Tag Archive for: dieting

I Ate a Cinnamon Bun (and an Egg Roll)

Vacations are wonderful. At least now they are since I’m no longer dieting. In my dieting days, it would be very difficult to find a restaurant to go to for dinner that had food options on the menu that I “can” eat. I was so very careful of everything I put into my mouth, and honestly, I can say now that I was a party pooper back then.

 

This vacation was different. I just returned from a week in Florida where my husband, daughter and I went to visit my parents. We spent a few days at Hutchinson Island in Jensen Beach. It was so nice. The first night we were there, my parents wanted to take us out to dinner. Everyone voted on Chinese food. I don’t usually eat Chinese food, mainly because of the sodium content, I just find the food too salty. But I agreed to go.

 

Chinese Dinner

As I was looking over the menu, I took my time to see what I wanted to eat, versus what I “should” eat. I decided on a Tofu with Chinese Vegetables dish. And, because we went for the early bird (before 5:30 pm!), every dinner included a vegetable egg roll. Now, let me share 2 things with you. First, if I ever did order Chinese food in the past (which was rare), I would order it with a white sauce on the side. Second, I would NEVER eat an egg roll. I can’t even remember the last time I did.

 

My meal came (see pic below). It was delicious! And, yes, I ate most of the egg roll too! I stopped eating when I was comfortably satisfied and took the remaining portion home. When I left the restaurant, I felt satisfied and happy that I was open to eating Chinese food.

 

 

Pastry Shop

During the week, my husband and I went to Wynwood Walls in Miami. Have you ever been there? It’s a cool place to visit! Anyway, there’s a great food place there that we were told we just “had” to eat at. They are famous for their pastries, so as part of our meal, we ordered a cinnamon bun and almond pastry to share. Again, I stayed mindful during my meal, and enjoyed every bite. Later that night, I said to my husband “aren’t I more fun now that I eat all foods?” Without hesitating, he said YES!

 

Releasing Food Fear

What about you? If you are still dieting or you haven’t yet rebuilt the trust in your body and your ability to make food choices, do you find that this affects your relationships? Comment below!

 

More often than not, when you experience food fear, it prevents you from living your best life. You miss out on social opportunities and it may even be the cause of a relationship breakup.

 

I am so happy that I am free to eat what I desire, without guilt and without any worry of overeating. I’d love for you to experience this as well.

 

Getting Started

How do you start? By joining the free Break the Spell of Diets in 3 Days Experience. Just enter your name and email below to get started now.

 

If you’d like to view my intuitive eating course offerings, click here.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

How to Stay Motivated

The diet mentality finds its way into your life in very sneaky ways. But that’s okay because that’s how you learn to recognize it and get stronger at shooing it away. This happened to be last month’s theme in my membership program, Intuitive Eating Mastery Circle™. The more we highlight all the ways it shows up, the more of an expert we become at knocking it down!

 

I had a question recently from one of my subscribers (we’ll call her Sally) which is today’s Intuitive Eating Wednesday Question!

 

“How do I stay motivated to care, to keep my focus, to keep trying to eat intuitively, when life is so busy and I have failed miserably for years?”

 

I feel the pain in her question. And I wonder if you feel the same way as Sally. While I don’t know Sally personally, it seems from her question that she has come to the conclusion that diets don’t work. Which is great! But it also seems like there is some lingering diet mentality. This is common when first embarking on the intuitive eating journey.

 

There are two areas I want to highlight and hopefully shed some light on for Sally (and for you if you are resonating with her question).

 

Control is Dieting

 

By the tone of the question, it sounds  like control is playing a big role in “trying to eat intuitively”. I’d have to explore more with Sally what this actually means for her, in other words, how is trying to eat intuitively showing up for her each day. If it’s trying to eat only when hungry and stopping when full, then we are likely looking at the “Intuitive Eating Diet” at play here (or another way to describe it is the “Hunger and Fullness Diet”).

 

Many chronic dieters are on board with the fact that the diets have never worked for them. They love the concept of intuitive eating, so immediately start focusing on only eating when hungry and stopping when full. But here’s the problem with this. If they haven’t yet rejected the diet mentality, this will trip them up each time. Hunger and fullness cues become more rules and then when life gets busy and they are running around and aren’t as aware of their inner signals, they think they have failed. They think they need more control, more willpower!

 

Needing to have control and willpower is still dieting!

 

Is this possibly what is happening to you?

 

Limiting Beliefs and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

 

Limiting beliefs are beliefs that you are holding onto about your body, weight or food that are causing you to self-sabotage and are preventing you from living your best life.

