Tag Archive for: intuitive eating

Social Media: Is it Helpful or Harmful When Practicing Intuitive Eating?

There are many different places that people find out about the world of Intuitive Eating. These include:

  • A family member
  • A friend
  • A HAES aligned health professional
  • The internet
  • Social media**

Nowadays, social media is the new way of sending and receiving all kinds of information—from keeping tabs on your long distance friends to being up to date on the latest news.

Social media is here to stay and while on one hand it may appear to be a very fun and engaging place to be, it’s important to understand the “not so fun” side of social media.

In terms of Intuitive Eating, social media can send many mixed messages—both helpful and  harmful to your Intuitive Eating journey and understanding of Intuitive Eating.

How Social Media is Helpful 

1.It gives a voice to qualified well-educated people to speak on important Intuitive Eating and other nutrition-related topics.

Social media gives Registered Dietitians and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselors a place to promote real, evidenced-based information about Intuitive Eating. Meaning, it allows Intuitive Eating to be represented CORRECTLY.

It also gives them a place to advocate against diet culture and for a more non-diet approach when it comes to mending relationships with food and your body.

2.It provides a starting point, or baseline, for Intuitive Eater newbies.

As mentioned before, especially nowadays, many people come into the world of Intuitive Eating because of social media posts they see online, or information they see circulating on their newsfeeds.

With this being said, social media provides just a starting point, providing baseline information, for Intuitive Eating newbies to being their journey toward mending their relationship with food and body.

Check out Intuitive Eating Basics, a self-paced course to give you a taste of Intuitive Eating and begin to reject your diet mentality and reconnect with your inner signals.

3.It helps challenge, tackle, and stand up against the toxic messages of diet culture.

With many influential RDNs and other Intuitive Eating Counselors and experts on social media, this allows for

4.It provides an environment for Intuitive Eaters to share stories, feel supported and connect with others going through similar experiences.

Social media can provide a large sense of community, accountability and relatability—especially for those who are struggling or just starting out on their Intuitive Eating journey.

How Social Media is Harmful

1.There’s lots and lots of mixed messages.

 Social media can be a confusing place filled with misinformation. While one account is telling you one thing, another account could tell you the exact opposite—so beware!

My recommendation to you is to only consume content from qualified “social media influencers”, like Registered Dietitians, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselors, and other health care professionals that are HAES aligned (Health at Every Size) and are committed to weight neutral practice.

2.You might be influenced to listen to (and follow) the “wrong” social media voices.

With so many different kinds of accounts to follow on social media, there are bound to be ones that claim to be supportive for your Intuitive Eating journey, but in reality are not.

Be sure to follow accounts that support a non-diet approach, align with your personal Intuitive Eating values, and advocate against diet culture.

3.It enables anyone and everyone to create a “brand”.

 Anyone with a phone and a WIFI signal can create a social media platform and claim to be an expert in just about anything! Be cautious with following accounts that simply have a lot of followers, or generate a lot of likes, thumbs up, etc.—this does NOT mean the information they are sharing is valid, correct or helpful for you!

4.It promotes diet culture messages but claims they’re Intuitive Eating.

The messages of Intuitive Eating are often misinterpreted or twisted by diet culture.

For example, social media accounts that…

  • Claim Intuitive Eating is a way to lose weight
  • Push the thin ideal
  • Promote a certain way of eating
  • Claim a way of eating or living is a form of “lifestyle” or for “wellness”

>>>All of these examples are diet culture in disguise!

 

Do your due diligence. Check out the accounts you follow, look into the people behind the accounts, and be alert to misguided information.

 

For up to date, reliable information on Intuitive Eating, check out my website here. 

 

 

Intuitive Eating and Weight Gain—How Do I Handle This?

You’ve given up dieting for good, you’re ready to make peace with food and have embarked on a new, exciting journey with Intuitive Eating—sounds pretty good right?

Of course, it does! But with any new journey there are realities we must accept—one of those being “yes, it’s true. You may gain weight when you start practicing Intuitive Eating!”

But how can you learn to be okay with this new reality after struggling with food and trusting your body?

Let’s start with the WHY

Why does weight gain even happen to some people when embarking on an Intuitive Eating journey?

First, it’s important to mention that when beginning any kind of journey, you never know how your body is going to react. Each person comes into this journey at different points.

For example: some may come from a place of food restriction and an eating disorder, some as a chronic yo-yo dieter, and others from years of being stuck in a binge-restrict cycle.

Therefore, given each of those examples—the body is going to react completely different when you begin to listen to it and provide it what it needs!

