you are not worthy of love, not worthy of that job you are going for, not worthy of friendship, kindness etc. Diet culture steals your happiness and breaks you down.

It’s Time to Defy Diet Culture

The truth is that body size doesn’t always equate with health. There are plenty of people who are in smaller bodies who have a plethora of health issues. On the flip side, there are people in larger bodies that have no medical issues at all. Diet Culture wants you to be at war with your body because that’s how companies who support it make their billions of dollars every year.  Don’t fall for these tricks, it’s time to break free of Diet Culture and get off the hamster wheel of dieting, for good!

Do you want to join me in shutting down Diet Culture? Let me know in the comments below

Why You Don’t Need Willpower in Intuitive Eating

In speaking with prospective clients, there’s one comment that comes up a lot in the many conversations we have. That is “I just need more willpower”.

I really do understand the reason behind this comment from so many women who have been struggling with their weight and on diet after diet. It’s because diets require you to have willpower.

You have your lists of “legal” and “illegal” food. But at some point, you want to eat something that’s on that “illegal” list. But you can’t, the diet says NO! You white knuckle it as long as you can, you have willpower! Until you don’t anymore.

So, when one of my email subscribers emailed me the following questions, I just knew I HAD to address it. Here’s the question…

“I’ve been trying intuitive eating, but I just don’t have the willpower to stick with it. How can I strengthen my willpower backbone?”

Before I get to the answer, let’s get clear on your dieting history. It probably goes something like this:

You’ve tried them all. Weight Watchers, Atkins, Weight Watchers, the Blood Type Diet, Weight Watchers, The Scarsdale Diet, Weight Watchers, the HCG Diet, Weight Watchers. Oh, did I mention Weight Watchers?!

It is SO easy to get sucked into sensational claims that come with each of these diets. But what you are finding is that they don’t work. Well, they do “work” if by working you mean losing weight, only to gain it back.

Yes, I won’t disagree. All diets can work in helping you lose weight. But can we agree that they ultimately don’t work, seeing you are here looking for another way?

Throughout all the diets you’ve been on, you’ve tried SO hard to have SO much willpower so you can resist your favorite food that the diets deem bad for you. And, the reason you’ve been sucked into many fad diets is because you only have to endure them for a short period of time and therefore only need to have a little willpower until the diet is over. 

Many diets proudly state “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days”, or “6 weeks to flat abs”. I know this is very tempting. And you think to yourself “ok, I need to have willpower for 30 days (or 6 weeks) and that’s it…I’ll reach my goal and the diet and misery will be over.”

But we know that you can only resist your favorite food for so long. Maybe you can last the 30 days or 6 weeks. Or maybe you can’t. Either way, what happens? When your willpower weakens and you have an emotional trigger, you cave and have the very food you’ve been longing yet been restricting. And now you don’t just have a serving, you have several servings, and it eventually turns into a binge. Next thing that happens >>> feelings of guilt, shame, hopelessness, failure and the negative self-talk and body bashing.

Well, the good news is this.

In the practice of intuitive eating, there is no willpower required. Yay! You learn to take all the conditions off your food and when you do, the power those foods hold over you are no more. Even better, once you learn to trust in your inner signals as your guide to eating, you will no longer need to rebel against the diets that are telling you what to eat and not to eat.

Because YOU are in charge!

So, back to the original question that came in from one of my followers:

“I’ve been trying intuitive eating, but I just don’t have the willpower to stick with it. How can I strengthen my willpower backbone?”

There is no willpower in intuitive eating. What I want you to recognize is if you are still relying on willpower, then you are still harboring a diet mentality. And this will cause you to continue to stumble on your intuitive eating journey.

Give thought to how many times a day or week you think to yourself that you need to have willpower to resist a food.

How many times do you call up your willpower before heading out to a party or dinner with friends?

Call yourself out on it. Recognize it. The more you do and the more you remind yourself that you don’t need willpower in intuitive eating, the more you will see the diet mentality dissipate.

