If you’re reading this, we are about to breakdown the last principle of Intuitive Eating: #10 Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition!
Pause: if you have not yet worked through IE principles one through nine, we encourage you to go back to the Find Food Freedom Podcast and listen to Episode #4: How to Make Peace with Food and read our blog post, How to Reject the Diet Mentality! Principle #10 is the last principle for a reason and If you have not fully rejected the diet mentality, it may be too soon to read this blog post! Why you may ask? Because if a healthy relationship with food is not present, it is very difficult to pursue “healthy eating.” Relationship with food comes first, gentle nutrition second!
What is Gentle Nutrition?
So what does “gentle nutrition” even mean? The creators of intuitive eating – Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch – summarize the tenth principle in their book, “Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach,” as:
“Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making you feel good. Remember that you don’t have to eat perfectly to be healthy. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or become unhealthy from one snack, one meal, or one day of eating. It’s what you eat consistently over time that matters—progress, not perfection, is what counts.”
Some of the BIGGEST myths of intuitive eating are that it’s (1) anti-vegetables, (2) anti-health, and (3) anti-nutritious foods. This could not be further from the truth. Us intuitive eating counselors believe that all foods fit. Furthermore, we don’t assign morality to foods. A salad is a salad. A donut is a donut. One is not “morally superior” than the other; they are entirely neutral in our eyes. Removing the guilt and shame associated with food and viewing food as neutral is vital before we are fully able to make decisions around food that make us feel physically pleasant.
If you’ve made it to this point of establishing neutrality with food, you are likely in the final stage of intuitive eating, Stage Five: The Final Stage – Treasure the Pleasure. (Go check out our blog post The Stages of Intuitive Eating to read more!) In this stage, it is likely that you will start to crave a variety of nutrient-dense foods. One of the biggest fears that pop up for intuitive eaters when they get to this point is, “Wait, am I dieting again? Why am I craving broccoli?” The short answer is no! It is really common to crave more nutrient-dense foods as you heal your relationship with food and start to eat for satisfaction.
However, if you once limited yourself to only eating chicken and broccoli during your dieting days, you may still associate these things as being “diet culture foods.” You may think something is wrong with you for desiring these foods. I am here to tell you that diet culture cannot take nutrient-dense foods away from you. It robbed you of pleasurable foods, money, and energy for years; do not let it steal the comfortable relationship you have with food.
If you start to crave a bunch of nutrient-dense foods and are scared that you’re falling back into that diet culture cycle, reflect on the intention behind your food choices.
Examples of Diet Culture Thoughts:
- Is it less calories?
- Am I going to lose weight?
- Is it going to make me smaller?
- Is it the “healthier option?”
Examples of Intuitive Eating Thoughts:
- Will this satisfy me?
- Does this sound good at this very moment?
- What do I have available that will make me feel most pleasant?
- What’s going to give me the most energy?
Notice the difference? Every single choice you make in diet culture is to shrink your body. Every choice you make in intuitive eating is to honor your body and give it what it wants. This idea may sound inconceivable to you. It’s not supposed to be easy when you have spent 20 plus years of our life dieting. However, food freedom IS possible. Once you become an intuitive eater, you can learn how to make decisions that feel physically, mentally, and emotionally pleasant.
Thank You!
HUGE shout out to Lindley Ashline for the beautiful cover image on this blog. Go check out her website for more inclusive, diverse, and body positive stock photos!
Want to learn more about intuitive eating?
Click here to listen to the Find Food Freedom Podcast #20: Breaking Down Gentle Nutrition!
Click here to check out all the current Find Food Freedom happenings!
Click here to join our monthly Find Food Freedom membership program!
