Intuitive Eating is about changing your relationship with food. This isn't another diet, this isn't a quick weight loss plan... this is a complete 180 on everything you have been taught your entire life about diet culture.

And this is just scratching the surface. Check out the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating.

1) Reject the Diet Mentality
No more diets, lifestyles, resets, counting calories and points - THROW IT ALL OUT. Any thought that there might be another diet out there that will get you the results, or that intuitive eating will get you results will keep you from being free to explore what Intuitive Eating is all about.
Fact is, you may not lose weight, you might stay the same, you might gain weight - it's about bringing your body back to it's natural state, which is different than everyone out there.

2) Honour Your Hunger

When don't keep your body fed with enough energy and carbohydrates, you will trigger your body's primal need to eat. When you reach excessive hunger, mindful eating is thrown out the window. It's important to start to notice the first signs of hunger to avoid uncontrollably eating.

3) Make Peace with Food

Give yourself permission to eat. Everything. No rules. No Labels. When you decide certain foods are bad, we deprive ourselves of that food, and then we become instantly drawn to those foods. When we eventually give in to those foods, we do so uncontrollably and this brings us into Last Supper Mentality (this is the last time I will ever eat this food - so I better make it count) and then feelings of guilty and failure.

4)Challenge the Food Police

The Food Police is that inner dialogue that says, "you were so good for eating XYZ", or  "you are so bad for eating XYZ." The Food Police is the sum total of all of the diet messages that you have received your entire life, and everytime you make choices about foods it talks back to you LOUD and CLEAR! So, we need to shut that down! We need to silence all of that internal dialogue about diets and diet culture in order to truly experience Intuitive Eating.

5) Respect your fullness

During meals and snacks - take moments to pause and see how you feel. How is the food is tasting? Ask yourself how full you are, then make a decision if you want to eat more, or not. Remember how your parents always told you to finish everything on your plate? I am here to tell you, you don't have to.

6)Discover the Satisfaction Factor

We get so lost in the idea of being "thin" and "healthy" that we lose the abiity to simply enjoy the meals put in front of us. Foods taste good. The best foods are meant to be savoured and cause feelings of satisfaction and pleasure within our bodies. At some point we lost that. Time to reclaim it.

7) Honour your feeling without using food

We go through a break up and reach for the tub of ice cream (been there, done that). We use food to distract and comfort ourselves when we needed, but we aren't getting to the root cause of that issue. Food won't fix it. Food is a temporary fix in these situations and help us cope, but only temporarily - and often times we will get to a point where we feel worse after we use food to cope and eventually you will have to deal the emotions you are feelings.

8)Respect your body

Stop criticizing your body!! I often use the analogy of shoes sizes, and then realized that it's a pretty common one in the world of Intuitive Eating - so I will throw it in here. We all have a different shoe sizes, and if you are a size 7, try as you might you won't get your foot into a size 6. You are not genetically meant to fit into a size 6 - just like if we all ate exactly the same, and did the exact same exercises we wouldn't look the same. In fact, that would be pretty boring.

9) Exercise - Feel the Difference 

Mindful and Joyful Movement! I talk about it all the time!! Stop focusing on the results a specific exercise will give you and move because it FEELS GOOD to move! If exercise doesn't feel good, what's going to motivate you to do it? The potential results will only take you so far!

10) Honour your Health - Gentle Nutrition

Honour your body with food that makes you feel good and that tastes good. When we are consistent, one snack, one meal, one splurge is not going to change the shape of your body or the weight on the scale.

These concept can be scary, feel overwhelming and you may feel like you are opening the flood gates. If you are someone who needs some Guidance, here are a few tips to keep in mind.

• Eat every three to five hours
• Include all three macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat)
• Aim for three to five servings of fruit and veggies daily (micronutrients)
• Prioritize getting enough calories (ENERGY)
• Adequate nutrient intake comes from eating a wide variety of foods

When we find that beautiful medley when everything just clicks - you will feel HEALTHIER, STRONGER and more VIBRANT than ever before.

All food fits into a healthy diet - be flexible and remember that satisfaction factorYou deserve to enjoy every aspect of life - from food, to movement, to life itself. You deserve to be free from diet culture.

Does this resonate with you? Book your Free Goal & Mobility Assessment and let's chat about implementing a more intuitive approach to your lifestyle.