Need help? Just pop your name and email in the boxes below and get started on your FREE 3 day online Break the Spell of Diets Experience. These 3 days will be the starting point you need to start regaining body trust and never rely on willpower again.

 

 

3 Ways to Be Gentle with Yourself on Your Intuitive Eating Journey

We’re getting ready to ease back into life. Slowly but surely, doctor’s offices, hair salons and retail stores are reopening. While it’s an exciting time, it may also be a bit scary for you, I know it is for me. I can’t wait to go get a haircut (which is happening soon!) and I’ve gone to the dentist and the eye doctor. But things are far from “normal”.

The last 3 months have been hugely different for all of us. It’s been unchartered territory and we are learning to navigate our new normal. While sometimes we might wish that things can go back to the way they were, we know that that is not possible (at least not in the next few months). So, it’s important to be gentle with ourselves as we become comfortable with our new “normal”.

The same holds true for your relationship with food.

Rejecting the Diet Mentality Takes Time

If you’ve hit diet bottom (meaning you have zero bandwidth left to count calories, points, track food, or diet anymore), and you know you want to change your relationship with food, I applaud you. By breaking free of diets and food rules, you will ultimately learn to trust yourself, your body, and your food choices.

Key word is…ultimately!

Rejecting the diet mentality takes time! If you’ve been dieting for years and even decades, please know that even though you’re done with dieting, it’ll take time to move away from relying on food rules and others telling you what, when and how much to eat. You’ve been using that as a safety net for years, even though it backfires time and time again. If you haven’t seen the research on dieting, data shows that 95-97% of people who lose weight via dieting gain it back within 1-5 years, and one third to two thirds gain back even more. [1]

Now you might say “Bonnie, I know people that have lost weight through dieting and have kept it off.”. And I say, yes, likely you do. But the research also points to the 3-5% that keep the weight off often do so with disordered eating behaviors (such as eating less for dinner if they had a larger lunch, avoiding bread/carbs or limiting drastically, brushing their teeth after dinner to avoid eating etc…).

The diet mentality is very sneaky and will show up in places and at times that you least expect it. But if you stay the course, you will find that you will recognize this devil sooner and sooner and eventually, you will be free of this destructive mentality.

Push Back Against Sliding Back

I’ll be upfront with you. When you start the journey towards breaking the spell of diets, there will be times when you say “forget it, it’s too scary to make my own food decisions”. You may even consider throwing in the towel and going back to a diet.

But isn’t that what you’ve always done when you’ve tried a diet and it didn’t “work”? You’ve thrown in the towel and went looking for something else that will “work”. And by “work”, we know you are referring to weight loss.

When you find your mind going back to “I just need a diet”, recognize this as the diet mentality and push back against it with all your might! With practice, you’ll find that it doesn’t have half the power you think it has.

3 Ways to Be Gentle with Yourself on Your Intuitive Eating Journey

  1. Realize there is no perfection in Intuitive Eating. You might have strived for perfection when you were dieting, but the good news is there is no perfection when it comes to intuitive eating. This is a major relief when I share this with my clients. It takes a lot of pressure off!

 

  1. View what you once believed was a setback, as growth. When you were dieting, you might have found yourself using language such as “I fell off the wagon”, “I fell off track” or “I messed up”. These were viewed as setbacks (another dieter’s word) and often undid many weeks and months of hard work. In Intuitive Eating, we view these events as experiences for learning and growth. I don’t know about you, but to me, that is way nicer and more gentle!

 

  1. Take care of your self-care needs. Breaking free of the chains of dieting and rejecting the diet mentality is work. I have never, and will never, tell anyone that it’s not. It is work that is well worth it, but it still requires commitment and taking action. To do this, you need to attend to your self-care needs. This includes physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual to name a few. Take the time to jot down what you need to support you on your journey, then go get it. Sometimes this means asking others for help! Don’t be shy! Most people are happy to help.

 

If you’ve been on your Intuitive Eating journey or you are just starting out, remember that it is a much more fulfilling journey when you are gentle with yourself.

