If you’re reading this blog, CONGRATS! You’ve made it to the 10th blog on the principles of intuitive eating! If you haven’t read the previous blogs on the other nine principles, I encourage you to go through each principle in order from 1-9 before going through this next post on the final Principle #10: Honor Your Health – Gentle Nutrition! In comparison to the previous nine principles, which can be learned & experienced simultaneously, honoring your health through gentle nutrition is recommended to be the last principle you implement in your life.
Incorporating gentle nutrition to honor your health is a vital part of respecting your body; however, it can too easily be confused with sentiments from diet culture. This is not something to be confused about! Use your intuitive eating tool box, developed through working through the first nine principles.
Principle #10 is the LAST principle for a reason. Repairing your relationship with food is much more important than any one food you eat.
Gentle nutrition is all about:
- Making food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making you feel good.
- Think back to Principle #5: Discover the Satisfaction Factor!
- Realizing you don’t have to eat perfectly to be “healthy”.
- Having flexibility with food, not rigid rules.
- Developing a pattern of eating that suits you.
When we jump into gentle nutrition too soon, the fad diet cycle may reoccur or you may have thoughts about starting a new diet. This is in reference to gentle nutrition possibly triggering previous diet culture behaviors. You may even start treating intuitive eating like another diet. And remember, this thought process is what you put so much work & effort into to overcome while learning about Principle #1: Reject the Diet Mentality.
Ask yourself the following questions before getting started with gentle nutrition:
- Do I have any food rules?
- Do I view food as “good” or “bad”?
- Do I feel guilt or shame around certain foods?
- Do I view my body through a neutral lens?
- What is my reasoning for implementing gentle nutrition?
A lot of these reflection questions may seem similar to those posed throughout the previous principles of intuitive eating—this is because these questions are vital to ask yourself before starting Principle #10. Your journey has progressed so far! Diet culture has no place inserting itself in your understanding of the ten principles.
Now, let’s reflect on the term “healthy eating”. What foods do you consider to be “healthy?” In intuitive eating, we define healthy eating as having a healthy balance of foods AND having a healthy relationship with food!
Healthy eating is NOT:
- Only eating nutrient dense foods—aka, fruits & veggies
- Avoiding (added) sugar like the plague
- No “fun” foods
Time for a quick game I like to call… Is it healthy eating, or is it diet culture?
- A parent wants to put a toddler on the Keto diet…
It’s important to note that Keto is recommended for epileptic children only! If their child is epileptic and their doctor or dietitian recommends Keto, great! If the child is NOT epileptic, they should NOT be on the Keto diet. PERIOD. Fun fact! The keto diet was initially discovered to specifically be a medically-based diet intervention for children with epilepsy. Think about it’s place in your life if you previously pertook—what were the driving forces behind your decision to begin that diet. Did you understand the origins of the diet, or did diet culture influence your origin of it?
- A “healthy eater” is avoiding carbs, BUT has diverticulitis…
This “healthy eater” actually needs carbs more than ever, especially fiber-rich carbs! They will help to heal the gut and inflammation caused from diverticulitis-related inflammation.
When we talk about healthy eating, it is important to address “convenience” or packaged foods. These foods include:
- Fast-food restaurants
- Frozen foods
- Canned foods
- Pre-made foods
- Ready-to-eat foods
Diet culture has demonized convenience foods. But, when thinking about what food has to offer, convenience and packaged foods also offer us
- The necessary nourishment & energy we need to thrive!
Don’t forget… all foods have nutrients & energy to offer us!
If we as a society are so concerned about whether a certain food is going to cure us or kill us, we need to take into account this worry… What cost are we paying to pursue what diet culture has taught us to perceive as “health”?
The connection between your body and what food you choose to eat is called body-food choice congruence. When you begin to pay attention to the ways different food combinations affect you, reflect on:
- The feelings and sensations in your body
- Your energy level
- Your mood affect
As you approach gentle nutrition, I have some reminders for you:
- Satisfaction with food is important. If you want a refresher, listen to this podcast episode!
- Your relationship with food is more important than any one food you eat. Period.
- Eating should feel good! There is no judgment in your choices. If external voices place judgment upon you, feel free to set much needed boundaries.
- You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency from eating one snack or meal or forgoing one snack/meal for another. That’s just not how our bodies work. I promise!
If you enjoyed this blog post make sure you check out our post “Intuitive Eating Principle #9: Movement- Feel the Difference” here! And, be sure to listen to the podcast episode on Principle #10: Honor Your Health – Gentle Nutrition. Listen to all of our Find Food Freedom® podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
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