Mama and Me RD

Intuitive eating (IE) is a nutrition philosophy developed by two RDs, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch – they coined the term and put out a book outlining the principles. There are 10 principles in total:

1. Reject the diet mentality
2. Honor your hunger
3. Make peace with food
4. Challenge the food police
5. Respect your fullness
6. Discover the satisfaction factor
7. Honor your feelings without using food
8. Respect your body
9. Exercise – Feel the difference
10. Honor your health

You can get a breakdown line by line by visiting this site here or by listening to my podcast (Diet Riot) episode 3 “Why didn’t you eat a donut | All about intuitive eating”

How I describe IE is getting back to the roots of how we were supposed to interact with food. Think of a baby, nursing or even taking a bottle, babies cry when they’re hungry, when they’re offered their milk, they drink, when they’re full they stop, turn their head and decline any further offers. We are born to be intuitive eaters.

So you might be asking yourself “if we’re meant to be intuitive eaters what gets in the way?”. (Refer to principle #1) The diet mentality. Diet culture, which is the environment that exists that promotes dieting as a fix it to whatever your “issue” is. That ‘perceived’ issue may be your weight, your size, your body type, your energy, your anything really. It’s the idea that “health” is a certain size or shape. It’s the idea that we need someone outside ourselves to tell us what to do, when to do it and why.

It’s the thousands of messages we are bombarded with daily through marketing and sales saying we aren’t enough… but we could be if we buy this meal plan, if we subscribe, if we eat this and not that, if we start this diet and follow it strictly, if we… and on and on and on.

This diet mentality ALWAYS leads to destruction. It pours doubt and shame on you until you give in and decide to “do something about your health” and that something is usually starting a restrictive diet that causes you to feel deprived and turns food into the enemy. This restriction can’t last, it just simply isn’t sustainable, and ultimately leads to a binge which causes the guilt and shame to pour right back in. This is what we refer to as the shame-diet-binge cycle that is ever present in most people’s lives. This cycle is not only detrimental for our physical health but also damages our relationship with food and our bodies causing more and more harm everytime we cycle through this loop. It can cause disordered eating patterns, negative self-talk, and eventually lead to a full blown eating disorder.

So taking the power away from food, re-learning your hunger and fullness cues, placing the emphasis on habits that serve you and your body, re-claiming your thoughts around food, trusting that your body knows best for you, and learning to be creative and take risks with food in order to learn what works best for you in a gentle way to nourish your body is the goal and all you will need for life.

IE doesn’t have rules or an exact process but if it did it would look like this: step back and audit your current relationship with food (without judgement), tune in and try your best to honor what your body is asking for, try something (anything), learn how your body responds, add that knowledge to your bank of information about YOUR body, repeat.

I promise you your relationship with food will grow exponentially. I promise you food freedom, mental peace and a giant leap towards actually loving your body and isn’t that what you really want anyways when you buy or follow that diet?

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Is it just me or is coming home from vacation one of the hardest things to do? I mean I love coming back to my own bed, being reunited with my pup and waking up to the smell of my very own fresh coffee, but coming back to the reality of daycare, chores, work, the bills and budgeting and the rotten kiwi I forgot to throw out before we left brings a melancholy to my soul.

So I thought I would write this post to extend my vacation as long as I can. Maybe re-living it in this post will make the come back a little easier.

I recently went to Ventura, California with my family to visit my extended family and it was incredible. When I think of California I think of three things. Ocean, wine and GREAT food. I’ve been to San Fransisco, LA, Santa Barbra, Catalina Island, Napa valley, Carmel and now Ventura. The one thing I can say about all these places? Amazing, fresh, and inspired food. I live for good, no great, food. I would call myself a foodie for sure. I love restaurants and cooking, finding new recipes. I love grocery shopping and exploring new ingredients. I love learning what makes a food good and how to prepare it in the best way. Obviously California feels the same way.

So when you’re on vacation I want you to enjoy the food, get a taste for the local fare and step out of your comfort zone use food to enrich your experience. When it comes to intuitive eating while on vacation it’s silly to say but not a lot changes from when you’re at home and intuitively eating. Eat what you want and what you know will nourish your body. Nourish meaning not only feed your hunger, but also your soul.