If you’ve been suppressing your weight through restriction, it actually makes total sense that once you begin to lift the restrictions and learn to listen to your body, that you might gain weight simply by eating enough food to meet your body’s needs.

This idea of weight gain and Intuitive Eating also revolves around the concept of “set point weight theory”, defined as “the weight your body wishes to be at in order to function and be at its best”.

Therefore, when embarking on this journey, weight gain may occur because it’s what your body WANTS and NEEDS to do in order to be at its best for YOU.

This requires trust in yourself and your body, which is something that can be difficult to do when you are new to Intuitive Eating. But it IS possible to regain this trust.

Another important point to make is that if you’ve been chronically dieting with a long list of “can’t have” foods, once you begin allowing these foods back into your eating world, you may overdo it for a while, eating beyond comfortable fullness. This may cause some temporary weight gain. But as you normalize your eating of these foods, your weight will normalize too.

Navigating the Fear

In order to be at peace with allowing your body to do what it needs to do to ultimately regain its trust, here are a few things to keep in mind:

(1) There’s nothing wrong with weight.

A practice within Intuitive Eating is to neutralize all foods—let go of the “good” and “bad” labels you place on food. The same concept applies to weight gain—it’s time to neutralize, or destigmatize, the idea that weight gain is a “bad thing”.

This can be hard to accept because of the toxic diet culture messages we’ve heard for many, many years— “gaining weight is unhealthy”, “if you gain weight, you have no self-control”, etc.

Whatever weight your body ends up at, whether it’s less, more or remains the same, that is the weight your body feels safest and best.

If weight gain happens, take a moment to embrace it and reflect on if it’s a sign that you were previously NOT caring for yourself in the way your body needs to be.

(2) Turn away (and off) the diet culture messages.

Diet culture is unfortunately all around us—on television, in the news, on social media, and even within our own environment (family, friends, workplace).

It’s time to remove those toxic diet culture messages from your mental and physical space. It can be hard to do but take some time to reflect on how years of dieting and restriction has negatively impacted your life, your relationship with others, your relationship with food and your body, etc.

Start by:

  • Unfollowing social media accounts that promote diet culture and instead following body positive accounts
  • Throwing away your scale, or other weight loss tools (measuring tapes, etc.)
  • Removing yourself from conversation that revolves around weight loss, restriction, or anything that negatively impacts how you feel about yourself.

(3) Shift your focus.

Instead of focusing on the fact that weight gain is, or may be, a possibility, think about what else you are gaining by practicing Intuitive Eating consistently.

For example…

  • Peace with food and food freedom
  • No longer letting food and food decisions control your life
  • A positive relationship with food
  • Better sleep, mood, and outlook on life
  • A better social life with more spontaneous plans
  • More energy
  • A positive community and support system

Shift your focus to highlight the wins or little victories that you are gaining from practicing Intuitive Eating.

(4) Practice self-compassion.

Self-compassion is another important part of Intuitive Eating. Practice self-compassion by approaching weight gain in a new way:

  • Choose to support and care for your here and now body
  • Nourish yourself consistently
  • Dress and wear clothes that are meant for your current body
  • Provide yourself with adequate rest
  • Remind yourself of the long term, overarching reason you’ve adopted this new way of living and eating

Get the tools and strategies to redefine your self-worth away from your body weight or number. And, join a community of women who have started their Intuitive Eating journey! Want to find out how?

 

YES, Bonnie, show me how!

 

 

Mindful Eating: It’s More Than Just a Way to Eat

How familiar are you with the term “mindfulness”?

Mindfulness, and mindful eating, are terms that seems to be thrown around by many doctors, social media influencers and maybe even your friends these days!

But what exactly is mindful eating and where did it come from?

What is Mindful Eating? 

Mindful eating is rooted in the Buddhist concept of mindfulness and is a form of meditation that helps you recognize and cope with emotions and physical sensations.

In order to properly shift into the mindset of mindful eating one must use, or adopt, the concept of mindfulness in order to reach a state of full attention to the eating experience, cravings, and physical hunger and fullness cues.

It can be more clearly defined as—paying attention to your eating experience by utilizing all of the 5 senses (seeing, tasting, hearing, smelling and feeling), while also observing and taking in the emotional and physical responses that take place before, during and after the eating experience.

Mindful eating is NOT a diet, or just a way to eat—but it is mindset. It has nothing to do with calories and macronutrients nor does it focus on weight loss. The intention is to help savor the eating experience and encourage full presence during a meal.

