Intuitive Eating Mistakes

Are You Making These Mistakes When You Give Up Dieting?
What every w oman w ho counts calories needs to know about the pitfalls and traps of Intuitive Eating.
By Katie P HeadY HeartY Health
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Expecting It to Be Easy .....................................................................3 Not Dreaming Big Enough..................................................................4 Making It Another Program ................................................................5 Weighing Yourself.............................................................................7 Pseudo Dieting .................................................................................9 Thinking Its All About the Food ........................................................10 Expecting to go From Self Loathing to Self Love in One Giant Leap .......11 Thinking the Same Old Thoughts ......................................................13 Giving Up Too Soon ........................................................................14 Doing It On Your Own .....................................................................15
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HeadY HeartY Health 2009
Intuitive Eating Mistakes
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Being lean, fit and healthy is very important to you and you have spent years creating the body of your dreams through strict dieting and exercise. When you finally decide to give up counting calories and try Intuitive Eating it feels like you are in a strange new country where you dont know the language. If you dont understand how to correctly apply the principles of Intuitive Eating after an extended period of dieting, you will end up feeling like a failure; you will put on unnecessary weight and be more miserable than when you were controlling your food. This sense of failure, weight gain and misery will send you running back to the old pattern of dieting and the binges that are an unavoidable part of the whole cycle before youve had a chance to find that peace with food you long for. How do I know this? Because Ive been exactly where you are now. After 5 years of dieting and two years of competing in Figure, I gave up dieting in September 2009. In this report, I will let you in on how to avoid the 10 biggest mistakes you might make when you give up counting calories once and for all. I hope you enjoy it.
Katie P
HeadY HeartY Health 2009 Intuitive Eating Mistakes Page 2
You are awesome
~ 1 ~ EXPECTING IT TO BE E ASY
Going from the rigours of planning your meals, scheduling them at regular intervals, weighing and measuring your food and logging them in a calorie and macro program to eating when youre hungry, eating what you want, eating mindfully and stopping when youre full seems like an easy transition. Hell, all you have to do is stop working so hard and relax a little. Intuitive Eating is much more challenging than it looks and if you think it will be simple and easy when you first start out then you will be confused and frustrated. You will make poor food choices, you will eat when you arent hungry, you will forget to stop and savour your meals, and you will continue to eat when youve had enough. The good news is that there is no pass or fail, black or white, on or off this program. There is simply continuous learning and improvement and the more you practice the easier it will become.
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You are perfect, whole and complete
~ 2 ~ NOT DREAMING BIG ENOUGH

The world of health and fitness has sold us a whole range of myths that we believe without question. We have been told that calories matter ~ we need to expend more than we take in to lose weight or balance them precisely to maintain. We also believe that carbs and/or fat are the enemy, we believe that there are foods we cant eat because they will trigger a binge, and we accept that we have to be hungry to lose weight. The most important part of the Intuitive Eating lifestyle is to imagine without limitations what you would like instead. Imagine yourself eating whatever you want, having peace around all foods, experiencing normal hunger that is easily satisfied while achieving and maintaining the body of your dreams effortlessly and easily. You might still have doubts, but set your intention to see your wildest dreams come true. Dont limit yourself to your current experience. Reach for the stars.
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You are beautiful
~ 3 ~ M AKING IT ANOTHER PROGRAM

The rules, timelines, schedules and checklists of diets is what makes us feel safe and in control so we want Intuitive Eating to be structured with its own set of rules and regulations. Intuitive Eating is not a mapped out route from point A to point B. It is more a buffet of tools that are used as needed depending on your personal preferences and history. The inner wisdom of your body will request different things on different days based on your changing physiological and psychological circumstances. The best way to learn weight mastery through Intuitive Eating is to try different things and then paying attention to the results. The secret is to use the IF THEN learning tool. If I eat too much at lunch then I am not hungry for dinner until much later in the evening. If I eat cereal for breakfast then I am hungry by 10.30am. If I know I can have ice cream any time I want it then I hardly ever think about it
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If I have a glass of wine on evenings I am stressed then I dont need comfort food to calm me down If I meditate for 5 minutes in the morning then I have a day without cravings If I get really, really hungry before I eat then I am more likely to forget to eat mindfully If I dont get enough sleep then I am more hungry than usual
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You are the joyous expression of life
~ 4 ~ WEIGHING YOURSELF
The number on the scale has long been the objective feedback on whether or not your diet is working and we are all familiar with the despair that comes from a weight gain when weve been doing everything right. In the majority of cases, the first stages on transition from calories counting to Intuitive Eating will result in a higher number on the scales. This could be due to more carbs (which hold water) in your diet, a greater volume of food (an apple is heavier than a rice cake), additional salt in your diet, hormonal activity activated by eating more fat or a temporary fat gain while you are eating all your off limits treats. Even if you do gain fat, this is temporary and part of the healing process. Once your body finds balance and equilibrium, the fat will melt away like snow on a hot spring day and you wont have to worry about it. Even though there are all these logical reasons for a higher scale number, and even though you are convinced it wont matter what the number is dont weigh yourself.
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You will find all the feelings of failure and disappointment come flooding back leaving you convinced that it will never work. You will be reviving your fading belief that you are only successful if you weigh a certain amount. Throw the scales away or at least put them out of sight. Resist the urge to just have a quick look. No matter how strong and confident you are feeling, the number is guaranteed to create a major emotional upheaval and undo some of the progress you have made.
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You are stronger than you think
~ 5 ~ PSEUDO DIETING
I should only eat clean, unprocessed food I cant eat high GI carbs I must have protein at every meal I have to eat the low-fat, low-sugar versions of my favourite foods This is not Intuitive Eating this is pseudo dieting. If you are still using the language of should, cant, must, and have to then you are still in the diet mindset and have not yet embraced the freedom of Intuitive Eating. Of course, you can eat whatever you want so the food choice is not important, it is your reason for making that choice that matters. True Intuitive Eating says I prefer clean, unprocessed food most of the time because it gives me more energy High GI carbs dont satisfy my hunger for very long so I only have them when my body asks for them Sometimes I feel like eating protein and sometimes I prefer a vegetarian meal The only reason I eat diet food is because I prefer the taste and texture over the real variety.
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You are the creator of your reality
~ 6 ~ THINKING ITS ALL ABOUT THE FOOD

