6 Practical Tips for Your Intuitive Eating Journey
Today’s post is inspired by my Intuitive Eating coaching clients. While the Intuitive Eating principles can appear pretty straightforward in the books, in practice, it’s not always smooth sailing. Grab 6 of my favorite practical tips for making your intuitive eating journey just a little easier.
Do you ever wonder if you are even doing intuitive eating correctly? Are you overwhelmed trying to practice all the principles at once? Does the thought of giving yourself permission to eat all foods give you so much anxiety you wonder if it’s even worth it in the long run? Do you often wonder if you’ll ever stop eating all your former off-limits foods? Is working out for enjoyment even a thing?!
While my work with intuitive eating coaching clients is always different, the one thing I see in nearly every client is a ‘Did I really make the right choice by starting intuitive eating because it’s starting to feel really uncomfortable and I’m not sure I can continue doing this for forever!!!’ phase. Let me explain.
The intuitive eating framework offers a great alternative to diet culture because it gives folks the opportunity to better understand their body and their needs around food and movement while rejecting diet culture standards. For many people, myself included, intuitive eating sounds amazing - fewer rules, less rigidity, more freedom around food, increased body acceptance, and more. The initial weeks of practicing might feel pretty good and, dare I say ‘easy’, but as you continue practicing the anxiety and fear over the unknown start to creep in and you hit the phase I mentioned above.
Friend, you are not the only person to struggle with practicing and implementing the intuitive eating principles into your life. Read that again - you are not alone. On paper, intuitive eating sounds easy enough, but that’s not always the case, in practice. Below are 6 tips that I share with all my coaching clients through our work together especially when they reach that ‘Why did I decide to do this?!?!’ phase!
6 Practical Tips for Your Intuitive Eating Journey
Take it slow + give it time
How long did you diet or restrict or binge or bash your body or punish yourself with workouts before you started practicing intuitive eating? I’m going to guess it was a significant amount of time. Likely, longer than you’ve been practicing intuitive eating. You will not become an intuitive eater overnight. You are engaging in a process of unlearning a lot of patterns of thinking and behavior all while living in a world where the majority of people are continuing to practice the very things you’ve decided no longer serve you (dieting, restricting, body bashing, etc.). That’s really hard work, my friend. Which means it will take time. Slow it down and start giving yourself some grace and space to learn, to struggle, to not be good at something right away.
Break it down into smaller pieces
While it’s possible to focus on multiple principles at once, use caution and don’t be afraid to break it down into smaller pieces. Let’s take Honor Your Hunger, Principle #2 as an example. That chapter talks about self-care, the different types of hunger, physical hunger sensations, honoring your hunger, and more. That’s a lot to learn, unlearn, and practice. Perhaps instead of attempting to honor your hunger at every meal, you focus on 1 meal and tune in and get curious about it. Maybe you focus on honoring your hunger for 1 meal for a few weeks, until you feel comfortable enough to aim for 1 meal, 2 or 3 days per week. There is no timeline for completing all the principles or becoming an intuitive eater. Let yourself explore and practice and feel and experience this process.
Build in structure where you need it and be intentional
Going from the structured rules of diet culture to the flexibility and intuition of intuitive eating can feel really difficult. You’re basically going from one side of a pendulum to the other. It’s okay to build in structure/stepping stones to get you from one side to the other. Let’s take movement as our example. The goal might be to move intuitively and joyfully 4 days a week, but right now you are doing structured, hour-long workouts 6 days a week and are a little worried (read: really worried) about what might happen to your body if you don’t move in this way anymore. Perhaps you keep your current workout schedule for a month but add a check-in before, during, and after your workout to see how it feels. Maybe you ask yourself questions (how am I feeling? Is this weight too heavy? or too light?). Maybe you notice on stressful days at work, you feel too exhausted to do an hour workout. Then you review your insights at the end of the month and decide to cut out one day of workouts and shift your time from 1 hour to 45 minutes. You’re using structure, but still practicing intuitive eating principles.
Track your wins
This may feel like extra work, but, truly, this tip can be a game-changer. No win is too small. Maybe you had a tough body image day and instead of spending the whole day bashing your body or wishing you could go on a diet, you acknowledge you are having a tough day and only say 1 or 2 negative things about your body. That, my friend, is progress. And an incredible win. Your wins do not have to be free of challenges or past diet culture behaviors. Even if you still bashed your body and wished you could go on a diet, but you brought awareness and curiosity, that’s still a win - because there was a positive change in your thinking.
Find support and community
I cannot stress this enough, even if it’s just finding people practicing intuitive eating online. Practicing something so different from diet culture can take its toll. Finding a supportive community can be so beneficial, and especially helpful when things get tough and/or you hit the phase mentioned above. Check out our anti-diet resource list, learn more about the next round of Free to Nourish (starting 8.27.24!!), or reach out to the CCN team for support.
Have fun with it
Having fun with intuitive eating is crucial. Again, this process is not easy, it’s not always fun, and it’s likely going to bring up A LOT of feelings. Have fun with the freedom, flexibility, and fluidity that intuitive eating offers. Give a name to the diet culture voice that tells you eating carbs is bad. Try an Aqua Zumba class in your quest to find joyful, intuitive movement. Invite friends over for a self-care night. Get cute, colorful plates and bowls to practice eating your once-off-limits foods.
Moving Forward
We know this process isn’t always easy, but it can be so rewarding. If you are looking for more support on your intuitive eating journey, the next round of Free to Nourish starts in just a few weeks!
Collaborative Counseling & Nutrition is an outpatient nutrition and body image counseling center, with locations in Indianapolis and Carmel, that provides compassionate, holistic eating disorder treatment. Through practicing mindfulness, intuition, and Health At Every Size, we are on a mission to help you find a true state of well-being! We take an anti-diet, weight-inclusive approach with all our clients and work to help guide you towards a way of healthy living designed by you, just for you! This post is for education purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for treatment for an eating disorder. If you are looking for a registered dietitian or therapist to assist you on your recovery journey, please reach out today!
