So, here we are - our last installment of the series. I’ve dedicated a lot of blog real estate to the topic of intuitive eating. I sincerely hope learning about this has been as helpful and thought-provoking to you as it has to me. The way I see it, there’s a bottom line action at the core of all these principles we’ve covered –
Rejecting the diet mentality by noticing and questioning cultural attitudes
Honoring our hunger
Making peace with food
Noticing and talking back to our food police
Feeling our fullness
Taking real pleasure with food
Emotional eating
Respecting our bodies
Exercising from a healthy place, and
Practicing gentle nutrition.
That action, that idea, that practice is trust. Trusting our bodies, trusting ourselves.
When I say we can trust ourselves and our bodies, I don’t mean to imply that we already know everything. What I do mean is that as we continue to seek out new ideas, new knowledge, we can have well-placed confidence in our inner wisdom to whisper (or sometimes shout) to us what is our best course of action. I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent way too much of my life listening and giving more credence to what others (be they “experts,” friends, people of experience, or sometimes even judgmental strangers) say and not enough time running those ideas through the filter of my own deep inner wisdom.
Sometimes trusting ourselves can be terrifying. It takes brazen, courageous accountability to take full responsibility for our choices and actions, to toss out the safety net of merely trusting what others may say and going along with that. It’s not the course of least resistance, that’s for sure. But what it is is empowering and freeing. Yes, we’ll still make mistakes when we have faith in ourselves, but we’ll accept those mistakes and learn from them and be better because of what we’ve learned.
The fact of the matter is that you have the beautiful gift of intuition. And you can trust it.
THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE - Look for area where you already trust yourself.
Week 2 – What is Intuitive Eating?
Week 3 – Honor Your Hunger
Week 4 – Make Peace With Food
Week 5 – Get Sassy With Your Food Cops
Week 6 – Feel Your Fullness
Week 7 – Embrace Pleasure
Week 8 - Is Emotional Eating a Problem?
Week 10 - I Like to Move, Move It
Week 11 - So What Do I Eat?