Listen To My Body? Yeah, Easier Said Than Done.

Are you tired of being told to listen to your body? To pay attention to your hunger cues? To ‘eat intuitively,’ by eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are full? Perhaps you want all of these things but you cannot hear what your body is telling you

There has been an increase in awareness around the need for society to adopt a more inclusive view of weight and body image. As a result, individuals have begun adopting an intuitive eating mentality. According to one source Intuitive Eating is defined as, “an approach developed to help people heal from the side effects of chronic dieting... An intuitive eater is defined as a person who “makes food choices without experiencing guilt or an ethical dilemma, honors hunger, respects fullness and enjoys the pleasure of eating.” Though this approach is a healthy one, I have found that, rightfully so, many of my client’s find it to be too idealistic. What if you can’t hear your hunger cues? Or what if your thoughts are overcrowding your ability to eat intuitively and listen to your body? The fact of the matter is Intuitive Eating is not a decision that can be automatically turned on and off. Intuitive Eating must be practiced and adopted over time. More often than not, individuals that are in treatment for an eating disorder or disordered eating need to be respected with the time and space to learn how to listen to their body’s signals once again. 

In regards to eating disorders there are often two mindsets; that of the person and that of the eating disorder. Which is why many of my client’s feel as though they have two voices telling them opposite things to do. While in eating disorder treatment, the goal is to quiet the eating disorder voice and turn the volume up on the other. As a result it can be a highly empowering process relearning how to eat intuitively. 

I find that the goal in eating disorder treatment is progress not perfection. Meaning that once treatment is complete, there may still be times when you find yourself eating emotionally or you may hear that eating disorder voice in the back of your head. The trick here is how you respond to those times. Do they still consume your thoughts or are you able to maintain enough distance so that those controlling thoughts are a thing of the past and not a relevant part of your present and future. It is possible to live a life exemplified by intuitive eating and intuitive thought and part of that intuition is remembering that it is all about progress not perfection. 

If you are interested in learning more about how I work with Eating Disorder Therapy please feel free to reach out. You can also contact me to schedule a free 20 minute consultation.