Confused About What to Eat? You're Not Alone

Is Sugar the New Tobacco?

Go Vegan to Jumpstart Weight Loss

A Downside of Gluten Free: Higher Arsenic and Mercury Levels

Mediterranean Diet Study Seriously Flawed

The Great Egg Debate: Are They Healthy or Not?

Relax, You Don’t Need to Eat Clean

Researchers Find Red Meat is Good for Your Health

Yes, Bacon Really is Killing Us

Every day, we’re bombarded with headlines like these—along with social media posts, documentaries, celebrity testimonials, podcast remarks, friends’ comments, and so on—that can easily send us tumbling down yet another path in search of a better body or optimal health.

So if you’re confused about what to eat, you’re definitely not alone.

One of the exercises I do with my clients is a review of all the diets, plans and programs they’ve experimented with over the years. They’re often shocked to see the long list of things they’ve tried, often beginning in their teens.

We talk about what they learned from their experiences. One of the biggest takeaways is how much time, energy and money they have spent with very little to show for it other than being more confused and frustrated than ever—and more distrusting of themselves and their body.

Then we talk about how, with Intuitive Eating, they can stop getting pulled in multiple directions by the nonstop flood of mixed messages.

When you return to the Intuitive Eater you came into this world as, you no longer feel confused, alarmed, tempted or swayed by the latest "eat this, not that" headlines because you trust and rely on your body’s internal cues instead of external rules and “experts” to guide you.

Rather than turning to outsiders (who couldn’t possibly know what your body wants and needs), you turn inward by listening to the messages your body is sending you.

Doing so gives you the awareness, insight and clarity you need to do what’s best for your utterly unique being. And, it gives you the confidence to discern when outside information is helpful and true for you—and when it’s not.

In short: you are the expert of your body. Rediscovering this inherent expertise is at the heart of Intuitive Eating.

It’s not a quick fix.

It’s an empowering pathway back to yourself—and to peace and ease with food and your body.

"At best, dueling headlines trigger confusion. At worst, they contribute to a growing food phobia. The negative impact of worry and stress over healthy eating may have a more profound effect on health than the actual food consumed." —Resch & Tribole, Intuitive Eating

What if Your Body was Your Friend?

I recently spent time with two old friends I deeply cherish. They are both caring, kind, compassionate and supportive.

They treat me with respect, affection and appreciation. They are curious about my needs and desires, and talk to me in a gentle, tender voice.

As I reflected on our friendship, I wondered what it would be like if we always treated our body like a dear friend.

For many of us, this is hard to imagine.

Most of us are at war with our body. It's our enemy.

We try to control it, manipulate it and whip it into shape. We deprive it, compare it, criticize it and flat-out ignore it.

We often treat it like crap. We take it for granted.

Yet—we expect A LOT in return.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want a friend who treats me like this!

Being unfriendly to your body creates a state of divisiveness between you and your body that will never lead to the self-love and self-acceptance—and the peace, freedom, ease and happiness—you long for.

The good news is, you can start building a friendship with your body at any time.
 

and i said to my body. softly.

“i want to be your friend.”

it took a long breath. and replied

“i have been waiting my whole life for this.”

—Nayyirah Waheed
 

What friendly action can you take today to improve your relationship with your body? For ideas, go here, here and here.

Swap Junk Food for This...

Junk foods get a bad rap.

As they are usually low in nutritional value, they’ve earned a cruddy reputation.

And because they are often put in the “bad foods” bucket, we tend to feel like we’re being bad when we eat them.

However, when you think about it, junk foods do have value in that they can provide a tremendous amount of pleasure—an essential component of the eating experience.

Since they do have intrinsic value, thinking of them as worthless garbage is actually unwarranted.

For this reason, in Intuitive Eating, junk foods are referred to as “play foods.”

Like unrestricted playtime, we can experience a lot of fun, joy and pleasure when eating play foods like candy, cupcakes, donuts, fries or chips. Sometimes foods like these are exactly what we need to feel nourished and satisfied.

Unconditional Permission to Eat
When you’re new to Intuitive Eating, it can feel scary to eat the play foods you’ve long considered illegal or off-limits.

Perhaps you’re worried you might lose control and overeat them. If this has been your experience, it's totally understandable. Food restrictions and rules often lead to overeating and binge eating.

However, when you truly give yourself unconditional permission to eat what feels right when it feels right, and honor the messages your body is sending you, you will develop a more relaxed relationship with all foods—versus a rigid, reactive or reckless one.

When this happens, play foods will simply be just one component of an overall balanced diet.