Nurture Notes- January 2019
You and your body are worthy of love and respect.
Photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels via Canva free photos
Welcome to Nurture Notes*, a discussion about how to use the principles of Intuitive Eating to nurture your whole self.
Welcome 2019! I thought we would start the new year with a positive message- you and your body are worthy of love and respect. In January (a.k.a. the month of New Year’s resolutions and national dieting month) we are inundated with messages encouraging us to change our physical appearance or “work on improving” other aspects of ourselves. The implicit message is that neither our physical appearance, nor our person, is good enough as is. We are sold quick fixes like new diets, new workout plans, and new apps/devices to make ourselves “better”. Quick fixes don’t help us get in touch with our innate needs and desires. New eating plans, gym memberships, fitness trackers, etc. encourage reliance on external cues (e.g., expert advice, numbers) which distracts us from our real needs. What feelings are you avoiding by try to “fix” yourself? What real needs do you have that are not getting met?
Nurturing your whole self includes respecting your physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual needs. Only you can determine what your needs and desires are. Identifying and meeting your own needs is different that trying to fix yourself. January resolutions and quick fixes are band-aid solutions. Consider the following analogy: Putting a small band-aid over a deep wound might stop the bleeding short-term, but will not help with long-term wound healing. Diets may make you feel better in the short-term; however, your real needs (e.g., wanting to be accepted) are not getting healed by short-term fixes like a diet.
I have created a free mini-course focused on “hitting diet rock bottom.” If you, or someone you know, has tried numerous quick fixes for weight loss, and are still struggling with body dissatisfaction, this course is for you! The mini-course invites you to take a deeper look at the problem you are trying to solve (or feelings you are avoiding) by losing weight. The course is self-paced. I strongly encourage you to take your time with the journaling exercises, put your pen to the paper, and start writing. All you need is a notebook or journal, something to write with, and a willingness to consider a new perspective. If you find the course helpful, please send it to a friend or loved one.
Here is a copy of the mini-course: