Intuitive Eating: Reject the Diet Mentality

So I'm just now posting about the first section on Intuitive Eating (it took me forever to read it).  It's all about rejecting the diet mentality. 

What is the diet mentality exactly?  For those of you that have been on a diet or two probably know exactly what it means.  When you're on a diet, whether it's counting calories, points, carbs, etc. you have your mind so focused on what you can and can't eat that once you're off a diet you still subconsciously think about what you can and can't have.  You feel guilty if you have a cookie or eat after six, etc.  The diet mentality causes you to think a certain way about food and yourself.  Many people who diet struggle with self-esteem, have depression, and are usually overweight.  Why?  They are overweight because dieters tend to binge when they're restricted.  This leads to the depression and low self-esteem because they feel they are failures for not having the willpower to keep to their diet.

After reading this section I really became more aware of the mentality that I have in my own life.  I technically have only done one legit diet in my life where I actually kept track of my calories, but looking back at my life since high school I know I skipped meals or let myself feel hungry because I had already eaten "too" much that day.  Mentally I felt that this was going to make me feel skinny.  I hated feeling like I wasn't good enough to society because I wasn't a certain size or because I loved to eat.  I hated that I had to fit into certain unwritten rules to feel good about myself or to that my worth was attached to a scale number. 

Rejecting the diet mentality has been a huge release for me.  I feel that it's given me the chance to step back and look at how my thought process of how I follow these rules that I don't really have to follow.  Or how I don't have to worry about my weight but about how my body feels when eating.  I need to be in tune with my body and eat what helps my body feel good and strong, not what makes me skinny.   When I let go of the rules I have noticed that I don't eat as much junk.  Over the summer Sam and I tried counting calories.  We both had a certain amount we could eat every day and so we would hoard them until the end of the day where we would literally eat at least a cup of ice cream every night.  We went through ice cream like crazy! After we stopped counting though?  We could have a half gallon sit in our freezer for a couple weeks before it was gone.  It's interesting how when you restrict yourself from something your body rebels and that's ALL it wants.  You probably know how it is. 

Many times you may hear people talk about how they're doing a cleanse or a juice fast to detox their body or lose weight quickly.  These always made my feel uncomfortable because it didn't seem natural to do.  And they're not.  Our bodies come with "cleansers" with our kidneys and liver.  We don't need to do that sort of thing.  And losing weight fast? It's really just water not fat.  It's not healthy to lose weight so fast.  It causes your body to go into starvation mode which in the long run makes you gain more weight because you will tend to binge and overeat what your body really needs. 

My favorite part in this section was this "Nobody can be the expert of "you."  Only you know your thoughts, feelings, and experiences.  You will learn to trust your internal wisdom and will learn to listen to and honor your inner cues (both physical and emotional), all of which feels empowering."  I love that! I love the thought that I can take my body back.  I can change my thinking from "That cookie will make me fat" to "Do I want a cookie?".  Already, by just rejecting this mentality in my life and paying more attention to what my body wants and how it feels has helped me notice if I feel good or bad physically and mentally with what and how much I eat.  Obviously it's not perfect since I just started.  But I definitely can see a difference already.