Intuitive Eating Bill of Rights

I’m So Confused, Nutrition Comes Last in The Practice Of Intuitive Eating- Why is that?
Honor Your Health: Gentle Nutrition

As dieters, we have spent countless hours counting calories, and macros, balancing nutrition and the value of organic, all in the name of "healthism." The dieting mind is unaware of our bodies, emotions, hunger, and fullness cues. The principles and practices of Intuitive Eating focus on getting us (myself included) out of our heads and into our bodies. We learn to honor our hunger, feel our fullness and cope with our emotions with kindness.

How often have you said with sarcasm that I am going straight to "h*ll" for eating "this?" Because of all the noise in our heads, there are many reasons we instantly decide if the food is "good" or "bad." We then add moral judgment about ourselves being "good" or "bad," and the heat of guilt or shame washes over our bodies.

The good news is, with this principle, Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition, we begin to embrace the nutritional component with our relationship to food with context.

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 counts.

The principle embraces remembering that a healthy relationship with food is NOT about perfection. Contrary to the diet culture rhetoric that we hear, your health will not suffer if you consistently make food choices that make you feel good and are satisfying. You now have permission to eat and enjoy previously "forbidden" foods, a non-organic strawberry or a bag of Cheetos, if it makes you feel good mentally, physically, and emotionally. Intuitive Eating looks at the bigger picture, not just a snapshot of a perceived broken food rule.

Also, remember, when you have permission to eat "that" food, you will no longer binge on it, and it becomes part of your new "normal" with surprising moderation, minus the guilt and shame.

We want to be aware that our returned focus on nutrition doesn't turn into another diet. I know from the experience personally and professionally that the false hope of dieting can be a slippery slope!

To help you to practice Intuitive Eating below is the Intuitive Eater’s Bill of Rights, A guide for surviving any holiday, celebration, and everyday living:

1. You have the right to savor your meal, without cajoling or judgment, and without discussion of calories eaten or the amount of exercise needed to burn off said calories.

2. You have the right to enjoy second servings without apology.

3. You have the right to honor your fullness, even if that means saying “no thank you” to dessert or a second helping of food.

4. It is not your responsibility to make someone happy by overeating, even if it took hours to prepare a specialty holiday dish.

5. You have the right to say, “No thank you,” without explanation when offered more food.

6. You have the right to stick to your original answer of “no”, even if you are asked multiple times. Just calmly and politely repeat “No, thank you, really.”

7. You have the right to eat pumpkin pie for breakfast.

Remember, no one, except for you, knows how you feel, both emotionally and physically. Only you can be the expert of your body, which requires inner attunement, rather than the external, well-meaning, suggestions from family.

Additional Thoughts

• NO one, except for you, knows how you feel both emotionally and physically.

• You are the expert on your body and requires inner attunement

• Don’t let yourself be put on a food pedestal

• Honor your health, taste buds, and humanness

• Being known for being“good” or with strong “willpower” creates pressure, often leading to sneak eating, getting caught, cheating; remove the closet eating!

You will create balance when you listen, trust and respect your body resulting in you being happy, healthy, and confident at any size.

The Intuitive Eater’s Bill of Rights is credited to: Copyright © 2010 by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD Published at www.IntuitiveEating.org