intuitive eating Archives - Page 25 of 32 - Diet Free Radiant Me | Intuitive Eating | Emotional Eating

Keep Your Nose Out of My Plate

Why is it that some people need to know what you are eating, and have opinions on what is best for you?

I was at a wedding the other night. When it came time for the dinner, I asked the waiter for a vegetarian plate. I don’t prefer chicken or meat, and I usually ask for the vegetarian option. Not a problem. Yet, when my dinner plate came to the table, all eyes were on it. “What do you have there?” “Why did you order vegetarian? You don’t eat meat?”

I don’t need to get into conversation with anyone about my food preferences or what I eat, unless of course I want to. But most of the time it is not welcomed.

Do you have people in your life that stick their nose into your plate? Perhaps they are offering you advice on what you should or should not eat to lose weight, lower your cholesterol or to have more energy? Even worse, have you heard the dreaded words “Should you be eating THAT?”

I call these people boundary invaders. They are invading your private personal space. They have NO IDEA what is right for you, what you inner signals are telling you, what your taste preferences are. They need to keep their noses in their own plates.

Here’s how to deal with these people:

Tell them, ever so politely, that you are in charge of your decisions as to what to eat and what is right for you. Respectfully ask them to mind their own business and look in their own plate.

As for me, I politely answered “Vegetarian is my preference this evening. Enjoy your meal.”

End of story.

Your turn to take action: Do you have a story to share of someone who had their nose in your plate? Share below.

Stress Less this Holiday Season

With the upcoming holidays it’s easy to get lost in the chaos. Don’t let yourself feel out of control this year. Start your holiday season off on the right foot! Make this the year that you conquer your dieting habits and turn to intuitive and mindful eating for a body you love.

Here are a few suggestions that work for me during the busy holiday season. I hope you find them helpful too.

Set yourself up for success

As I’ve mentioned many times before and I will probably suggest many times again, set yourself up for success. Do a clean sweep of your kitchen before you begin your cooking. I don’t mean sweep the floor, I mean tuck away all tempting foods – out of sight, out of mind. Take those holiday cookies and sweets and put them in the pantry or kitchen cabinet so they won’t be staring at you while you cook.

Be sure to eat breakfast each day

Skipping breakfast or lunch before your holiday meal will cause you to be exceptionally hungry when it’s time for the main meal. You might think you’re doing yourself a favor but you will likely eat more than your stomach can handle and you won’t feel good afterwards. Or you might fill up on appetizers and feel full before the meal even begins. Understand that maintaining a state of satisfaction is a huge part of eating right.

Pace Yourself

During the meal, pacing yourself is key. Put your fork down and spend time talking to relatives in between bites. As you space out your meal you allow your brain to register the food that is entering your stomach. Your body will be able to signal when you are satisfied and have eaten enough.

Anticipate the stress

The holidays are a balancing act. Prepare yourself for stressful situations and learn how to best manage a stressful event so that you do not turn to food to ease the stress. If you know you are going to see family members or friends who drain you physically and emotionally, take the time to mentally prepare yourself in advance. Think of strategies to handle situations and come up with solutions to destress. This can be finding a comforting place to take a break, whether it be your car or an empty room.

The stress that comes from the cooking, the cleaning, the planning and of course the eating can all be balanced with the right strategies and support.

In honor of the holidays, I have ONE TIME opportunity that I’d like to extend to you.

I will personally coach you through the holidays in my Stress Less EAT LESS™ Program. Learn the 3 key steps to best manage the stress and overwhelm to STOP STRESS EATING once and for all.

Stress Less EAT LESS™ is a 4 week program that includes live group coaching calls, a private Facebook group, My Holiday Menu Planner and Recipe Guide and so much more.

Save $100 by getting all the details and signing up HERE.

We start November 30^th so don’t wait.

Have questions, email me at Bonnie@DietFreeRadiantMe.com

How to Love Your Body Even if You Are Not “Skinny”

There is so much emphasis on being “skinny” or “thin” in today’s society. You are often judged based on your appearance and your body, not based on your inner qualities and abilities.

