Letting Go of “Day One” Mentality in Intuitive Eating

Day One 2Unlike diets, Intuitive eating (or “normal” eating for that matter), doesn’t have a “day one.”

While diets are usually easiest to make perfect on Day One, and become harder to replicate as your willpower slowly wears down;

Intuitive Eating, is the exact opposite—it’s most difficult, and messy, in the first few months (or years), while we’re fumbling around trying to understand our bodies’ signals, and dismantle years (or decades) of diet-mentality.

(BTW dismantling diet mentality is the hard part—if you’ve “given up restricting” but are still bingeing, chances are you’re struggling with diet-like-thinkingor “emotional restriction,” which you can read about here.)

Just like everyone struggles to speak French on the first day of class, pretty much everyone struggles with Intuitive Eating in the beginning as well;

because, unlike diets, which are about following some pre-determined plan, (plans that are inevitably incompatible with the mysteries and un-folding of real life), 

Intuitive Eating is about learning and practicing skills — physical, mental and emotional skills — which may take time and practice to develop, but can never be un-learned.  

When we mispronounce a word while trying to speak a new language, we don’t say to ourselves “ughgh I screwed up! I might as well speak English for the rest of the day, and try speaking French perfectly tomorrow!” (In fact, this is a recipe for delayed learning.)

Instead, we simply commit to our practice of habitual learning, understanding that the language of our bodies (and hearts) cannot be mastered on Day One.

This work is a long-term investment in your health and well-being (rather than the short-sighted junk bond that is restriction or dieting). Embrace the process of learning a new skill set and way of thinking; embrace the ups and downs of practice and all that entails.

Like this post? Make sure to check out my Free Video Training Series on ending the diet-binge cycle here