Re: Experimenting with Eating Differently

October 12, 2011

, I understand. I also have a side that is very concerned with healthy eating, healthy living, and eliminating toxins from our food and environment as much as possible. I truly believe in these things, both for myself and as a political movement (even the reverse osmosis water!). However, I have learned that forcing myself into these virtues is counter-productive. Now that I am much more relaxed about my eating, I find myself naturally attracted to the foods I was trying to force down before. I am also naturally attracted to foods that were formally forbidden. And I have accepted that. I have discovered that I am not a zealot about these things, and it has been extremely peaceful to adopt a stance I can actually live with.

Mimi

Subject: Re: Experimenting with Eating DifferentlyTo: IntuitiveEating_Support Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 3:15 PM

Mimi,

Thank you thank you for this encouraging message. I feel as though whoever it was who was beating me over the head for being such a bad eater, bad for even WANTING to each some things, has been commanded to stop, and sent to the corner.

My loving and caring family of origin is made up of all women now that my father has passed away, and each of us in quite interested in being healthy, living healthy, raising healthy kids, etc., and it's nice to have that kind of support from close family. But sometimes it feels as though every single solitary thing is unacceptable for one reason or another, even water! (unless it is reverse osmosis LOL). I'm realizing that there IS an alternative to this type of thinking.

October 12, 2011

, I understand. I also have a side that is very concerned with healthy eating, healthy living, and eliminating toxins from our food and environment as much as possible. I truly believe in these things, both for myself and as a political movement (even the reverse osmosis water!). However, I have learned that forcing myself into these virtues is counter-productive. Now that I am much more relaxed about my eating, I find myself naturally attracted to the foods I was trying to force down before. I am also naturally attracted to foods that were formally forbidden. And I have accepted that. I have discovered that I am not a zealot about these things, and it has been extremely peaceful to adopt a stance I can actually live with.

Mimi

Subject: Re: Experimenting with Eating DifferentlyTo: IntuitiveEating_Support Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 3:15 PM

Mimi,

Thank you thank you for this encouraging message. I feel as though whoever it was who was beating me over the head for being such a bad eater, bad for even WANTING to each some things, has been commanded to stop, and sent to the corner.

My loving and caring family of origin is made up of all women now that my father has passed away, and each of us in quite interested in being healthy, living healthy, raising healthy kids, etc., and it's nice to have that kind of support from close family. But sometimes it feels as though every single solitary thing is unacceptable for one reason or another, even water! (unless it is reverse osmosis LOL). I'm realizing that there IS an alternative to this type of thinking.

October 12, 2011

I agree, but will add - one step at a time. Or, maybe only if you need to

insert portion/hunger controls. I've just gotten through a period of legalizing

formerly forbidden foods plus legalizing eating past full, " emotional eating " ,

eating in the car, eating imbalanced meals, etc. And I'm finding that I'm less

and less interested in food across the board and less and less upset about

things in my day-to-day life; oddly.

My energy level is changing,I don't sit and watch tv all night because I don't

feel like it, if I want to soothe myself with something to eat at times, I do -

consciously and with intention. And even if I do eat to soothe or eat in the

car, I don't feel this urgency to follow with a " balanced meal " afterwards like

when I was operating through diet/nutrition rules.

Thus a piece of muffin (don't really want a whole one) or a few mints, or some

peanuts doesn't cost me the guilt and resultant " make-up for it " eating -

because it's all legal and I trust my body to round out what it needs over time.

I believe that if I were following rules about how much to eat, how hungry to be

before I eat it, I would then get into my emotional issues because I would

actually be back in deprivation with those " issues " as a sort of red herring.

For now, I stop when I stop and if I'm too full, I observe that and see if I

like it. Mostly though, I find I don't have the urge to eat past full because

I'm not in food rule backlash. I don't have a rule about how full or empty I

should be and therefore no need for hypervigilance.

Tonight I had my very first fried-green tomato for dinner. In the past I would

have HAD to have meat and something else to balance it all nutritionally and

would have overeaten. But I wasn't that hungry and didn't feel I needed to

follow the old rules - balanced meals, diet meals, make up meals... So crazy.

The fried green tomato was, by the way, a little weird. But interesting.

Make sense? (Scary sounding probably - I would have never believed it six weeks

ago... Ever.)

Sandarah

>

> Subject: Re: Re: Experimenting with Eating

Differently

> To: IntuitiveEating_Support

> Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 2:11 PM

>

> Â

>

> Sandarah,

>

> A paradigm shift - what's what full out legalizing is turning out to be.

>

> I'm still too new to this to imagine what legalizing would be like, but I'm

taking the concept in small bites. (LOL - bet that pun is used quite often

here).Â

>

> I am so ripe for eating intuitively because the guilt and shame surrounding

eating have just about consumed me and I say NO MORE. (I am keeping this

declaration " secret " from my loved ones though as I'm so often bursting out of

the starting blocks on projects and ideas but my energy and enthusiasm lag all

too soon. I am trusting this experience is going to be different since it is

such a paradigm shift and involves more than just my brain.)

>

October 12, 2011