How Mental Restriction Interferes with Practicing Intuitive Eating

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How Mental Restriction Interferes with Practicing Intuitive Eating

Whether you are new to intuitive eating or have been practicing it for some time, the notion of giving yourself permission to eat foods that are generally thought of as “unhealthy” is likely something you’ve heard before. This concept is part of the third principle of intuitive eating, Make Peace with Food, and allows for freedom to explore and choose foods based on whether you actually like them, versus whether or not diet culture has deemed them to be “good.” 

But what if you’ve stopped dieting and your brain hasn’t?

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Help! I Started Intuitive Eating and Now I Can’t Stop Eating

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Help! I Started Intuitive Eating and Now I Can’t Stop Eating

A common experience that our clients and group participants will note, especially early on in their journey, is their frustration around feeling like they want to eat everything and often eating past the point of physical comfort. The thought is, “I’m doing exactly what I was afraid I’d do,” and the desire is to return to the rules to regain some sense of control. So first, I just want to stress how normal this during this process. Below I describe several reasons why this might be happening and offer some ideas for what you might do if this is where you are finding yourself.

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Intuitive Eating: Clarifying Misconceptions & Inspiring Hope

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Intuitive Eating: Clarifying Misconceptions & Inspiring Hope

When I first learned about intuitive eating nearly 10 years ago it blew my mind. It helped me understand why I was feeling so ineffective and unfulfilled professionally and laid the groundwork for me to find my way to where I am today.

What I’ve learned since that time is that intuitive eating is nuanced. Much more so than I appreciated early on in my learning. And, much more so than social media would ever suggest. Yes, it consists of 10 seemingly straightforward principles. But, those principles can be so easily misconstrued and overly simplified, to the point of being totally inconsistent with the true spirit of intuitive eating.

Here I’ll explain some of the common misconceptions about intuitive eating, explore some of that nuance, and share some of the ways in which I see intuitive eating transforming the lives of the clients with whom I work.

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Food Rules: What They Are and What To Do About Them

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Food Rules: What They Are and What To Do About Them

These and other rules that we impose on ourselves when it comes to eating often lead us further from a health-supportive relationship with food. What may start off as a well-intentioned effort to be mindful of food-related behaviors can evolve into a rigid set of rules that leads to disconnection from your body and its needs. This can make knowing what, when, and how much to eat in order to adequately nourish our bodies and feel good, confusing at best. This confusion erodes trust in your body and its signals and may perpetuate further reliance on external rules to guide your eating, continuing the cycle.

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Finding Food Freedom: What You Stand to Gain by Giving Up the Food Fight

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Finding Food Freedom: What You Stand to Gain by Giving Up the Food Fight

Take a moment to imagine the life you want, the life you envision when you’ve achieved those elusive diet goals. What would be different? What would you do? How would you feel? Now imagine working toward all of that without a prerequisite of weight loss. The truth is, all those diets and food rules that have promised to provide you that path forward haven’t worked. Worse yet, they are standing in your way. You can find peace with food, you can care for your body, you can live the life you crave, all without pursuing weight loss first.

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