IE Principle #3: MAKE PEACE WITH FOOD

Well it was a week ago today that I quit Weight Watchers in my attempt to get off the diet rollercoaster and embrace intuitive eating. I would say I am definitely no longer dieting and the waist of my pants might agree. Damn me and my extreme personality. I have enjoyed eating the past week (we had company for part of it) but now I am going to really start focusing on LISTENING to what my body needs instead of what my brain is tell me it wants. It is really like a little angel/devil on my shoulder situation. I am also going to speak with a counselor tonight about food addiction because I know that I need help in dealing with that.

Today I am going to look at the third principle of intuitive eating: MAKE PEACE WITH FOOD

The premise of this principle is to give yourself unconditional permission to eat. The thought is that labeling a food as bad or off limits can lead to intense feelings of self-deprivation. When you finally give into the craving, you may over-eat and feel guilty. Oh boy, can I relate to this! Many times I have ended up indulging on something I thought I could never eat and would never eat again. When I say indulging, I mean binging like it was my last supper! I have such a love-hate relationship with food and that is one of the main reasons I wanted to adopt this philosophy. I don’t want to pass my messed up thoughts on food to my kids and definitely not my messed up habits.

Food to me has always been anything but fuel. It has been comfort. It has been punishment. It has been control. It has been grams of carbohydrates or “Points” or allowances. I have dissected it right down to the micro and macro nutrients.  It has never just been FOOD. I am so sick of looking at it as anything but what it truly is; energy for my body.  When I first read this principle I thought IMPOSSIBLE. How am I going to give myself unconditional permission to eat and not end up 400 pounds?! Then I re-read it. It says unconditional permission to eat, not to OVEREAT. There is the difference. I am so used to feast or famine that the concept of “normal” eating is foreign to me. This principle will take some work but when I get it, I think my whole life with benefit. I can’t imagine how much time will be freed up by not obsessing about what foods I should and shouldn’t eat or how many points/carbs are in my meals. Making peace with food is like making love not war. It is time to love my body instead of battling it. I am calling a truce!