Here's how Intuitive Eating can Improve Your Life Outside of Your Relationship with Food
With a title like "Intuitive Eating", you may not expect to learn some valuable life lessons that have absolutely nothing to do with food. But take it from me, someone who not only used Intuitive Eating to heal her own relationship with food after years of disordered eating patterns, but now helps tons of women do the same thing, there are so many life lessons I.E. has to offer!
Today, I'm sharing three valuable life lessons Intuitive Eating has taught me that first applied to my relationship with food, but was then able to be applied to so many other aspects of my life as well!
Three valuable life lessons Intuitive Eating has taught me
Lesson #1: Enjoy making mistakes
Sure--making mistakes doesn't feel all too great, especially if your definition of making a mistake equates to failure.
But what if making mistakes didn't have to mean you failed? What if instead, you took the mistakes you made and used them as a lesson to be learned?
You have got to drop the mentality that you have to be perfect! It's not realistic to expect yourself to pick up something and automatically be good at it. Even if it's something you're experienced in, you can still make mistakes, because guess what...You're human! And humans make mistakes. So how did I learn this great life lesson while I was healing my relationship with food?
Because unlike diets, there is no right or wrong way to do Intuitive Eating (I.E.), because there are no rules! This makes most people uneasy at first. They think, "If there are no rules then what am I supposed to eat?" Or they may even fear they will be out of control with no rules, which leads to a lot of second-guessing about whether they should really do it or not.But that's the beauty of this life lesson that I.E. can teach you: It's okay to make mistakes with food and eating!
And each mistake you make can actually be enjoyable when you decide that the mistake is an opportunity to not only learn more about yourself, but grow in the process as well! To learn more about how you can navigate through I.E. with no rules involved, go check out my blog post here.
Lesson #2: Having fear is okay, letting it stop you is not
That thought or thing in your life that seems scary and is stopping your from moving forward on anything? Yeah it's probably not as scary as you're making yourself believe!
It's okay and normal to have fear! But so often, we let that fear keep us stuck in the exact same place we've always been. So I want to encourage you to allow yourself to have fear, but to not let it stop you!
Take yourself to the worst-case-scenario of what could happen if you did take that leap of faith...what is the worst that could happen? What would you do if the worst did happen?
Now ask yourself what's the worst that could happen if you did let fear stop you...are you going to stay stuck in the exact same place you've always been?
I learned this life lesson when I was scared to take the leap of faith with Intuitive Eating. I had the common fears most people have like whether I would be out of control or only want to eat foods like pizza and ice cream all of the time. I also feared what would happen to my weight at the time.
Today, I'm so happy I decided to take the leap of faith and not let the fear of those things stop me, because now I have the healthiest relationship with food in my life and I feel more happy and confident as a result!
And now, it would have to take a lot for fear to stop me from reaching any goal I want for myself, all thanks to I.E. and this lesson it taught me: Don't let fear stop you from leaving your comfort zone.
Lesson #3: The only person you need validation from is yourself
If I could only pick one life lesson that I.E. taught me to share with you, this would be it! Because outside validation is something most of us are constantly searching for, which is especially true as social media has grown over time.
But if you're looking for outside validation more than you're looking for validation from your own self, you're going to spend the rest of your life trying to feel 100% validated.
When you learn to validate yourself, you then have the power to feel completely validated almost all of the time! (Because yes, you will still have some off days where you second-guess yourself)So how did I learn this valuable life lesson with Intuitive Eating?
While I.E. is not necessarily a new concept as it was created in 1995 by two registered dietitians, it is still a relatively new concept to most! Which is why I had to learn to validate myself and how I chose to take care of my health once I started straying away from diet tactics and into healing my relationship with food.Unfortunately, some people just don't get I.E. and think that taking the focus off of weight means you're giving up on your health. While I know this is untrue, I also know it's not my (or your) job to convince those people otherwise! Let those people not get it, or share some friendly resources with them to help plant the seed, but don't let what they think about I.E. stop you from leaving diet culture for good.
To Sum it All Up
If you're someone who has dieted for years and has a negative relationship with food now, then I promise that you have so much to gain by taking the leap of faith with Intuitive Eating. Not only can it help you create a happier and more balanced life with food, but also create a happier life overall with the valuable life lessons it has to offer!
And lastly, don't forget these three important life lessons:
Enjoy making mistakes, they are what will help you grow
It's okay to have fear, but don't let fear stop you from creating your version of a happy and healthy life
The only person you need validation from is yourself
Did you find any of these life lessons valuable? Comment below and let me know, I'd love to know what you think!