Don’t tell me it isn’t so. There are countless stories that can be told of 2 women who go for a job interview, one overweight, maybe even obese, the other thin and model-like. Who gets the job? More often than not, the thin woman.

The above scenario is what keeps you dieting, over and over again, berating yourself every time you “go off the diet” and bashing your body with comments such as “I hate my body, I hate my thighs, I’ll never have the body I want”.

Let’s take a different approach.

Let’s start to learn to love yourself and love your body RIGHT NOW as it is. Yes, I mean right now at whatever body size you are at. Appreciate all that your body has done for you, and continues to do for you. By giving and showing respect to your body and accepting it, you will let go of the body hatred and body bashing and allow yourself to move away from yo-yo dieting and move forward on your intuitive eating journey.

To help you do this, I have gathered together 20 fabulous experts who are who are giving away, for free, high-quality gifts on the topics of:

Self-Love
Body Love
Intuitive Eating
Meditation
Abundance
Mindfulness
Nutrition
Exercise
and many more!

The event is called Love Yourself, Love Your Body!

I am committed to helping women around the globe learn to love themselves and their bodies as they are RIGHT NOW in order to move away from the cycle of yo-yo dieting. So, that means you will not find any fad diets, crazy exercise regimens, detox programs, etc….in this giveaway. What you will find are gifts designed to help you get in touch with yourself, learn to love yourself, accept yourself and trust your inner guidance system when it comes to taking care of yourself and your body.

Click here and grab your free gifts before the event ends on November 23^rd.

Beta GluCAN’Ts- A Supplement Scam that Won’t Enhance Weight Loss

Today I want to share with you a blog that is a little different from the ones I have posted in the past. My daughter, Jennifer, is taking her first nutrition course in college and one of her assignments was to write a paper about diet scams. Here it is below. I added some of my own thoughts towards the end.

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By Jennifer Giller

There are many supplements on the market that claim to help you lose an absurd amount of weight in an unrealistic amount of time. Often times, these supplements contain ingredients that are not even associated with weight loss.

A specific weight loss supplement I recently saw advertised (name withheld), claims to serve as an alternative to Gastric Bypass surgery. The company claims to have a 90% success rate in substantial weight loss. However, these are baseless claims.

The main ingredient in this product are beta glucans. Beta glucans are a soluble fiber. When ingested, these fibers absorb water and naturally expand. This limits the amount of food that you are able to take in, causing you to feel full throughout the day.

There has been research conducted to study the effects of beta glucans on body weight and health. One such randomized study looked at the addition of beta glucan supplements to a low calorie diet in 66 overweight women over the course of 3 months. The women were placed into 1 of 3 calorie reduced diet groups. The first group was a control group, the second group received 5-6 grams of beta glucan, and the third group received 8-9 grams of beta glucan supplementations. Height and weight, blood glucose levels, insulin, triglycerides, and leptin measurements were taken at the beginning of the study as well as at the 3 month mark. Other markers of appetite regulation, such as cholecystokinin and ghrelin, were also measured.

At the 3 month mark, all 3 study groups lost weight. All groups also had a lower waist circumference and reductions in some metabolic variables. However, there was no significant difference in weight loss among the groups. Research concluded that the beta glucan supplement did not add to the effectiveness of the low calorie diets in these overweight women.

Other research however, puts a positive spin on this product. Multiple studies have showed that beta glucans may be beneficial towards lowering blood sugars and cholesterol. The FDA (Federal Drug Administration) has already approved a health claim that beta glucans can lower cholesterol and the risks of heart disease as well as lower the risk of getting diabetes along with diabetes associated complications.

Personally, I view beta glucan supplementation marketed as a weight loss solution as a scam. The evidence shows that beta glucans do not have any effect on enhancing weight loss. It is instead putting a ‘band-aid’ on a bigger problem. If you believe that simply supplementing with beta glucans will help you lose weight, you will never learn how to eat or how to maintain your weight without supplements. On the other hand, if you find yourself at risk for heart disease or diabetes, I would suggest you include more food sources of beta glucans in your meals such as oats and legumes.

