mindful eating Archives - Page 3 of 15 - Diet Free Radiant Me | Intuitive Eating | Emotional Eating

5 Tips to Eat Slower

In today’s fast paced society, it’s only natural that we rush around trying to get everything done before the day is over. You rush to work, school, and everywhere else you must go. You probably even rush through lunch to get back to your busy day at work.

While moving fast may be a necessity for your work and overall lifestyle, eating fast is not the best for your health and body and can quickly lead to bypassing your comfortable fullness signals.

Think back to your last meal… did you inhale it or take the time to enjoy every bite? How long do you think it took you to finish your meal? If it’s less than 20 minutes, then keep reading.

If you feel like you’re the only person who does this, you’re not! Most people devour their meals in about 5 -7 minutes flat. They put a forkful of food in their mouths and, before they even swallow, the next forkful is ready to go. Do you find yourself doing this too?

Downside of Eating Fast

When you eat fast, it becomes difficult to savor your meals. You’re not able to truly listen to your body and engage in mindful eating. Slowing down as you eat will allow you to really taste every bite and get the most satisfaction out of the meal as possible.

Eating quickly also prevents you from eating until you are comfortably satisfied because you don’t pay attention to your inner fullness signals. Instead, you’ll eat until the food is gone.

It takes your brain 20 minutes to realize that your stomach is full, so if you clean your plate in record time, you likely miss that fullness cue, leading you to reach for more food. By the time the fullness signals kicks in, you are now uncomfortably full, having eaten more than your body physically needed. You are likely also experiencing bloat, heartburn and other uncomfortable GI symptoms (in addition to the emotional side effects of guilt and shame).

5 Tips to Help You Slow Down Your Eating:

1. Allocate a certain amount of time to sit down and eat your meal. Allow your body to guide when you begin your meal, but when you do sit down to your meal, make sure you have enough time to sit, eat slowly and savor. This doesn’t only apply to dinner, it applies to breakfast and lunch too!

2. Put your fork and knife down between bites. You might be thinking “who does this”? Unfortunately, not too many people, unless you are among the growing number of people who are learning to eat mindfully. This means completely putting the fork down on your plate until you’re done chewing what’s in your mouth. Then pick up the fork and take your next bite. This allows you to focus on the deliciousness of the food in your mouth rather than focusing on the next bite.

3. Eat without distractions (meaning no T.V. or phone). We all know how difficult this one can be. I suggest making your kitchen/dining room an electronic-free zone! If your phone is in another room, then you are not tempted to look at it when you hear that notification. Make sure the kids know too that mealtime is not tech time.

4. Use your non-dominant hand to hold the fork. This is a simple way to help you slow down. Since your non-dominant hand is usually weaker, you’ll have to pick up smaller forkfuls and really concentrate to keep food from spilling over.

5. Eat with someone else. Ask a family member or friend to help you reach your goal of slowing down at meals! You can engage in meaningful conversations between bites and, before you know it, you’ll realize you are engaging in many of the tips stated above.

Challenge yourself

Set the timer on your phone and see how long it normally takes you to finish a meal. It might be 5 minutes and you might think that stretching it out to 20 is impossible. It’s not! Continue to use the tips above every time you sit to eat to help lengthen your meal minute-by-minute. Before long, you will be eating slower and using your inner fullness signals to guide you when to stop. And, you’ll enjoy your meal a whole lot better.

If you’d like to explore how I can help you on your intuitive eating journey, just reach out to me at www.TalkWithBonnie.com .

4 Triggers to a Challenging Food Day (and Strategies to Try)

You’ve been traveling along your intuitive eating journey and making progress. You remember that it’s not about perfection, instead it’s about learning and growing. You have done great work in rejecting the diet mentality and recognizing the diet culture messages that swarm all around you.

So why does food feel so difficult today? Why are you feeling blah in your body today?

The answer might very well lie in one of 4 triggers that I see often when working with clients.

