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3 Steps to Managing Diabetes WITHOUT a Focus on Weight Loss

Sue walked into my office with tears in her eyes. She sat down and burst out crying. I gave her a minute, then asked her what was wrong.

“I have diabetes!”

She then burst into tears, again.

I walked over to her, put my hands around her shoulders and gave her a gentle hug. This was what she was fearing for a long time. She knew she had pre-diabetes for 5 years, but she just didn’t believe she would ever develop diabetes. She never had any symptoms, so the pre-diabetes diagnosis just never seemed real.

Sue’s doctor “warned” her time and time again that if she doesn’t lose weight, her pre-diabetes will become full blown diabetes. And that it had. However, it’s not as if Sue didn’t try to lose weight. She did, MANY times. And you know what? Sometimes she “succeeded” in losing weight, but the problem is she gained that weight back plus more, ALWAYS.

So, when Sue’s doctor gave her the news that she has diabetes, she felt beaten. He once again prescribed “weight loss”. She sat in my office and said “there has to be another way to manage my diabetes besides weight loss. Like there must be some other things I can do to help myself, because diets just have never worked.”

Bright woman! Yes, there are plenty of things to do to manage your diabetes without pursuing weight loss. It’s unfortunate that the majority of doctors go right for the jugular >> “you’re fat and have to lose weight”.

This happens for other medical diagnoses as well. High blood pressure, heart disease and high cholesterol, to name a few. Docs go right to the scale!

So how do you manage diabetes, or any of the medical conditions I mentioned above, without focusing on dieting and losing weight?

By using a weight-neutral approach to treatment.

Weight-Neutral Interventions

Weight-neutral interventions are based on the fundamental idea that a person’s health status or risk cannot be assumed based solely on a number on a scale. There are many factors that go into a person’s body weight including genetic, metabolic, physiological, cultural, social and behavioral factors.

Weight-neutral treatment programs focus on habit and lifestyle behaviors, rather than on weight, BMI and the pursuit of weight loss.

Getting back to Sue, I started working with her to help her learn about her diabetes, what is going on in her body and how adopting new habits and behaviors can help avoid diabetes complications now and later in life.

3 Steps to Better Blood Glucose Control without Dieting

Start testing your blood glucose daily. Ideally, you will test upon awakening (fasting blood glucose), and 2 hours after a meal (for type 2 diabetes).

Write down what you eat for each meal and start to look for trends. Meaning, are your blood sugars always high before dinner? Do you tend to have low blood sugar readings mid-morning? This is data that you will use to make changes to your diabetes meal plan.

Find a doctor who practices from a HAES (Health at Every Size) approach. Advocate for yourself and ask for the treatment they would give to a person in a smaller body.

For more information on how you can manage your diabetes without dieting, click HERE!

Whether you have diabetes or another medical condition such as high cholesterol, pursuing weight loss is NOT the best treatment prescription. I know this is different than you’ve been told for years, but where has this led you? Let me know if you want to chat about it. Click HERE to get in touch.

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.

5 Steps to a Diet-Free Commitment this Year

Happy New Year! I’m excited that it’s a new year…there is so much that I want to do in 2019. First and foremost, on the TOP of my list is to spend more time with my kids and grandchildren. Every time I see my yummy grandsons (Evan, 5 years old and Zach, 3 years old), my heart lights up!

In truth, I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like mostly due to my and my husband’s work schedules, and the work schedules of my son and daughter-in-law. And, it doesn’t help that they, and my other married son live across 2 bridges. But I always say that we have to count our blessings and I am thankful that I don’t have to get on a plane to see them!

Sometimes there are barriers to achieving the things we really want in life. If we let those barriers hold us back, then we will rarely achieve our goals. It’s important to do what is within our power to make happen what we want to happen.

The Number One Barrier to a Healthy Relationship with Food and Your Body

Right now, during the first week of January, the number one barrier to you creating a healthy relationship with food and your body is the slew of dieting ads and commercials that promise you the weight loss you so desire.

You may not see it this way. Perhaps you are reading these ads and thinking “this will be the diet that works for me.” And just like that, you hold yourself back from finally finding freedom from the battle with food and your body that you’ve been living with for years.

Busting through the Diet Temptation Barrier

I promise you that dieting is not going to bring you any peace in your life. All that dieting will do is keep you on the roller coaster of restriction – binge eating – guilt – shame.

If dieting was the answer, it would have “worked” a long time ago.

