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Intuitive Eating. Health At Every Size Doctor

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How Intuitive Eating Rekindled My Love Of Baking

February 7, 2020 by Kerri Fullerton

Today I needed a break. I’d been at my computer for hours and was starting to feel tired and uninspired.

Meditation didn’t feel right – I was concerned that I’d fall asleep.

I had a walk planned for later.

So I decided to do some baking.

Now, this is a pretty big deal. I remember taking baking breaks while I was studying for my regulatory exams. They were more an emotional distraction than they were a true act of self-care, but that story is for another time…

Today, I turned on the tunes and grabbed my ingredients.

While I bopped around the kitchen, I can’t tell you what I was I thinking about.

I can tell you what I was NOT thinking about.

I was not wondering if I’d:

  • binge on the cookies or the dough
  • done enough exercising to warrant eating cookies
  • been good enough this week to eat cookies
  • get fat from eating cookies
  • get over the guilt for not resisting wanting to bake cookies

If you’ve read my about me page on my site you’ll know that licking a spoon was what killed my last weight-loss attempt. What a stark difference to today where I not only licked the beaters and spatula*, but I also forgot about the cookie dough balls in the freezer!! It was 3 hours later before I even ate a cookie.

*yes I know that eating raw cookie dough comes at a risk – I’m willing to take it

This is one expression of the food freedom that I’ve found. My journey has been anything but a straight line, and the work has been worth it. Intuitive eating has given me the tools that I need to enjoy cookies and not worry about eating all of the cookies. In fact, I freeze the cookie dough balls so that I can bake a few cookies when I want them and they’re fresh and gooey every single time. That alone would have caused serious anxiety during my dieting and binge days. They would’ve called to me every single day. I wouldn’t have waited for them to thaw or to cook before they’d be in my mouth.

Freezing cookie dough balls means freshly baked cookies in under 15 minutes!

So what’s different? Why do I feel safe now?

I learned to practice self-compassion.

Weight loss programs and cultural norms told me that cookies were a sometimes food and that they had to be eaten in moderation and not at all if I believed that I was addicted to sugar (which I did, for a long time). I was trained to be ‘on the wagon’ or off.

Self-compassion gave me the skills to live in the middle.

Unconditional permission to eat.

The third principle of Intuitive Eating is Make Peace with Food. It’s poorly understood and often referred to as Permission to Binge.

Here’s how I understand it:

  • I’m a grown woman with the affluence to access food whenever I want it.
  • I have full autonomy over my food choices.
  • Simply put, I can eat whatever I want.

I also understand that I’m not free of the consequences of eating whatever I want. So I know that if I eat a lot of cookies, I won’t feel well (I’ve done it enough times to know this is true).
Since I respect my body and I want to feel good, I only eat enough cookies to feel satisfied. That number varies every time and knowing that there’s no maximum I can refer to my body to tell me when I’m done.

I honour my hunger and my biological need for food.

Letting myself get over-hungry leaves me more vulnerable to pleasure foods (my term for calorie dense, junk food, fast food, sometimes foods, play foods etc). By eating enough food regularly, I’m not trying to eat a meal of cookies (again, something that I’ve done enough times to know that it doesn’t feel good) and since I’m not starving, I can count on my body to tell me if cookies are what I’d like right now (shocking truth – sometimes I don’t want a cookie even when they’re there)

If you’re new to Intuitive Eating and this still seems impossible, please be patient with yourself. Check out Kristin Neff’s work on Self-compassion. And if you can, find a IE certified counsellor to work with. The nuances of IE are where the magic lies and the freedom exists. That stuff is harder to get by simply reading the book.

Dedicated to helping you find peace and power with your body,

Gluten-free baking tip:

Keep a bowl of water nearby so that you can keep your hands damp while forming the cookie balls. It helps keep the batter from clumping up on your hands.

https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how-to-make/chocolate-chip-cookies-gluten-free-2/

Filed Under: Food Addiction, Intuitive Eating, Recipes Tagged With: food addiction, food freedom, intuitive eating, recipe

Turkey Chilli

October 25, 2019 by Kerri Fullerton

Delicious turkey chilli

I love a warm bowl of chilli on a cool fall day. Or enjoying a thermos full of chilli after a few hours on the slopes. Between the beans and the barley this chilli is packed full of fibre. It’s a wonderful change from the typical beef version.

You will need:

  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 pound lean ground turkey
  • 1/4 cup chilli powder
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried cumin
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 14oz chicken broth (more if necessary)
  • 28oz can of diced tomatoes
  • 3-19oz cans of navy beans
  • 1/2 cup pot barley

In a medium to large saucepan, over medium-high heat, soften onions in olive oil (about 3-5 minutes) then add meat and cook until no pink remains.

Add spices and cook for 1 minute.

Add everything else and simmer for 60-90 minutes.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: healthy recipes, recipe

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