Mindful eating is process oriented verses outcome driven. It focuses on the journey, or process of the eating experience, which is better understood as process oriented. This is compared to dieting or following a meal plan which focuses on meeting objectives, or meeting a goal (realistic or not), also known as outcome driven.

The overall goal of mindful eating is to shift your focus away from thinking about food externally, or unconsciously, to exploring, enjoying and remaining present with food and the eating experience. It’s all about bringing awareness to each plate or bite of food.

Five Fundamental Concepts of Mindful Eating:

  1. Eat slowly with no distraction.
  2. Look inward to hear hunger/fullness signals.
  3. Learn to differentiate between the different types of hunger (biological hunger and emotional hunger) and act on those feelings appropriately.
  4. Consistently engage all five senses.
  5. Learn strategies to cope with any guilt, shame, anxiety (any negative feelings) around food and eating.
  6. Take stalk of how foods make you feel.
  7. Have a real appreciation for food and the eating experience.

Although these concepts may seem totally out of reach, mindful eating is something everyone can benefit from and get involved in!

The Benefits of Mindful Eating: 

  • Reduces stress
  • Increases enjoyment and appreciation for eating and food.
  • Improves digestion
  • Aids in decreasing disordered eating behaviors (binge eating, emotional eating, etc.)
  • Allows you to take charge of your food, instead of feeling that food “controls” you!

4 Ways to Get Started

  1. Prioritize mealtimes. Give yourself plenty of time to organize, prepare and eat your meals. Rushing mealtime can not only hinder your ability to hear what your body is telling you (i.e., hunger/fullness), but also doesn’t give you time to appreciate and be present with your meal. And plus—no one likes to be rushed!
  2. Check in & ask yourself questions. Don’t be afraid to set your fork aside and ask yourself—
    • How am I feeling at this point in my meal?
    • Are there feelings of pleasure, regret, stress, anxiety, disappointment?
    • Are there any memories being brought up while I’m eating this meal?
    • Where is my hunger/fullness level at?
    • How is my body feeling right now?
  3. Use your five senses. As mentioned, mindful eating encourages to utilize your five senses.
  • Before eating your meal, really look at your food. Take note of the color, the smell, the look, overall appeal, etc.
  • During the meal, check in with the textures, tastes, temperatures, etc. What is sticking out to you? What do you like? What do you not like?
  • After the meal, reflect on your experience. What do you like? What did you not like?
  1. Be aware of your desire or intention. Although this will take some practice, being able to identify your desire or intention for eating is very important. Believe it or not, there are many different types of hunger or reasons for eating! We eat because we are hungry (of course) but also when we feel happy, sad, bored, excited, anxious, nerves, and so much more! Try to identify your desire to eat and act on it appropriately.

 

Beware of The Mindful Eating Diet 

Many people begin the process of mindful eating and turn it into another diet of rules. And when they “break” the rules, they spiral into the guilt-shame cycle. This is especially true of those who’ve dieted for quite some time. This is why it’s so important to shift out of the diet mentality and change your beliefs around food, eating and your body. Otherwise, a beautiful practice such as mindful eating, becomes yet another diet.

 

Need help breaking the spell of diets so you can truly enjoy mindful eating? Pop your name and email below and get started in my free 3 day break the spell of diets online experience.

 

 

A Closer Look at What Intuitive Eating Is—and What it is Not!

Have you ever taken a deep dive into understanding what Intuitive Eating really is? There are many misconceptions around the concepts and lessons promoted within Intuitive Eating—but the confusion stops here.

Intuitive eating is a self-care eating framework that helps you attune to your internal body signals, break the cycle of chronic dieting, and heal your relationship with food and your body.

Intuitive Eating is NOT a diet, it is NOT a meal plan, and it is certainly NOT “for weight loss”.

Benefits of Intuitive Eating

There are currently over 120 studies that show Intuitive Eating:

  • Increases body appreciation
  • Improves life satisfaction
  • Increases motivation for movement
  • Increases intake of nourishing foods
  • Improves overall health
  • Decreases disordered eating behaviors (i.e., bingeing)

But What Exactly is Intuitive Eating?

Intuitive Eating was developed by two registered dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. It “integrates instinct, emotion and rational thought”. (www.intuitiveeating.org)

It is a process that enables you to attune to what your body needs and allows you to trust what your body is telling you.

With Intuitive Eating, there is no diet plan, counting calories, macros, weight check-ins, or “off limit” foods—it’s exactly the opposite!

Intuitive Eating instead focuses on teaching you to eat and think OUTSIDE of the diet mentality and diet culture messages.