I hope you found this article as interesting as I did. Thank you Jennifer for your contribution to the blog this week, I am so proud of you.

Just One More Diet…Promise!

Have you ever heard yourself say “let me just lose twenty pounds and then I’ll deal with my emotional eating”?

You go through the cycle of dieting and losing the weight and then gradually gain it back again and again. It’s a treacherous cycle that never ends. You get sucked into the latest diet claim and think to yourself “this is what’s finally going to help me lose the weight for good”.

What you don’t realize is it’s a trap.

I’d like you to consider the possibility that it’s not so much the FOOD that you’re eating that’s the problem, it’s the underlying reason WHY you are eating.

Even if you don’t follow a “fad diet”- even if you follow a healthy-well balanced, structured meal plan – there is only so long that this will “work” for you. It’s imperative to face head on the emotional reasons that trigger your eating. These structured rules and standards of even a healthy eating plan will not continue to work for you until you dig deep into your relationship with food.

This means for some of you revisiting issues from your past. What were the food and body image messages that you were “fed” growing up? I know it’s easier to avoid going to these places, but it’s imperative if you are going to finally feel good about yourself and your body.

I ask you to step out of your comfort zone. Don’t let yourself fall into that trap again. Take a risk and trust a professional who is telling you to forget about the diets, and dare I say, your healthy eating plan (for now).

Ask yourself what you really want to accomplish? Is it to lose 20 pounds but deep in your heart know that you will regain them and continue on this dizzying diet cycle?

Or, do you want to finally come to peace with food?

I understand that you feel safe when you’re following a diet. But right now it’s important to be true to yourself.

If you are an emotional eater and you aren’t using your inner body wisdom to make your food decisions each and every day, AND you see food as your enemy instead of the fuel and nourishment it’s meant to be, it’s time to make a change.

Figure out what is standing in the way of you finally losing the weight for good; because that next diet won’t be your last.

Take action in ONE or ALL of several ways:

1) Download your Free e-book: 5 Steps to a Body You Love Without Dieting and get started on your journey.

2) Join other women on the same journey in our Free Online Community.

3) Set up a Break Free of Dieting Strategy Session with me (complementary) and see how I can best support you.

Food and Celebrations: Lessons Learned

What is it about holidays and food? It seems that the word “holiday” is synonymous with the word “food” or should I say “TOO MUCH FOOD”!

I’ve just finished celebrating a month full of holidays. It’s been fun spending time with family…my parents, my children, my grandson. Have I mentioned my grandson lately? He is just so scrumptious! He’s able to call me grandma now…I just can’t get enough.

But I divert. Back to topic.

I told my kids that I wasn’t going to overcook this holiday. I was going to make a basic meal, ensuring that there was protein, whole grains and lots of vegetables. And I did. But the problem was…I made too much! Meaning, too many choices. I was so worried “what if she doesn’t like that, what if he doesn’t like this…I must have all these choices.

Well, I was wrong. After each meal ended (and there were many), I looked at the leftovers and said, “It looks like I’m putting away more than I took out”. Now, of course that’s not possible, but what I mean is people ate and then stopped. And, I was left with a lot of leftovers.

So, my lessons learned are as follows:
1) My family knows what it means to listen to their inner satiety (fullness signals) and they stopped eating when they were just full (okay, to be totally honest, some did eat a little past comfortable satiety, but even this happens now and then in an intuitive eater.)

2) Listen to my “gut” instinct. The next time I plan to make a basic meal, I need to stick to my plan and not worry that I won’t have enough food, because I always do!

3) Immediately freeze my leftovers, in small containers, so I have ready-to-go meals for during the week. I often work late hours, and it’s great to pull out already cooked food from my freezer so my family has a balanced meal every night.