So, how do you bust through this temptation to do “just one more diet”?

First and foremost, I want you to know that I understand the temptation to try that one last diet. I’ve been there before, so I really do get it. Here are 5 steps to help you commit to being diet-free in 2019!

Take a few minutes tonight and sit with yourself quietly. Be sure that you are relaxed, not hungry, and tell your family that you don’t want to be interrupted for at least 30 minutes. You’ll need to have a pad and pen handy.

Close your eyes, take a deep breath and ask yourself the following questions:

What has been the emotional cost of all my years of dieting? (examples – depression, anxiety, poor body image etc.)
What has been the relationship cost of all my years of dieting? (examples – lost friendships, broken relationships, social anxiety etc.)
What has been the health cost of all my years of dieting? (Example – blood sugar swings, elevated blood pressure, hair falling out, menstrual irregularities, GI trouble etc.)

After each question, open your eyes and begin writing. Don’t edit your words, just write.

Read your responses to each question OUT LOUD (this part is really crucial), and now ask yourself this last MOST IMPORTANT question:

If I don’t break this chronic dieting pattern, how will that affect my future and that of my daughters (and sons) who are watching me and learning from me?

Declare “I am committed to never dieting again!”.

Click HERE to schedule a quick complementary call with me to get started on your intuitive eating journey in 2019!

You don’t need to walk this journey alone, nor should you. We all need support along the way. I’m here for you if you are ready. Are you ready? Let me know in the comments below!

Can You Fail at Intuitive Eating?

The short answer is no! You cannot fail at intuitive eating. But let’s dig into this topic a bit because the idea of failure is top of mind for chronic dieters.

You’ve been down this road before. You want to lose weight so the only way you know how to do that is to go on a diet. You’re going along fine, eating what the diet tells you to, not eating what you “shouldn’t” and you start to feel lighter on your feet. Your clothes are fitting better and you are on a high.

Until you aren’t anymore.

What happened?

Well, you had a bad day at work, you lost a client, your boss yelled at you, you got a ticket driving home, and you had a fight with your partner. You walk in the house and you are in a really foul mood. You head straight to the kitchen and open the fridge to grab that chocolate cake you knew was in there, leftover from the party the other night. You dig in, and you tune out.

When you come out of your chocolate cake coma, you are really upset with yourself. You just blew your diet. Now you feel frustrated, angry with yourself, and the negative self-talk begins: “There you go again, screwing it all up”, “You can never stay on a diet, why do you even try”, “You are such a failure”.

The above is just one scenario where your desire to be “thin” led you to a diet which led you to feeling like a failure. What are some other scenarios?

2 Other Scenarios that Lead to Feelings of Failure

Scenario #1: You want to lose weight and be “thin”. You go on a diet, restricting and depriving yourself of your favorite foods. At some point, you can’t stand the deprivation anymore…you must have “just a little” chocolate. You eat a piece, then another, and then another. Now, it’s an all out binge, as you vow to start again tomorrow. What happened here is that the restriction led to cravings which led to bingeing. Now, you feel miserable again and you have a deep desire to lose weight, again. You start the cycle all over> diet>restriction>deprivation>cravings>rebound eating>binge eating. And the feeling you have = FAILURE.

Scenario #2: It’s the holiday season, and you’ve dieted your way into that little black dress. You are going to kill it at the holiday parties and family get-togethers. You can’t wait to hear all the compliments about your weight loss and how great you look. But wow, you are surrounded by all these goodies that you haven’t eaten for so long. You tell yourself you are not going to eat anything you “shouldn’t”. But then the inevitable happens. You aren’t paying attention, there’s a little too much alcohol and before you know it, you’ve dipped into the appetizers and pastries. At this point you tell yourself “I deserve it, I’m going to enjoy the holidays and not worry about the food. I’ll get back on my diet on January 1^st.” And on January 1^st, you wake up and feel miserable . You’ve regained much of the weight you lost, that little black dress doesn’t fit so well anymore, and you feel like a FAILURE.

What do you do? See scenario #1 above.

A Better Option than Dieting

I have another option for you where you will NEVER feel like a failure. And that option is > Intuitive Eating.

Intuitive eating is eating based on your physiological need to eat, based on your hunger and fullness signals, and NOT based on situations you are in or emotions you are feeling.

Intuitive eating is returning to eating the way you were born.