The focus is on internal cues like your hunger, fullness, and satisfaction, while helping you to move away from the external cues you are so accustomed to using to guide your eating, such as food rules and restriction.

In other words, Intuitive Eating…

 …4 Things that Intuitive Eating Helps You Achieve

(1) Encourages you to become the expert of your own body.

 Believe it or not, we are ALL born Intuitive Eaters! We are all born knowing how much we need to eat, when to eat, and what we would like to eat, yet unfortunately, as we grow up, this ability is clouded by the messages of diet culture and the environment in which we grow up in.

Does this sound familiar?

  • Having to finish your plate at dinner time in order to watch TV or get dessert.
  • Hearing the messages that “thin is best” or “to be thin is to be healthy”
  • Feeling that choosing “good” vs “bad” foods is a direct reflection of how you should feel about yourself.

All these messages, both from your caregivers and diet culture, teaches you to ignore your internal cues and not trust your body.

As you grow older, you often find yourself feeding into these messages, rules and regulations set forth by diet culture.

You are led to believe that in order to “be healthy”, you must follow a diet and/or restrict your foods, but this is not true at all. Your body knows what is needs and wants, it’s just time to listen to its messages.

(2) Helps develop trust in your body and gives you the confidence to make food choices based on your needs.

The diets have stripped the trust you had in your body when you were born. That might sound distressing, but the good news is that you can regain that trust in yourself again!

When you fully ditch the diet rules and give up dieting for good, you will learn to trust your body again, and you will be amazed at what your body is capable of telling you!

 

(3) Allows you to develop a healthy relationship with food.

Intuitive Eating takes the focus off weight loss, the scale, diet plans, cleanses, and everything that has to do with “diet culture” and instead focuses on developing a better relationship with your food choices and your body.

Intuitive Eating is rooted in ten principles to help move you away from the rules and regulations of dieting. These 10 principles help you attune to your thoughts, feelings, and signals, while learning to integrate health recommendations from the outside world.

 

What Intuitive Eating is NOT

Now that you know a little bit about what Intuitive Eating is all about, let’s discuss what Intuitive Eating is NOT!

4 Things Intuitive eating is NOT…

(1) A diet.

With Intuitive Eating, there is no counting calories, daily weigh-ins, lists of foods to eat vs not eat—in fact all of these things are discouraged when practicing Intuitive Eating.

(2) The hunger/fullness diet.

While Intuitive Eaters do check in regularly with their hunger and fullness signals—there is SO MUCH more to it than this!

Intuitive Eaters approach every meal with curiosity—they ask themselves questions such as:

  • How hungry am I today?
  • Do I want a second serving?
  • How will I feel after I eat ____?

Approaching a meal with curiosity versus judgement (like many dieters do) allows you to learn from situations, like getting to a place of overfullness after a meal or allowing yourself to get too hungry at the end of a long day. Important lessons are learned from these experiences.

(3) A non-dieting weight loss approach.

Intuitive Eating places NO emphasis or pressure on losing weight. The conversation around body weight is instead from a weight-neutral lens. In other words, it promotes physical and mental well-being regardless of one’s body size.

Intuitive Eating does not promise weight loss or any expectation of losing weight.

(4) The “eat whatever I want, whenever I want” mindset.

Yes, Intuitive Eating does promote giving yourself unconditional permission to eat and promotes eating in a way that makes you feel your best—but this doesn’t mean it is a free for all.

At the beginning of your Intuitive Eating journey it is very common for people to eat a lot of foods they had previous restricted, however the drive to eat in this way decreases over time.

Over time, you will normalize these once “forbidden foods” and view them (and all foods) as neutral. All the foods you’ve been dying to have will soon become a part of your normal eating pattern in a way that feels great (and not fearful!)

There you have it!

To get a taste of the awesomeness of Intuitive Eating, check out my Intuitive Eating Basics Course. It’s a LOW investment with HIGH returns!!

 

Click HERE to grab this deal!

I’ve Tried Intuitive Eating, and It Didn’t Work

Something I hear quite often is “Bonnie, I’ve tried Intuitive Eating before and it didn’t work for me.”

I’m wondering if this is something you’ve said before or think now. You gave it a go but didn’t end up finding peace with food and your body.

You realize that you were born an Intuitive Eater, and you wonder why you still can’t find food freedom. You feel stuck.

I bet that you love the concept of Intuitive Eating and even wonder why you haven’t heard about it before you did. It’s the best kept secret! But you just wish that it would “work” for you!

