A fress-mess…or a dance-fest?

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of “Intuitive Eating”?

For many people, they think it means eating whatever you want, and that they’ll be stuffing their faces with chocolate all day.

It’s true that one of the principles of Intuitive Eating is “Make Peace With Food”, meaning, there’s room for all foods in balanced eating.

At a glance it seems like this is opening us up to a grand “fress-mess” as I like to call it.

If we just focused on the principle of “Make Peace With Food”, only fixating on allowing every kind of food, then that WOULD be one big fress-mess. That would mean that you’re not focusing on your hunger, your satiety, your emotional state, your dieting thoughts, or your nutritional needs.

When we isolate each principle of Intuitive Eating and eat following only that principle, it’s kind of like being in dance rehearsal.

You learn one move from the dance and practice it again and again and again.

It doesn’t look very pretty when you’re only waving your arm back and forth.

When that arm wave is incorporated with jumps, kicks, twirls, costumes, and smiles, it becomes part of a beautiful synergized dance.

When we get started on the journey of Intuitive Eating, it can feel like a dance rehearsal.

Awkward, repetitive, confusing, will-this-ever-make-sense.

“What did you learn in dance practice tonight, Sweetie?”

“Oh, um, we learned how to wave our arms like this!”

“What?! That’s not a dance!”

And it’s not.

A dance is built on an elegantly choreographed set of moves.

You gotta start somewhere, though. With those awkward arm waves.

And it’s difficult to explain to an outsider how this is part of a bigger, synchronized picture.

Eventually, all of those different elements slowly become incorporated until they’re second nature.

The principles of Intuitive Eating work together in tandem.

On their own, they are clunky and awkward.

As the principles gel and truly become intuitive, you enter into a graceful dance.

It takes practice to get there.

Keep practicing.

One awkward arm wave at a time.

How does your Intuitive Eating dance look right now? Please share in the comments below. I’d love to hear!