Episode 001 – The Intuitively You Podcast
My Story Repairing my Relationship with Food with Intuitive Eating
In this first episode of the Intuitively You Podcast, I chat with you about my own struggles with food, repairing my relationship with food, and how I’ve gotten to where I am today. Diet culture impacted me when I was young and made me feel as though I needed to strive to make my body different. And in what way could I control that? By manipulating food. I tried so many diets, meal plans, programs, and exercise regimes (from 21-Day Fix to Kayla Itsine’s BBG and everything else in between), but nothing seemed to get me to my “ideal body.” I was left with a broken and miserable relationship with food until everything changed. Tune into this episode to find out what made me repair my relationship with food and finally ditch the diet cycle rollercoaster! Be sure to tune into the podcast above to listen to the full conversation.
The Beginning of a Broken Relationship with Food
Though I didn’t grow up in a household with food rules, little bits of diet culture would sneak in every once in a while. I can still distinctly remember the first time I felt self-conscious about my body. It all began in dance class while trying on our costumes. Looking in the mirror, I realized my body was different than the other girls. I felt…bigger. As I aged, I became even more aware of my insecurities and constantly felt like I needed to change my body.
As a teenager, I started to see more messages, images and concepts of the “thin ideal.” Social media only progressed this idea and made me feel like I needed to be smaller to have the “perfect body.” I forced myself to try endless dieting and exercise programs to achieve this certain body type and every time inevitably resulted in a feeling of failure. All this led to restricting, overeating, binge eating, and yes, sometimes even purging. And unfortunately, this cycle continued for years and years. I didn’t even realize I had a problem and honestly, no one else noticed either. I thought my problem was food, but from what I know now, food wasn’t the problem.
How I Began My Journey to Food Freedom
Things started to turn around for me when I was in a yoga class. I remember the specific yoga class perfectly, that’s how (as cheesy as it sounds) life-changing it was! The yoga instructor in this class was talking about body respect and mindfulness. This made me realize how poorly I was actually treating my body. I knew that I needed to embrace this whole idea of body respect, and so it started. I began to practice mindfulness and intuitive eating and let me tell you it did not feel very intuitive at first. It took practice, mistakes, reverting back to old ways, and trying again to fully understand it. This journey of repairing my relationship with food eventually led to me pursuing a career as a Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. Mind you this is the condensed version of the journey and it was not easy!
I can now proudly say that I am an Intuitive Eating Registered Dietitian working with folks to help them repair their relationship with food as well. Because, as I mention in this episode – you, YES YOU, can find peace with food and your body too.
Key Points to Repairing My Relationship with Food
Some takeaways from this episode for you:
- If you struggle with similar things, it’s not your fault.
- Dieting will always lead you back to being stuck in the diet-binge cycle.
- If you feel out of control around found, you can turn it around too. It was possible for me, it’s been possible for many of my clients, and it’s possible for you.
Beginning your journey toward practicing intuitive eating, will not be easy, but it will help you towards living your best most fulfilling life. If you want to get started with some small steps forward, download my free guide to mindful eating here.
Jenn is a non-diet Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor that helps women overcome binge eating, overeating, and emotional eating so that they can embody their version of food freedom. Jenn is dedicated to helping guide her clients and community to leave all of the “shoulds” of diet culture in the past and find confidence in their own inner wisdom to guide their eating decisions, increase their self-worth, and embody their most authentic selves.
