Back To Basics: Intuitive Eating

I’m sure you’ve heard of intuitive eating, but do you know how to do it? When it comes to what we put in our bodies, we often have a reactionary method: We’re tired, we drink caffeine. Starving? We overeat. Short on time? Then we take whatever we can get ASAP. And when we’re feeling overwhelmed or sad, we head straight for the junk food. 

Basically, we try to resolve the symptoms as quickly as possible, instead of addressing what our body is actually asking for in order to feel better. 

So, that’s why I want to talk about intuitive eating this week.

When you learn how to pick up your body’s signals on a daily basis, it will open a whole new level of health, happiness and peace in your life.

Seriously, it’s like an internal glow up!

Let’s Get Personal

For many years, I didn’t know what it meant to “eat intuitively”. I thought I was eating healthy and maintaining the “right” lifestyle, but I certainly wasn’t picking up any signals from my body.

I mean, I often felt groggy, low energy and kinda blah. But was that my body talking to me? I had no idea. 

But just because I couldn’t pick up on the signals didn’t mean my body wasn’t sending them.

In fact, my mind was too overloaded with noise from a zillion external sources to really hear anything my body was saying. I was too preoccupied with what everyone else was doing or what I thought I was ‘supposed’ to do to really listen. 

All that junk took up a lot of bandwidth in my ol’ noggin’ too, so it wasn’t great for my emotional well-being either. 

I realized that in order to truly listen to my body, I had to turn the volume way down on all that unproductive clutter between my ears. We fill our brains with so much doing, doing, doing, we don’t leave much room for anything else to thrive. The only way to learn to eat intuitively (and be more intuitive in your life in general) is to make room for it.  

Do A Clean Sweep

So, the first step is to let go of all the old programming that is taking up space between your ears! These old thought patterns and reactions just drag you down and can negatively affect your health and well-being. That’s no bueno!

We’ve got to stop worrying so much about what other people are doing, what diet they follow, what new cleanse that famous person is doing. Take a break from all the diet trends out there and whatever fads the health gurus and magazine ads are telling you to try next. You’ll start to feel lighter right away. 

And the more you practice letting go of those outside messages, you’ll start to notice your old patterns. Now, when I have a reaction that doesn’t really serve my best interest, I can take a beat and think, “Oh! That’s old Moniqua peeking in. See ya later, sis.” 

Zeroing in on your body’s signals may take some time, so remember, that’s natural. Think about how long you’ve gone ignoring them; it’s not going to be an instant shift. But good thing you know how to embrace the mindset of a beginner, babe! 😉

Get Comfy with Gettin’ Still

There is so much power in stillness, and through that quiet and solitude, you’ll really be able to tune-in. I had heard about intuitive eating so many times before but never really got it until I slowed the hell down! 

I was too worried about every diet, every food trend, what this health expert was saying, what that diet book was saying, how did that celebrity lose weight, on and on!

Now that I have taken the time over the years to understand what my body needs, I’ve learned that being healthy doesn’t have to be complicated or hard! It is possible to be truly, effortlessly healthy. 

When you tap into your internal guidance, you will begin to trust your gut instinct around food, around other people, around energy, around boundaries. And by understanding those elements (that let’s face it, stress us all out a lot), you’ll experience more moments of calm, peace and clarity. 

You see, it’s cyclical. By giving yourself the time to be still, to tune into your body, you will be able to eat and drink intuitively. And you’ll also develop and trust your instincts around not just food, but people and situations.  Then you gain even more peace and clarity to help you tune into what your body is saying on an even deeper level. It’s pretty cool. 

So what questions do you have about intuitive eating? Are you able to hear what your body is saying, or do you feel blocked by outside interference? Leave me a comment in The Badass Beauty Club on Facebook!

And be sure to join me for a Facebook LIVE discussion every Friday at 9AM PT. 

LOVE + serenity!