To get started with breaking the spell of diets, just enter your name and email in below for the free online experience – Break the Spell of Diets in 3 Days.

[1] Traci Mann et al., “Medicare’s Search for Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not the Answer,” American Psychologist 62, no. 3 (April 2007

Another Look into My Intuitive Eating Journey

I know I’ve made the right decision to give up dieting! It was a tough decision, trust me! Having dieted for many years, the thought of not tracking my food anymore was frightening.

The Backstory

I didn’t think I was dieting, I truly didn’t. I just chose healthy, wholesome foods. I ate three meals per day, 1-2 snacks, I measured everything I ate, and I kept a log of all I consumed daily. And this kept me in a nice, slim body that I was proud of.

But you know what?

I wasn’t always eating the foods I wanted. There were many times when I wanted that pizza, mac and cheese, ice cream or cookie and I just did not allow myself to have it.

That’s when I knew I was dieting. While I wasn’t on any formally named diet, I had lots of rules for myself and would be upset if I broke a rule.

It was this moment when I realized this, that I decided to stop dieting in all it’s sneaky forms and really learn to embrace intuitive eating.

The Present

Through my journey back to intuitive eating, I was able to reclaim body trust. My journey wasn’t a straight path, as would be expected. Every twist and turn brought me a new lesson learned and personal growth.

I just returned from vacation. Actually, I took 2 vacations this summer and, on each vacation, my husband and I ate out every evening. During our hectic schedules all year, we rarely eat out. So, this was a special treat.

I didn’t fret about what would be on the menu. I was confident that if I arrived at the restaurant in a “just hungry” state, versus ravenous, I would give myself the space I needed to listen to what my body was telling me. As I looked over the menu, I had no expectations and no worries. I merely allowed my body to guide my choices as I read the menu options.

The Result

Being able to trust my body has allowed me to relax around food and to no longer worry how eating a food will affect my body or my weight. It has allowed me to enjoy a variety of eating experiences with family and friends and not be the “one” everyone always says “oh, look how “good” she is!”.

The Effects on my Body
It is not possible to know what will happen to your body when you embrace intuitive eating. The key is to allow your body to do whatever nature intends it to do. If you come into this journey having suppressed your weight for years through dieting, then it is possible that your body will bounce back and regain some weight to what is more in line with your genetic blueprint.

I know this might be a tough pill to swallow. I’ve been there. I’ve acknowledged that for years, I suppressed my weight through unconscious dieting. Through this journey, my body has returned to what is natural and healthy for me. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about it, it’s my body and I’ve come to accept and respect it for all the hard work it does keeping me alive every day.

Want Support?

I’d love to help you accept and respect your body while reclaiming body trust through intuitive eating. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, book a free call with me and let’s chat.

3 Strategies to Turn Self-Hate into Self-Love

Society has women believing that they need to look a certain way and weigh a certain number and if they don’t measure up, then they are not worthy of love, success and happiness. They tie their self-worth into a number on a scale which leads them to body hatred and self-hatred and continuously looking for the next diet.

 

What is self-love anyway?

 

You’ll likely find various definitions for self-love. To me, self-love means caring for yourself, meeting your needs and making yourself a priority in your life. It means valuing the person you are on the inside and not measuring your worth based on the outside.

 

So, you might be thinking that sounds great, but how do I do that with all the messages I’ve received since childhood into my adulthood that if I am not a size 2, I am not worthy.

 

Here are 3 strategies to help you turn self-hate into self-love:

  1. Focus on Self-esteem boosters: Make a list of the accomplishments you’ve had in your life. Read this list and add to it daily. Remind yourself that you are capable, smart and can do anything you set your mind to. You are awesome just the way you are!

 

  1. Make yourself a priority: Identify your needs that are being unmet and set self-care goals to fill those voids. Be sure to attend to your needs first so you can give to others from a place of abundance. Is this challenging when you have a partner, parents and kids relying on you? It sure is. But are you worth it? You sure are!

