Tag Archive for: eating intuitively

How to Eat Intuitively When Your Partner is Dieting

You’ve done it! You’ve committed to never diet again, to ditch diet culture and to truly learn to trust your inner wisdom as your guide to eating.

 

Congratulations. I know this was a big commitment!

 

And I also know how hard this can be if your partner or significant other has decided to jump on the New Year diet bandwagon.

 

So, how do you stay true to your desires and goals, while your partner is weighing and measuring food, avoiding carbs, and talking about it being a “good” or “bad” day? And worse yet, if they are telling you what YOU should or shouldn’t be eating or doing in relation to your food, body or clothes that you wear.

 

I’m going to break it down for you in 3 simple steps.  

 

1.Communication is Key!

The success in any relationship comes down to communication and respect. Ask your partner if they can set aside time to speak with you, that there is something important you want to discuss. When that time comes, explain that you want to share some things about your past that they may not know or realize. While your partner may know about your past or present food struggles, they may not know to what extent it has impacted your life.

 

Be open and be specific. Share about your dieting history, explain how dieting has made you feel, and the shame you’ve experienced each time you’ve regained the weight you lost.

 

2.Gently Educate About Intuitive Eating:

It’s possible your partner doesn’t understand what Intuitive Eating is. Or, they have misconceptions about it. This is not unusual. There’s a lot of misinformation on the internet about Intuitive Eating. Many people think if you stop dieting and embrace Intuitive Eating, you don’t care about your health.

 

This is a fallacy.

 

Explain to your partner that you are actually TAKING CARE of your health, both physically and mentally, by no longer dieting.

 

It’s important to have compassion for your partner as they have been swimming in the same diet culture toxic waters that you have. Lucky you, you are swimming out of these waters, but your partner may not be ready. At the very least, you’ve planted seeds, and have each agreed to respect each other’s journey.

 

3.Set Boundaries:

It’s possible that after the conversation, your partner will be convinced to join you on your Intuitive Eating journey. That’d be great! But the reality is, they may not be ready for it. And that’s okay too! The important thing is for you to set boundaries.

 

Here are some examples:

  • No talking about good and bad foods
  • No comments about what I am eating, or what you’re not eating
  • No diet talk, at all!
  • No body talk, whether that be body bashing or comments about weight loss

 

Consider what other boundaries you’d like to make. Make a poster board, and hang it in the kitchen/dining room, or any room where these conversations might happen!

 

At the end of the day, it’s always nice to have the support of your significant other. Give them time and space to learn, just like you’ve done. My guess is that over time, they will be right along side you eating intuitively!

 

CLICK HERE to join us at today’s LIVE training.

Missed the Live training? No problem. Replay is available inside the Facebook Group!

4 Intuitive Eating Strategies for Summer Vacation

Summer is my favorite time of year. But for many women I speak to, the thought of summer vacation brings them anxiety and stress about how family trips, outings and days at the beach will affect their intuitive eating journey.

Do you feel the same?

These feelings creep up because of your past (or lingering) diet mentality. You’ve always dieted before vacation so that you can “splurge” while on vacation. Then you come home only to feel guilty about “blowing it again”.

This behavior starts the diet rollercoaster all over again.

Let’s make sure the diet mentality stays quiet as you plan ahead for the most rewarding intuitive summer yet.

Here are 4 strategies to help you navigate your intuitive eating journey during your summer get-away. 

1. Shut down your inner critic: You know that voice that I’m talking about. The one that is telling you that you have to lose 10 pounds before you put on a swimsuit. If you listen to this voice, she will push you back into diet mentality and onto the latest quick fix, which will keep you riding the dieting roller coaster.

What to do: when your inner critic starts speaking, pause, acknowledge her presence, thank her for trying to protect you but let her know that you no longer need protection. You are doing just fine and shoo her away….

….and then go shopping for new bathing suits that make you feel like a million bucks!

2. Stay tuned in and aware: Mindless snacking is easy to do while vacationing if you are not staying present. There is often less structure to the day, no routine and you may find yourself grazing instead of eating a meal. This is easy to do if you are lying on the beach with friends passing around snacks or walking the streets and trying the local fare.

What to do: Make a commitment to yourself to stay fully present, pay attention and have an awareness of whether you’re hungry or not before you dig into the snacks.

3. Be prepared to honor your hunger. Whether you are sitting at the pool, lying on the beach, in an amusement park or on a full day tour, you are going to get hungry at some point. If you aren’t prepared and you get over hungry, then it’ll be more difficult to make choices that honor your health when you finally get to your next meal.

What to do: Be prepared and have snacks with you so you don’t have to wing it. Remember, one of the principles of intuitive eating is to honor your hunger. If you wait too long, you tend to not choose the most healthful choices and you will likely eat beyond comfortable fullness, which never feels good!

4. Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. It’s very common for a recovering dieter to fall back into the mindset of “it’s vacation, I’ll get back on my plan when I get home.” This is very damaging and can undo many months of hard work on your intuitive eating journey. I recognize that some vacation resorts are all-inclusive which means that all the food and beverages (including alcohol) is included in what you’re paying for the hotel. It’s very tempting to just eat and eat and eat to “get your money’s worth”.

What to do: By giving yourself unconditional permission to eat when you’re hungry, you will be less tempted to eat beyond comfortable fullness because you know you can eat this food again, whether it’s later that day, the next day or next week. It’s when you think this is your last opportunity to eat this food that not respecting your fullness is more challenging.

We all need a vacation and time away from our everyday work and chores. This is a time to strengthen your intuitive eating journey. You can do it!

If you’re ready to get individualized help on your intuitive eating journey, just go to www.TalkWithBonnie.com and schedule a complementary call with me.

 

 

You Are Worthy of a Sit-Down Meal

I have a question for you…  When it’s time to eat, do you put your food on your plate and sit down to eat, or do you stand at the counter and pick at the food until you’ve had enough?

 

I’ve had a number of clients tell me they are not worthy of a sit down meal.  They do not think they deserve to enjoy their meal in a pleasant environment, free of distractions.

 

Let’s take a look back to your past and figure out where this belief might have originated.

  • Is it something you saw mom or grandmother doing?

 

  • Is it something you were lead to believe by someone you trusted?

 

  • Were you ever told that you “shouldn’t” be eating because you are “fat”?

 

While it’s important to understand the origin of this belief, please know this…

  

You deserve to eat, every meal of the day, every day. And, you deserve to sit down and enjoy your meal and savor each bite.

 

Plating Your Meals Throughout the Day

You may say that you have no time to plate your meals, that you are busy, constantly on-the-go and it’s just easier to grab when you can, or just graze throughout the day. I get being busy, but it’s all about priorities. You CAN restructure your day to include meal time. This means you sit at the table with a plate of food and enjoy it in good company.

 

Let’s start with Breakfast:

Instead of eating breakfast in the car, wake up a few minutes earlier and plan to sit at the kitchen table to enjoy your breakfast. To make this even easier, prepare what you can the night before so you have less steps to do in the morning.

 

Then there’s Lunch:

Instead of eating lunch at your desk, schedule 30 minutes into your schedule to leave your office to eat lunch. Maybe there’s a break room at work, a local park with picnic tables, or on the occasion, a nearby restaurant you can eat at. Your meal times can be a good time to reflect and really tune into what your body is telling you.

 

No More Dinner Grazing:

  • Believe that you are worthy of eating a well-balanced dinner, sitting at your table. Make it a point to finish cooking, plate your food and sit down.

 

  • Put a nice tablecloth on your dining table and use a nice china plate instead of a paper plate.

 

  • Savor every bite. Really tune into the taste, texture and flavor of the food you are eating. Be fully present.By actively savoring each bite, you will find yourself more satisfied with your meal rather than when you pick at food mindlessly.

 

Plating and sitting down to your meals throughout the day will help you feel more satisfied and you won’t find yourself searching for food during the day and night.

 

If you truly have trouble with this, dive deeper to uncover your limiting beliefs around your worthiness to eat. If you need help, just reach out to me at Bonnie@DietFreeRadiantMe.com

 

 

Eating 40/30/30 Intuitively?

I receive emails every day from people on my email list, my online community, or private Facebook group. One common thread among many of these emails is NUTRITION OVERWHELM.

 

Here’s an excerpt from the end of one of those emails:

“…..I already think about food too much as it is and when I hear webinars about plant-based diets and eating less meat/protein I feel I’m doing the right thing. Yet I then hear “anti-aging experts” talk about needing higher protein and I stress about changing my entire diet. It’s very frustrating! How do I eat intuitively if trying to eat by a ratio 40/30/30? I don’t have any idea about the ratio I eat or even “how many calories” my body needs but I think it seems eating like 40/30/30 is not at all intuitive eating if it needs to be calculated. Please help!”

 

Well, this woman who wrote in to me is right. This is not intuitive at all.

 

We were not born with a calculator attached to our bodies, adding up the protein, carbs and fat we eat with each morsel of food every day.

 

Our bodies know exactly what we need, and if we would stop trying to manipulate this, there would be no disordered eating or eating disorders.

 

There are WAY too many people on the internet touting THE way to eat to help you lose weight, be healthier, and age backwards. My advice to you is to STOP listening to them. Go with your gut! What does your instinct say when you hear or read these “new and revolutionary” ways to eat and live longer?

 

Trust yourself. You were born with the ability to know what you need. Your body is truly amazing like that. If you go for a few days without eating vegetables, for example, at some point your body is going to say to you “can you please give me some roughage so I can have a bowel movement?” It’s up to you to listen.

 

So dear reader, I am not going to tell you what percentage of the macros to eat. But I will encourage you to just be. Just let your body guide you to what nutrients it needs and wants in each moment at each meal.

 

The result: more freedom to think about other joys in your life instead of counting your macros.