8 Steps to Intuitive Eating
Breaking the Rules and Embracing the Abundance of Life
So many of us have lost the connection to our intuition, our own unique, deep wellspring of natural intelligence that lets us know how to eat, how to move, and how to be in the world in a way that supports our optimal health, makes us feel completely satisfied and content, and supports our joy.
Learning how to slow down, listen inward, and tune in to your own needs is the only compass you need to be completely healthy, satisfied, and joyful in every aspect of your life.
Let go of anything that takes you away from your inner voice and fill yourself all of the ways up with everything you need to develop an authentic connection with your intuition and start using it to guide every aspect of your life. You are wise to your bones. Let me show you how to access that wisdom and look and feel your best, effortlessly, sustainably, consistently and enjoyably. But first, you have to break the rules.
MY STORY
For so long I ate according to the rules, the shoulds and shouldn'ts that come at us from every post, blog, show, and “expert.” I was vegan for seven years in my early 20s as a way to control. It started out innocent and took hold of me. I thought that if I followed the latest “healthy” eating fad and their science-backed list of foods to stay away from then I’d be healthy. I felt good at first but over time, focusing on what I couldn’t eat and what wasn’t allowed, made me feel stuck and frustrated. It was isolating and I felt controlled.
I got pregnant with my first baby and started dreaming of hunting. My body was telling me something. I listened. I ate the foods, herbs, and spices that boosted my mood and helped my body operate at its absolute best. I rarely get sick and glowed with energy. I felt satiated on a deeply primal level. By listening to my body and eating the foods it was telling me it needed to function optimally—by eating intuitively—I learned to provide it with the nourishment it needs—that I need.
By accessing this awareness, I started making choices that nourished me in every aspect of my life.
Intuition is body knowledge from the deepest healing self. It’s available to us all, but we rarely know how to connect with it. I use three techniques or “channels" for accessing intuition at the moment: grounding through the earth (strength), coming from the heart (compassion), and receiving to the hand (acceptance).
You are always changing and evolving. Your needs are different at age 35 than at age 25 and when you’re training for a half marathon or when you’re preparing to be a mama. Shouldn’t your diet and wellness approach change and evolve with you?
INTUITIVE EATING
Your body is so wise. It will communicate to you what it needs, and what is or isn’t working. It’s the teacher and healer you should be following. Intuitive Eating is something I do my best to practice EVERY day. It’s a living, breathing practice.
I eat a relatively clean, balanced, nourishing diet. I am deeply connected to my body, to the complexity that is cravings, needs and habits and I eat with a mindset of self-love. Before you can heal any sort of control/disordered pattern you have to look within. Not a diet or a nutritionist or healer can do that work for you. Eat to enjoy, eat to love and eat to heal.
Principles of Intuitive Eating
Reject the diet mentality
Honor your hunger
Make peace with food
Challenge the inner food police
Discover excitement and satisfaction with food
Feel your fullness
Honor your emotions
Respect your body
Practice movement and stay present with body
Honor your health with gentle nutrition
Without judgment, ask yourself WHAT YOU NEED for YOUR personal growth and edge. Are you avoiding drinking because of calories? Red flag. Explore that. Are you gluten-free or vegan to CONTROL what you eat?! Explore that.
8 STEPS TO INTUITIVE EATING
1. Connect to your INTUITIVE BODY.
Connect to your intuition by being quiet, softening and turning inward. Flow in and out of your masculine and feminine energies. Assert your boundaries. Trust and surrender.
2. Discover what heals and nourishes YOUR body.
Listen to your body and figure out what works for you. Listen to what draws you and by following it, life will begin to align with you. Check in with your body after each meal. Use the following daily intuitive eating check-in.
3. Let go of the rules.
Give your body what it needs. If you want to feel energized, make a cup of superfood coffee. If you want to feel relaxed, brew a cup of herbal tea and add a drop of soothing honey.
4. Count colors not calories.
Let go of the numbers, this helps you widen your span of foods you allow and helps focus on REAL WHOLE FOODS.
5. Supercharge with superfoods.
Raise your vibration with superfoods! They are some of the highest vibrational foods on the planet and full of magical properties that can protect us from getting sick, balance out our internal systems (hello, less stress!) and keep us feeling energized, vibrant souls. Superfoods are full of healthy, strong vibes that protect you and build you up - fueling you to be the best self you can be.
6. Eat HIGH VIBE foods.
Food is energy, eat organic fruits + veggies to elevate your energy and have ample supply of health, happiness and abundance.
7. Say thank you.
Honor your food in whatever way you can. This can be through prayer, slowing down, being present, honoring its beauty, color, taste, the flavor. The more you can connect to the gratitude of it all, the less other habits hold on you.
8. Enjoy food and enjoy life!
Honor your own hunger, honor your own appetite, and TRUE ESSENCE!! Life is about EXPANDING and LEARNING and challenging your growth edges - not putting yourself in a safe controlled box. Life is about connecting with others TRULY. About disconnecting from stress & unwinding & sometimes COMPLETELY letting go of control.