Now, just because you were born an intuitive eater, does not mean the journey back to it is an easy one if you’ve been dieting for years. You see, while as a baby you didn’t give much thought to eating, it was something you just knew (i.e. hunger pangs, cry for food; full belly, push away), as a dieting adult, you haven’t been listening to these signals. You’ve been relying on outside influences to guide your eating.

One of the biggest challenges I see with women who are learning to return to being intuitive eaters is TRUST. They are afraid to trust that their bodies will guide them correctly.

Is this you too?

I get it! You have lost trust in your body and in yourself to make your own food decisions because of all the “failures” from dieting (see scenarios above).

So, it’s of utmost importance that you understand that there is no pass or fail in intuitive eating.

Read and internalize this next sentence – I cannot fail at intuitive eating!

One of the biggest objections I hear from women who hesitate to commit to working on their relationship with food through intuitive eating is that they are afraid to fail again. That they’ve done it all and failed, so why should this work.

The reason? You have not tried this before. And if you have and you hit some roadblocks, then it’s more than likely that the diet mentality is still lingering. This is NOT FAILURE. This is part of the process.

A New Year Decision

Take this moment to commit to your intuitive eating journey. Repeat over and over “I cannot fail at intuitive eating” so a new neural pathway forms. Let this next year be the year where you leave dieting and all the negativity that comes with it behind.

I am taking new clients now for 2019. If you’d like to speak with me to see if we are a right fit for working together, just click here.

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

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

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.

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

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

Intuitive eating brings you pleasure and satisfaction in your meals.

Intuitive eating shows respect to your body.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

How to Push Through Fear

Fear, “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger” (Merriam-Webster) or “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat” (Dictionary online).

If you stop and think about it for a moment, you probably have some fears in life. They can be related to traveling (flying in an airplane, driving on highways), animals (dogs, birds, insects), or relationships (commitment, marriage) to name a few.

But every day, I encounter clients and prospective clients that express fears related to two other things: food and change.

Food Fear

It’s not surprising to me that so many people have food fear. Food fears can be targeted at specific foods (i.e. pastries, chips) or whole food categories (i.e. breads and grains). They can relate to situations such as going to a party (“I won’t be able to resist the cake”) or meeting friends for dinner at a restaurant (“There are too many options, I’ll be tempted to order something not on the “light menu”).

How Does Food Fear Develop?

Well, typically they develop from messages you’ve received around these foods. These can be messages from members of your family, friends, or even health professionals. If your mom was a chronic dieter and she’d make statements such as “I can’t eat x” or “I gained 5 pounds just from eating y last night”, you internalized these messages and with repetition, they became your beliefs.

Food fears also develop from what you hear in the media, read in the newspaper, and see in advertisements. Let’s face it, there is always someone touting the next great miracle to lose weight and it usually includes demonizing certain foods and/or food groups.

How Do You Heal from these Beliefs and Food Fears?

Bear with me, I’ll answer that question soon. First I want to address the second fear I revealed above: fear of change.

Fear of Change

Just the other day my hairdresser was telling me that the salon is moving down the block. She was upset. I asked her why. She said, “I don’t like change”.

Yes, change is hard. But if you have been engaging in the same behaviors for years without seeing results, then continuing these behaviors isn’t going to change anything. You cannot continue doing the same things and expect different results. That’s the definition of insanity (according to Albert Einstein)!

So, let’s dig a little bit here. What are you afraid of?

It could be a fear of actually NOT dieting anymore. It’s comfortable to diet. Well, what I mean is its familiar to you. You know what to expect, it’s safe for you. Diets tell you what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat. You don’t need to make any decisions.

But let me ask you. Is this how you want to live your life? Or, do you want to be in charge of your own body and your food choices?

Perhaps it’s fear of success? I know, at first this sounds odd, doesn’t it? But take a moment and give thought to this one. Are you afraid to succeed for some reason? What reason might that be? Perhaps lack of confidence that you won’t be able to sustain this way of eating and living. Perhaps fear of achieving the body you’ve always wanted but you don’t want the attention this new body will bring you.

If you don’t learn to change old habits to make way for the new, you’ll never achieve the results you so desperately want.

Healing from Your Food Fears and Fear of Change

To heal from your food fears, you must first recognize what your beliefs are around these foods. To do that, you need to identify the negative messages you received and at what stage of your life you received them. And, from whom did you receive these messages? Then, and only then, can you work towards overturning these messages, beliefs and ultimately be at peace with food (and your body!)

