How I Started Intuitive Eating and Recovered From Eating Disorders
Posted Mar 07 2011 9:22am
For a decade I was a compulsive dieter, anorexic, binge eater and bulimic. I went through every stage and manifestation of an eating disorder and knew quite a lot about them all.
What I did not know about, however, was the concept of intuitive eating. I thought it was some kind of magical thinking, something that was available to chosen special people, and certainly something that could never work for me.
I was convinced that what would eventually work … one day… was an effective diet, a restrictive eating plan that would get me really thin and then I would be completely happy and be able to start eating a little bit more because I would be so thin that it wouldn’t matter.
This day never came, after 10 long years of trying. I always had the hope that “ this one last diet ” would work, or that if I just worked out even harder I would get the results and possibly be even able to eat more ( I was obsessed with food).
But the endless diets – ranging from cabbage soup to lemon juice fasts just kept failing and were wearing me down. I just did not have the energy anymore to keep trying and I had lost the motivation. In the end I was just a hopeless binge eater – not even bothered to purge, with no desire to workout, diet or even live.
At this point I realized that what I really wanted was to just be a “normal eater”, or an intuitive eater as it is more commonly referred to. I had massive fears about this.
Would I gain weight?
Would I be fat and miserable?
Would I just be completely out of control?
Would I just keep eating high calorie food endlessly?
I’m sure that most people who have considered this approach have the same fears. The good news is this: none of that happened.
Yes it was tricky at first and intuitive eating went completely against my preconditioned thinking, but there was also hope. I had met a few people that were natural intuitive eaters, I observed their eating behavior and noticed that they never gained weight, they ate what they wanted and they lived with zero obsessions about food and their weight.
This is exactly what I wanted.
Intuitive Eating – Where to Begin?
I knew that intuitive eating would be my ticket to freedom and recovery from eating disorders. But where do I begin? Do I just start eating everything that I want?
It started off slow and I had to be very careful as I was vulnerable and pretty much brainwashed by the diet mentality.
I started off just adding a few things each week that I actually wanted to eat
I spent a lot more time eating out with people (as opposed to binge eating massive amounts if food at home alone)
I kept the bare minimum of food in the house initially
I worked on relieving the obsession by not reading weight loss magazines and web sites
I stopped constantly talking about food and weight loss
I visualized on a daily basis what my complete eating disorder recovery and intuitive eating would look like.
These were the initial changes I had to make. To my surprise the freedom and relief came pretty quickly. The less I focused on food plans, weight loss and eating “healthy” , the less obsessed I was.
Within a few months it was as though the obsession had completely left me, I lost weight naturally and most importantly I didn’t care. I was just SO RELIEVED to be free of the obsession and to be able to fill my mind with things that I actually enjoyed.
I would say that within that first year I experienced full eating disorder recovery. I was no longer obsessed, I had not had a binge and I hardly ever thought about food.
I was not fat and miserable.
I was not eating out of control.
I didn’t just eat high calorie food
I had complete freedom from the mental obsession and physical compulsion.
I wish the same recovery and freedom for everyone.
I will be releasing my Recover From Eating Disorders eBook this week with 80 pages of the exact steps that I took to recover, as well as 2 free eBooks about the top 20 questions about recovery and my 4 year journey in intuitive eating. You can sign up to be notified of the release here .
I hope this can inspire anyone who is in that hopeless place. If it worked for me it can work for you! I am sure of this.
To your recovery and freedom
Nina
PS Feel free to leave comments and ask any specific questions. I am here to do all that I can to help you.
What I did not know about, however, was the concept of intuitive eating. I thought it was some kind of magical thinking, something that was available to chosen special people, and certainly something that could never work for me.
I was convinced that what would eventually work … one day… was an effective diet, a restrictive eating plan that would get me really thin and then I would be completely happy and be able to start eating a little bit more because I would be so thin that it wouldn’t matter.
This day never came, after 10 long years of trying. I always had the hope that “ this one last diet ” would work, or that if I just worked out even harder I would get the results and possibly be even able to eat more ( I was obsessed with food).
But the endless diets – ranging from cabbage soup to lemon juice fasts just kept failing and were wearing me down. I just did not have the energy anymore to keep trying and I had lost the motivation. In the end I was just a hopeless binge eater – not even bothered to purge, with no desire to workout, diet or even live.
At this point I realized that what I really wanted was to just be a “normal eater”, or an intuitive eater as it is more commonly referred to. I had massive fears about this.
I’m sure that most people who have considered this approach have the same fears. The good news is this: none of that happened.
Yes it was tricky at first and intuitive eating went completely against my preconditioned thinking, but there was also hope. I had met a few people that were natural intuitive eaters, I observed their eating behavior and noticed that they never gained weight, they ate what they wanted and they lived with zero obsessions about food and their weight.
This is exactly what I wanted.
Intuitive Eating – Where to Begin?
I knew that intuitive eating would be my ticket to freedom and recovery from eating disorders. But where do I begin? Do I just start eating everything that I want?
It started off slow and I had to be very careful as I was vulnerable and pretty much brainwashed by the diet mentality.
These were the initial changes I had to make. To my surprise the freedom and relief came pretty quickly. The less I focused on food plans, weight loss and eating “healthy” , the less obsessed I was.
Within a few months it was as though the obsession had completely left me, I lost weight naturally and most importantly I didn’t care. I was just SO RELIEVED to be free of the obsession and to be able to fill my mind with things that I actually enjoyed.
I would say that within that first year I experienced full eating disorder recovery. I was no longer obsessed, I had not had a binge and I hardly ever thought about food.
I wish the same recovery and freedom for everyone.
I will be releasing my Recover From Eating Disorders eBook this week with 80 pages of the exact steps that I took to recover, as well as 2 free eBooks about the top 20 questions about recovery and my 4 year journey in intuitive eating. You can sign up to be notified of the release here .
I hope this can inspire anyone who is in that hopeless place. If it worked for me it can work for you! I am sure of this.
To your recovery and freedom
Nina
PS Feel free to leave comments and ask any specific questions. I am here to do all that I can to help you.