So many say that if they let themselves eat whatever they want, they won’t stop. Or they say there’s no structure or guidance for nutrition with Intuitive Eating. Have these thoughts ever crossed your mind?
In this video, I will be debunking all the myths about Intuitive Eating that you have heard or may have been thinking. I will be going over 3 of these myths and show you some solid evidence to prove them wrong!
So let’s start with the first one, the most popular myth of all.
1. If I let myself eat whatever I want, I WON’T STOP!
Actually, you will! If you finally let yourself eat tacos 
when you didn’t before and eat them all day long until the cows come home, I promise you… will not want to have tacos after that!
Here is an example that helps people understand.
This idea of finally eating things after a long time of restriction is also called the honeymoon stage. Wanting to eat these foods all day long is a lot like the analogy of breathing through a straw.
For a while, you’re breathing through the straw and it starts to become really hard to breathe.
That’s you with dieting!!! It’s hard to be there forever. Eventually, we take off the straw and we need to take a big deep breath. And just like with dieting, you’re going to have that big, deep breath of eating all the foods that you have in the past. But over time, your breath starts to normalize. And after you stop dieting, you will normalize and not want to eat all those things.
So it’s important to trust the process and let yourself go through that bottleneck. It might be a scary time, but it will come to a point where you will trust yourself again.
2. There is no structure or nutritional guidance with intuitive eating.
I’m sorry, but people who say this really don’t know Intuitive Eating!
It is the last, but definitely not least principle of the Intuitive Eating principles – Number 10, Honoring your Health with Gentle Nutrition.
It is placed there for reason at the end, in order for you to go through more of the foundational mental work beforehand, and definitely to get yourself into the right mindset. (For example, rejecting diet mentality.)
Intuitive eating is an equal balance of both your inside and your outside world.
And for those of you who love those nutritional studies on how fiber is so good for you, I see you! You can have that great knowledge for your benefit.
You are combining your inside attunement, AKA your intuition, what feels right to you and those outside proven health guidelines have been studied for years by scientists and health professionals. As you do this, you’ll find this middle, like a Venn diagram, finding your own authentic health.
3. Intuitive Eating is only about instinct.
This is an oversimplification of this beautiful, rich modality. There is so much to it, and it’s not JUST about trusting your gut. It takes into account your thoughts and your EMOTIONS as well.
For example, I teach that it is okay to eat emotionally. But we know not to dwell there too often.The helpful thing about emotional eating is that you know what emotions you need to deal with.
For example, we turn to food for relief when we are stressed.
We may turn to food when we are lonely and need a friend.
Or we may turn to food for fun when we are bored.
This is when Intuitive Eating has practical life coaching tools within its modality to help you navigate those feelings, to give you a better way to cope because those things aren’t truly going to help you in the long run.
And as for rational thought, it is a lot about what I talked about with the second myth. When you were eating intuitively, you were thinking in your mind about how you want to feel and using basic health guidelines to help you decide.
For example, the other day I was pretty busy and I ended up eating a lot of carbs for the day, but then I didn’t feel so satiated. So the next day, when I felt lot of hunger, I knew that I needed protein so that I can fill my body in a better way.
If you are looking for a simple way to start Intuitive Eating, but feel overwhelmed, please come check out my Latter-Day Intuitive Eating: 14-Day Workbook.
This online workbook is a simple day-to-day workbook. To help you start Intuitive Eating. In just 14 days, I teach you how to finally ditch diets, find body acceptance, and discover food. Freedom. It is a hands-on work to help you easily learn Intuitive Eating.
If you like this video, please check out my previous video – How to Teach Your Family Intuitive Eating, where I teach you my simple go-to system to help your kids be more intuitive with their food. Plus some body image tips.
Thanks for watching today. And we’ll see you next time!
Xo, Laura