To overcome your fear of change, you need to uncover the real reason why you are resisting change. Realize that change will not happen unless you become just a little uncomfortable now in order to change your future. What is at the root of your fear of change and why you are so resistant to it?

If you’re like most of the woman I speak with, you’ve been working at breaking free of dieting for a while. You’ve researched the topic, spoken with coaches, downloaded materials and have read it over and over again. Yet, you are still stuck.

If you’d like me to help you get unstuck, I invite you to hop on a call with me and let’s discuss the possibilities. Get a spot on my calendar HERE.

Don’t see a time that works for you? No problem. Email me at Bonnie@DietFreeRadiantMe.com

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!

Digging Into Desserts as an Intuitive Eater

As a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, I am often asked about the role that dessert plays in our eating plan. Many people who are stuck in the diet mentality see certain foods as off-limits. This is largely due to the many diets they’ve been on that place foods into two categories, healthy foods and “junk foods” (or “good” and “bad”, “legal” and “illegal” etc…you get the idea).

When food is labeled as forbidden, it just becomes that much more appealing. When you place limits on how many sweets you can have or when you can have them, you are giving that food power over you. You are treating certain foods like a vice instead of a delightful treat to be savored.

Food is not meant to be categorized in such a way. As a matter of fact, I have a pet peeve when people call food “junk food”. Food is not junk and food is not garbage. Food nourishing to our body and soul. Food is neutral and there are ways you can incorporate what you would call “junk foods” into your eating style without demonizing it.

In order to build a healthy relationship with food, it is imperative to stop demonizing it, and look at it as a source of nourishment.

When working with my intuitive eating clients, I take them on a journey in which, together, we work to rebuild a happy and healthier relationship with food. During this journey, we reframe the way they way they look at desserts and sweets, and refer to these foods as either “fun foods” or “play foods.” They find it enjoyable to incorporate play foods into their eating style once they rebuild that trust within their body. They no longer fear these foods.

Chocolate chip cookies, lemon meringue pie, and salty caramel ice cream are not “off limits”. As you learn to enjoy all foods on your intuitive eating journey, you will find that every food has a place in your life, if you so choose.

Some sweet treats that can’t be beat:

Anything with berries in it. Berries are a great way to sweeten up any meal or snack. They have antioxidants, they protect your cells from free radicals and they are delicious. Check out my favorite ways to add berries into my meals.

Cookies, in any shape and size. Cookies are great because you can have one or two or five! You decide based on your level of hunger, not based on a pre-determined portion. To learn more about these delicious treats, check out my blog post.

Nuts – I’m just nuts about nuts. Nuts are packed with nutrients, fiber and healthy fat making them the perfect snack or after dinner dessert. While nuts might have once been an “off limit” food for you, as an intuitive eater you are now embracing them for their healthy fat content. Learn more about the various nuts and how to incorporate them into your menus.

The perfect parfait. Parfaits are a great after dinner treat, especially when they are homemade and you get to decide what to put in them. For simple instructions on how to make your own click here.

In practicing an intuitive eating lifestyle, you will learn how to pay attention to your body’s internal hunger and fullness cues.

Quick Tip

When you are eating a food, try and remember how that food is affecting you both mentally and physically.

Remember how you felt after eating a quinoa salad and compare that to after you had a giant cheeseburger. When you pay attention to how foods affect you, you will feel more in charge of your eating. You may not crave that BLT as much when you realize how much better you feel when you eat a yogurt for breakfast instead. Don’t get me wrong, there are mornings when a giant stack of pancakes is in order, however as you become more intuitive and skilled at listening to your body, this may not be as common of an occurrence as before.

Interested in learning more about intuitive eating? Contact me to learn more about my various intuitive eating programs.

Your Turn to Take Action: What is your favorite sweet treat? Let me know in the comments below!

There’s No Perfection in Intuitive Eating

One of my favorite motto’s is “There is no perfection in intuitive eating”. My clients can recite this in their sleep, they hear me saying it THAT often!

As a past dieter, you’ve likely fallen into the perfection trap. You have to follow your diet just perfectly, or else you’ve “cheated”, you’ve “fallen off track”, you’ve “messed up” or you’ve “failed again”. This is a tough way to live, with the “perfection cloud” hovering over your head at all times.

Honestly, there are so many ups and downs in life, it’s just not possible to be perfect. Nor, is it necessary. Striving for perfection only leads you to feeling like a failure when you cannot meet that impossible standard you set for yourself.

