Whether you are new to intuitive eating or have been practicing it for some time, the notion of giving yourself permission to eat foods that are generally thought of as “unhealthy” is likely something you’ve heard before. This concept is part of the third principle of intuitive eating, Make Peace with Food, and allows for freedom to explore and choose foods based on whether you actually like them, versus whether or not diet culture has deemed them to be “good.”  I won’t be diving into the nitty-gritty of all the principles of intuitive eating, or even all the nuance of this particular pr ..read more

Gentle nutrition is a concept born from the tenth principle of Intuitive Eating. It’s a principle folks are often eager to get to and explore AND it’s the final principle for a reason.  Principle 10: Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition 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 cou ..read more

Imagine this scenario: You just stepped on the scale and were disappointed by what you saw. You decide that, “OK, that’s it, today’s the day I am going to change.” You decide which plan or program you are going to follow. Maybe you re-install one of those food tracking apps. You schedule new workouts into your calendar. And you are ALL IN…for a while. But after a period of time—a day, a week, a few months—that motivation begins to fade. You are sick of the eating plan. You dread your workouts. And eventually, all of those new behaviors you were once so excited about slip away.  Sound fam ..read more

Many people come to explore intuitive eating because they’ve spent years of their lives yo-yo dieting, trying to control their food and body to no avail. If achieved, weight loss is usually temporary, but the food preoccupation is constant, and the food rules become all consuming. They know this is not what they want for themselves and the idea of being able to let all of that go holds a lot of appeal. Even if there is a heavy dose of skepticism about that possibility mixed in, too. One challenge that I observe in the many folks I work with both individually and in our groups is the desire to ..read more

A couple of weeks ago I was wrapping up with another support group cohort and we were discussing what entering into a new year has looked like for us in seasons past and what we want it to look like this time around. Participants shared stories of adopting new diet plans and work-out routines and setting resolutions for self-improvement and change. They also described how even the best laid plans were often short-lived and the frustration and defeat that inevitably followed as resolutions faded. We talked about how enticing wellness marketing is, particularly at this time of the year. How it ..read more

One of the fears many clients report when we talk about letting go of food rules is, “If I let go of the rules, I’ll only eat the unhealthy foods.” There’s a lot to unpack in this sentence, including the black and white belief that foods are either healthy or unhealthy, but also why this fear exists in the first place and what they fear would happen if this were true. This post, however, will focus what I think the main question is, which is: “can I eat intuitively and also desire to eat nutrient dense foods?” The ways in which intuitive eating is depicted in the popular media and by many soc ..read more

Appetite cues, also known as hunger and fullness cues, are the sensations we experience in our bodies that help to communicate when our body needs nourishment and when it’s had enough. They are regulated by a complex system of hormones and other chemical messengers. However, this internal regulatory system can also become dysregulated, making eating in response to these cues quite challenging. So, how do we eat intuitively if our appetite cues are all out of sorts? In this post we’ll discuss: How dieting and disordered eating contribute to appetite cue dysregulation How to re-regulate and ..read more

Just as the “new year, new you” diet and weight loss craze quiets down, the spring and summer “beach body” season picks up. There’s certainly no shortage of reasons for our culture and the diet industry to be convincing us our bodies should be something other they are. That they’d be healthier, more valued, more worthy if they were smaller. And, that if we are not actively trying to manage our food, our eating will definitely spiral out of control. It’s exhausting, really. And, it can be oh so tempting to just give it “one more try.” I get it. But I also suspect that, if you are reading this ..read more

When I first learned about intuitive eating nearly 10 years ago it blew my mind. It helped me understand why I was feeling so ineffective and unfulfilled professionally and laid the groundwork for me to find my way to where I am today. And my story isn’t unique. For many dietitians who were trained in a traditional, weight-centric, medical model but then quickly realized in practice that everything we had learned about weight and weight as it relates to health was essentially garbage, intuitive eating offered much needed validation that we weren’t terrible dietitians. We were just misguided a ..read more

If you’ve had thoughts about wanting to make changes to your eating or exercise behaviors this month– you’re not alone! The beginning of the year is prime time for businesses to market products, tools, memberships, and experiences geared towards helping people meet their new years goals or resolutions. As such, you may be seeing an increase in emails or ads on social media encouraging you to take steps to improve your health or to focus on prioritizing your wellbeing, by way of purchasing their products or participating in their programs. This is all fine and good, except when “health” and “w ..read more