Re: My perfect IE day....

[Guest guest]

Wow! That's amazing. I can feel the calm and peace just emanating from you. Thank you so much for sharing that. I've been faltering a bit lately and last night I started thinking that maybe I should start restricting again. I wasn't beating myself up or trying to embark on a new, Draconian diet plan, but I kept thinking that maybe all this junk food isn't so great and I need to gently steer myself back toward more healthful eating. I credit IE that my instinct wasn't immediately to self-blame and order a new diet book. However, reading your post and thinking about what Josie said about nutrition earlier, I think I will continue doing what I'm doing and think about whether I am TRULY allowing myself to have what body is craving.

I did find yesterday that the cheese curls I've been so keen on lately actually make my stomach hurt and I no longer feel interested in them. Last night I was craving the spicy eggplant dish I made earlier in the week and had that with some white rice. I also find myself wanting fruit since I haven't had any in a few days. So, I guess the point is to keep following my body and trust that it will make the right decisions.

Mimi

Subject: My "perfect" IE day....To: IntuitiveEating_Support Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 11:27 PM

Today my food worked... wanted to share the process... This is about my 6th week of learning the IE way of eating (and maybe life)...Morning - Started to fix my usual breakfast, caught that as an unconscious, rule-based choice and waited. Later while putting something in the fridge, noticed some left over tuna and that looked good. Had just a bit with some potato chips (I know, that's weird) and I had enough with just a small bit of each. Crunchy, tasty. Perfect.Nearing work (after a 45 minute commute)I had a craving for toffee peanuts. The diet police messages started and I stopped them with total permission to follow these urges rather than go into battle. (Note: these sudden urges have been my biggest dietary bain leading me to believe I was either possessed or hopelessly addicted. I am increasingly letting my foot off the brake and just saying "yes" to all of them as I observe more and more the effects of saying no and

all that no implies.) So, I said yes. Within the time it would have taken to get somewhere to get the toffee peanuts the craving went away. (That was a first; my cravings never, ever have gone away before. Ever.) Got to the coffee stand and saw they had rice krispy treats - being gluten allergic, I rarely find a treat that is GF so I bought one.Got to work, drank half the coffee and ate about 1/4 of the rice krispy treat. Lost interest.Lunch - when it was time for lunch I wasn't hungry. So I ran errands instead. When I did get hungry had some Thai food. Ordered what sounded good - chicken stir fry. Ate most of the stir fry, half of the rice and a few bites of the salad. Was going to take it home for later but my waiter was so slow I just wanted to leave when he finally brought the check.Dinner - When I got home from work I felt tired initially but started some housework projects and worked on them for a couple of

hours. I had one of those Pho salads on hand and put some of those ingredients together and ate about 1/4 of the salad; which was plenty and it was tasty, crunchy, tangy and just what I wanted.I find that my biggest salvation is TOTALLY legalizing my urges so that a battle doesn't ensue. And, they seem to be diminishing. The first few weeks I said yes but I was actually lying and so I over ate. Then I gave myself permission to stop all recrimination and guilt and allow myself to feel the effects of my food choices without shame and blame and fear. Before IE I was afraid of myself, afraid of food and was convinced that I had to have some form of external structure to stop me from non-stop eating or eating junk all day long for the rest of my life. All of that was myth - and programming. Beyond finding out that I'm not a stupid animal when it comes to food, I'm feeling more alive in my life. I walk outside at work every so often just to

feel the breeze and look at the sky. I go out in the evening just to look up at the stars and be amazed with how good it feels. Tonight cleaning house I paced myself and then ate at a reasonable time before bed; not because of rules but because I knew I'd feel better if I ate something and didn't wait too long to eat it. I cleaned house because I had the energy to do it - and I had energy because I'm not harranguing myself all the time about what I eat and as a result I'm eating foods that work for my body and maybe even my soul. Today, right now, life is good.Sandarah