The term Intuitive Eating is misleading because it is so much more than simply adopting a new way of manipulating your diet. It is less about the food, and more about your thoughts, feelings, beliefs and identity. The greatest mistake is to focus solely on what youre eating and miss the other 2/3rds of the equation. The desire to be in perfect shape stems from one of these underlying core beliefs: Im not good enough Im responsible for other peoples happiness I am vulnerable and afraid I am unimportant and dont matter I am unattractive and flawed It is only when these beliefs are challenged and changed that we can let go of exhausting struggle and discover that taking great care of ourselves is the only thing we need to do to achieve peak physical condition.
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You are more than enough
~ 7 ~ EXPECTING TO GO FROM SELF L O AT H I N G T O S E L F L O V E I N O N E GIANT LE AP

Self acceptance and self love is the key to making lasting positive change but it is unreasonable to expect to go from fat, ugly and lazy to awesome, beautiful and worthy in one giant leap. Work on believing each one of these steps completely before you move on to the next. Positive Intent My unwanted behaviour, thoughts and feeling have a positive intent and are giving me the gift of comfort/security/ release/protection Forgiveness I forgive myself for my bad choices, self criticism, and not knowing what to do and I know that I have nothing to be ashamed of Gratitude I thank my body and mind for doing the best that it could and getting me as this far through willpower and determination alone
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Self Acceptance I accept myself exactly as I am right now because I am OK. There are things that I would like to improve but right here and right now, I am who I am Self Love I know that I am beautiful, unique and awesome and I dont need to do anything except be me. I take great care of myself because I am worth it. My heart is filled with love which spills out into the world and engulfs everyone I meet. I love being me.
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You are filled with love and affection
~ 8 ~ THINKING THE S AME OLD THOUGHTS

If you think that you are eating too many calories so will you put on weight, then that is what will happen. If you think you have a damaged metabolism and you cant eat as much as normal people then that will be true. If you are convinced that you have to do 30 mins of cardio six days a week to prevent getting fat, then you will get fat if you stop. If you think you are fat, then you will feel and behave like a fat person. Reality is based on how you perceive things and there are unlimited possibilities beyond what you presently believe. There are people who never count calories and stay thin, there are people who have recovered from cancer, there are women who are lean who never do cardio, and your identity has nothing to do with the size of your fat cells. If one person proves it is humanly possible, then it is possible for you too. Change your thinking and change your world.
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You are un-stoppable
~ 9 ~ GIVING UP TOO SOON

It is possible to be instantly changed and healed like Paul on the road to Damascus, but for most of us it takes a little while longer. You might not be able to undo years of diet beliefs, thinking and behaviour in a matter of weeks, it could take a couple of months. Dont give up before youve had a chance to reap the benefits of all your efforts. Think of it like creating a garden. You have to Pull out all the weeds and dead plants Fertilize the soil Plant the seeds Water the garden Wait for the tiny shoots to push through the earth Protect the young plants from the elements Watch the garden grow and mature Enjoy the flowers Harvest the fruit Have patience, have faith and hang on because although it may seem like nothing is happening, a breakthrough is just around the corner.
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You are exquisitely unique
~ 10 ~ DOING IT ON YOUR OWN

There is absolutely no reason why you have to do this on your own. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness and wont make anyone love you less. Human beings love to help each other because it makes us feel good about ourselves. Recruit a friend to be your confident and cheer squad. Invite them to be your support and encouragement while you go through the learning process. Most of the time all we need to hear is that were on the right track and our self criticism is unwarranted. If you dont have a real friend, then find a virtual buddy and keep in touch by email and/or phone. The benefit in talking to someone else is in finding words to explain your feelings which lessens the intensity and makes you conscious of what you are choosing to believe. Telling yourself you are worthless because youve binged is totally different to telling your friend you feel disgusting because you just ate two chocolate biscuits.
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I am always here to help guide you through the streets of this foreign country because Ive been living here for awhile now and I can speak enough of the language to get by. By sharing your journey with me and asking questions, I get to feel good by helping you out and you dont have to make the same mistakes I have. Contact me at any time, and expect a prompt reply. I will always respond to your questions, comments and stories. Blog: http://headhearthealth.wordpress.com Twitter: KatiePsFood Facebook: Katie P Thin Enough Email: thin-enough@optusnet.com.au
Please let me know if you have enjoyed this short report and found it helpful. If there is anything youd like to know more about, please ask. Click the link to go to a quick and easy contact form
http://headhearthealth.wordpress.com/contact/
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Are You Making These Mistakes When You Give Up Dieting?

By Katie P HeadY HeartY Health

HeadY HeartY Health 2009