Mindless eating

Do you find yourself eating without full attention to what or how much you are eating? This is mindless eating. You may go through your day not even realizing that you picked on the cake on the counter, ate from the chocolate bowl on your bosses’ desk, or popped several grapes in your mouth each time you passed through the kitchen.

When you engage in mindless eating, you are not eating to satisfy a physical hunger and at some point, you feel it in your body. Perhaps you feel sluggish, bloated, or tired. Then you blame the food and vow to be “good” the rest of the day (or tomorrow!).

Strategy to try: Call yourself out each time you find yourself engaging in mindless eating. Bring yourself back into the present moment and name the behavior. You will find, over time, that you are no longer mindlessly eating.

Distracted eating

Watching TV while you eat dinner? So many people do. This, however, is distracted eating and it prevents you from appreciating your meal, tuning in to your fullness signals and having full satisfaction.

You might tell me that eating while watching TV slows down your eating, and maybe it does. But it is still distracted eating and your body views distraction as stress which triggers the fight or flight response which effects your digestion and absorption of nutrients.

Looking at your cell phone, eating at your desk while working, reading or sending texts, and reading the newspaper, a book or the mail is also distracted eating.

Strategy to try: Make a commitment to yourself that you will not watch TV during dinner. If your spouse wants the TV on, calmly explain to him/her why it’s important to you that the TV be off. Do not bring your phone to the table, and save the reading for after dinner.

Lack of planning

I’ve said many times on my blog, in my videos and in Facebook Lives that planning is not dieting. That is, if you can roll with the punches and be flexible. If planning meals means you put pressure on yourself to “follow” the plan and if you “can’t”you break out in a sweat, then we should talk. That’s still dieting.

Without proper meal planning, you run the risk of grabbing food on the go, popping through the drive through, or maybe even skipping dinner and mindlessly snacking instead.

To me, as a busy working mom, I have to plan meals or my family (and me) won’t have food at the ready. So, think ahead to your week and what you might want to eat for dinners. Make a shopping list so you have the necessary ingredients on hand. Write out your plan if it helps and prep ahead as much as possible.

My freezer is really my best friend. I often cook extra and freeze for a future meal. I always think tonight about what I want to have tomorrow night so that when I get home from work (or my kids get home from school and I’m working late) there is a dinner ready to go.

Strategy to try: Plan a few dinners for the week ahead of time, go shopping to have the ingredients in the house and give thought to what you can prep ahead of time.

Emotional eating

You are human which means you have emotions! And yes, sometimes, you might consciously acknowledge that you’re feeling sad (fill in any emotion here) and a bowl of ice cream would really help you to feel better.

This in my opinion, is not of issue.

But when the first and only way you cope with difficult emotions is to turn to food, then this is an unhealthy behavior that needs to be addressed.

If you are having a challenging food day, give thought if perhaps you are using food to numb, sedate and distract you from some underlying emotions that you’d rather not feel.

Strategy to try: Seek support to help you identify your emotional eating triggers and learn how to customize your strategies to best cope with the emotions without turning to food. For more info on overcoming emotional eating, check this out!

As you look over the above triggers to a challenging food day, which do you resonate with most? Let me know below!

Another Look into My Intuitive Eating Journey

I know I’ve made the right decision to give up dieting! It was a tough decision, trust me! Having dieted for many years, the thought of not tracking my food anymore was frightening.

The Backstory

I didn’t think I was dieting, I truly didn’t. I just chose healthy, wholesome foods. I ate three meals per day, 1-2 snacks, I measured everything I ate, and I kept a log of all I consumed daily. And this kept me in a nice, slim body that I was proud of.

But you know what?

I wasn’t always eating the foods I wanted. There were many times when I wanted that pizza, mac and cheese, ice cream or cookie and I just did not allow myself to have it.

That’s when I knew I was dieting. While I wasn’t on any formally named diet, I had lots of rules for myself and would be upset if I broke a rule.

It was this moment when I realized this, that I decided to stop dieting in all it’s sneaky forms and really learn to embrace intuitive eating.

