After my 4 year struggle with binge eating, trying desperately to regain the control around food I had at the beginning of my fitness journey, I was fucking done.
I finally realized that RESTRICTION was the root cause - my missing periods, uncontrollable urges to eat anything in sight, and chronic constipation and boat were clear evidence of that.
But I didn’t know HOW to eat anymore without rules, calorie targets, or a specific diet plan to follow.
So I read the book Intuitive Eating and tried to start implementing the principles:
Reject the diet mentality!
Give yourself unconditional permission to eat!
Honor your hunger!
Feel your fullness!
This all made sense. But when I tried to do these things I felt lost and confused.
“Am I really hungry or just bored?”
“I just ate an hour ago but I’m thinking about food a lot…I can’t be hungry again?”
“Okay…” *puts down fork mid-meal to assess fullness level* “I guess I’m full…but I still want to keep eating. Fuck it. Let’s just open the floodgates and eat everything.”
The binges improved a bit, but still continued.
Can you relate to this??
It’s something I see frequently in my clients.
I tend to work with women who are very fitness-focused, Type-A, perfectionistic and goal-oriented. They tend towards anxiety and overthinking.
I attract you because I AM YOU 😅 - and I’ve found that we need a slightly different approach to the Intuitive Eating framework.
When I made these shifts (that I’m sharing with you in this episode), and when my clients make them:
Binges IMMEDIATELY stop, food thoughts between meals disappear, periods return on average within 3 months, digestion improves, hunger/cravings hit a peak before settling to their “normal” levels AND…drumroll please 🥁…you develop a normal + healthy relationship with food where you can prioritize fitness and physique goals in a way that is actually achievable and does not cause food to consume your life.
Here are the shifts:
1️⃣Fully break the diet mindset - don’t try to satisfy hunger with the “lower calorie” option. This process is not about minimizing calories at all. Trust that your body will decrease your hunger and desire for food overtime when it’s got what it needs.
2️⃣Focus on eating what you want, when you want, until you don't want it anymore. Don’t overanalyze - if there’s even a question if you want to eat or not, err on the side of EATING.
3️⃣Erase the word “overeating” from your vocabulary - there is only eating what you want and eating until you feel genuinely satisfied, and yes that might mean your stomach is pretty damn full in the early stages.
4️⃣Honor all forms of hunger - those that show up in your mind (desires for food) as well as body.
Hope this helps!
If you want to hear more about my personal story with this (as someone who is now 6 years binge-free and able to prioritize fitness and fat loss goals in a way that does not trigger food anxiety, binge urges or missing periods)
+ more details on all things discussed in these shownotes - listen to the full episode!
Contact me:
DM me on Instagram @elenakunickird
Email me at elena@elenakunicki.com
✨ Click here to learn more + apply for 1:1 coaching: bit.ly/elenakwebsite
Resources for this episode:
Past episodes where I share my story:
Intuitive Eating Principles: https://www.intuitiveeating.org/about-us/10-principles-of-intuitive-eating/
Past episode on emotional eating: https://elenakunicki.libsyn.com/how-to-stop-an-emotional-binge-qa-with-elena
Past episode on “mental hunger”: https://elenakunicki.libsyn.com/why-you-cant-stop-thinking-about-food-how-to-stop