 

“I have failed miserably for years.”

 

This statement right there is a belief that Sally has been holding onto that is keeping her spinning her wheels.

 

Beliefs come from messages that you’ve received, often as far back as childhood. Your thoughts and beliefs drive your feelings which drive your actions which give you your results.

 

If you continue to repeat over and over that you have failed miserably for years, then you will continue to do so…it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Change your beliefs and you’ll change your outcomes.

 

Ahh, I know this is not so easy! I spend quite a bit of time with my clients working with them on identifying their limiting beliefs, re-framing them into true beliefs and ultimately rewiring the neural pathways in their brain.

 

I have discovered over all the years of coaching and counseling clients that this step can’t be overlooked. If it is, you will continue to allow the sneaky diet mentality to get you every time.

 

If you are interested in learning more about how to break through your limiting beliefs, click here to explore my Intuitive Eating Program for Adults! And, you can read the stories from my clients who have successfully rewired their neural pathways and are now living life as an intuitive eater.

 

 

 

3 Steps to Food Autonomy

Food is a very personal choice for you. What you choose to eat, why you choose to eat it and how you choose to eat it are decisions YOU get to make around the food you eat. However, there are 2 groups of people that do not honor this choice. In today’s blog, I will shed light on who these people are.

 

 Group #1: Chronic Dieters

A chronic dieter is someone who has been on and off multiple diets over their lifetime chasing a certain body weight, dress size or body shape. As a chronic dieter, you believe that the answer to all your food and weight problems lies in the diet you follow. So each time a new diet comes to market, you get excited and truly believe that THIS will be THE ONE. Unfortunately, even if you do lose weight, you know the way this story ends. You regain the weight lost plus some extra pounds just for good measure.

 

You no longer are confident in making food choices for yourself. You are so used to following a plan, a menu or rules that have been dictated to you, that when it comes time for you to figure out what you want to eat, you really don’t know the answer to (what should be) a simple question. You have given away your food autonomy.

 

Group #2: “Health Coaches”

The internet is swarming with people who call themselves health coaches. Maybe they took a 90 hour health coach course, or a 3 month certificate program, either way they are now “health coaches”. In my opinion, most of them do more harm than good. They give you lists of foods to eat and not to eat, rules to follow, and they spout inaccurate information about grains, dairy and gluten. Some will tell you they are teaching you intuitive eating, but it’s really disguised in a diet as they are giving you rules and telling you what to eat.

 

These health coaches are taking away YOUR free choice around food.

 

Health Coaches aka Diet Coaches

There’s a particular group of these health coaches who I’m thinking about as I write this blog. They lost weight on a liquid diet program (I won’t mention the name of one of the programs I’m thinking about when I write this, but if you think hard enough, you can probably guess) and then they “train” with the company to be a health coach. They are big marketers, telling you how amazing their diet is to lose weight and posting before and after pictures to hook you in.

 

In speaking with these health coaches (yes, I’ve had conversations with them), they demonize gluten, sugar, and dairy and speak about how they eat as if they have an “I’m better than thou” attitude. But they also slip and say things like “oh my gosh, that pastry looks divine. If I take one bite, I’ll eat the entire plate”, and “I don’t eat gluten except for _____ (fill in the blank) once a week because I just love it and then I start again the next day”. (Disclaimer – I’m not saying this about ALL health coaches, but many that I come in contact with).

 

These statements are reflective of the diet mentality and food battles that rage on!

 

3 Steps to Food Autonomy

  1. Stop dieting! I know this is so hard because diets feel safe to you. However, they have never worked for you and they never will, so it’s time to take a leap of faith and say NO MORE. You have the power within yourself to make your own food choices. I know you do, and I also know that you might not believe that right now. That’s okay. One step at a time.

 

  1. Stop listening to others! Decide that you will no longer listen to those health coaches that are telling you what to eat and not to eat. Instead, seek out a reputable registered dietitian nutritionist who is also a certified intuitive eating counselor who can help you get back into the drivers seat when it comes to food and your body.

 

  1. Do connect with a community! It’s lonely when you are swimming upstream alone. We are all surrounded by people steeped in diet culture. It’s likely that your inner circle of family and friends don’t understand when you say you are not dieting anymore. Come join the ladies in the Intuitive Eating Mastery Circle for the comradery and support that will help you take charge of your food choices again. As a reader of my blog, you get 50% off your membership. No commitment, you can cancel at any time.

 

Being in charge of your own food choices is your birthright. Take it back today. I’m here to help you. All you have to do is ask.

