Unicorns and Starbucks – An Introduction to Intuitive Eating
Today I am talking about Unicorns and Starbucks as an introduction to Intuitive Eating.
Intuitive eating is a way to give up the cycle of dieting. In fact, intuitive eating isn’t a diet at all. Dieting doesn’t really work anyway. I could go all nerd on you and tell you all the about the research explaining WHY and HOW DIETS DON’T WORK.
All dieting does is confuse you. It teaches you what food is BAD and what food is GOOD. But when you eat bad food you feel GUILTY. You feel like you messed up. You feel like you did something wrong.
You HATE yourself for messing up.
This dieting culture teaches you to restrict. When you restrict and limit what you eat it’s annoying. Your urges to eat BAD foods grows. You work so hard to fight the urge and eat something GOOD instead. Then later that day or night the urge is back and you give in. So you eat it.
Then you fee like you messed up. You judge yourself and question your ability to do what is right. But life is not just about what is GOOD or BAD. Life is not just BLACK and WHITE. Food is not just GOOD or BAD.
Food is FOOD. It is there to be enjoyed. It is there to be savored. It is fun. It is pleasurable. It tastes really good. I work with people who feel like failures because of how they eat. They have tried diet after diet and have not been “successful”. Life is not about dieting. Life is about living! Life is about doing what you want to do. This is what I do with my clients:
Help them learn to love their body
Help them learn to love food
Help them learn to have fun
Help them learn to enjoy
Help them feel in control
This is what eating disorder treatment is all about – not about weight loss or gain (although that is often a vital step in the process) – but about learning to LOVE. If you are interested in learning more about how to love your body and love your life, visit: www.texomaspecialtycounseling.com
You can learn to love your body and love your life. You can learn to challenge disordered eating thinking and behaviors. You can learn to have confidence and self-acceptance. If you find you are having trouble with this, please ask for help. There is a lot of good support and help out there for you.
If you find this information helpful please share. This is a very complex issue that cannot be addressed in a 5 minute video, but feel free to ask questions and comment. Perhaps there is something I can help clarify for you.
Still not sure if you have an eating disorder? Here is a self-assessment, https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/screening-tool. This quick tool is to help you determine if you have an eating disorder and if you should get help. Visit NationalEatingdisorder.org to find help and get more information.