I actually think you should act a little more like you’re on vacation when you’re at home. Imagine an all inclusive resort. You show up and there are tables upon tables full of lobster, fresh seafood, burgers, all things fried and buttered, all the foods you’ve dreamt of. There’s a whole table dedicated to desserts and an open bar. You have all these options and they’re always there. Stocked.

Think of day four of that vacation. When you’ve learned that those foods will always be stocked, when you know what your options are and you’ve already enjoyed all types of foods and know what they taste like, how your body responds and what your favorites are. This should be how you feel about your life at home with food.

You should never feel restricted from a food or a food group. Something should never be “off limits”. Those chips you love? Guess what, as far as I can see the grocery store will never stop selling them. They’re there if that’s what you really want and that’s what your body is telling you it wants. Just like that dessert table at the all inclusive resort. It’s there, waiting for you.

The magic? Just knowing that food is there for you whenever you want it releases you from feeling like you HAVE to have it. When you take foods off the “do not eat” list or the “rarely eat list” it gives you FOOD FREEDOM!! Which is what we all want, right? not to be controlled by our thoughts around food?

Vacation is a perfect place to practice that. So as your dietitian I am ordering you to go on as many vacations as possible! Ha ha! But for real, picture an RX slip with that written on it signed by me. Let yourself live. Enjoy the food, skip the guilt and tune in to your body.

Ok so now a few bullet points because who doesn’t love quick and easy steps?

• When you’re on vacation still pay attention to your hunger cues, your fullness cues and your cravings or satiety level
• It’s OK to eat something you can have at home
• It’s OK to eat when you’re not hungry if it’s something that you really want and will make your vacation more enjoyable – ex. shaved pineapple in Hawaii even when you’re not “hungry”
• Remember intuitive eating is not the hungry/full diet
• It’s OK to visit the same restaurant several times during your trip if it’s what you want
• Listen to your body and trust that your body knows best when it comes to what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat and whether to eat
• It’s ok to not finish your plate even if you may feel you’ll never be able to eat this again
• It’s ok to FINISH your plate even if you’re full
• Do not “save up” calories before your trip or work out more or eat less in preparation to your trip all that will lead to is the cycle of diet, restrict, binge etc on vacation – not fun
• DO pay attention to how your body is responding to foods you’re not used to and add it to your “tool belt” when making future food decisions
• Remember eating times and types of foods are going to vary greatly from your at home diet so be prepared, maybe bring some snacks or try to book a hotel with a mini fridge for leftovers or items for breakfasts etc
• Be mindful of the activities you’re planning and keep them in mind when ordering food – you don’t want to be too full to enjoy that zip-line tour or stuck in the bathroom all day when you could be on the beach
• Always always stay hydrated, whether you’re drinking alcohol or not or you’re in the sun all day you’re far more likely to get dehydrated on vacation which can lead to burn out, discomfort, tiredness and over eating
• Over all enjoy your trip don’t let food rules keep you from the experiences you can have and remember that intuitive eating is the steady choice to choose to trust your body before vacation, during and after

Hope this was helpful! Thanks for reading and see you in my next post or you can catch me on Instagram @aly.miller.rdn or tune in to my weekly podcast Diet Riot wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Here I am, 22 weeks pregnant with my second baby on the way. This time around is a little different than with our first. First of all, baby is a GIRL! So exciting because who doesn’t love a new challenge?! Second of all, I am MUCH further along in my intuitive eating journey during this pregnancy than I was during my last.

As we all know intuitive eating is never truly “over” or “done” or even “mastered”. Intuitive eating is a life long journey. It’s a process, it’s the way that you eat, it’s your diet – in the truest sense of the word, not the dirty four letter sense of the word. It’s how you’ve fueled your body, how you’ve shown love to your body, and how you’ve honored your body. It’s a work of art that includes all the colors in all the spaces in all the amounts, no holding back.

So this being said I had started learning and incorporating intuitive eating in my life about six months before we found out I was pregnant the first time. So to say I was working on it would be an understatement. I was still holding on to food rules and had foods on a “do not consume” list in my head or even “consume this only on rare occasions” list. I was weighing myself bi-weekly and had a fitness routine I was stuck to even though I hated [most] of it.

Being pregnant gave way to MORE food rules, restrictions, and at the same time MORE food freedom – or what felt like food freedom. We’ve all heard the saying “eating for two” which although highly inaccurate let’s women “off the hook” when they have extra helpings or eats something they normally wouldn’t eat, right? It perpetuates the idea that women need an excuse to eat that extra portion or eat that food they would normally leave on their plate. It gives an excuse and a reason when really, you don’t need a reason or an excuse. You don’t need to explain away or justify anything or any amount of food you eat.

