Unconditional permission to eat is vital for making peace with food and putting yourself back in charge of your food choices. It’s also the part of Intuitive Eating that feels most overwhelming.
And it would! If you’re going from rigid meal plans and strict food rules to unconditional permission to eat, you’re going to feel like you are jumping off a cliff without a parachute. In fact, that free falling feeling is exactly what typically sends you straight back to rigid meal plans and strict food rules.
So the truth is, you need a bridge between food rules and food freedom. You need to have positive experiences with food that build trust and confidence meal by meal, day by day. You do that by creating an environment where you can feel successful with food, without the rules.
I don’t blame anyone who heads back to a diet because they feel like their eating patterns are chaotic. That doesn’t feel good and very few people want to just give themselves unconditional permission to eat and hope it all works out in the end, all the while sinking deeper into discouragement about their eating.
The good news is that you don’t need food rules to feel better. You can create rhythm, predictability and positivity with food without being told what or how much to eat. You can give yourself a supportive structure to practice unconditional permission to eat. The truth is this process doesn’t have to feel overwhelming, it can actually feel strategic and intentional.
You know I’m all about Nourishing Confidence. The way you do that is to meet yourself where you are. If you don’t trust your body, if you have no idea how to eat, if you feel discouraged with your ability to feed yourself well, respect your body and take care yourself with food… then you need much more support than “just eat whatever you want!” (although that is very good advice).
Permission supports structure and structure supports permission (if done in the right way). To find the middle ground with food, you pull from either end to create something that feels consistent AND flexible, rhythmic AND spontaneous, nourishing AND satisfying, predictable AND free… and for too long you’ve been choosing only one or the other.
I’ve created a guide to help you build your own flexible structure, and find a healthy middle ground with food. Head HERE to grab your copy.
I hope it’s helpful!