Hello love,
So today I wanted to talk about what happens when you decide to ditch dieting. So, dieting and restriction is a really heavy load on the mind and when you have had enough of it what happens next?
Swinging to the other extreme…
For me when I decided i had enough I swung to the other extremity, which was I didn’t care what I put into my mouth. I swung to the other extreme for a few months. I was living in Korea at the time and eating a lot of junk foods, fried foods and food that didn’t make me feel good. I would eat what ever was in front of me. I had no distinction.
That was my experience with swinging from such restriction to being so “free” with myself. And both extremes didn’t feel good in my body. When I realized that swinging to this other extreme didn’t make me feel good as well, I had to learn very slowly what did make my body feel good.
I was so afraid of going back to a rigid diet and something restrictive. So I had to make small changes which took many years to get me to a place where I felt good and healthy.
Check out the video below:
Some concerns with intuitive eating…
What is there after you give up dieting? There is intuitive eating and in theory it is a good idea. But it doesn’t give you the tools to get you to true nourishment, like tuning into the body. If you think you can stop dieting and can instantly connect to your intuition you are deluding yourself.
I know from my own experience. I was so restrictive and pushed away what my body was telling me that I wasn’t connected to my body. I was disconnected and I couldn’t hear my body and know what it was needing. That’s why I swung to the other extreme for so many months. I didn’t realize how things were making me feel until it became obvious.
True Intuitive eating…
To be a true intuitive eater which I am today you need to start tuning into your body. You need to start to hearing your body and that requires:
- learning about your body and tuning into your hunger
- your emotional hunger
- what foods feel good in your body and how they digest
- strategies around digestion and
- testing different ways of eating to see what resonates and feels good.
That is easier said than done. Even though it took me many years to get to that place with clients it takes a few months or weeks because they have me guiding them.
We need to come to a place where we are not afraid of some structure and we can have flow. It is not rigid structure or complete freedom. There is a structure that is flexible and flow that has boundaries. We’re figuring out what works for us.
I know some people that deem any structure a diet. This is a way of finding your healthy and a way of living and eating that is healthy for you.
When we ditch dieting we need to find a way that truly nourishes us and that takes some trial and error. You can shorten that if you have guidance but you can also get lost in that freedom and swing to the other extreme which isn’t healthy as well.
So what I found that works is this new way of being – really tuning into the body and having your own fluid structure that works for you.
If you have any questions let me know in the comments below!
To true nourishment,
Michelle
Certified Holistic Nutritionist.
