Welcome to How to Love Your Body - on today’s episode we are talking about Intuitive Eating Essentials - we are taking it back to the basics today. You can be someone who’s been in IE for a really long time or just starting out - either way this episode will provide value in either giving you a refresh or starting you out powerfully in your IE and UnDiet process. 

This episode is brought to you by: Our 5 Day Relationship with Movement Challenge. This 5 day live challenge is to help you find ease with exercise and actually enjoy it again. You can join this live challenge at thebodylovesociety.com/movementchallenge

We are not simply just going to go over the IE principles - they are great guidelines to know so if you would like to refresh just type in “IE principles Evelyn Tribole” into Google and you’ll find them. 

So in order to be an Intuitive Eater - what are the essentials? 

All food is allowed and on an even playing field - ex. The apple and the apple pie are one and the same. 

This doesn’t mean the apple and the apple pie have the same nutritional value - it means they are both morally acceptable to eat when your body desires them. This goes for ANY food or food group. If we can honor our bodies when we want the fresh crisp apple because that’s what genuinely sounds good and we can honor our bodies when we desire fresh warm apple pie - THIS is Intuitive Eating without limitations, judgements, or morality tied into food. You may notice that when you allow all food at any time, while listening to your body, you aren’t craving only the apple pie all day every day. You also aren’t craving apples all day everyday, we can assume. When we truly allow our bodies to be and honor the food when we naturally desire or crave it then you’ll see that you naturally eat a variety of foods each week/ each month. There’s a natural ebb and flow to eating decadent desserts, fresh fruits, savory food, pastas and pizzas and salads and veggies and burgers and fries and all the things. Seeing all food on an even playing field will not only give you the freedom to eat what you desire but will also truly allow you to eat intuitively. 

There is no failing in Intuitive Eating

This is an essential part of IE because if you believe you are either succeeding or failing everyday while on your process to doing this work you will constantly feel like you are taking 2 steps forward and one step back. You may have a hard day - you may binge eat - you may emotionally eat - you may do all these things that you judge but in reality it’s not failing, it’s not wrong, and it’s not bad to do anything while being an Intuitive Eater - You aren’t taking steps backwards if you didn’t listen to your body or you feel too full - this is all part of the process! This is “normal”  - It’s essential that you know that these tough moments are your greatest areas to get curious instead of judge and learn from your experiences. These moments that feel like “failing” are actually moments you process, deal with, and transform - which catapults you on your UnDiet process. Taking the judgement out of your process will be the most important thing to remember! So the next time you think you “failed” - remind yourself of this podcast episode. You did not fail, you can’t fail in IE - it’s impossible! Only curiosity, awareness, and transformation is possible! 

There is no timeline with Intuitive Eating 

This is so important to remind yourself! IE is not linear. Neither is anything really - there is a constant ebb and flow to life. If you find yourself saying, “I’ve been Intuitive Eating for x amount of months or x amount of years” - catch yourself and remind yourself that there is no timeline - the main thing here is that you have ditched dieting and diet culture - You are here, you have found this new world of UnDieting - and now you just live here and continue to learn and grow. To shift beliefs and your mindset around food and your body and do the best you know how with th