Last week, I was fortunate enough to spend a relaxing week at the beach with my family. The kitchen in our rental house was filled with every “play food” imaginable. For some reason, Doritos taste wayyy better at the beach. Now that I’m back home, my body is telling me that it doesn’t want any more Doritos (or any other snack food) for a little while. It wants lots of veggies!
When you’ve been restricting foods you’ve labeled as “bad,” it can feel like once you start eating, you’ll never stop. In the process of breaking up with dieting, you may indulge past the point of satiety a few times. This is normal. Resist the urge to punish yourself. These foods don’t hold nearly as much appeal once they’re allowed all the time!
Most of us have been immersed in diet culture for years, maybe even decades. When it’s become so normalized and ingrained, it’s hard to begin to trust your body’s signals. As a traditionally trained dietitian, I’m guilty of imposing food rules on my patients and myself. My hope for my patients is that they’ll be able to let go of dieting and move toward a healthy relationship with food.
Intuitive eating is a journey. I don’t think we wake up one day and say, “I am now an intuitive eater.” As hard as I try to listen to my body, there are going to be times where we wait too long to eat and get HANGRY or eat past the point of fullness. My hope is that we can all remember this is a process and perfection is not the goal.