Episode 064 – The Intuitively You Podcast

Intuitive Eating for a Busy Life 

You want to implement intuitive eating into your life, but life is just so dang busy! Maybe you have an unpredictable schedule. Maybe you have a lot of responsibilities and chaos happening around you all the time. If you catch yourself saying “I just don’t have enough time,” then I want you to really dive into this article all about how to practice intuitive eating for a busy life! 

Whether you have a demanding job, work shift work, have little ones to take care of, or life is just a lot, this episode is for you. I’m going to break it down for you and give you some tips of how you can still work towards your goals, even when life is busy. 

The Limiting Belief of “Not Enough Time” 

The thought of “I don’t have enough time” is one that can be often thought of as a limiting belief. However, I do feel it’s really important to mention that feeling like you just don’t have enough time can be very true and real depending on what is going on in your life at the time. Maybe there are different seasons and phases of your life where working towards goals, like food freedom, are more or less doable for you. And that’s okay. 

I totally resonate with that limiting belief and feeling of not having enough time even myself that will creep in from time to time. That doesn’t feel so great when you know what you want to do, but don’t feel like you have enough time to do it. 

“What got you here, won’t get you there” 

– Marshall Goldsmith

For example, if you’re struggling in your relationship with food, and you don’t take any time to work on intuitive eating, how can things change? Nothing changes, if nothing changes. If we just keep going with the status quo, and don’t make creating time to work on our goals a priority, we likely won’t be able to reach our goals. Maybe a little tough love here, but I also want you to think about this in a way that’s within your means and what’s doable for you in your life right now. Plus, I’ve got tips for you below on exactly how to do that! 

There are ways to make things happen, sneak things in, find some time, and do the work to progress towards your goals. Especially your goal of a healthier relationship with food! 

Reasons Intuitive Eating can be Hard 

Some common reasons people feel this lack of time could be things like:

• A demanding job
• Working multiple jobs
• Working shift work
• You have little ones
• You’re taking care of a loved one
• Have a lot of responsibilities
• Just LIFE… being an adult, lol! 

Maybe you’re working multiple jobs or you work long hours. Maybe you work shift work, and that feels so confusing to practice intuitive eating with when its busy and all over the place. This is one that I’ve worked with lots of clients on, that can get tricky to navigate without support and tailoring things to you and your life. Maybe you have little ones at home and that doesn’t allow you to sit down and think during the day, and especially not around meals. Or really just being an adult taking care of yourself and taking care of everything else going on can feel like a lot and it can feel overwhelming. 

With all that being said, if you feel like you just can’t practice intuitive eating because life is so busy, you’re not alone! And I’m going to give you some strategies to dive into to help you through this.

How to Practice Intuitive Eating, Even When Life Gets Busy 

Let’s go through some of my top tips of how to practice intuitive eating, even when life gets busy. I do want to preface this by saying a general understanding of intuitive eating and what kind of things you’re going to be working towards would be great to have first. This post is all about how to make those goals happen. For a look into *what* goals to actually set, you can learn more about the basics of intuitive eating in this podcast episode.  

1. Take a look at your typical schedule

First, before you do anything else, I want you to get clear on your typical schedule. Take a moment to think about what your typical week looks like:  

• Do you always have certain days off? 
• When is your most undisturbed free time? 
• If you do shift work, how long are your shifts typically? 
• What free time is a priority for other things in your life (family, friends, fun, etc.) 

Once you have a clearer idea of your typical schedule, then you can use that to figure out how much time you have to give. Even if it’s just 5 minutes, that’s totally okay! And decide when you’re going to make time to pursue your intuitive eating goals. 

2. Make a game plan for baseline nourishment

Baseline nourishment with intuitive eating, even if you’re busy, looks like (roughly) 3 meals per day with snacks in between. With that being said, let’s reflect on a few things here: 

• What’s the simplest pathway to ensure you’re getting 3 meals/day and snacks in? Is it…
  • Having an idea of what you’re going to eat in the week? 
  • Meal batching? 
  • Leaning on convenience?
  • Eating out on days where you just can’t get to cooking? 

You need to lean into whatever works for you. Then, you can make YOUR game plan that fits into your life. 

An important note here too – convenience does not mean those foods are “bad.” If convenience foods are the only option that you can do to nourish your body, that’s totally okay! Just lean into choosing whatever convenient foods make you feel your best. 

3. Prioritizing eating even if you’re busy 

Would you take your car for a drive if it was on Empty? Probably not. So why are you out here trying to get through your day without eating? No wonder your energy dips and you feel so snacky in the afternoon.

Even if you’re busy, you need to prioritize eating those consistent meals and snacks like we talked about above. Scheduled the times into your calendar if you have to. Set alarms if you have to. Whatever you need to do to make this happen, do it! It’s a priority if you want to foster a healthy relationship with food.

4. Have go-to easy meals and snacks 

To make this even easier, I want you to embrace having a solid list of go-to’s. What are the most simple things for you to keep on hand? Let me give you some of my favs: 

A go-to easy snack – I pretty well always have a bar of some kind in my bag or purse. No matter where I go I keep a bar on hand just in case something takes longer than I expected. Then, I’m able to have a snack and stop myself getting overly hungry. 

A go-to easy meal – One of my personal favourite simple meals is a kitchen sink stir fry. I take a simple protein like pre-cooked chicken or beans (or both), make some rice, and heat up a pack of frozen stir fry veggies. Then I add it all together with a simple soy sauce dressing. This is like a fail proof easy meal for me. I always try to keep all of these ingredients on hand. Then when I’m in more of a pinch or forget to make an other plan I have this to fall back on. 

What are your go-to easy meals and snacks? Make a list!

5. Practice slowing down amidst the chaos 

If you live a busy life, it’s likely feeling somewhat chaotic. Because of that you likely don’t take enough time to slow down and listen to yourself! We can’t “hear” our bodies if we don’t slow down. 

Take a deep breath and pause from time to time, it’ll do wonders. And this doesn’t have to be an hour long silent meditation. It could be 30 seconds of deep breathing that allows you to connect back to yourself.

You might have to train yourself to do this in the beginning because you’re not used to it. The more you slow down, the more in-tune with your body and it’s cues you’ll become. 

6. Reflect when it works for your busy life 

A big part of intuitive eating is reflection. If reflecting during or right after your meal times doesn’t work for you, when does it work for you? 

This takes us back to referring to your typical schedule. When in your upcoming week could you take a moment to reflect on your intuitive eating journey in your busy life? Even if you just have 5 minutes to spare before you relax after putting the kids down to bed. Find a time that works for you, and commit to it!

7. Create a habit of checking in with yourself

If you want change to be lasting, making checking in with yourself a habit will serve you. If you’re not checking in with yourself, how are you going to get in-touch with your inner wisdom to guide becoming more of an intuitive eater? It would likely be very tricky! 

Just like reflection, checking in with yourself and your body periodically throughout the day is a key part of getting more in-tune with your body’s cues. Maybe your habit is taking a deep breath before you start eating your meal. Or maybe it looks like you take a moment to ask yourself how you’re feeling between meetings. Whatever it is, pick one certain time of day where you’ll check in with yourself. Stick to it, and repeat it so that it becomes more like a habit. 

Next Steps – Intuitive Eating for a Busy Life

If you’re struggling with incorporating intuitive eating into your busy life, this is something I love to support my clients with. A couple of options available to you:

• If you live in Ontario, check out ongoing 1:1 nutrition counselling support
• Embodied Food Freedom is a highly supportive small group coaching program that’s available worldwide 
• Or checkout all of our current intuitive eating coaching offerings here.