Intuitive eating is the practice of cultivating trust in the body that it has the innate wisdom to know what food to eat, when to eat it, and how much. Mainstream practices of dieting, restricting, and judgment over eating in certain ways has brought many individuals to have a disrupted relationship with food and how to feed their bodies. Intuitive eating is a practice, not a diet. It is a method of deeply listening to our body cues to learn and remember what our body needs to feel nourished. It considers the many influences on what causes one to eat including emotions, habit, cravings, hunger, boredom, and others. It recognizes that each of the reasons one may choose to eat or not eat are valid and encourages the individual to practice awareness around why one may make these choices. Intuitive eating is a new way of relating to self and understanding why we make certain decisions around eating, health, food, exercise, etc. The practice begins by exploring your relationship with these decisions. 

How does this food make me feel? How do I feel when I eat too much? How do I feel when I haven't eaten enough? How do I remember this and modify my choices so that I feel more nourished next time these sensations arise? What does it mean to crave a food and how does my body talk to me when I'm hungry in this way? When I eat for emotional reasons, what part of my being is satisfied? How does this feel? How does this nourish me? 

These are all questions one may ask when committing to this practice. It is a process of eating with awareness while breaking down our conventional judgements of 'good and bad' foods and eating habits while embracing the idea that each choice around food is made to fulfill some drive for nourishment. When one can begin to make these choices from a place of self-care, self-love, and drive for deep nourishment, the choices around food begin to change into one that is supportive for that individual on all planes of health. 

Intuitive eating and Health at Every Size ® together form a way to orient to life choices from a place of love rather than fear. Imagine a world where we all loved our bodies and lived from a place of feeling good instead of fear, judgment, and self-hatred; the world would be a much different place. 

Intuitive eating is only the beginning of practicing trust in our innate wisdom. Concepts of intuitive eating carry over to intuitive exercise, intuitive decision making around relationships, friendships, and life choices. Join us in this practice of deep self care and learn to live from a place of listening to your body while allowing it to help you with the many decisions we make in our lives.