You’ll notice, I don’t write about nutrition and fitness. It just isn’t my jam. I have spent way too much time in past years reading up on eating plans and exercise methods.
Like many of you, I have quite a past with diets. I have tried them all, counting calories and points, eliminating food groups, and drinking the shakes. Guess what? They all worked, but none of them were sustainable, because I refuse to be miserable just to have a smaller pants size.
And, when the thought of trying another diet made me want to puke, I decided to quit diets once and for all.
But quitting diets didn’t help fix my emotional eating or help my desire to be healthier.
Diets didn’t, but intuitive eating did.
I had heard of intuitive eating before, heck I even had the intuitive eating “Bible.”
But I knew just reading a book wasn’t going to cut it for me. I needed something to walk me through this approach and help me develop a new mindset. That’s when I found Caitlin Ball, a health and lifestyle coach who specializes in intuitive eating.
In January, instead of pledging to lose weight like I had in years past, I joined Caitlin’s 3-month Quit Dieting for Good program to learn how to become an intuitive eater.
Becoming an intuitive eater is a process, not a magic pill, because you are retraining your mind. So although my journey wasn’t complete in 3 months, it certainly put me on the course to eating intuitively. And, it taught me several lessons that I didn’t expect, including some that weren’t related to eating at all.
What I Learned from Intuitive Eating
Emotional eating is a sign something else is going on.
I thought I had a food problem, that I lacked self-control and the willpower to control myself around food. False. It turns out that overeating or eating when I’m not hungry is a sign that I’m trying to use food to solve another problem, whether that’s stress, or anger, or boredom. I can choose to still eat if I want to, but I know that I need to spend time journaling to dig into what’s really wrong.
I needed to make space for self-care.
Instead of making time for real self-care, I used food as self-care. Being a stay-at-home mom of two little kids means I don’t get much time to myself. Let’s be real, the only time I am alone is when they sleep or when I lock myself in the bathroom. I felt guilty about leaving my hubby with the girls and about spending money on myself, so I seldom made time for myself.
And, haven’t we all used the excuse that we’re waiting to buy clothes until lose weight? Part of self-care is dressing the body you have in a way that makes you feel beautiful.
Food is just food.
I used to either obsess about what food I wanted to eat next or feel guilty because I “fell off the wagon” and ate something that violated my diet. Now, food can just be food. Some foods make me feel better than others, so I try to eat those often, but there are foods that make me happy, and I eat those too. All without feeling like I need to skip my next meal or do a hard workout the next day.
I forgot how to enjoy my food.
When is the last time you sat down to a meal and didn’t immediately dig in? Did you take time to look at the colors on your plate? Did you smell the scents of each dish? Did you take a small bite and let the flavors roll around your mouth?
Yeah, I never did that either, and honestly, this is one of the hardest parts of intuitive eating. It takes a lot of intention to slow down and really savor your food. I think people in other countries do this so much better than we do in America. Eating there is an event, an experience.
My body’s hunger and fullness signals will tell me when and how much to eat.
Many, many diets tell you exactly how many times per day to eat and how much you can eat. But, hello, our bodies already know when they are hungry and when they are full. We have just forgot how to listen to them. It takes some practice, but you can learn how to eat when you are just starting to get hungry and to stop eating when you are satisfied but not full.
But, why am I writing about this? Typically I treat nutrition and fitness like politics and religion; everyone has a different opinion that they are entitled to.
However, I know there are other women out there like me, who feel frustrated and defeated that nothing works. And I just want you to know that you aren’t broken, the system is. Diets just don’t work.
I’m here to answer any questions you may have, or if you want a real expert, connect with Caitlin on Instagram or at her site.
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