The Present

Through my journey back to intuitive eating, I was able to reclaim body trust. My journey wasn’t a straight path, as would be expected. Every twist and turn brought me a new lesson learned and personal growth.

I just returned from vacation. Actually, I took 2 vacations this summer and, on each vacation, my husband and I ate out every evening. During our hectic schedules all year, we rarely eat out. So, this was a special treat.

I didn’t fret about what would be on the menu. I was confident that if I arrived at the restaurant in a “just hungry” state, versus ravenous, I would give myself the space I needed to listen to what my body was telling me. As I looked over the menu, I had no expectations and no worries. I merely allowed my body to guide my choices as I read the menu options.

The Result

Being able to trust my body has allowed me to relax around food and to no longer worry how eating a food will affect my body or my weight. It has allowed me to enjoy a variety of eating experiences with family and friends and not be the “one” everyone always says “oh, look how “good” she is!”.

The Effects on my Body
It is not possible to know what will happen to your body when you embrace intuitive eating. The key is to allow your body to do whatever nature intends it to do. If you come into this journey having suppressed your weight for years through dieting, then it is possible that your body will bounce back and regain some weight to what is more in line with your genetic blueprint.

I know this might be a tough pill to swallow. I’ve been there. I’ve acknowledged that for years, I suppressed my weight through unconscious dieting. Through this journey, my body has returned to what is natural and healthy for me. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about it, it’s my body and I’ve come to accept and respect it for all the hard work it does keeping me alive every day.

Want Support?

I’d love to help you accept and respect your body while reclaiming body trust through intuitive eating. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, book a free call with me and let’s chat.

Is Your Dieting Harming Your Daughter

Grace walked into my office with her mom by her side. Grace is a 9 year old adorable girl who has been restricting her food intake. She fears getting “fat”. Due to her restriction, she has lost weight and is now off the bottom of growth chart.

I spoke with Grace and her mom for a while to get a bit of the family history and to understand when and how the restriction began. I then asked Grace’s mom to take a seat in the waiting room so I can talk with Grace alone. It was very important for me to build a good rapport with Grace so she will trust me.

Grace openly told me that she started restricting for several reasons. She broke it down as follows:

Her mom and sisters were dieting. They were speaking about foods that are good and bad, and were replacing foods they once ate, such as pizza, with alternatives such as cauliflower pizza. This made her feel like these foods wouldn’t be good for her either, so she stopped eating them.

Her friend’s moms were putting them on diets. Grace told me about at least 4 friends who bring only salad to school for lunch because they are on diets. Their moms told them they have to lose weight.

All the women in Grace’s life seem to hate their bodies. She’d constantly hear comments such as “do I look fat in this dress?”. “Is my butt sticking out of these pants?”. The message is clear. Fat is bad.

Grace wanted to be healthy, she really didn’t want to restrict her intake, but she was afraid of gaining weight. Grace started working with me each week to learn how to eat to nourish her body and to regain the trust in her body again.

You’re probably thinking that Grace is so young to be dealing with these fears around food and body. Perhaps as a teenager it would seem more common. But more and more young girls are falling into disordered eating patterns and being diagnosed with eating disorders than ever before.

The reason?

The diet culture that we live in today! The messages that women and young girls receive is that their bodies are not good enough the way they are. They must mold and sculpt them into a thin, model-like figure to have any worth in this world. It is so sad to me that so many women spend so much of their days worrying about what they are eating and how they look to others. And this worry is being passed down to the younger generation.

Do you have a daughter(s)?

Are you aware that the way you speak to yourself about your body is influencing the way she feels about hers?

Are you aware that she watches every move you make when you eat and when you choose to avoid grains/carbs with dinner?

I know for me, when I was dieting and restricting, the messages were loud and clear to my two daughters. They knew that I wouldn’t eat dinner until I calculated how much I’d eaten throughout the day. That would determine how much and what I ate for dinner. What kind of messages was I sending to them? It was a very loud message that I couldn’t trust my body to guide my eating. I had to trust a calculator.

I was able to break free of this restriction and teach my daughters that their bodies are smart and has all the wisdom housed inside as to what, when and how much to eat. It’s a matter of listening and trusting.