4) Remember the reason we are celebrating, whether it be a holiday, a birthday, anniversary or job promotion. Food does NOT have to be the center of the celebration. Yes, it’s an important part, I won’t deny that. But, focus on the people you will be partying with, the conversations you will have, and perhaps new people you will meet.

What are the lessons you’ve learned from food-abundant celebrations?

There’s Just a Little Food Left on My Plate

You’re staring at your plate that now has just a few more bites of your dinner food left. You’ve really enjoyed your meal, but if you are being honest with yourself, you are satisfied and probably don’t need to eat any more.

As you contemplate what to do, you glance around the table. Everyone else is still eating. You decide to pick up your fork and finish the remaining food on your plate. As you swallow the last bite, you now regret cleaning the plate. You are overfull and uncomfortable.

Why do you do this time and time again?

Sounds like you are part of the “clean the plate club”. There are many reasons that you might be part of this club. Perhaps your mom or dad told you when growing up that the children in another country are starving and you should be grateful for the food you have. Or, you feel bad wasting the money that you work so hard to earn in order to buy the food. Either way (and there are likely other reasons as well such as “It’s not enough to dirty a container for”), you hardly ever walk away from the table with food left on your plate.

This is a practice that is not serving you well on your intuitive eating journey, or your healthy living journey.

Here are 3 tips to help you be totally okay with leaving food on your plate:

Slow down the pace of your eating so you can achieve pleasure in each and every bite. It will be easier to stop when you sense you have had enough.

Promise yourself that you will pack up whatever you leave over (even if it’s a small amount) so you can eat it tomorrow. You will then enjoy this wonderful meal again.

Take less on your plate, knowing that if you are still hungry you can always take more.

Sounds simple? Maybe so, but I do know that it’s not so easy to do. Make a commitment to at least try.

Your turn to take action: What are some of the reasons you clean your plate even after you’ve had enough?

You Don’t Need to Walk the Intuitive Eating Journey Alone

Dieting is lonely. You are at a party and everyone is eating what they want without a worry in the world. You, well – you either fall into one of two categories:

Category 1: You are on a diet and are feeling deprived because you “can’t” eat the party food that everyone else is. You put on a happy face, but inside you are miserable. You and I both know what will happen when you get home (let’s be honest because that’s how I rock…you’ll probably raid the kitchen cabinets…)

Category 2: You were on a diet until you got to the party and then saw all the great food you’d be missing out on. So you say “forget the diet”, and you indulge and promise to start over in the morning.

Isn’t it time to leave all this behind you? Yes, of course it is. That’s why you are reading my blog and following my work in intuitive eating. I’m so proud of you!

But here’s where it gets sticky. You still want to lose weight, but you really want to learn to be an intuitive eater. In order to do that, you must commit to a diet-free life. Well, who of your friends will understand when you tell them that you have decided never to diet again?

They say “girl, what did you say? You are never going to diet again?” They are amazed but really think you’ve lost your marbles. You, however, are committed to this new way of living and learning, but you would love to talk to other women who get it and are on the same journey as you.

Well, I’ve got the perfect solution for you!

The Diet Free Radiant Me™ (DFRM) Online Community.

What is the Diet Free Radiant Me™ (DFRM) Online Community?

This is a Private Exclusive Facebook Group filled with women who have committed to giving up dieting just like you!

Who is it for?

This group is for you if you are a woman who is a chronic dieter and/or an emotional eater struggling to lose weight and you want to break free of the pain of dieting to get the healthy body you love more than anything. You realize that dieting isn’t the answer but you need guidance and support as you embark on a new journey.

Purpose of the group

The DFRM private Facebook Group is a place for you to leave dieting behind and to embrace intuitive eating while learning to love your body.

What goes on in our group?

Some of the things we do in my group are (a) Theme days around the 3 essential ingredients to long-lasting weight loss (healthy mindset, caring support and nutrition education), (b) Free challenges, and (c) Ongoing caring support in a nonjudgmental way.

This is a WIN-WIN for you! It’s a no-cost way for you to get the support you need on your journey and to meet and connect with like-minded women.

