This is perfectly said. I went from massive restriction and calorie counting and exercise addiction to intuitive eating. It felt like a huge relief at first, eating boxes of doughnuts and pizza and icecream and saying fuck it all! But when my body starting complaining and hurting, I wasn’t being intuitive I was still saying “fuck you!” to restriction. I hadn’t found balance or any sort of intuition. I had to really sit with a lot of painful feelings, have therapy to work through the pain instead of smothering it and now I am at a place where I can listen to myself and my nutritional needs much more. I think a lot of people react against you making posts like these, because they are still in pain, they have been hurt by dieting and they won’t allow themselves to be in a vulnerable place again, which makes perfect sense. But true intuitive eating to me, means being able to stop yourself sometimes too. Not just eating everything all the time out of anger against past restrictions, how is that freedom? It’s just falling prey to another marketing practice from the fast food companies. We have to really learn and listen to our guts.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write me your thoughts, I cherish every single one of your words.
I completely relate to your experience with swinging from one end of the spectrum to the other! "Food freedom" to me very much meant "fuck restriction, so I'm going to eat whatever I want!" and that it became more about defiance than it was about intuition. I'm so proud of you for being able to slow down and work through the pain. You're so right that a lot of people have been hurt by the dieting and restriction culture and I agree "true" intuitive eating sometimes means saying "I know you want this food but we are going to pause for now." Thank you for sharing all of this so eloquently, you're brilliant. xx
Our journey from dieting to not dieting is so complex. Mine has encompassed 40 plus years. Always learning, always shifting, but also, often doubting, often tempted to retreat to old (not great) habits. There's no one way to approach this complicated healing. Thank you for sharing what's you've been doing in your recovery and how it's been for you. Keep learning!
I love hearing about the intricacies of your journey 🖤 I don’t personally relate to the food aspect of it, but I definitely do to the general aspect of limitations and freedom. Thank you for sharing a piece of your soul here.
SACRED BOUNDARIES!!! As a parent, I think about this all the time. We need boundaries with our kids to take care of them, so when we self-parent we need boundaries with ourselves 💜
I think in case of inner parts work - accompany your inner child (or many children) - it’s so so important so really see, that if you just say „fuck you, I’m eating all of this, it’s intuitive“ - that the child is still alone and there’s no inner adult part who’s taking responsibility and listens to the pain underneath this „fuck you“. I absolutely love this article of yours. It’s so well summed up. And speaks completely from my own experience with restriction, binging and the full trauma addiction circle. I actually have a piece of art in my Appartement which says: „do I have a choice?“. This question is with me for a very long time in my healing journey with ED and C-PTBS.
Thank you for your clarity and the love you put in your writing. There’s so much inner wisdom, which really comes from lived and felt experience. Not just intellectualizing. ♥️
This is perfectly said. I went from massive restriction and calorie counting and exercise addiction to intuitive eating. It felt like a huge relief at first, eating boxes of doughnuts and pizza and icecream and saying fuck it all! But when my body starting complaining and hurting, I wasn’t being intuitive I was still saying “fuck you!” to restriction. I hadn’t found balance or any sort of intuition. I had to really sit with a lot of painful feelings, have therapy to work through the pain instead of smothering it and now I am at a place where I can listen to myself and my nutritional needs much more. I think a lot of people react against you making posts like these, because they are still in pain, they have been hurt by dieting and they won’t allow themselves to be in a vulnerable place again, which makes perfect sense. But true intuitive eating to me, means being able to stop yourself sometimes too. Not just eating everything all the time out of anger against past restrictions, how is that freedom? It’s just falling prey to another marketing practice from the fast food companies. We have to really learn and listen to our guts.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write me your thoughts, I cherish every single one of your words.
I completely relate to your experience with swinging from one end of the spectrum to the other! "Food freedom" to me very much meant "fuck restriction, so I'm going to eat whatever I want!" and that it became more about defiance than it was about intuition. I'm so proud of you for being able to slow down and work through the pain. You're so right that a lot of people have been hurt by the dieting and restriction culture and I agree "true" intuitive eating sometimes means saying "I know you want this food but we are going to pause for now." Thank you for sharing all of this so eloquently, you're brilliant. xx
Thank you 🥰
Our journey from dieting to not dieting is so complex. Mine has encompassed 40 plus years. Always learning, always shifting, but also, often doubting, often tempted to retreat to old (not great) habits. There's no one way to approach this complicated healing. Thank you for sharing what's you've been doing in your recovery and how it's been for you. Keep learning!
So proud of you Kelly, a 40 year long journey is huge. So inspiring. Thank you for your kind words!!
I love hearing about the intricacies of your journey 🖤 I don’t personally relate to the food aspect of it, but I definitely do to the general aspect of limitations and freedom. Thank you for sharing a piece of your soul here.
SACRED BOUNDARIES!!! As a parent, I think about this all the time. We need boundaries with our kids to take care of them, so when we self-parent we need boundaries with ourselves 💜
I think in case of inner parts work - accompany your inner child (or many children) - it’s so so important so really see, that if you just say „fuck you, I’m eating all of this, it’s intuitive“ - that the child is still alone and there’s no inner adult part who’s taking responsibility and listens to the pain underneath this „fuck you“. I absolutely love this article of yours. It’s so well summed up. And speaks completely from my own experience with restriction, binging and the full trauma addiction circle. I actually have a piece of art in my Appartement which says: „do I have a choice?“. This question is with me for a very long time in my healing journey with ED and C-PTBS.
Thank you for your clarity and the love you put in your writing. There’s so much inner wisdom, which really comes from lived and felt experience. Not just intellectualizing. ♥️