Break Free From Diet Mentality With Intuitive Eating

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Listen to These Too:

• RELATED EPISODE: It’s Not You, It’s the Diet
• RELATED EPISODE: Mindful Munching: The Art of Intentional Eating

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Read the Transcript:

How to Stay Energized When Your Lunch Breaks Are Short

Hi there, welcome to the Eating Habits for Life podcast. This episode was inspired by many of my clients and aligns with how I eat, so I’m confident you’ll find some valuable takeaways here.

One significant insight you’ll gain is the relief that comes from adopting healthier eating habits without the strictness and constant monitoring typically associated with dieting. Intuitive eating not only helps you lose weight naturally in a healthier way but also supports maintaining that weight loss.

So let’s dive into this episode, where I’ll help you break free from diet mentality with intuitive eating and explore the many benefits it offers.

First, let’s ensure we’re all on the same page about what diet mentality actually is. Most people understand diets as structured food plans with constraints or restrictions, usually aimed at weight loss.

While some diets focus on other benefits, like heart health, many are primarily about weight loss, involving calorie counting and food restriction—sometimes limiting entire food groups or eliminating certain foods entirely.

Although these diets might seem straightforward, they often become difficult to follow due to how the body and mind react. For instance, when we’re told we can’t have something, it often makes us crave it more. This intense craving can lead to overeating or binging on those restricted foods.

Diet mentality is characterized by restrictive rules, calorie counting, guilt about certain foods, and a focus on weight loss as the primary goal.

This approach often leads to negative feelings such as stress, guilt, and deprivation, which can trigger emotional eating as a way to cope. This cycle can be frustrating and disheartening because you start with good intentions, but the negative effects become apparent only later.

One solution to this problem is to break free from diet mentality with intuitive eating. This isn’t the only solution, but it is effective for many people. At the very least, the principles of intuitive eating can offer substantial help.

So, what exactly is intuitive eating? It’s a natural approach that involves listening to your body’s hunger and fullness cues and trusting that your body will balance itself when you do this. Essentially, you won’t gain excess weight if you eat based on hunger rather than severely restricting calories.

Some key principles of intuitive eating include honoring your hunger, being aware of when you’ve had enough to eat, and making peace with food. It’s about not viewing food as the enemy or fearing that eating something will automatically lead to weight gain.

Intuitive eating also involves changing how you think and feel about food, which can rewire your brain. Even if you’ve had diet mentality for years, your brain can change with intuitive eating, or at least with parts of it.

To get started with breaking free from diet mentality using intuitive eating, here are some simple steps:

Identify Your Reasons:

Reflect on why you want to break free from diet mentality. Take a moment to think about it and, if possible, write down your reasons. Also, consider why having a healthier relationship with food and your body is important to you.

Recognize Hunger Signals:

Understand your body’s hunger signals and what prompts you to stop eating. For instance, one of my clients mentioned stopping eating when there’s no more food on the plate. Recognizing what influences your eating habits can help you move towards intuitive eating, which focuses more on bodily cues rather than external factors or diet rules.

Heal Your Relationship with Food:

Start viewing food in a neutral light rather than categorizing it as good or bad. Think of food as a source of energy rather than something that leads to fat gain. For example, even a bag of chips provides energy because it contains calories. Changing your perspective from associating calories with fat to associating them with energy can reduce fear and guilt around eating.

Practice Self-Compassion:

Understand that trying to break free from diet mentality with intuitive eating is a process and you’re doing a great job just by trying. Intuitive eating allows you to enjoy any foods you want, which is a significant shift from restrictive diets. You can have treats and foods that you enjoy without feeling controlled by diet rules.

And here are some of the key benefits of intuitive eating:

Improved Relationship with Food:

Intuitive eating helps establish a healthier, more balanced relationship with food, free from negative emotions. You’ll feel happier, lighter, and more at ease with eating.

Sustainable Weight Management:

Eating according to your body’s needs helps maintain a normal hunger and fullness cycle, making weight management easier. Intuitive eating can be tailored to support weight loss in a natural, healthy way.

Enhanced Emotional Well-being:

By reducing stress and improving your relationship with food, intuitive eating can enhance emotional well-being and provide a greater sense of control and freedom.

Better Physical Health:

Breaking free from the stress of restrictive diets can improve your physical well-being by providing consistent energy levels and reducing the physical stress of yo-yo dieting.

If you need to revisit any part of this episode, feel free to listen again. As we approach the end of August, now is the perfect time to explore how one-on-one coaching with me can support your goals. Book your free consultation to discuss your challenges and goals, and I’ll provide tailored solutions.

For those ready to make a permanent change, if you book your free consultation and commit to one-on-one coaching by the end of August, I’ll include the eight-week Confidence Continuum coaching program at no additional cost. This program is designed to boost your confidence in maintaining your new habits on your own.

Don’t let fear of failure hold you back from achieving the transformation you desire. Book your free consultation now, and let’s start working towards a healthier, more fulfilling relationship with food and a sustainable approach to weight management.

Use the link in the episode description or visit my website at https://katemjohnston.com to book your consultation.

Thank you so much for listening. Take care, and talk to you soon!