If you’ve tried Intuitive Eating and you are thinking that it just didn’t work, maybe you are facing some common roadblocks.

3 Common Roadblocks

There are a few common reasons why your past experience with Intuitive Eating just didn’t work.

  1. You were focused on weight loss and caught up in diet culture.
  2. You are not giving yourself full unconditional permission to eat the foods you enjoy.
  3. You aren’t truly focusing on Intuitive Eating.

Stuck on Weight Loss and Caught Up in Diet Culture

I get it. You’ve been focused on the scale for 5, 10, 20, maybe even 40 or more years. It’s not your fault. It’s the message that surrounds us all day, every day.

The struggle with weight loss and constantly being obsessed with the scale is a difficult one to shake. Diet culture tells you that to be worthy, you need to be “skinny”.

Here’s some questions to ponder:

  • What brought me to Intuitive Eating in the first place?
  • What do I fear about weight gain?
  • What are my fears of weight gain based on?
  • What does weight loss/gain mean to me?
  • If others did not make comments or care about my weight, how would I feel about my body?

Bonus Tip: Set a daily reminder and ask yourself “is my mind on weight today and how is it impacting my food choices.”

Afraid to Give Unconditional Permission to Eat

Before you began your Intuitive Eating journey, more than likely you’ve had foods that you considered “forbidden”.  You might still be feeling anxious around certain foods and having a hard time letting go of food labels and eating these foods.

Again, it’s understandable, so be gentle with yourself through the process.

Here’s some questions to ponder: 

  • Are you allowing yourself to eat the foods you want?
  • Who are you with when you are eating? Are you afraid of judgement?
  • Are you eating the food, but have guilt?

You’re Not Focused on Intuitive Eating

You began this journey to ultimately become an Intuitive Eater however, you’re just not focused on the journey. It all sounds great, the idea of having peace with food and total food freedom. But you aren’t really doing the work.

Truth is, it’s not an easy journey. I will never tell a client that it’s easy to recover from dieting and diet culture. But the work you put in now will pay off later.

Bonus tip: Put the same effort into healing from dieting that you’ve put into your dieting years.

Which roadblock are you bumping into? Let me know in the comments below.

Resource: Here’s a resource for you to begin your Intuitive Eating journey with a step-by-step approach.

 

Ditch the Distractions—The Downside to Distracted Eating

Do you find yourself scarfing down breakfast on your drive to work, or sitting down in front of the TV to enjoy your dinner?

If the answer is yes—you’re probably a victim of distracted eating! With the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives, it can seem nearly impossible to sit down in silence with no distractions for a proper meal.

However, there have been several studies looking at the impacts of distracted eating. From overeating to not remembering what and how much you ate—the consequences to what seems insignificant can be serious.

To help ditch the distractions, it’s time to look toward mindfulness.

What Distracted Eating Looks Like

Engaging in distracted eating is the norm of our society today.

Do any of these circumstances sound familiar?

  • Eating breakfast in the car on the way to work
  • Eating lunch while seated in your cubical or desk
  • Scrolling through your phone while eating your mid-day snack
  • Watching a television show or movie during dinner time

These are all prime examples of what is known as “distracted eating”.

I myself have fallen into the trap of distracted eating…I’ll share this story on my Live Training today. Access it HERE or HERE at 12:15 pm EST.

 

Definition of Distracted Eating

The “intentional consumption of a meal while engaged in a secondary activity to the extent that the significance or memory of the meal is diminished or forgotten completely.” (Reference: https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com)

With the hustle and bustle  and fast paced environment many of us live in—taking time to sit down and properly enjoy a meal is often thrown to the wayside. And, our society praises busyness, hustle culture and being “productive” at all hours of the day no matter what. Even when people seem to have time in their routine for a proper meal—the distractions still seem to pop up like scrolling through Instagram or Facebook or watching TV.

What the Studies Show

Many studies have looked at the impact of eating while distracted. The concluding results are as follows.

Those who eat distracted are more likely to…

  • Eat faster, and more food than intended.
  • Can’t remember what or how much you ate.
  • Snack on more foods later on or plate more food than you’d usually eat.
  • Feel significantly less full at the end of a meal.

These kinds of results make total sense because along with your hunger and fullness cues—attention and memory also play a role in the eating experience.

Your memory of what you ate and how much you ate will likely be impacted if you are eating while distracted. This usually results in eating more at your next meal or snacking because you have left your previous meal unsatisfied.

Although eating while distracted could mean overeating and feeling less satisfied after a meal—it also takes away from the enjoyment and pleasure the eating experience usually brings.

