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Create a relaxed and happy eating environment—

practice intuitive eating!

This section is particularly near and dear to my heart.

Learning how to have a truly healthy relationship

with food can be a lifelong journey, and it’s one that

I’m still on! But I have figured out something crucial

in the last few years, which is that our behavior

around food isn’t about the food. It’s about the way

we approach the eating experience, and it’s about

our perspectives in relation to food. Once I digested

this (pun intended!), I realized the importance of

becoming an intuitive eater, which allows me to focus

on what my body really needs, instead of what my

brain thinks it should or wants it to need. Below you

will find my top tips and tricks for intuitive eating.

It is very difficult to become an intuitive eater

when you’re purchasing most of your food through

Postmates or grabbing it already packaged up in

shiny plastic. On the other hand, when you cook

your food from scratch, you can constantly tweak

and adjust and try new things, which is the best way

to know what works for you and your body. And if

you’ve struggled with your mindset around food, you

might also struggle with your mindset about cooking.

So I’ve included a list here of the top “Cooking

Mindset Myths” I’ve heard throughout my career,

as well as the truths that debunk them.

Intuitive Eating

A lot of us have heard of it, and pretty much all of

us like the sound of it . . . I mean, it’s a good thing,

right? Right. But the real question is, what does it

mean? What the gosh-darn-heck does it mean to

“eat intuitively”?

“Intuitive eating” is the reliance on physiologic

hunger and satiety cues to guide eating. Studies

have shown that the practice of intuitive eating

is correlated with improved mental health and

appropriate BMI (Body Mass Index).

Our culture has become increasingly distant from

real food and its origin. We grab our produce cleaned,

packaged, and presented on glossy supermarket

shelves; that is, when we even reach for produce at

all. Packaged “convenience” foods have become so

popular since the 1960s that now we have a tough time

determining what real food even is. I’d wager than many

people consider most packaged foods to be “real” food.

But most are not. Most packaged foods are full of

additives, chemicals, and synthetic ingredients. In

addition, most are completely devoid of nutrition.

Quite the double whammy, huh?

Even with the blessed rise of health-consciousness

in the US, which has led to a prevalence of health-

supportive packaged foods, there’s still a catch. I’m

sometimes more inclined to grab these boxed and

bagged items because they aren’t terrible for me.

Unfortunately, however, my body doesn’t respond

to such products in the same way as it does to

real foods. I don’t feel satiated and often want to

keep eating even if I’ve already consumed a high-

calorie meal. Many people are now overfed and

undernourished. Hunger and malnutrition are no

longer just the result of a calorie deficit, but instead

can result from a poor-quality diet.

Two decades into the 21st century, I believe that

“intuitive eating” has become a buzz phrase because

we’re recognizing this problem. The dieting culture

and encouragement of powders, pills, and bars seem

to have made it more difficult to know when we’re

truly nourished.

If this resonates with you, please know that you

haven’t done anything wrong. You’ve been set up for

this struggle, and there’s no blame game allowed,

only baby steps to proceed. Here are my top tips for

learning to tune into your body, tune out the social

media noise, and learn how to notice, decipher, and

trust your hunger cues.