Join us by clicking HERE. I’ll be waiting for you with open arms!

(When you arrive at the private Facebook group, please click the green Join Group Button.)

Dieting – a Creature of Habit

I was meeting with a client yesterday. We were speaking about making behavioral changes. For the purpose of this blog, it doesn’t matter what behaviors we were actually speaking about. What does matter was the “aha” moment she had from this discussion.

Change by definition is “to make or become different”, or “the act of making or becoming different.”

My client, let’s call her Lisa, was resisting change. She was engaging in the same behaviors for months, yet was wondering why she wasn’t progressing forward on her intuitive eating journey. As she pondered this, she finally said “I am a creature of habit. Change is hard”.

Yes, change is hard. But what is important for you to understand is if those same behaviors you have been doing for years have not gotten you the results you wanted, then nothing is going to change. You cannot continue doing the same things and expect different results.

If you have tried to lose weight by the act of “dieting” and you haven’t been successful, then it’s time to recognize that you need a change. You need to acknowledge that dieting is not and never will be the answer to long lasting weight loss.

It’s comfortable to diet. Well, okay, I don’t really mean it’s comfortable by the actual definition of comfortable (definition: being in a state of physical or mental comfort). I don’t think anyone in their right mind would say that food restriction, feelings of deprivation and guilt is actually comfortable.

What I mean is its familiar to you. You know what to expect, it’s safe for you. There are no surprises (well with some diets, there might be some undesirable surprises like hair loss, constipation and irritability.)

So, why is it so hard to give it up?

Because you will be moving into unchartered territory. You will be embarking on a journey that you have never been on before, and you don’t know what to expect. So sometimes it’s just easier not to jump.

But today is the day. Today is the day that you leave diets behind and vow to learn a better way. Today is the day that you realize that change will not happen unless you become just a little uncomfortable in order to change your future.

You are not alone. I am here for you. And, I have put together a community of women who are venturing into this unknown territory just like you.

Come join us in the Diet Free Radiant Me™ Online Community. It is a free private online community where you will learn a new way of living and where you will get the support and comradery you desire.

Your turn to take action: Click HERE to join our Diet Free Radiant Me™ Online Community.

Did You Have a Vacation Mindset Around Food this Summer?

I’m sorry to say that the summer is almost over! Someone asked me today when my daughter starts school, and I had to admit I didn’t know. I just love the summer. The warm weather, the relaxed attitude and vacation time.

This month I actually went on vacation TWICE! This is not like me. But, it’s all part of MY Self-Care Plan. It’s important to stop and take a break and re-energize.

My first vacation was with my husband for 5 days…no kids, just us. It was wonderful. One thing we did that we never have time to do at home is to eat out at restaurants. We actually ate out every evening! The second vacation was a short 2 days with another two couples.

My clients often worry when they are preparing to go away on vacation. They worry about the food they will eat, how much weight they will gain and they often go into “vacation mindset”.

What is “vacation mindset” you ask?

“Oh, I’m on vacation, I’ll enjoy myself and start my diet (or start over) when I get home.”

Yikes. Have you ever said this to yourself? Well, it’s okay if you have, but make a commitment from the moment you read this blog that you won’t fall prey to the “vacation mindset” again.

You see, when you say this to yourself, you are giving yourself permission to eat beyond your point of satisfaction, to eat and snack mindlessly because you are on vacation. And then when you return home, you are upset with yourself and start the negative self-talk and body bashing and probably promise never to do that again. But, you do.

Moving away from this mindset means you are respecting your body each and every day, no matter if you are on vacation or not. Staying tuned in and aware while choosing the foods you love will enable you to have pleasure in your meals and feel strong in your body.

This is the power of being an intuitive eater.

I enjoyed my vacations, and I enjoyed every meal that I ate. I didn’t worry about my food choices, I stayed tuned in and aware. You can too! I’m here to help you if you need me.

Want some extra support? Join my free private Facebook online community by clicking here.

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