One of the many reasons I love blogging is that I get to share my thoughts and experiences with all of you.

Intuitive Eating has recently become a huge part of my life and because of that I thought I would share my journey from past mistakes to present and future lessons learned on the blog.

I first discovered Intuitive Eating a couple of years ago and since then this process has been an amazing and positive experience for me.

This will be the first of many posts where I share my ups and downs, my tips and tricks, and pretty much everything in between on my Intuitive Eating journey.

Now let’s get to it.

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DISCLOSURE: I would like to say that the Intuitive Eating program does not sponsor this blog post nor am I trying to SELL this program or convince anyone to jump on board! The purpose of this post is to inform everyone what Intuitive Eating is because I do plan to share many future posts relating to this topic and to prevent confusion I wanted to post the basics. 

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What Is Intuitive Eating?

 The textbook definition of Intuitive Eating is:

“Intuitive Eating provides a new way of eating that is ultimately struggle-free and healthy for your mind and body. It is a process that unleashes the shackles of [yo-yo] dieting. It means getting back to your roots-trusting your body and its signals. It includes the principles of mindful eating and addresses the issues of cognitive distortions and emotional eating. Intuitive Eating ultimately teaches you to respect and love your mind and body and its relationship with food.”

Intuitive Eating (A Revolutionary Program That Works by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch)

Now that was a mouthful. To be completely honest there is no one definition of Intuitive Eating because there are so many different layers to Intuitive Eating.

However, here is my definition…at least my attempt to define a whole other world in a few sentences.

“Intuitive Eating is a whole new way to build a relationship with yourself and the way you nourish your mind, body, AND SOUL. Intuitive Eating provides you with the answers you need to overcome your daily struggles with food and the emotional ups and downs that are affected by your relationship with food. Intuitive Eating provides you with the tools you need to get out of the black and white thinking that takes you from stressful to a more calm and peaceful state.” –ME.

Some of you may be thinking I still don’t know what Intuitive Eating is. To clarify the specifics, Intuitive Eating is a program that teaches people how to eat in a way that is healthier for them mentally and physically. The program has 10 principles and each part is to help someone reach a point where they can eat every meal in peace and finish without any feelings of regret, discomfort, or guilt.

In order to really understand Intuitive Eating an overview doesn’t quite cut it.

With this program, you have to dive in deep and take one step at a time without moving forward until the present concept has had enough time to really sink in. Everyone today is always looking for the quickest solutions and the fastest results, but this program uses building blocks. Every program also impacts each individual differently and everyone has his or her own experiences and struggles that will take them through the program at different rates.

One last little note I’d like to add here is that this program NEVER ENDS. WHAT?! I know!! Sounds freakishly scary, doesn’t it? What I mean by that is if you want to feel good about yourself and you want to have a great relationship with food for the rest of your life then you are always going to be using the tools you’ve learned to keep helping you every day. Struggles just don’t go away, but having the right information to help you keep working through those never-ending struggles is what matters most. You will have good days and bad days, ups and downs, sometimes you will have falling outs with Intuitive Eating and need to jump back in, but that is what it is here for, to help you! That part never ends.

Why I Eat Intuitively

Finally, I would like to share why I believe in this program. Many people may think this program is just like any other diet industry trying to make money off people trying to lose weight. Sure you can look at it that way…. for me, I chose to open my mind and see what it had to offer me before I gave judgment. If I didn’t like it or if it didn’t feel right for me then I didn’t have to move any further with it. I was never a really big “dieter” meaning someone who was always on a diet or constantly trying out the next diet phenomenon, I was and still am someone who struggles with body image and stresses over every meal.

My relationship with food has gone from starvation to bingeing to a whole lot of other struggles. Every meal was so stressful for me that all I wanted was “to just eat like a normal person! Eating was supposed to be easy, it is a natural process, so why was it so hard for me? There had to be something wrong with me.” These were all thoughts that resulted from having such a negative relationship around food until I discovered Intuitive Eating. I am not only improving my relationship with food and overcoming some of my constant battles, but I’ve discovered one of the most important lessons Intuitive Eating has to offer…I am not alone! There is NOT something wrong with me and there are millions of women in the world who go through the same struggles that I do. To know that I am not the only person in the whole world with these issues and that I have other women to talk to and get advice from made a huge difference.

That is what I am here to do for you.

To show you that there is nothing to be ashamed of or to blame yourself for, there is nothing weird about you, you are not the only person going through these things, and finally, you can overcome what may now seem impossible! That is why I believe in Intuitive Eating because it has shined a light on a lot of darkness that revolved around food. I have overcome some of my own struggles already and I’ve created a support system that I didn’t have before. Knowing that I can work towards something that I didn’t believe I could has shown me that I can believe in this program.

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Now I know you all are probably thinking all right already tell me all the secrets! Tell me what I need to do!

BUT…

That is not my purpose of this post, I will however be sharing all my secrets and what I have been doing to get through my daily struggles with my relationship with food and how it has affected me in other ways throughout many future blog posts. So keep an eye out for future posts and hopefully, they will help you with some of your own struggles.

If you are interested in learning more about my own personal Intuitively Eating journey, I wrote another post. on What Intuitive Eating Can Teach You where I share 10 lessons I’ve learned through my Intuitive Eating journey and how Intuitive Eating can improve your relationship with food and your body.

For some of my favorite Intuitive Eating resources for you all to check out and get more information on, if you are interested in learning more about Intuitive Eating, I’d highly recommend you take a look at our wellness category full of posts with more insights and resources!