Last July I discovered intuitive eating after living in the diet cycle for the last decade. I learned that eating consciously is actually much harder than dieting, but the results are worth it. I desperately want to have a normal relationship with food. I am not willing to spend the rest of my life in the diet cycle. Through this journey I have also realized that there is no conscious eating without conscious living. Conscious living has added so much meaning to my life. I have even found myself being thankful for my food issues because they brought me to conscious living.
I decided to start this blog for a couple of reasons.
Most of the stuff I have read about intuitive eating focuses on the food. There is some information about emotional eating, but it doesn’t go much beyond that. I wanted to create a place that talks about conscious eating within the context of conscious living.
I am tired of hearing people say that they tried intuitive eating, but it didn’t work for them. Here is an excerpt from a post on a conscious eating site that I frequent.
“It's very tempting to try to follow this, to be free of constant monitoring, but I have to confess that I've tried it and it hasn't worked for me…It was a few months- maybe 4 months- over which I did not weigh myself, and tried to practice intuitive eating, and when my clothes started to feel and look tight, I got on the scale and was shocked to see myself 10 lbs up.”
What frustrates me about reading posts like that is that this is exactly how intuitive eating is supposed to work. In Breaking Free from Emotional Eating, Geneen Roth wrote that she gained 15 pounds over her first six months of intuitive eating. For the next five months she maintained that weight. It was almost a year before she started to lose weight, and it took her two years of eating intuitively for her to lose 30 pounds to reach her natural healthy weight.
Intuitive eating isn’t a quick fix. It takes an amazing amount of dedication. It’s not a diet. It’s a process of learning how to have a normal relationship with food. Losing weight may be a byproduct of that, but it isn’t the main point. It will only work if you make a firm commitment to eating consciously. If you view it as a way to lose weight, as another diet, it won’t work for you. You need to be able to accept the initial weight gain. You need to be able to accept that you might not start losing weight for a year or maybe longer. If you can’t do that, intuitive eating won’t work for you. It will just become another diet that you will “fail” at.
I have decided that conscious eating / conscious living is worth it. I have decided that I am worth it. I am not willing to struggle with food for the rest of my life. I want to enjoy my life and be free from food obsessions, and I’m willing to do what it takes for me to get there.
About Me
- Tree Lover
- I'm a 29 year old woman who lives in Los Angeles with my wonderful husband and three adorable cats. I have been in the diet cycle since I was 18 years old. I started breaking free last July when I learned about intuitive eating. In the months since then I have focused on conscious eating within the context of conscious living. I have experienced a great deal of freedom from food obsession and a much more meaningful life.
9 comments:
Great post, and I agree with you wholeheartly.
I agree, great post. I am pretty new in the world of IE and accepting that it isn't a quick fix is on of the hardest parts for me.
I look forward to reading more of you blog
Great beginning!! I'm looking forward to reading more.
I love your attitude and the strength of your decision. You are worth it.
Thanks for the warm welcome into the blogging world!
Great post! I think the trouble is that too many people look to intuitive eating as another method of dieting... I look forward to reading much more!
How do you differentiate what you are doing from the process in "The Overfed Head" which is, I think, an "intuitive" weight loss plan? The focus is weight loss but the process seems the same. Eat only when hungry, eat what you want, stop when satisfied.
Anon - I just saw your post. I haven't read "The Overfed Head", but I kow that a lot of intuitive eaters really like that book. From what I know, what I am doing and what the book recommends are pretty much the same thing. I think the book focuses more on the eating/weight loss aspect of it more than I do. I tend to look at intuitive eating more in the context of conscious living because that's what works for me. That said, from what I know about it, I think that "The Overfed Head" sounds like a great book. I would encourage anone who felt that it might be helpful to read it.
there is no need to diet hard to meet! simply look the way they eat and watch what you eat!
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