Here are 3 things to do right now if you want your daughter(s) to have a future of food peace and body love:

1. Stop restricting. Even if you think you are not restricting, you probably are. The diet mentality is very sneaky and shows up in ways you wouldn’t imagine. Be honest with yourself. Are you substituting zoodles for pasta? Are you choosing cauliflower pizza for regular pizza? Are you ordering 2 veggies instead of a potato and veggie at the restaurant? If yes to any of these questions, then you are restricting.

2. Watch your language. Be very careful how you speak in the home, especially when your daughter is around. Do not be judgmental of food, such as this is a “good” food and this is a “bad” food. Putting labels on food demonizes food and ups the fear of eating those foods.

3. Stop body checking. When you are getting dressed and looking in the mirror, be aware of your comments about yourself and your body. And, be aware of your non-verbal behaviors as well. Looking in the mirror and wincing or grunting are all heard and seen by your daughter. Instead of instilling hatred for your body or body parts, teach what it means to have respect for your body.

The truth is, I recognize that this is all easier said than done. It takes time, patience and fighting back against the messages you hear every day. But if you want to save your daughter(s) from going down the rabbit hole of dieting, food fear and body worry, then now’s the time.

Do you want a brighter future for your daughter? It all starts with you. Book a call with me www.TalkWithBonnie.com.

July 4th Special: How to Make Intuitive Eating Second Nature

July 4^th is tomorrow, and that means that summer is in full swing. There is a whole new energy in the air, I just LOVE it!

As you get ready to celebrate Independence Day this July 4^th, I have something I’d like to share with you.

Success in intuitive eating isn’t just about eating when hungry and stopping when full.

It’s about making intuitive eating a part of who you are at all levels – your mind, your body and your emotions.

It’s mastering intuitive eating so it becomes second nature.

And for this, you need practice, ongoing support and accountability.

And to celebrate my favorite season, summer, and the July 4^th holiday, I have a special invitation for you…

It’s my one and only Summer Special!

For the next 5 days only, you can join my Intuitive Eating Mastery Circle™ at a 50% savings.

Get all the details here.

While training and info are great, what you really need is implementation support. I created Intuitive Eating Mastery Circle™ to give you just that.

It’s truly the most supportive community I’ve ever seen. The members go above and beyond to help one another.

And of course, I’m there guiding you every step of the way — in our private Facebook group, on our monthly group coaching call, during our monthly open office hours and on our private laser coaching calls.

Check it out now and take advantage of this special chance to join us and save 50% (of course you can cancel anytime).

SPECIAL BONUS: Free Body Image Healing LIVE Course

When you join the Intuitive Eating Mastery Circle, you will get access to the Body Image Healing LIVE Course that is happening right inside the membership group, starting Wednesday July 10^th.

Here’s what you’ll discover:

Get clear on your current body image story
Understand how mindfulness and self-compassion are integral to body image healing
Cultivate a positive body image using powerful healing strategies

This course is only being offered to Mastery Circle members!

Check it out now and take advantage of this special chance to join us and save 50% (you’ll be grandfathered in at the low rate and can cancel any time you like).

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.

3 Tips for Eat Mindfully While Eating Out

A question I often hear from my intuitive eating clients is “how do I stay tuned into my hunger and fullness signals when I am eating out with friends?”

This is a common challenge, if you experience this too, just know you are not alone.

Eating out in restaurants bring all types of challenges for the intuitive eater in training. First, there’s the noise level in the restaurant. While there are many restaurants who have a quiet ambiance, there are even more that have a lot of noise from families with kids, televisions showing sports games, and even just the waiters and bus boys hustling around.

In addition to the noise level that can distract you from paying attention to your eating, there’s just the excitement of being out with friends, catching up on conversation, celebrating a birthday or other milestone, and trying new foods!

So, how do you stay tuned in while eating out?

Here’s 3 tips to get you started!