I have found with my first pregnancy I felt I had more of what felt like “food-freedom” because I used excuses and justifications. I felt more food rules because as an RD I knew I needed more of certain foods. I knew in order to feel like a good mom I SHOULD eat this and not that. I SHOULD avoid these sweets and eat more whole foods etc etc etc. These are all food rules and when you have a healthy relationship with food you realize that you eat healthier. You’re not restricted or feel like you “deserve” a binge because all foods fit and honestly you body does eventually crave the whole foods that it needs during pregnancy without any coaxing from your inner diet culture jaded voice. Yes, it will ask for the foods that were previously on your “do not eat list” but that’s ok because again, ALL foods fit. I repeat, ALL foods fit.

All that being said, this time around I am about four years into my intuitive eating journey. I’ve come a long way but I have a far way to go. I have noticed a huge difference with my intake as a pregnant woman. First of all, I don’t feel the need to justify what or how much I’m eating. Second of all, I am more in tune with my body. I feel the upswings and downswings of hunger and I know how to respond. I feel the tug on my stomach and my soul with cravings and I respond. I anticipate how my body will respond to food and I make informed choices of what to eat and when while also respecting my satisfaction factor and appreciating the gentle nutritional need that pregnancy puts on my body.

All in all I find that eating is the best cure to hunger, and I am hungry A LOT. I found intuitive eating more difficult in the first trimester. I was riddled with nausea and extreme exhaustion. On top of taking care of a toddler I had to make sure I was meeting the bare minimum nutritionally. I leaned on my support system heavily, my husband, my mom and my mother in law. I ate when I could and I ate whatever I felt wouldn’t make me nauseous while keeping in mind my body’s need for carbs, fat, protein and even trying to work on getting in more vitamins/minerals like vitamin D, calcium, choline and iron etc. I would run through the rolodex (do you even know what that is any more) of foods that I like, that I have access to, and that I’ve had in the past and only stopped once something sounded tolerable.

My eating was spontaneous at best and what some might call “reckless”. I would have days of pop tarts and tacos followed by days of smoothies and salads. I would go all day without food then make my husband grab a burger from Five Guys at 9:58pm (right before they closed-sorry workers). I would eat mounds of nuts and protein bars, cold fruit and cold pizza then the next day I would eat eggs for breakfast lunch and dinner. This is all ok. This is part of it. Intuitive eating is messy and sometimes unpredictable and definitely not always instagram-able. That’s ok. I would have loved to write “especially during pregnancy” right here but honestly – not especially. This is true for all stages of intuitive eating. You learn day in and day out what works best for you, you learn bite by bite what you like, and what you don’t.

Second trimester (honestly more like 2.5 trimester) has been my jam. I am no longer in survival mode. I have very few (and far between) aversions to food. I am back in the swing of intuitive eating based on my body and my needs. I hear my cues and I am able to respond. I find that I am hungrier than before I was pregnant which makes sense. I respond by eating more because of course I do. I find that my lunch meal is bigger than it used to be and my breakfast is a little smaller. Times that I am hungry or feel like eating change daily. I find that I say no to a lot more food than I did with my first pregnancy. I used to feel like pregnancy was the only time I could fully “indulge” or “binge” because ‘the baby needed it’ hehe. I now realize that pregnant or not I can have what I want, when I want it and the freedom that that thought alone provides gives my body the ok to crave and ask for whole foods. I find that when I stop restricting or reducing or placing rules around food I actually want those foods LESS often.

So how to intuitively eat while you’re pregnant, listen and respect your body more than ever before. It will be good to you with what you need, want and what will serve you and your baby well. Let go of the food rules you’ve made – write them out as you come across them and repeat to yourself that all foods fit at all times. Remember that intuitive eating is messy and looks inconsistent sometimes and that’s ok. Remember not to eat out habit. I had the hardest time coming back to intuitive eating in my new body after baby or after breast feeding. I had developed eating patterns and habits that weren’t serving me after Aiden was born. I needed to re-learn my body, my cues, and my responses to food. They had changed, and that’s ok too. It is normal and expected for your eating habits to change as you change. It is a constant learning process that is ever-changing and ever-exciting. 🙂