A Guide to Intuitive Eating & Food Freedom
This topic is something I’ve been wanting to write for a LONG time. Intuitive Eating has given me Food Freedom, and it definitely hasn’t been a linear journey by any means. That being said, it’s something I’m insanely passionate about because of how much it has impacted my life for the better. I’m diving into my top tips on how to get there too, so let’s get to it!
My Intuitive Eating Journey
At age 30, I finally feel that I have a really great, healthy relationship with food. However, don’t think that means that I never have old thought patterns that creep in, because I definitely do. I simply choose not to listen to them any more.
Looking back, I’ve done every single diet in the book – SpecialK, Low Carb, Weight Watchers, F-Factor, the list goes on and on. I used to think being skinny made you cool, popular, successful, pretty, liked, etc. The list goes on and on! More on that here and in my eBook, Leading with Love, I’ve since grown immensely and realized that I need to love myself FIRST, and that through a series of mindset shifts, I can make huge, incremental changes in my health and in my body.
I did a lot of inner work and went through a bad relationship to realize that I had to love myself first and that was the key to everything. I shifted from thinking I had to workout because I hated my body to moving because I love my body. I shifted from thinking I had to eat less and shrink my body to knowing I had to focus on abundance when it came to food and fuel my body to stay strong.
These are just two of the mindset shifts that I’ve made for incremental change in my relationship with food. Keep reading for my suggested STEPS to getting there.
How to Achieve Food Freedom Through Intuitive Eating
- Eliminate Food Rules.
- Food rules basically are saying that outside voices and diet culture knows your body better than you do. We’re all different, hence we have different needs. Food rules cloud your a
bility to be able to LISTEN to your body, because you’ve preemptively set rules around what your body can or can’t have, instead of just being intuitive as you approach each meal. And to do this, you have to do number two.
- Food rules basically are saying that outside voices and diet culture knows your body better than you do. We’re all different, hence we have different needs. Food rules cloud your a
- Learn to Trust Your Body.
- I know it can be scary to do #1, but it’s absolutely REQUIRED for food freedom and intuitive eating. That being said, it also takes trust in your body. Our bodies are INSANELY smart, and they talk to us in so many ways, every day. We simply have to listen. If you have trouble trusting your body, I would recommend doing self love meditations, writing down and saying affirmations to yourself every day such as: “I love and trust my body, and am worthy of food freedom.”
- Focus on Abundance vs. Elimination.
- I always strive for my clients to ask the question: “what do I need to ADD to my plate?” Diets, diet culture, the media, etc. are obsessed with us having a list of what we CAN’T have, but I’m telling you you CAN have anything. This addition mindset is key.
- Check out this post to see exactly what I tell my clients to add to their plate at every meal.
- Know that there is no finish line when it comes to your health.
- With attaining food freedom and eating intuitively, it’s not going to be a linear journey. There will be ups and downs for sure. The key is to keep remembering that you need to show up for yourself and strive to love yourself, being your best self each and every day. There is NO finish line – that’s diet culture and mentality. We want to feel good every day, for the rest of our lives, not just for the next big event, etc.
- Stop listening to that voice in your head.
- And by ‘that voice’ I mean the one that tells you all of the old myths like ‘I shouldn’t eat this’ or ‘carbs make you fat’, the list goes on and on. Whenever these old thought patterns pop up, know that you have the power to CHOOSE a different thought and not listen to that BS.
And I feel like I have to say it, because I WANT you to embark on this journey as well…I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my body, body composition wise and mindset wise. Adding in my ‘fearful foods’ didn’t make me gain weight. I shifted to focusing on foods that made me feel good and stopped worrying about calories and caring much more about ingredients. It’s LIBERATING & you can do it!!
If you feel like you need support on this journey, I’d love to help you! Schedule your FREE health coaching consultation with me today!
xx Alysia (Purely) Pope