 

You Mean I Don’t Have to Ever Diet Again?

“Why haven’t I heard about intuitive eating before today?”

 

This is a common question that I get from clients who sit opposite me in my office (or on Skype) when I share with them how they don’t ever have to restrict or deprive themselves of their favorite food again.

 

They don’t quite get it at first. They come to see me because they don’t feel well in their bodies, they are carrying around excess weight, and they figure they need another diet to help them achieve the weight loss that they’ve been chasing after for years. They expect me to give them a list of foods to eat and those to avoid and a “meal plan” for them to follow.

 

When I tell them that I won’t do that, they look at me in shock. But then when I explain to them that they have it within them to make food decisions for themselves, they perk up and want to hear more. By the end of the session, they are SO RELIEVED that I am NOT giving them a meal plan it’s palpable.

 

It’s not surprising to me that many women still haven’t heard about intuitive eating. This is because they are surrounded by diet culture every where they turn. At home, at work, in school, in temple, in church, and in the local park. Add to that magazines, television shows, movies, radio, social media, and the list goes on and on. It’s hard to escape the idea that you need to be thin to be worthy, and if you are in a larger body, then you must be lazy, unhealthy, and undisciplined.

 

This has led you to continuously strive to lose weight through dieting and “be better”.

 

But dieting is exhausting. All the counting, tracking, weighing and measuring, it gets to be too much at some point. Yet that’s what you know and that’s what you continue to do.

 

There is another way! It’s called Intuitive Eating.

 

Intuitive eating is eating based on your physiological need to eat, not eating based on situations you find yourself in or emotions you may be feeling. Intuitive eating is learning to eat based on your hunger cues and to stop eating based on your fullness cues.

 

You are born with this ability yet its buried deep within you from all your years of dieting.

 

The good news is that you can reclaim being an intuitive eater and recapture the pleasures of eating. It will take time but it IS possible and quite honestly, is the only way to end your battle with food and your body.

 

I invite you to reach out to me to get started on your intuitive eating journey. We can work together privately, or you can join my online program where you work through the process with group support.

 

Just click HERE to send me a message that you are ready to end dieting for good. We’ll figure out together which is the best option for 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!

 

 

Taking a Leap of Faith

When’s the last time you took a leap of faith?

 

I met with a new client last week. Let’s call her Lindsay.

 

Lindsay was referred to me by her friend’s husband, Bob. He had been a client of mine a few years ago, coming for medical nutrition therapy for diabetes management. While working with Bob on habit and behavior changes to better manage his blood glucose, he happened to lose weight. He referred Lindsay to me because she has been struggling with her weight for many years.

 

As a matter of fact, Lindsay has been dieting for 35 years. On and off diets, losing and gaining weight, and trying whatever she could to lose weight. When she heard that Bob lost weight working with me, she made an appointment. She felt THIS would be her answer.

 

I met with her and as soon as we started talking, it was apparent that her situation was very different than Bob’s. Bob didn’t come to see me with a focus on weight loss. His focus was on diabetes management, which we worked on with a weight neutral approach.

 

What does diabetes management from a ‘weight neutral’ approach mean?

 

It means encouraging individuals to engage in health promoting behaviors to manage their diabetes without focusing on weight and the number on the scale.

 

In Bob’s case, he happened to lose some weight in the process of taking care of himself and learning to manage his diabetes.

 

For Lindsay, it’s a whole different story. Lindsay does not have diabetes, or any medical conditions. She came to see me with one purpose in mind: weight loss.

 

When we started talking about Lindsay’s history with dieting, I helped her understand why a meal plan was not in her best interest. She knew in her heart of hearts that “following” a meal plan would become just like another diet, but she didn’t know another way.

 

Until I introduced her to INTUITIVE EATING!

 

Lindsay had never heard of intuitive eating before. She has been so immersed in diet culture that she never even considered that there was a way out. Lindsay thought she’d be dieting until the day she died.

 

Lindsay decided to take a leap of faith. As much as she said to me “Bonnie, I’m so scared”, she was ready to leave dieting behind. She just needed to know that I am here for her and will be here for her as she starts her journey back to the way she was born > an intuitive eater.

 

What about you? Are you scared to leave dieting behind? Let me know in the comments below.

 

 

I Feel Broken

This is something that I hear so often from my clients. They feel broken. Not whole. They realize that something needs to change in their life, but it’s hard. They often know what it is, they just don’t know how to do it.

 

There are many different areas of one’s life where they may feel broken. In their relationship with their spouse, their children, or maybe even themselves. Much of it has to do with the fact that they’ve been beaten down over the years. I don’t mean physically beaten, I mean emotionally beaten.

