Intuitive Eating: A Beginners Guide

"Embracing intuitive eating is a straightforward approach that re-establishes your connection with internal hunger and fullness cues, aiding those trapped in chronic dieting or entangled in an unhealthy food relationship to find peace. The ultimate goal is to foster a healthy relationship with food and cultivate a deeper appreciation for your body.

HOW IT STARTED & HOW IT CHANGED

We all commenced our journey as intuitive eaters. In infancy, you responded to internal cues, eating when biologically hungry and turning away when full. However, external influences gradually encroached, dictating food choices, timing, and amounts. Examples include childhood rules like finishing dinner before dessert or labeling certain foods as 'junk.' Adolescence introduced societal preferences for certain body types and witnessed adults on restrictive diets. These external cues persist, intensifying in adulthood amidst the pervasive clamor of diet culture. Friends adopt intermittent fasting, influencers swear by celery juice, relatives add butter to coffee, celebrities insist on strictly organic diets, coworkers shun carbs, and neighbors meticulously weigh food. Diet culture infiltrates every aspect of life.

Amidst this cacophony, listening to your body becomes challenging, with external influences casting doubt on your ability to trust it. Unfortunately, this disconnect often leads to unhealthy behaviors such as chronic dieting, food obsession, restriction, binge eating, emotional eating, excessive exercise, and poor body image.

Intuitive eating is your inherent right, and reclaiming food freedom is your entitlement. So, how do you navigate back to listening to internal cues and silencing the noise of diet culture? Here are some tips to set you on the path:

SAYING NO TO RESTRICTIVE DIETS

The futility of long-term diet success is no secret; 97% of dieters regain lost weight within three years. Most diets, built on restrictive principles for creating a calorie deficit, prove unsustainable. After inevitable failure, the aftermath is often laced with guilt and shame. It's crucial to redirect that frustration towards the diet, not yourself.

ACCEPT YOUR BODY WHERE IT IS

Loving your body can be challenging in a society saturated with unattainable standards, social media filters, and the notion that smaller bodies equate to healthier ones. However, recognizing that your body merits respect, nourishment, and love regardless of its size is imperative. Remember, genetics wield influence, and bodies are meant to undergo changes, evolve, and age.

RECONNECTION

Reconnecting with your body demands practice, particularly if you've suppressed hunger or adhered strictly to permitted foods or regulated eating times. Start by checking in before, during, and after meals, allowing your body to guide the eating experience. Prevent excessive hunger to curb overeating or binge eating.

MOVEMENT SHOULD FEEL GOOD

Exercise shouldn't be a chore; it should be enjoyable, stress-relieving, and energizing. Forget intense routines you dread, and opt for activities that bring joy. Movement doesn't need to be timed, counted, or logged to be beneficial.

NOURISHMENT

Food transcends mere fuel; it embodies enjoyment, memories, celebrations, culture, and traditions. The human body thrives on a variety of foods for fullness and satisfaction. Trusting your body allows room for all kinds of foods without judgment. Envision every food as neutral, and witness its allure diminish once it's no longer forbidden."

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ARE YOU LOOKING TO DIVE DEEPER INTO SELF-CARE?

I Can Help in Developing A Plan For Self Care

Do you want help developing a self-care plan that works for your own busy schedule? Do you want accountability in implementing a self-care plan? If you or someone you love is struggling to maintain optimal mental and emotional health, consider reaching out to Spiced Life Conversation Art Wellness Studio and Botanica. We are a Metro Atlanta, Conyers Georgia area. We are a coaching and counseling practice with empathetic, skilled counselors and recovery coaches who can help you set goals, develop a self-care routine, and move forward to build a more fulfilling life. Our team would be happy to work with you either just for a couple of sessions to develop and implement a Self-care plan or longer term to work toward overall better mental health within our membership site or other programs.

Dr. Nikki LeToya White

About The Author:

Dr. Nikki LeToya White MSEd-TL, Ph.D. RHN is the founder, director, and full-time board-certified trauma-informed nutritionist, folk herbalist, and wellness consultant at Spiced Life Conversation Art Wellness Studio and Botanica. She created Spiced Life Conversation, LLC Art Wellness Studio, and Botanica to provide the Metro Atlanta area with counseling and coaching services where clients are carefully matched with the right program for healing abandonment and childhood emotional neglect trauma that cause codependency, emotional eating, financial stress, and imposter syndrome as it relates to the fear of success and being abandon. We help you begin your emotional healing journey with ease. Recently, we have expanded to include an online membership site so we now provide support to people living all over the world. All of our recovery coaches provide at least one evidence-based treatment to assist in your recovery. Dr. White is a big proponent of self-care and helping people live a fulfilling life! She has been in full remission with both codependency and emotional binge eating disorder since 2016. In living a life in recovery from sugar addiction. I love my low-sugar balanced lifestyle.

Best Regard

Dr. Nikki LeToya White