Can You Trust Yourself Around Food?

can you trust yourself around food Beth Rosen, RD

In my practice as a Registered Dietitian, I teach the tenets of mindful eating.   Mindful eating is the non-diet approach to eating that incorporates paying attention, being aware and present in the moment, and doing so without self-judgment.  Sounds simple enough… after all, we were born with the natural instinct to eat when we are hungry and stop when we are satisfied.  Somewhere along the way, though, so many of us, especially chronic dieters, lost the skill or quieted the internal voice that told us when we were hungry and when we were full.  Instead, we listened to the voices coming from the diet industry or the skinny girl on social media who told us her secret to “happiness,”  and began to eat according to a set of rules.  So when I offer the tools to re-learn how to listen to that inner voice that guided you to eat based on hunger and satiety as a child, you would think that people would embrace the logical solution of a non-diet approach, when for most of our lives diets have failed us.

But that’s not what happens.

For so long, we have reprogrammed our brains into believing that we don’t know what’s best for us.  We believe that external forces know our bodies better than we do, thus we cannot be trusted to make food choices without consulting “experts” for advice or a set of rules.  Consider this:  If diets worked, why do we have an “obesity” epidemic?  If diets worked, why do so many new ones pop up each year promising that this one is the one the solution?  The answer: Diets DON’T work.  Every body is different.  Every body responds differently to what we ingest.  For some, eating fruits and vegetables and whole grains is energizing.  For others, those same fruits, vegetables, and whole grains cause inflammation or digestive distress.  The only way we can truly know what foods make our bodies function at its optimal level is to eat it all and pay attention to how our bodies react, and then adjust our food repertoire as necessary.  Makes sense, right?

Not for some.  In my experience, chronic dieters don’t trust their internal voice.  In fact, many believe that they don’t have one.  The only voice they ever hear is the one telling them that they are a failure who can’t stick to a diet.  These people don’t trust themselves to eat food without an external set of rules.  The only way to show them that mindful eating works is to convince them that the inner voice exists and it will speak up as soon as we begin to listen.

Can you hear it?

Do you trust yourself around food?

If you answered no to one or more of these questions, it’s time to start listening and trusting.  Food is not the enemy, people, diets are.  They take away your power to select food based on what your body needs.  They instill this lack of trust so that you have no choice but to listen to their “do” and “don’t” rules and their lists of “good” and “bad” foods.  It’s time to make a change.  It’s time to become mindful and to eat mindfully.  It’s time to heal your relationship with food and earn your own trust back.

Are you ready?

Start practicing.  Listen out for that inner voice.  Pay attention to what it’s telling you and believe in it.  Start trusting yourself.

bird on a branch believe in yourself Beth Rosen, RD

xo

B

 

BethR_1c-Home-Blog

Beth Rosen

Eating Attitudes™ & Gut Expert

Beth Rosen, MS, RD, CDN is a Registered Dietitian and owner of Beth Rosen Nutrition. She practices a non-diet philosophy and is a Health at Every Size" practitioner. Her goal is to end the pain of diet culture, one person at a time. Beth's techniques and programs empower chronic dieters, and those who consider themselves emotional and /or stress eaters, to ditch the vicious cycle of dieting, eat fearlessly by removing Food and diet rules, and mend their relationship with food and their bodies. Beth's works face-to-face with clients in Southbury, CT, and virtually with clients, worldwide.

Recent