 

Now, there may be multiple reasons why. But I will focus on one in particular. And that is the relationship they have with food and their body. The struggle with not being happy with who they are because their self-worth is tied up in a number on a scale and in a dress size.

 

Let’s turn this conversation to you.

 

Do you feel broken?

 

Are you fed up with struggling with food and your body? Have you tried to change your body because society has told you to? Have you been told that thin people are respected more, thin people get the jobs, and to be other than thin means you are not enough?

 

Not pretty enough.

 

Not smart enough.

 

Not skinny enough.

 

Just not enough.

 

And you’ve tried and tried to diet, to restrict your foods in order to “get skinny” so you will be enough.

 

But it hasn’t worked.

 

So when my clients come to me and say they are broken, they just don’t know where to turn any longer. They know they don’t want to diet any more. They know that they don’t want to be ashamed of their bodies any longer. But how?

 

The answer lies in these 3 ways.

 

  1. Commit to giving up dieting forever and begin your intuitive eating journey. Now, this is easier said than done, I know that. But let’s start with the understanding that diets don’t work, and they never will. Stop pursuing weight loss in an effort to change your body. Instead, start by looking at what new habits and behaviors you can add to your life, versus what you need to take away. These new habits and behaviors will help improve your health and will be sustainable since they are not tied to a scale.

 

  1. Seek support. This is nothing to be embarrassed about. Ask for help. Why should you do this alone? There are professionals out there trained to help you. I have seen and spoken to many women who continue to struggle because they just don’t want to invest in themselves. And I say “why not”? You are worth it. If I told you that you will continue to spin your wheels and struggle year after year until you seek out support, would you still resist? If you do, then consider why you want to stay in the struggle. Because those who want to improve their lives and not be broken any longer, seek support.

 

  1. Protect yourself. Speak out against those who pressure you to be thin, to lose weight, who tell you that you are not enough, and who seek to knock you down at every turn. You don’t need these people in your life. It’s a risk, yes, especially if they are family. But it’s time to put them in their place and let them know you will not be emotionally abused any longer.

 

Okay, I’m a little hot under the collar as I write this blog. But I feel sad for those of you who are broken, and I want to help you become whole again.

 

Apply for your Break Free of Dieting Session today. Take the leap of faith you need to take.

 

 

How to Advocate for Yourself at the Doctor’s Office

My client walked into my office. We’ll call him Bob. I had not seen Bob for 2 weeks because I was on vacation. Bob has recently decided to quit dieting. Yes, after 50+ years of trying every diet known to man AND undergoing bariatric surgery (of which he gained back most of the weight he lost) he decided he needed to finally address the true underlying reasons why he was overeating.

 

Emotions.

 

Namely sadness and loneliness with a dose of frustration thrown in there.

 

But Bob knew that no matter how much his doctor told him he had to lose weight because he has diabetes and other chronic conditions, the diets just did not work. He was able to follow the diet for a short time and then an emotion would hit, and he would numb out with food. The diet was over.

 

Is this a familiar story to you?

 

On this night when I saw Bob in my office he had only been working with me on intuitive eating for about 2 months. But he was doing a great job at rejecting the diet mentality. So I was surprised that this night when he walked in, I can tell by the way he was speaking that he was slipping back into diet mentality.

 

I asked him what was going on. He shared with me that he was having terrible back pain and all the doctors he’d been to over the last 2 weeks while I was on vacation told him to lose weight to heal the back pain. He was seriously considering starting a diet, although I pointed out to him that he was already restricting (a.k.a dieting) which I could tell based on what he was sharing with me.

 

He looked me straight in the eye and he said “you’re right. I didn’t realize my actions were actually dieting”. Yet, he was still so shook up by the doctors prescribing weight loss to him AGAIN, that he was desperate.

 

Bob is a physical therapist and I asked him how he would treat one of his patients who complained of back pain. He laid out a physical therapy protocol. I then asked him “Bob, wouldn’t this protocol be appropriate for you?” And he said yes.

 

And then he realized what’s really going on!

 

He was embarrassed by his doctors, ashamed that he had gained weight again, that he was forced to get on the scale and that his doctor’s only treatment prescription was weight loss when there were a slew of other treatment options they could have suggested.

 

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon.

 

One of the biggest fears I hear from clients about going to a doctor’s appointment is hearing the words:

 

“Get on the scale”!

 

And then the chills, the heart racing, the stomach sinking…and the words that follow:

 

“Lose weight and your blood pressure and blood sugar will come down”.