It’s time to ditch the distractions and focus on the meal in front of you. And while I get that eating without any distraction is possibly impractical—it’s all about taking baby steps in the right direction.

 

Tips to Reduce Distracted Eating

(1) Put your phone or computer in another room while you’re eating.

(2) If engaging in conversation, put your fork down periodically as a reminder to focus on the food in your mouth.

(3) Eat your meals at a table versus in the den or at your desk.

(4) Plan time for your meals—this will ensure you have plenty of time to enjoy the eating experience.

(5) Check in with your hunger and fullness throughout the meal to minimize autopilot eating.

How will you reduce distraction at your next meal? Let me know in the comments below!

3 Tips to Leaving the Clean the Plate Club Behind

Picture this, you’re sitting at the dinner table with your whole family after spending the last hour cooking a meal. The meal has just started; however, you have only taken a few bites and you are already starting to feel full. You look around the table and everyone else is still eagerly digging into their food. You put your fork down and realize you are already at the point of comfortable fullness. You begin to feel a little guilty about spending all that time cooking to only eat a few forkfuls of the meal, so you continue you eat until you reach uncomfortable fullness.

Or, you are enjoying your meal, you get to a point of feeling comfortable, but you don’t want to leave any food over because you believe it’s wrong to waste food and/or money.

Many people have experienced that guilt or peer pressure that makes them clean their plate. As a child you might have heard the familiar line, “Clean your plate, there are children that are starving.” This mindset can lead to overeating and ultimately leave you feeling unwell and still guilty, for a different reason.

This mindset of “clean plate club” directly goes against the Intuitive Eating journey. You are ignoring your natural hunger and fullness cues. While in the scenario above, the person tried to tune into their fullness cues, they ultimately ignored them to clean their plate.

There are some tips and tricks that you can try to leave the clean plate club behind. Here are my top 3:

1. Eat Slowly 

Slow down the pace of your eating so you can achieve pleasure in every bite. Try not to rush through your meal, instead savor the food in front of you. When you have full satisfaction, it’s  easier to stop when you sense you have had enough. Put your fork down between bites to allow yourself the time to check in with your hunger and fullness cues.

2. Consider Leftovers 

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. Sometimes leftovers can be just as good, if not better, than the original meal. You can even try reworking your leftovers into a completely new meal, get creative in the kitchen.

3.Reflect on your meal.

Once you have completed your meal, take some time to reflect. Did you reach a level of comfortable fullness? Did you pass the level of comfortable fullness and now feel uncomfortable? Asking these questions will surely help you respect your fullness regardless if there’s food left on the plate or not.

Say no to the clean plate club and instead focus inward on how you are feeling. There are so many reasons to honor your fullness and your Intuitive Eating journey.

Want to learn all about the origin of the “clean the plate club”? It’s actually fascinating. Join me today at 12:15 pm EST for a live training HERE or HERE

5 Tips to Enjoying Summertime BBQ’s as an Intuitive Eater (Minus Anxiety and Guilt)

This weekend is July 4th; I love this time of year! With summer upon us, that means more time spent outside in the sunshine, more time spent with friends and family and (of course) lots and lots of great summertime meals and treats!

If you’ve struggled with your weight, dieting and negative thoughts about your body, then the summer holidays, summer vacations and even the changing of seasons can bring up a lot of challenges and negative emotions (like anxiety, stress and shame) when it comes to eating, food choices and your body.

Usually during these times…

  • There are a lot of different kinds of foods you are surrounded by.

  • You aren’t eating how you “normally” would (i.e., you’re eating out more, having new food experiences etc…).

  • You’re surrounded by friends and family more (i.e., more opportunity to hear “diet talk”, uncomfortable conversations).

  • You’re not in charge over what is being served.

All of these things can create a lot of anxiety and potential guilt around eating and your food choices.

When eating out, or in a place that is not familiar like a family BBQ, restaurant, someone else’s home, at a party, event, etc., there are many challenges that can arise that can make eating out a very stressful and unenjoyable experience.

For example, challenges can include:

  • Feeling triggered by those around you who are dieting or using a lot of “diet talk”.

  • You’re afraid you will face your “trigger foods”.

  • You’re concerned about not hearing your hunger-fullness cues and might eat past comfortable fullness.

  • You worry that you will eat totally “out of control”? 
  • You just don’t have the confidence in yourself in social eating situations.

I totally get it! I was recently at a Father’s Day BBQ where there was a lot of diet talk. Join me on Facebook Live or YouTube Live today at 12:15 pm EST to hear all about it and how I managed to stay true to my Intuitive Eating journey!

