Have you ever had something come into your life at the exact right moment and known even as it happened that the timing was absolutely perfect? That happened to me this week.
Epiphany Alert!
I’m 100% sold on Intuitive Eating. It’s my aim, my goal, my focus in the area of eating. I believe it holds the balance and ease, the contentment and peace I seek in relation to food. In short, I feel the principles of Intuitive Eating are how I am meant to eat in a perfect world.
Why? Because I’m just crazy enough to think eating should be as natural as, and take about as much thought as, breathing. I can see that as I:
Recognize and reject the warped, incorrect, and damaging diet mentality that’s so culturally ingrained,
Learn to honor, rather than fearing or fighting, my hunger,
Make peace with food,
Get sassy with the Food Police that make a staggering number of “rules” around food (whether those cops are speaking through old tapes playing in my head or coming from other people, be they strangers, friends, relatives, or “experts”),
Learn to recognize and respect my fullness,
Take real pleasure with food,Recognize and deal with my emotions without using food to numb or soothe myself,
Respect my body,
Move by body in ways that are enjoyable and support my physical, mental, and emotional health, and,
Honor my health with food,
my attitude toward and habits with food will truly nourish me, body and soul.
That’s not the epiphany. That’s just beautiful and encouraging fact.
So, the epiphany?
I listened to a podcast (strong language warning) by Caroline Dooner, author of The F It Diet (which I have not yet read and so am not endorsing at this point) that smacked me upside the head with the realization that I was in the beginning stages of turning the powerful principles of Intuitive Eating into JUST ANOTHER DIET! – another set of rules to be followed in pursuit of the “perfect healthy and fit body” or at least proof that I was doing my part to have a socially acceptable body. “Well, she may be fat, but at least she’s trying really hard.” Another podcast I listened to called this being a “Good fatty.”
Anyway, it's like we've all been endowed (cursed) with a superpower that allows us to turn almost anything into a diet. I’m super aware of the poison of our diet culture and here I was about to fall prey to it again! (Insert mega eye roll and major grunt of frustration) Thankfully, because of Caroline’s podcast I caught this noxious weed of a pattern before it had a chance to flourish and grow. (More proof that we have all the resources we need and that they’ll come to us as we need them – but that’s another post.)
The main point for today is an invitation to continue examining how the diet culture may be influencing (infecting) our attitudes and practices with food and movement. If we first recognize it, we can then deal with it appropriately.
Now, go nourish yourself - body and soul!