 

  1. Give thanks and show gratitude: You have a lot to be thankful for. Your body is amazing and keeps you alive. Each day look in the mirror and give thanks to each part of your body from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. Proclaim your love to yourself. Do this every morning and every evening and watch how your feelings toward yourself change.

 

I am committed to helping women learn how to love themselves and their bodies exactly as they are now and gently move into a place of trusting their inner guidance system when it comes to nourishing themselves. If you’re interested in working together, schedule a call with me at www.TalkWithBonnie.com .

 

 

“Eat a Tiny Piece of Cake, I Won’t Tell!”

The title of today’s blog says it all. Diet culture is like a poison, once it gets into your blood, it takes a strong antidote to get rid of it. We’ll talk about that antidote in just a few minutes. But first, let’s look at a prime example of how the diet mentality is a force to be reckoned with.

 

Yesterday was my birthday. I had wonderful happy birthday wishes from many of my friends. Among the many wishes were comments such as:

 

“Happy birthday…fat free cake?”

“Happy birthday! Are you allowed to eat a teeny slice of cake today? I won’t tell your clients!”

“Happy birthday! You can have my slice of cake, I won’t tell!”

“Happy birthday! Eat a healthy salad for dinner so you have no guilt eating the cake later”.

 

Grrr! Honestly, I’m immune to these comments already, well sort of. I truly love my friends and know they mean no harm. What gets me is they know my philosophy on dieting and labeling food as good and bad. Yet, they still make comments like this. It just shows me that as much as they “agree” with my philosophy, the diet mentality comes out in their talk and actions without them even realizing it! Yes, diet culture and the resultant diet mentality is a force to be reckoned with.

 

I eat cake! I eat cake and have NO GUILT eating cake. You know why? Because I have given up demonizing food and I realize that food does not have as much power as people give to it. Once you learn to eat with attunement and trust your body, you no longer have to live by external food rules.

 

Do I eat cake every day? No, I don’t. Not because I “can’t”. But because my body doesn’t feel good when I do. I get to make this choice, not some arbitrary diet or health guru.

 

The Antidote to Diet Culture

 

If you’ve been poisoned by diet culture, I have the antidote. It’s called Intuitive Eating.

 

Intuitive eating is a mind-body health approach created by two registered dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. “Intuitive Eating is a personal process of honoring health by listening and responding to the direct messages of the body in order to meet your physical and psychological needs”, says Evelyn Tribole.

 

When you embark on your intuitive eating journey, it’s not just about eating when hungry and stopping when full. As a matter of fact, as a dieter, this will be challenging to do at first as most likely your signals have silenced somewhat, and your diet mentality will have you second guessing yourself. So the first step is to work on your mindset.

 

You’ll find as you begin to pay attention to your thoughts, that the dieting messages will rear their ugly head in many situations. Just like the comments from my friends. But it’s important to call them out for what they are, the more you do, the less they will come.

 

I’m not saying this is an easy process. But it is a process well worth the effort if you want to be cured of diet culture’s poison.

 

Any questions, I’m here to answer. Just comment below.

 

If you’re interested in starting your intuitive eating journey to finally make peace with food and your body (or you need support on your already started journey), read more about my intuitive eating program here.

3 Tips to Overcome the Fear of Weight Gain

One of the biggest obstacles I see for women who want to start the intuitive eating journey is a fear of weight gain. And I get this! It makes sense that you are so afraid of gaining weight because that’s the message you’ve been getting for many years.

 

When you were younger, you were told by your mom or dad “you have to eat healthy”, “you should lose weight”, “you have such a pretty face, if only you’d lose weight”.

 

You were told by your pediatrician “your BMI is too high”, “lose weight”.

 

You were laughed at by your peers, discriminated against on the job interview, made to feel uncomfortable on an airplane flight…

 

I can go on and on.

 

Being thin is what most women strive for as this is made to be an elevated status. But how much of your life will you spend chasing this “thin ideal”? What have you missed out on because you were uncomfortable in your skin? Because you don’t think you’re good enough the way you are? Because you feel judged by society?

