Over the past 5 months, My intern, Ally, has been working hard behind the scenes here at Leah Kern Nutrition. She worked on various projects including a fabulous 10-part mini training teaching you about the ten principles of Intuitive Eating. In case you missed it, here are the posts from the series.
- Principle 1: Reject the Diet Mentality
- Principle 2: Honor Your Hunger
- Principle 3: Make Peace with Food
- Principle 4: Challenge the Food Police
- Principle 5: Discover the Satisfaction Factor
- Principle 6: Feel Your Fullness
- Principle 7: Cope With Your Emotions With Kindness
- Principle 8: Respect Your Body
- Principle 9: Movement- Feel the Difference
- Principle 10: Honor Your Health With Gentle Nutrition
To celebrate Ally’s internship coming to an end, she’s reflecting on 10 lessons she’s learned (so far) on her intuitive eating journey.
Take it away, Ally!
10 Lessons I’ve Learned On My Intuitive Eating Journey (so far):
Eating “healthy” and exercising isn’t a personality trait. Your loved ones value and appreciate you for reasons that are entirely unrelated to your food and exercise choices. You don’t have to prove your worth to anyone.
You are not morally superior because of your food choices. If you packed a superfood kale salad for lunch, that doesn’t make you a “healthier” or “better” person than anyone else. All foods have something to offer- obsessing over food is what’s actually unhealthy.
Sure, food is fuel, but it’s also so much more than that. Food is tradition, celebration, enjoyment, and comfort- you deserve to find joy in the eating experience.
When you don’t spend all of your time stressed over food and exercise, it’s amazing how much time and energy you suddenly have. Instead of worrying about when you’ll fit in a workout or what you’ll eat on a family vacation, you can actually remain present for your experiences.
When you listen to what your body’s craving, every meal/snack might not be fully balanced or optimized- that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with simple foods like toast with butter or pizza.
You don’t need to justify your reasoning behind your food choices- your body’s cues are enough. Your body knows best.
You are making a difference just by existing in this world as an intuitive eater- your job isn’t to fix everyone’s relationship with food and their body. Although you may want to share what you’ve learned with everyone, people must be open and receptive to accepting your advice (which is not your job to change).
Thank your body for all that it does for you and forgive yourself for picking it apart. It’s not your fault that diet culture made you feel like you weren’t enough.
The process of healing your relationship with food isn’t linear and some days it will feel challenging. Be gentle with yourself and know that the peace of eating and living intuitively is worth working towards.
Listening to what your body wants allows you to listen to what your heart wants. Living in alignment with your intuition has a ripple effect on your entire quality of life.
I feel forever grateful for this opportunity to learn from Leah and share my ideas with you all. Follow me on Instagram and Tiktok @radiantplates to stay in touch- I’m always willing to chat and love connecting with new friends.
Did you hear the news? We launched a podcast here at Leah Kern Nutrition! Shoulders Down Podcast is a podcast designed to teach you how to harness your intuition to govern not just how you eat but also how you live. New episodes get released every Tuesday! Click here to listen to our latest episode, “When Healthy Eating Turns Unhealthy.”
Last modified: October 14, 2024
