INTUITIVE EATING

I’ve been talking about intuitive eating for a while now. However, I realized I had not shared my story as to how it has worked for me. If you are not familiar with Intuitive Eating, here is a summary of 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating. Intuitive Eating came about in the late 1980’s in response to a movement away from diet culture. It was becoming so evident that diets did not work and often lead to more weight gain, feelings of failure and low self-esteem. 

Intuitive Eating is a non-diet approach to eating that focuses on listening to our internal cues rather than external cues from diet culture. Non-diet means the focus is not on weight, but instead on promoting health-enhancing behaviors, better body image, and a healthier relationship with food. Intuitive eating helps you get back in touch with internal cues, like hunger and fullness, cravings, and how food makes you feel.

The two authors of Intuitive Eating are both renown Registered Dieticians and were the first dieticians to take the philosophy and outline ten principles. These principles address how people can move away from diet culture and move toward their intuitive wisdom about eating. The 4th edition of this book has recently been released. 

To be honest, my experience with intuitive eating happened after I had already started to improve my relationship with food and my body. I was so surprised to find an approach that fit my situation and that I could use on my journey to healing. I am sharing my story with you as I hope to encourage others to take a look at their life and see if they are truly living! 

In my 20’s, I developed a very negative view of my body. In order to deal with these thoughts, I spent many hours at the gym and restricted food and entire food groups. I am so sorry ice cream for leaving you for so long! When I was in my late twenties, my husband and I decided to try to have children. I had trouble conceiving and now know it was due to my so called  “healthy” behaviours. I was no longer getting my period therefore I was not able to conceive. I went to fertility specialists and remember one in particular who suggested that I gain weight. I was so upset and did not tell my husband as he likely would have agreed. That was not healthy behaviour. I was fearful that I would have to eat more and exercise less. How sad is that when all I wanted was to become pregnant. Fortunately, with medical intervention, I became pregnant - not only once but twice. And now I am a proud mother to two beautiful teenage boys. 

During my pregnancies, I was able to loosen the reins a bit as my only concern was the health of my babies. Unfortunately, after I finished having children my behaviours did not change. I continued to restrict and exercise beyond my limits. A part of me thought this behaviour was normal, since so many women I knew were doing the same thing. We would spend time criticizing our bodies and sharing the latest diet or fitness craze. I was praised for being so “healthy.” The words “Tracey does not eat that,” were uttered at many a family dinner or special occasion. It saddens me to think of the wonderful food I missed and the extra stress I placed on myself, so as not to gain weight or miss a workout. This was not healthy. I allowed food and exercise to rule my life. I had so many rules about what I would eat and how long I would exercise. I felt like a failure if I broke these rules.

Eventually, I just became tired, so tired. I was tired of saying no to food. I was tired of spending way too much time at the gym. I was tired of worrying about what I could eat that was healthy at a restaurant. I was tired of telling people I did not like a certain food when in actual fact I only said this because I feared the food. I started to realize there was so much more to life than restricting food and exercise. I started to do research and to get help on how I could stop these behaviours. I knew this lifestyle was not sustainable and my life was so much more than what I ate and how long I exercised. 

While on my journey to healing, I came across intuitive eating and thought there was no way that it was actually possible to live life this way. I spent a lot of time reading and re-reading the book as well as completing the Intuitive Eating guidebook. I can’t tell you that I never have food issues or negative body image thoughts - I am human. However, I am SO much better than I was ten years ago. I have the tools to deal with these thoughts and I am able to help others on their journey. 

I am here to tell you that intuitive eating is most definitely something that can be learned, understood and most importantly - put into practice. It is not easy but it is so worth it. This will be a journey. It takes time to undo many years of restriction and diet mentality. Trust me when I tell you that it can be done. 

Learning to respect and appreciate yourself as a human being does not  depend on how much you weigh. Your weight changes over your life but your value does not. You are still worthy of love, respect and acceptance.

If you only remember one thing from the post, remember this…...you are so much more than the food you eat and the size of your body. Life is about living. Restriction and guilt are not living. I am here to help when you are ready.