 

I want you to live the life you were meant to live. Not live a life fearing food and fearing weight gain.

 

3 Tips to Overcome the Fear of Weight Gain:

 

1.Realize that embracing intuitive eating does not mean giving up. Learning to be an intuitive eater means returning to the way you were born, trusting and loving your body and being in awe of every part of it from your fingers to your toes, just like when you were a baby! Remember those days? Now, fill in the blank below to start appreciating your body again.

My body is amazing because_________________________.

 

2.Understand that only your body knows what size it is destined to be. Your doctor doesn’t know, the BMI charts don’t know, I don’t know, and you don’t even know. Allow your body to do what it feels best doing once you give up dieting and restriction. Trust that your body is brilliant and given the space, will arrive at a comfortable place.

 

3.Show your body respect and take good care of it. No matter your size, your body deserves to be respected. How? Here are some ideas: pamper your body with after shower scented lotions, enjoy gentle massage, wear comfortable clothes that you love, get enough sleep, talk nicely to your body and thank your body for all it does each night before you go to bed. Believe it or not, these are self-care activities that will help your body feel great!

 

I don’t want to undermine your feelings and fear of weight gain. But holding on to that fear will only keep you in the viscous cycle of dieting. Let’s bust through the fear together…you can do it!

 

Want support? Contact me here and let’s chat.

 

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!

 

For You – If You’ve Had Previous Intuitive Eating Training:

For 5 days only, get the PRACTICE, SUPPORT AND ACCOUNTABILITY you need to kick your intuitive eating practice up a notch.

 

Join the INTUITIVE EATING MASTERY CIRCLE for 50% off. Read all the details HERE and join an amazing group of women who are on the journey towards living life to the fullest!

 

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

For 5 days only, get 50% off my Freedom to Eat Forever Intuitive Eating Program, PLUS 5 months FREE in the Intuitive Eating Mastery Circle. Read all the details HERE and join an inspiring community of women who support each other every step of the way.

 

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

8 Benefits of Intuitive Eating (and 3 Ways to Commit)

The other day I was giving thought to this past year and the work that I’ve done with my clients. I often like to reflect at the end of the year about what I accomplished in my work, how I’ve helped clients improve their health, and the impact I’ve made on the lives of people who are finally trusting their bodies again.

 

Not everyone can say that they love going to work every day. I remember sitting on the beach when on vacation a few summers ago with 2 of my close friends and their husbands. We were talking about how we were leaving the next day and going back to work. My friends were complaining about having to return to work. I remained silent. They asked me why I wasn’t complaining too, and I simply said, “I love what I do”.

 

It wasn’t always this way. Back in 2011 I had grown to “hate” my work. I was creating meal plans upon meal plans and really got no joy in it. Why? Because most of these clients that I was creating meal plans for really knew how to eat to nourish their bodies and improve their health.

 

So, what were they coming to me for, you may think?

 

Weight loss!

 

They wanted to me to put some form of magic meal plan together that would help them lose the weight they so desperately wanted to lose. And you know what? If they followed the meal plan, it worked. They lost the weight. But they also learned nothing. All they learned is how to be a good “listener’ and “follower” of when to eat, what to eat and how much to eat that someone else (me) assumed was right for them.

 

You may wonder “what is wrong with that, they lost the weight, didn’t they?”

 

Yes, at first. But months or years later, that weight came back. Okay, not for all these people. But for a large majority of the chronic dieters that I saw in my office back then, this was the outcome.

 

You know why? Because…

 

Following a meal plan that someone else creates for you takes you further away from listening to your own body. You and your body become strangers.  ~Bonnie R. Giller

 

And I didn’t want to continue to cause this harm for people. That’s when I decided to learn about intuitive eating and become a certified intuitive eating counselor.  I am so thankful that I got to a low point in my business back then, so that I can have the positive impact on people’s lives that I have today.