5 Tips to Enjoying Summertime BBQ’s (and more) as an Intuitive Eater:

1. Don’t be afraid to eat, or order what you want.

 Just because you “feel” like you should order a salad at the family dinner, or you “should” be munching on the veggies and dip at the BBQ doesn’t mean you have to.

Don’t ignore the signals your body is sending you in terms of what it is asking for because by when the event is over, you will be left feeling unsatisfied.

If the cookies look good, eat them!

If the burger or hot dog is what you want, enjoy them!

If you choose to ignore what your body is asking for in those moments, this will likely lead to you to finishing off the cookies or the dinner leftovers in the fridge once you get home! It could actually lead to an all out binge.

Which will then leave you feeling worse than if you just ordered what you wanted, or ate what was at the BBQ.

2. Be present with your food.

Eating with others is a social experience, but don’t forget to still remain present with your meal even while around others.

With each bite check in with your senses (e.g., taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing).

  • How does this bite taste in my mouth?
  • What is the texture?
  • What was the temperature like?
  • What did the food smell like before I ate it?

Remaining present with your meal will prevent you from mindlessly gobbling down your plate and also keep your hunger-fullness signals in check.

 

3. Pay attention to those hunger-fullness cues.

As you socialize, eat and engage with others—be sure to still check in with your hunger and fullness levels. During the BBQ or event, pay attention to the signals your body may be sending you.

  • Am I feeling fully satisfied?
  • Do I feel full now?

Take stalk of how you’re feeling in the moment. I suggest putting your fork down and honor your feelings of satisfaction, or continue to have a few more bites until you’ve reached comfortable fullness.

Trust that your body will tell you when to start and stop!

4. Don’t ruminate.

It happens to all of us—even Intuitive Eaters. There will be times when you feel like you ate too much, you ate too quickly, or you weren’t staying present with your meal because you were distracted.

Whatever the situation is—it is okay! No big deal!

Don’t allow yourself to ruminate on these moments and ruin the experience—take the situation for what it is, learn from it and move forward.

5. Most importantly: don’t forget to have fun.

Being able to attend a summer BBQ or other summer event is an experience—so don’t get so caught up with the food, what you’re eating, how your food choices may look to others, etc.

During these moments we should be taking in the environment around us!

Acknowledge the décor, the people you are surrounded with, the food being served, etc.  and be grateful to be a part of it.

Feel free to share your summertime eating experiences in the comments below!

 

 

Practicing Intuitive Eating in Warmer Weather

I don’t know about you, but when the warm weather hits, my desire for food changes. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to eat, but the type of foods my body asks for, and the amounts do change.

My appetite tends to decrease during the summer months, and I choose lighter meals and find that I snack less. On the other hand, during the winter months, I find myself choosing heartier meals that fill me up for longer.

What about you? Have you noticed this too?

The Science Behind it

The reasons behind the changes in your eating patterns during certain times of the year has to do with science.

Appetite has been found to be closely related to climate change. Our meals are connected to the changes in the weather. Research shows that people tend to eat “lighter” or “cooler” foods when it’s hot. Think ice cream, ices, salads, and fresh fruit.

The concept of thermoregulation explains these eating changes.

What is Thermoregulation?

Thermoregulation is the ability to keep your body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is quite different.

Simply stated, thermoregulation is the natural maintenance of your body temperature.

Your internal body temperature is regulated by a part of your brain called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus monitors your body temperature and compares it with a normal temperature of about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. If your temperature is too low, the hypothalamus makes sure that your body generates and maintains heat.

One way it does this is by eating. As you eat, your body provides energy and as a result, produces heat as way to regulate your body’s internal temperature.

As the weather gets warmer, your body wants to stay cool. So, in the summer months, you may find that your appetite tends to be reduced, especially when you’re feeling hot. This is your body trying to regulate your body temperature by cutting down on heat-generating functions like the digestion of food.

When the weather is hot, the difference between your body temperature and the outside temperature is less, meaning less energy is required to maintain optimal body temperature.

On the flip side, in the winter when it’s cold outside, your body has to work harder to stay at 98.6°F so you eat more food in the winter to help fuel that process.

Eating Intuitively During the Summer Months

With less of an appetite and perhaps skipped meals, you may wonder if you are still honoring your Intuitive Eating practice if you eat less.

Here are some tips to eating intuitively during the summer:

  1. Identify What You Really Want to Eat

There are no “should’s” in Intuitive Eating. Don’t prepare a meal that you think you “should” be eating but don’t really want. And just because someone else prepared a meal for you doesn’t mean you have to eat it. Asking yourself what you really want to eat is key to having satisfaction with your meals.