Set an intention: Before you leave the house, set an intention of how you will stay present during the meal. Write this intention on a piece of paper or index card, read it out loud so you hear your voice, and put it in your purse. Just setting the intention will bring it into your conscious mind.

Pause mid-meal: Take a break from eating at some point in the middle of your meal. Put the fork down and consciously ask yourself “how satisfied am I feeling at this point”. This does not mean you cannot pick up the fork and continue eating, it’s just a way to check-in with yourself.

Maintain awareness: Stay fully present during the meal and maintain an awareness of your surroundings. Take some time to look around, notice the décor, the other diners, and breathe. The breathing will bring you into a state of “rest and digest” which will help you maintain awareness throughout your eating. This requires practice, so it’s best to practice this every day when you eat at home, it’ll then be easier when you are out.

Eating out is fun! There’s no reason to walk out of a restaurant holding your stomach and saying “Oh, I’m so full”. This takes away from the pleasant experience of socializing with good friends and eating good food.

Use these tips the next time you eat out and let me know below how it’s worked for you!

Want more tips? Follow me on Facebook and Instagram!

Still stuck in the diet cycle? Break the Spell of Diets in 3 Days by entering your name and email in the boxes below!

Food Overwhelm (and 3 Strategies to Deal with It)

It’s holiday week. Whether you celebrated Easter this past weekend, or you are still celebrating Passover this week, holiday eating can sometimes pose a problem for those working on giving up dieting to embrace intuitive eating.

The goal is to have a more peaceful relationship with food, and to learn to trust that your body knows just what it needs and wants.

Yet, with the abundance of foods over the holidays, peace with food might be far from what you are experiencing.

Let’s look at 3 obstacles that might come up for you. And, of course, strategies to overcome!

1) Food Overwhelm: There is no lack for food, no matter the holiday. But with Passover celebrated for 8 days, I hear from many of my clients that they don’t leave the kitchen. They are forever cooking and serving, and it seems like the family is more hungry than usual during this holiday. The meals have 5 courses to them, and there is no “white space” on the table.

Strategy: Review your menus and decide if you really need 5 courses. Most likely you don’t. Most people are satisfied after the second course but continue to eat because more food is served.

I did just this this last holiday weekend, and by the end of the meal, my family felt comfortable, satiated and happy. They were able to experience pleasure in the meal because they didn’t walk away from the table overfull.

2) Once a Year Favorites: When a certain holiday only comes around once per year, it can pose an inner conflict for you when it comes to foods. With the annual holiday, comes special foods that you usually only eat during this time. The thought of “I can only eat this now, and then I have to wait a full year to eat it again” can instill a mindset of “I better get it all in now.” The future deprivation causes overeating.

Strategy: Consider whether these special holiday foods that only come around once per year really have to only be eaten once per year, on this holiday. For example, one of my kids favorite foods during Passover is Cottage Cheese Pancakes. They look forward to it every year and they make sure that it’ll be on my Passover menu at some point throughout the 8 days. I realized one day, “why do I only make these cottage cheese pancakes on Passover? I can surely make them all year round.” And that’s what I did. Don’t get me wrong, they are still something my kids look forward to on Passover, but they don’t have to go overboard on them since they know they can eat them any time of the year.

However, I do realize that there are traditional holiday foods that only show up once a year. In this case, the best thing to do is to acknowledge the fact that you will only get to eat this now, but also realize that if you eat slowly and savor every bite, you will no doubt have more pleasure in this special food than if you eat it quickly without really tasting it (which is what happens when you try to get it all in now!)

3) Pushy Family Members: We all have them! Those family members that push you to eat more food even after you’ve said you’re full. Or, family members who give you looks when you take more food on your plate (you know, those judge-y people) . This can be very challenging, especially if mixed messages are flying around such as “eat more”, and “the diet starts tomorrow”.

Strategy: Do not feel obligated to eat after you’ve decided you are comfortably full. Tell your host that you enjoyed the meal but just cannot eat another bite. For those that appear to judge you when you take food, stand up for yourself and ask them to keep their eyes in their own plate (you can say this more diplomatically if you’d like, but I’ve said it just like this and man, did it shut them up!).