 

8 Benefits of Intuitive Eating

  1. Intuitive eating helps you to become friends with your body again.

 

  1. Intuitive eating helps you to trust that you, yes YOU, can decide for yourself when to eat, how much to eat, and what to eat.

 

  1. Intuitive eating brings peace around food, allowing food to be a non-issue in your life.

 

  1. Intuitive eating helps you eat without feelings of guilt, shame, embarrassment or regret.

 

  1. Intuitive eating brings you pleasure and satisfaction in your meals.

 

  1. Intuitive eating shows respect to your body.

 

  1. Intuitive eating allows you to live your life to the fullest!

 

  1. Intuitive eating helps you regain WholeBody Trust™, which encompasses 3 pillars: Mind Trust, Hunger Trust and Food Trust™.

 

If you haven’t yet ventured into learning intuitive eating, what is holding you back?

 

3 Ways to Commit to Your Intuitive Eating Journey

 

  1. Declare Yourself Diet-Free: Decide that you are giving up dieting forever and declare it. Scream it at the top of your lungs. Hear yourself say the words. If you want to, tell a trusted friend or loved one that you have made this important decision, so you can change your future.

 

  1. Dump All Diet Paraphernalia: Go through your house and get rid of all the diet books and other items that reek of dieting. Seriously, doing this will show yourself that you mean business. If you hold on to even one diet, you are not fully committed to this journey.

 

  1. Decide to Ask for Support: Realize that you don’t need to do this alone. Asking for support takes courage and shows strength. Think about the other areas of your life that you have gotten support – tutoring at school, physical therapy for a broken leg, therapy to help your marriage etc. And, if you’re not one to have ever asked for support in the past, maybe this is the time to start.

 

Every day when I wake up, I am thankful for the work I get to do with my wonderful clients and the women in my Intuitive Eating Mastery Circle™. I would love to help you too. If you feel so inclined as to explore how you can learn to have WholeBody Trust™ through Intuitive Eating, contact me here.

 

 

 

 

The First Step You MUST Take on Your Intuitive Eating Journey

After a lifetime of dieting, you have probably learned that placing restrictions on foods does not work for your body. Despite all the diets you have been on, your weight has continued to fluctuate. If you are feeling frustrated with your lack of progress, you are not alone. Many dieters frequently feel disappointed and defeated when they don’t see the results that the diets have promised.

 

If you are looking for an alternative to dieting (and I hope you are!), then you should consider practicing intuitive eating.

 

Intuitive eating is not another diet, it’s a lifestyle. When practicing intuitive eating, there are no restrictions on food and there is no counting of calories. Instead you listen to your body’s internal hunger and fullness cues and let that guide your eating.

 

Intuitive eaters do not demonize food, they do not categorize foods as “good” or “bad”. When food is categorized in such a way, it causes you to feel guilt when you do consume the “bad” foods. The shame that you feel when you do eat these foods can cause you to feel dissatisfied with your decisions and ultimately your body.

 

One of the key components in intuitive eating is rebuilding a trusting and happy relationship with your body. Dieting makes you feel as if your body does not measure up to societal expectations. Despite your misgivings, your body is beautiful and deserves your appreciation.

 

When you begin to listen to your body’s needs, you start to rebuild a trusting relationship. Your body instinctively know what foods you need to be satisfied.

 

Rebuilding a trusting relationship with food is certainly not easy. It will take some time to rediscover your body’s internal hunger and fullness signals, and then to trust that they will not mislead you. However, the experience is certainly worth it. When you listen to your body’s callings, you will feel more at peace with food and yourself.

 

The first step on your journey towards rebuilding the relationship with food, your body and yourself is to cultivate your Mind Trust™.

 

Mind Trust™ allows you to throw away the diet rules and food restrictions, to bust through your limiting beliefs and realize that you did not fail, the diets have failed you.

 

But how do you cultivate Mind Trust™ when you haven’t trusted your own food decisions for so long?

 

The answer is to break the spell that diets have over you. I know, this is not an easy feat. But you can do it.

 

Sign up BELOW to start your journey towards Mind Trust™ or learn more by clicking here!