  1. Eat With Awareness

Not only do you want to eat with intention, you want to eat with attention. Stay present and fully aware of what and how much you are eating. If you are eating outdoors, your internal body temperature might rise and it may affect your appetite, so pay attention if you are continuing to eat just because the food is there and you don’t want to waste it.

  1. Nourish as Part of Self-Care

When you are hot and your appetite is affected, it may be easy to forget to eat. In these situations, it might be helpful to eat every 3-4 hours to nourish yourself as it might be more challenging to detect your hunger signals.

 

Bottom line:

  • A decreased appetite in the summer is “normal”.
  • If you have a hard time detecting hunger signals, try to eat every 3-4 hours as part of your nourishment self-care plan. Choose to eat in a cool environment versus in the hot sun.
  • Your appetite may not be affected at all, and that’s okay too!

 

5 Ways to Embrace Your Body

We have all been in the position where we’re standing in front of the closet, and although we see numerous clothes, there is nothing that looks appealing. So, you reach in and grab the closest item and just throw it on. Then you realize that outfit doesn’t look good, and the next thing you know you have tried on almost everything in your closet before reluctantly settling on something.

 

When you are uncomfortable with how you look, it is often hard to find clothes that you feel empowered in. Body acceptance is not an easy journey for most people. Even for those who do feel comfortable in their skin, often there will be days when they will go back and forth between how they feel about themselves.

 

How often do you look in the mirror and find yourself criticizing how you look?

 

“If I could just lose ten more pounds, then I would definitely be happier!”

 

This is not uncommon! In fact, several studies have found that 86% of all women are dissatisfied with their bodies and wish to lose weight to “feel better/happier about themselves.”

The Reasons for Body Dissatisfaction 

  • Bullying and teasing
  • Childhood traumas
  • The social media culture—Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, etc.
  • Other forms of media—magazines, television, computer ads, etc.
  • The culture we live in which is rooted in dieting and weight controlling behaviors to manipulate our bodies to appear a certain way.

In today’s society, many people use size and weight as a definitive element of their identity, personality, and a way of defining their self-worth.

 

For example: 

  • Not purchasing a pair of jeans because they don’t fit in the small size that you want
  • Saying no to a social event because you don’t fit into a certain dress or don’t feel good in your here-and-now body.
  • Using the scale as a way to determine your mood for the day

 

Loving your body and appreciating it takes time. No amount of exercise or dieting will help you achieve that goal. Only when you change your mindset can you truly feel comfortable with yourself.

 

There are some steps that you can take to help learn to love the body that you have.

 

Here Are 5 Ways to Embrace Your Body  

 

1. Acknowledge the Work it’s doing 

Your body has gotten you to the place that you are at today. Through many years of labor and hard work, you have survived and that’s all because of your body. It has even taken you through a pandemic! When you are feeling down on yourself, just try to remember all the wonderful things your body has accomplished thus far.

 

2. Say No to Negative Talk

When you feel yourself about to say or think something mean about yourself, rephrase your thoughts. Instead of focusing on all the negative, think about the positives instead. This also goes for what other people are saying about their bodies or yours.

 

Prioritizing your self-care can help with your perspective and self-talk.

 

3. Incorporate Joyful Movement

This does not mean exercise for weight loss, instead, move your body to help you feel good. Find a movement you enjoy and do it. Exercise releases endorphins, which can elevate your mood and help you see things in a positive light.

 

4. Create a more body positive newsfeed.

Start by doing a deep cleanse of your social media accounts, then fill it with all different body shapes, sizes and colors!

Remember: thin bodies are not the only bodies out there. Filling your newsfeed with all shapes, sizes, and colors will help change your perception of what is “normal” and allow you to learn to accept and love all bodies (even your own!)

Once you’ve rid your social media of all things “perfect” and “unrealistic” watch your “standard of beauty” will quickly change!

 

5.Embrace Intuitive Eating

Say no to dieting and all the empty promises. Understand the underlying reasons why you turn to food for reasons other than hunger, why you eat mindlessly, and commit to taking a different approach to eat. Commit to learning to become an Intuitive Eater, learning to identify gentle hunger and comfortable fullness as your guide to starting and stopping a meal. Learn to cope with your emotions with kindness and not food.

Don’t wait to find the love your body deserves, try to embrace the wonderfulness of you now!

 

Need support? Contact me to set up a free consultation now.