The alternative to dieting is not eternal binge eating; in fact, dieting is the number one cause of binge-eating. For most people the belief is that they have no self-control, no will power, that without guidelines and diet plans they’ll only eat things that are on their dieting naughty list. I get it, intuitive eating doesn’t sound so appealing if your intuition’s track record with other aspects of life like relationship choices or investments has been less than stellar.

 

Intuitive eating doesn’t sound so doable when you consider that your brain on sugar does in fact crave more sugar and you know that eating “too much” sugar is bad. In my experience it’s the word intuition that throws most people off, understandably so. Let’s use mindful.

 

Mindful eating, like all things, takes practice and effort - but not nearly the effort as dieting and with minimal to no negative side effects.

 

You can’t begin to know how truly powerful your thoughts are. The more a particular thought or belief is activated and reinforced, the stronger these neural pathways become and the more automatically they become our "go to" pattern of perceiving. If you have thought ‘I have no will power, I need to lose weight; over and over and reinforced it with each new diet you’ve created a strong neural pathway that aids you into continuously perceiving yourself as a person who has no will power and needs to lose weight. Considering the fact that no diet fad is actually doable for a lifetime you will quit it eventually - reinforcing the perception that you have no willpower (even though it was the diet that was the problem).

 

When you aren’t actively dieting your neural pathways are so practiced at labeling food ‘good’ or ‘bad’ - ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ you are still in essence dieting. Those neural pathways are still dictating your choices and drowning out your intuition.

 

Most of the population has tried five or more different diets in their lifetime. Imagine this: when it comes to food your neural pathways are activated and reinforced with five different sets of dieting rules and guidelines, the belief that you have no willpower, and the idea that you need to lose weight - even if you are not actively engaged in a diet that is the information, those are the neural pathways, that will dictate your food choices… even on autopilot.

 

Here is the good news: Neuroplasticity. "Neuroplasticity" refers to the fact that our brains have the ability to change our “wiring” - deleting the neural connections that are no longer necessary or useful, and strengthening the necessary one. Not only can we change our point of view, we can change the actual structure of our brain for the better.

 

Mindful eating is what we create through conscious intention. So how does one begin?

 

Step One: Start Fresh… and I’m not talking about produce.

 

The step that is missed most often is ditching the old beliefs. Through mindful eating we bring our experience fresh and new to each present moment and allow our beliefs, fears, and hopes to change based on new input. You can’t step into mindful eating with twenty years worth of diet information or labels like good or bad.

 

Step Two: Trust You

 

Remember the talk about neuroplasticity? Use it. You have the ability to direct your thoughts and feelings through the power of intention. Take the active role in creating and allowing more of what you want in your life. Think of this as your updating process. If you don’t let your iPhone software keep rolling with the old stuff, don’t let your brain do it either. This updating process allows new and different thoughts and feelings to emerge, which result in new behaviors and a new way of experiencing your life. Trust yourself to act in your own best interest and you don’t need “will power”. 

 

Step Three: Act (Eat) In Your Own Best Interest

 

This may sound relative or anecdotal as opposed to an action item but that doesn’t make it any less accurate. The truth is eating should be both active healthcare and an act of pure enjoyment/entertainment. Acting in your own best interest is living inside all of the wonderful space that exists between dieting and binge eating. Acting in your own best interest is like self-parenting - you know you need another cup of water and not another cup of coffee so drink the water. You also know that you need to enjoy (completely guilt free) that delicious pastry over a decadent latte. It’s not one or the other, it’s both.

 

As you practice mindful eating, with conscious intention, we’re utilizing the first two steps 1: fresh and new to each present moment and 2: trusting yourself which in turn makes step three kind of the active practice of “intuitive” eating. Choosing, trusting, and acting in your own best interest in that particular moment… which will look different for different moments… hence the it’s not one or the other, it’s both.

This also means picking up new coping skills for times of emotional turmoil. If you are an emotional eater the first thing I’d like to say is good job! You’ve been practicing self-care. Is it the highest level form of self-care you could choose? Maybe not. And still - you recognized you needed some form of self-care and you chose one.

 

Acting in your own best interest means you continue listening to yourself when you need some form of self-care and choosing high level tools and techniques. The really good news is as you pick up coping skills you’ll find the emotional turmoil loses intensity and frequency as time goes on.

 

Step Four: Release the goal of weight-loss all together. 

 

STAY WITH ME.

 

As you harness this new superpower of conscious intention, living your life with a fresh perspective, present in each moment, trusting yourself and these new neural pathways, and acting in your own best interest you have no need to focus on numbers on a scale.

 

Welcome to all of this beautiful freeing space that exists between dieting and binge eating; letting go of the guilt and being kind to yourself in new and intentional ways; this journey of mindful eating will take practice and effort and the weight you’ll lose in the process could never be measured on a scale.

 

With conscious intention,

 

Melissa