 

Well, dear doctor, you’ve said this a thousand times before and where has it gotten your patient?

 

I’ll tell you! A lifetime pass on the diet roller coaster ride.

 

What to Tell Your Doctor

  1. It’s time to take a stand. To let your doctor know that you will not be fat shamed.
  2. That you will no longer take “lose weight” as a solution to your current health issue.
  3. That you will not let your health evaluation be determined by a number on the scale.
  4. That you want to know what treatment options he gives his patients who are in smaller bodies – that’s the treatment options you want to discuss.

 

Listen, I realize it’s not always easy to advocate for yourself. I get that. But you know by now that weight loss and dieting is not the answer you are looking for.

 

I want to help you get off this vicious cycle of yo-yo dieting so you can learn to focus on habits and behaviors, not weight loss.

 

Please join me for a free webinar:

 

“THE 5 STEPS TO BREAK FREE OF DIETING”

So You Can Make Peace with Food, Enjoy Guilt-Free Eating and Get The Body You Love

 

======> Reserve your virtual seat here

 

You will discover…

  • The 3 essential ingredients you need to never diet again.
  • Why diet and food restriction are not the answer to long lasting weight loss.
  • The #1 reason why changing what you eat is keeping you spinning your wheels.
  • My 5 step system to finally achieve the body you love (that you can start using right away).

 

You will walk away from this training with the knowledge you need to get started so you never have to be afraid of the doctor’s scale again!

 

Click here to register now!

 

Bob called me the next day. He called to thank me for caring about his health and wellbeing. And for guiding him on how to advocate for himself at the doctor’s office. He reported to me that his back pain was hardly noticeable that morning. That’s the power of CARING SUPPORT!

 

Hope to see you on the Webinar. Join us here!

 

Intuitive Eating: I Don’t Know Where to Start

It’s Intuitive Eating Wednesday when I answer your questions and troubleshoot your challenges around intuitive eating and emotional eating.

 

This week’s Intuitive Eating Wednesday Question comes from Sandy, and it is:

“Bonnie, I have decided not to start a diet in the New Year! And while I’m excited about this, I just don’t know where to begin my intuitive eating journey. I have the original Intuitive Eating book, which I’ve read twice, but I just feel overwhelmed. Can you help me?”

 

Yes, of course, thank you Sandy for writing in to me.

 

As I started to put together some steps for Sandy, I thought about you.

 

Are you in the same place as Sandy?

 

Have you historically started a new diet or “healthy way of life” (a.k.a. diet) every January 1st?

 

Have you decided that this year it will be different….no more dieting, but you don’t know where to start your intuitive eating journey?

 

First, let me congratulate you for making the commitment to yourself to not diet in 2018! That is huge! I realize that it might have been a difficult decision with all the diet ads and marketing of the ‘right’ way to eat and exercise to shrink or sculpt your body (into something that is not sustainable anyway)!

 

Second, I feel your overwhelm. There is so much information on the internet about how “to do” intuitive eating, but often these suggestions contradict one another.

 

Most of my clients that finally reach out to me for help have already dabbled in intuitive eating. That dabbling can look like a few things:

  1. They’ve read the book Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elsye Resch.
  2. They’ve taken an online course in intuitive eating.
  3. They’ve been receiving support in the myriad of free private Facebook groups that offer intuitive eating support (by the way, if you’re not a member of my group yet, click here).

 

So the question is, with all this ‘dabbling’, why are you still feeling overwhelmed and questioning “where do I start”?

 

I believe the answer lies in the following reasons:

  1. You’ve read the intuitive eating book, but are having trouble implementing the principles because while reading the book helps you become familiar with intuitive eating, for most people (I’m not saying all people, but most people), they need more structure and coaching to help implement the principles into their daily life. Is this you too?

 

  1. You’ve taken an online course but admittedly didn’t show up for yourself by taking appropriate action. Or, the course lacked the private coaching that you really need to take this to the next level. Or, the course was marketed as an intuitive eating course, but in fact once you got into it, it was really dieting.

 

  1. You’re a member of a number of free Facebook groups but you aren’t receiving individualized coaching by certified intuitive eating counselors in these settings, nor should they be giving you coaching for free. This would be a disservice to you and to their clients who have invested in themselves. The free groups can only take you so far.

 

So what’s your next ‘first’ step?

 

Grab your freebie here: 5 Steps to a Body You Love Without Dieting. This will give you the step-by-step approach I take my clients through.

 

Then, if you want me to walk you through this step-by-step journey, contact me here.