In intuitive eating, we don’t strive for perfection. The journey towards reclaiming your ability to listen to your inner body wisdom is a process where you learn a lot about yourself and you grow in so many ways. What you used to view as a “setback” in your dieting days you now view as a learning opportunity. This is a much more gentle, kind, compassionate approach.

Let me share an example with you.

My son and daughter in law went away on vacation and my young grandsons (ages 5 and 2 ½) were staying with me for a few days. Oh how I love those little boys!! But I will tell you that as little boys go, they are very active and kept me on my toes! I found that my schedule of eating and my choice of foods was out of my routine because I was tending to the boys as they were my top priority.

If I was still a dieter who worried about every morsel of food I ate, I probably would have freaked out that I couldn’t follow my “plan” (aka diet). But since I am no longer tied to diets, good and bad foods and harsh self-talk, I was able to go with the flow. No guilt, no freak-outs and no regret. And now that they boys have left, I am back to my routine and feel great.

Life is too short to worry about the little things. And food worry is one of those little things.

If you’ve been struggling with your relationship with food and your body for years, let’s put an end to it. Take advantage of my End of Summer Special where you can get up to 75% off my two most popular intuitive eating programs. Learn more and grab your special savings here!

If you’d prefer one-on-one private sessions with me, just click here to email me to set up a time to speak.

Your turn to take action: What will you do today to rid yourself of the idea that you have to be perfect? Let me know in the comments below.

3 tips to manage food stress in your life

44708423 – vector illustration in super mom concept, many hands working with very busy business and housework part, feeding baby, cleaning house, cooking, doing washing, working with laptop. flat design.

I returned to my office yesterday after a 4-day weekend. Wow, the number of emails, messages, Facebook notifications and faxes was truly overwhelming. Then the phone calls started…people somehow know the minute I sit behind my desk.

I was overwhelmed. That overwhelm caused me to procrastinate on getting some projects done, like this blog for IE Wednesday which I am writing quite late!

What I didn’t do was turn to food. Yet so many people do.

Food has become a way for so many women in my community to distract from pain, procrastinate from work, and deal with the stress and overwhelm they experience in their lives. The problem is that food does not fix any of these things!!

Food is supposed to be enjoyed. Yet, when speaking with so many clients, and potential clients, they tell me that food is stressful. All aspects of food, whether its deciding what to eat, shopping and preparing food for meals, or even the thought of going out to eat food.

And certainly, the guilt they feel after they eat what they think they “shouldn’t eat’!

Stress, stress, stress!

So today I wanted to share some strategies with you to help you manage food-related stress, without turning to food to cope!

If you have had a difficult relationship with food for some time now, then you can probably relate with today’s topic.

I know you probably want food to be a non-issue in your life. And you know what? It can be.

Let’s first start with 3 strategies that you can put into place immediately to help you minimize the stress around food.

Strategy #1: Set up your environment for success.

While I’m all about teaching you how to be intuitive in your eating (of course…I teach intuitive eating!), I am also very practical. It is important to be mindful of your eating and one way to do that is to reduce your external eating cues. That means put all food away after you’ve eaten and don’t leave food on the counters or table. If food is left out, it can very easily lead to mindless munching which then leads to feelings of guilt and frustration for eating when you weren’t hungry.

Strategy #2: Seek assistance from your family members.

Food shopping and meal prep doesn’t have to just be your responsibility. Get everyone involved in the menu planning. Even better, assign everyone a night to prepare the dinner. This way the whole family is involved, the kids will more likely eat what they help to prepare, and you get quality family time too.

Strategy #3. Start to use meditation and visualization. Meditation can be a powerful tool to help keep your mind clear and stress-free. You can use meditation as a way to visualize yourself being stress-free around food and, by visualizing that, you can start to believe it will happen too.

These strategies are a good place to get started and you can use them as a way to figure out what works best for you.

But I have more right inside my online ‘do-it-yourself’ program where you will get my best strategies to decreasing the stress and overwhelm in your daily life!

And, because reality has it that there will be times when stress just happens, I teach you the most important questions you need to ask, and practices for you to use to beat that stress without turning to food (because let’s face it, it’s not about the food, it’s about the reasons you are eating!)

Save 30% during this Memorial Day Special – 2 days only. Seriously, check out all you get for just $67. You can’t get coaching or a therapy session for that fee anywhere!

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