Category Archives: Intuitive Eating

Consider the Garden

Posted on March 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

All this warm weather has got me counting down the days until the local farmers’ market moves back to their summer location (which is 1/4 mile from my home). Farmers’ markets have so many great benefits: it keeps produce local, supports the farmers, gets us shoppers eating seasonal, fresh, pesticide-free food and challenges us to creativity in the kitchen as we have the opprotunity to try different ways to cook all kinds of veggies.

It’s worth the research to see if your town (or a neighboring one) has a farmers’ market. These markets can be such a blessing to our diets as well as the local economy. This year, if you have the time and are looking for some ways to cut down on the food budget, why not start your own little vegetable garden in your front or backyard in addition to shopping locally?  Continue reading →

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Posted in Conscious Eating & Living, Intuitive Eating

We are born intuitive eaters!

Posted on February 15, 2011 | 1 Comment

I’ve become aware of research recently which supported my belief that we ARE born intuitive eaters, but we go astray if we succumb to being conditioning by fast food and highly processed food.  There may be exceptions to this premise, but I doubt that many of us were born with disordered eating problems.  So what happened?

One report that I read indicates children can begin to identify brand name fast food and soda products as early as age 3. This is frightening!  Further, children who have a high brand knowledge (that means they are eating a lot of it) are the same kids who prefer salty, fatty, and sugary brands.  However, if children were fed healthy food, they developed a preference for it. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conscious Eating & Living, Intuitive Eating, Intuitive Eating Tips, Topics

Walking the Path of the Mindful Eater

Posted on December 22, 2010 | 1 Comment

I’ve been teaching the Eat for Life class for about three years now and have heard many stories of how people proceed along the path of becoming mindful, intuitive eaters.  At the end of the ten week class, people will be at various places.  Many people are able to do things like give up dieting, stop binging, not weigh themselves religiously, not eat to fix emotions, and eat mainly when they are physically hungry.  Others might find themselves in the position of giving up their dieting rules but not yet finding a way to stop the overeating and binging that sometimes results.  This initially may be associated with a weight gain, as opposed to a weight loss which can be upsetting at times.  This is part of the process of coming back into balance with your food and your body.  It is not a comfortable place to be, but it is natural.  The only way through this difficult place in the path is through it. You can’t take a detour and you can’t take a different path. You will have to feel the feelings of despair and lack of control, but these will pass as you continue to take one step at a time and eventually see the overeating begin to subside. After the delight of being able to eat whatever you want passes, you begin to experience satisfaction with smaller amounts of the food and you may discover you don’t even want the foods you thought you couldn’t live without. Continue reading →

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Posted in BASICS of Mindful Eating, Intuitive Eating, Mindfulness Tips, Topics

Intuitive Eating–what it is and why it’s important

Posted on February 23, 2010 | 14 Comments

In case you haven’t heard about “intuitive eating” I want to introduce you by directing you to the website www.intuitiveeating.com.  Here you will find the 10 principles of intuitive eating outlined in the book “Intuitive Eating” by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD and Elyse Resch, MS, RD, FADA.  These principles have become important components of the Eat for Life class taught at the University of Missouri.  These principles, paired with the wisdom of mindfulness training and other wisdoms from academic science, re-teach a way of being at peace with our bodies and delight in the pleasures that can be found when exploring the world of food.  Become a part of the Intuitive Eating Movement by familiarizing yourself with these principles and then reading the article by Karen Koenig (below).  While you might not be a researcher or educator, everyone can play a part in stopping the madness propagated by our culture of dieting, bodily discontent, and the prevailing belief in a quick fix.  I won’t pretend it’s always easy, but the overall quality of our lives can tremendously improve by daily choices to live a more mindful and intuitive life.  Like the title of this blog, “It’s more than just about food.”    Continue reading →

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Posted in Intuitive Eating, Intuitive Eating Tips