As for the endless diet talk, excuse yourself to go to the restroom and remind yourself that you have given up dieting. Have compassion for those folks who are still swimming in diet culture and give yourself a hug that you are staying true to yourself. Then go back to the table and change the topic (“what movie have you seen lately”, works great!).

As you continue on your intuitive eating journey, you will see that these obstacles aren’t obstacles any longer. These are opportunities for learning and growth. You’ve got this!

Need help on your intuitive eating journey? Just head on over to www.TalkWithBonnie.com and schedule a chat with me.

3 Reasons Why You Don’t Stop Eating (and What to Do About it)

You’ve decided to give up dieting (yay!) and you’ve been working on making peace with food. You’re doing a great job at giving yourself unconditional permission to eat and you are truly enjoying your meals.

All this sounds amazing, but you are facing a dilemma. You’re enjoying your meals so much that you don’t want to stop when you recognize fullness, you want to keep eating. This is causing you to doubt your ability to become an intuitive eater.

First, let me assure you that this is a “normal” part of the process. Be gentle with yourself as you reacquaint yourself with your body and the foods you haven’t eaten for a long time.

Here are 3 reasons why you don’t want to stop eating, and what you can do about it:

You haven’t truly given yourself unconditional permission to eat that food. Here’s the thing…if you don’t really believe that you can eat this food again whenever you want it, it will be more difficult to stop when you recognize fullness.

What to do: work on giving yourself emotional/mental permission to eat this food in addition to the physical permission.

You are checked-out during mealtime. If you are eating with distraction (phone, newspaper, T.V etc.), you are not fully paying attention to your meal and are missing the signals of comfortable fullness. Now, suddenly you are overfull.

What to do: Put away all distractions. I know it’s challenging to sit and just eat, especially if you’re so used to multi-tasking through your meal. But you deserve better than that, and so does your body.

You are eating to numb your feelings. If you are used to coping with difficult emotions by turning to food, then consider whether you are trying to stuff down those emotions, so you don’t have to feel them.

What to do: Pause and ask yourself “am I still hungry?”. If your honest answer is no, then ask yourself what you are truly feeling and what do you need to help manage those feelings without food.

Your intuitive eating journey is not a linear path, it is a process that has twists and turns.

Each twist and turn is a learning experience for you. Remember to be kind and gentle to yourself as you relearn how to trust yourself, your body and your food choices. You’ve got this!

Can I help in any way? If so, just email me at Bonnie@DietFreeRadiantMe.com.

Pushing through Intuitive Eating Resistance

Something I’ve heard several times from potential clients is “I’ve tried intuitive eating already and it didn’t work”. And so, the search for the next diet continues.

I get it. With all the messages swirling around you about the body you “should” have, the weight you “should” lose for your “health” and the false promises that once you lose the weight your life will be all sunshine and rainbows, it’s no surprise that when you “tried” intuitive eating before, you treated it like yet another diet.

It’s not your fault! If you’ve been dieting for years or even decades, your mindset around food and your body is that of a dieter. You are battling food at every meal and have come to have a love-hate relationship with food.

The Reason for the Resistance

Intuitive eating is not a weight loss method. If you’ve tried intuitive eating with the hope that you would lose weight, then more than likely that’s why you were disappointed.

Intuitive eating is a practice of listening to your own body signals when making decisions around food, rather than listening to external sources telling you what, when and how much to eat.

When beginning your intuitive eating journey, it’s most important to shelve the desire for weight loss. Now I’m not saying to forget about this desire, just acknowledge it’s there but you aren’t acting on it right now. In this way, you are paving the way to changing your relationship with food without a hidden weight loss agenda.

Bottom Line

If you’ve “tried” intuitive eating but still secretly hoped you would lose weight, then you didn’t “try” intuitive eating.

This small tweak can make all the difference.

Ready to give it a go? Just head on over to www.TalkWithBonnie.com and request a complementary phone call.

Tag Archive for: mindful eating