Healthy Summer: 3 Simple Eating Tips

Have you ever wondered why your healthy eating habits seem to vanish the moment temperatures rise? Summer brings unique nutritional challenges that can derail even the most dedicated health enthusiasts.

The warm weather creates a perfect storm of obstacles. Outdoor barbecues tempt us with processed foods. Increased social gatherings disrupt our regular meal schedules. Higher activity levels demand more strategic fueling choices.

In this video, I want to give you 6 useful tips for intuitive eating. What is the mindset of someone who is eating intuitively, who honors and listens to their body and is free from food rules and restrictions?

What is intuitive eating?

Intuitive eating is based on listening and trusting your body as a whole. It’s free from rules restriction and control. It’s free from diet mentality, free from shame and guilt around eating. You eat by listening to your body’s signals, hunger/fullness, cravings/satiation, emotions/feelings, you eat what you enjoy and also honor your body’s nutritional needs. Intuitive eating is not centered around weight loss or weight control but rather restoring your relationship between food and your body regardless of your size or weight. Its purpose is not perfectionism but about achieving physical and mental wellbeing regards to food and eating.

1. Stop the “good and bad food” mindset!

Intuitive eating is free from guilt and shame around food and does not see food as either “good or bad”. All food is equal and it does not reflect your morality or personality. You don't eat based on food judgment but rather based on your body cues and needs.

2. Eat in the moment, do not think of the past or future.

Thinking what you ate the night before or what you will eat tomorrow or the next meal can be part of the diet mentality. We think about how “bad” we were yesterday by eating that extra slice of pie and now feel like we should eat less to compensate. Rather than fully enjoying the pizza we are eating right now we already think about how we should moderate our food tomorrow in order to “balance out” the pizza.

3. Eat what you really want!

Eating what you crave is part of honoring your body’s signals. Rather than trying to eat what you think you “should” try to ask yourself “if all food is available to me right now, then what do I really want to eat? What will make me full and satisfied the best in this moment?” and then go and eat whatever you want!

4. Enjoy your food!

If you eat what you really want then you also have a full permission to do it without shame and guilt and actually enjoy the food you eat! We are so used to gulping the delicious food down like it’s the last time we are ever gonna eat it. And in this process, we even forget to properly taste the food and enjoy its sensations - texture, aromas, all the different flavors and even the visual appearance. You are allowed to enjoy your food and feel good when eating.

5. Go through trial and error process, learn what works for you!

Becoming an intuitive eater is definitely a learning process. For every individual intuitive eating is a bit different - what they enjoy eating and what satisfies their hunger the best in the moment, what are their personal preferences around food and eating, how does the hunger and fullness signals feel in their body. Intuitive eating is not based on rules and restrictions, rather learning to listen to your body and then choosing what is best for you!

6. Let go of perfectionism in eating!

There is no such thing as “perfect eating”. Perfectionism in eating is part of the diet mentality. Intuitive eating is not the same every day. Sometimes you may overeat but this does not mean you have been “bad”. Or sometimes you undereat because of work stress but this does not mean you have gone back to restriction. Sometimes we need to be flexible with foods and this can mean we won’t get to eat the most satisfying meal but rather what is available. We do not live in perfectly organized lives or in the perfect world and therefore the eating also should not be expected to be perfect. Remember, it’s not another diet where you “fail” but it’s a way of eating that needs to be sustainable for the rest of your life. Perfectionism is not sustainable or even possible.

If you want to learn more about recovery you can take my FREE video course “6 Steps To Recover From An Eating Disorder” or read my step by step recovery book “BrainwashED: Diet-Induced Eating Disorders. How You Got Sucked In And How To Recover.”