5 Stages In Learning How To Be An Intuitive Eater
You're at the place where you're ready to say goodbye to diets, or maybe you're ready to be free from the burden that diet culture has had on you...always thinking about food, counting calories, obsessing over the scale every day, feeling guilty for eating. You're ready for Intuitive Eating. But what's next? What can you expect for where you're at, diet rock bottom, to where you want to be, true food freedom?As described in the book, Intuitive Eating, there are primarily 5 stages that people go through in learning how to be intuitive eaters. So I wanted to go through these with you and, hopefully, help you feel more confident with knowing where you're at and also where you're headed. I know it can feel daunting, like intuitive eating is far off in the distance, a vague ending. And I know that it can be helpful to have some clear direction, like a roadmap as you go on your intuitive eating journey. Let's go through each stage together!
STAGE 1: READINESS
This is probably where you're at right now. You're ready! You're not entirely sure what ready means or looks like, but it's what you feel. You're fed up with how diet culture has influenced you negatively and taken over your life. And you're excited about the thought of freedom.
STAGE 2: EXPLORATION
This second stage is all about exploration and discovery. Exploring what it's like to eat without food rules and beginning to discover your intuitive eater.During this phase, also, you'll experience hyperconsciousness, you'll focus a lot of the little details with eating such as hunger, fullness, satisfaction and taste. It may even feel a little obsessive at first, the way you eat and think about food, even though there is a difference between being hyperconscious and being obsessive which is characterized by worry. With the hyperconsciousness you experience here it's all about paying attention to those thoughts and feelings that you suppressed in the past. You focus intently on your eating experience as you notice how food makes you feel. You practice making peace with food and getting rid of the "good food/bad food" mentality. You give yourself unconditional permission to eat, approaching every eating experience with curiosity. You experiment with eating foods that may have been "off-limits" in the past, eating with a new-found curiosity and asking yourself whether those foods you dreamt of eating but forbid yourself from eating are really enjoyable. Sometimes in this stage you'll realize that certain foods you thought you'd enjoy aren't really all that enjoyable. And maybe you discover that certain foods you didn't think you'd enjoy really are enjoyable now that you don't feel guilty eating them. This is also a time to practice honoring your hunger and finding what comfortable fullness feels like. Remember, this phase is all about exploration and discovery and requires so much grace and curiosity. You're learning here! So especially with hunger and fullness, as you learn to tap into what each feelsl like in your body, you may experience overeating and that is 100% ok! Every time you eat think of it as a time to learn from yourself and that experience. And then take the information you gathered into the next eating opportunity. Right now it's all about being a student of your body as you reconnect with your body, with food, and the sensations with eating. And little by little, you'll develop a new trust with yourself and with food through each eating experience.Something to note here, also, is you may find yourself starting to feel your feelings again in a new way that doesn't include suppressing with food and eating. And this may be uncomfortable. Do you have some additional coping mechanisms as you experience feelings of sadness, anger, depression, discomfort? Maybe you want to reach out to a close friend and share what you're going with or pull your journal out. Here you have permission to feel. Allow yourself to experience those feelings you used to cover up with food (either overeating or under-eating and control).Know that you may not feel like you're eating intuitively right now, in this stage. It may feel really forced. It may feel like you're thinking too much about every time you eat. But soon you'll experience the first feelings of intuitive eating.And just a note, it can tough to go through this stage on your own. That's why I've created the "Intuitive Eating Playbook" to help you along the way.
STAGE 3: CRYSTALLIZATION
This is where you first start to actually feel like an intuitive eater. All of the hard work you did in the exploration stage previously now starts to make sense and you start to experience what it's like to eat with confidence and it feels less exhausting and forced to think about things like hunger, fullness, and satisfaction. You start to feel like intuitive eating is more your normal, you experience how it feels to have intuitive eating as your default. You may be still working through branching out and eating past forbidden foods but it's beginning to feel less scary.
STAGE 4: INTUITIVE EATING
This is where you finally feel like intuitive eating is natural, it really feels like your default, and you don't have to be quite so conscious about everything. You wake up in the morning and ask yourself, "What sounds good for breakfast?" and based on what you have on hand seamlessly make yourself that meal. You pack snacks to have on hand as a way to anticipate hunger because you know that some days you experience more hunger than others and that's ok; you honor hunger without questioning. You eat lunch out with coworkers even though it was unplanned and you brought your lunch because that's what sounded fun and you look forward to the social aspect of food. You eat a handful of nuts and an apple in the afternoon because your energy is low and you know having some protein, fat, and carbs is going to energize you to work best and not get home so famished you don't have energy to make dinner; you're starting to utilize a gentle approach to nutrition and nutrition from a place of self-care. You get home and are still a little hungry but dinner is going to take 30 minutes so you snack on some crackers and cheese and even a glass of wine while you cook because it brings you joy and helps you enjoy the process and experience of eating. After dinner you crave something sweet and enjoy some dark chocolate, not pushing away your craving but acknowledging it and enjoying satisfying it without guilt.This is intuitive eating!
STAGE 5: INTUITIVE EATING & OTHER AREAS OF YOUR LIFE
Here, in the final stage, you find intuitive eating seeping into other areas of your life. Learning to seek satisfaction in eating has lead you to seeking joy through things like movement and exercise, the way you approach your home, your schedule, your money, your relationships. You start to experience yourself letting go of other things you used to control your life in a negative way and feel more relaxed with food but also in other places. Intuitive eating starts with food, but the lessons and self-discovery that occurs with letting go of control with food transcends to all other areas of life. It's hard for it not to! Ok, here's where you can do a little introspection...where are you? Where do you want to be? And what's keeping you feeling stuck? If you feel stuck and have tried to do this by yourself but feel like you need support, that's where coaching can help. You can learn more about the work I do with my clients 1:1 HERE.