Eat Without Guilt » Intuitive Eating

How To Eat Like a Naturally Thin Person

Dinneen — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:31:06 +0000

The other weekend I was at a friend’s house for a party, when all of a sudden a woman came up to me and said “You’re having a piece of cake?” “Yes,” I said, “and I’m enjoying every single bite.” The woman then replied, “Oh, you must be one of those naturally thin people…I can’t even look at a piece of cake and not put on 5 pounds!” Little did this woman know that for at least half of my life I dealt with overeating, emotional eating, binge eating, and yo-yo dieting. Quite often people see me eating a guilty food, see that I’m at a normal weight — so they just assume I’m a “naturally thin person.” What people don’t realize is that now, I have a relaxed relationship with food. And that was the turning point for me. Changing my relationship with food. So much of what I learned about food,… Read more

What the Diet Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know

Dinneen — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:14:22 +0000

I’ve seen too many women spend years dieting, spending hundreds (more like thousands) of dollars on weight-loss programs and diets. And having self-esteem issues because they just ‘can’t follow the diet.’ Well, you might not like hearing this, but… The multibillion dollar diet industry thrives on your failure. They need you to keep coming back to them for business. The diet and weight-loss industry is built on repeat business. It would be a very short-lived business if we all succeeded the first time. And let’s face it, if they could really show you how to lose weight AND keep it off — you wouldn’t have to keep purchasing their products, attend their meetings, and buying their special foods. And some of the “big name” diet and weight-loss organizations are owned by food companies ….(makes you think, huh?). Americans alone spend over $55 billion (yup, Billion!) dollars a YEAR on weight-loss products. And as a nation we keep… Read more

Have Your Pizza and Eat It Too

Dinneen — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:44:36 +0000

The other evening I went out to dinner with my husband when something really struck me that I wanted to share with you… I looked over at the next table and saw a young girl who had a piece of pizza on the plate in front of her. I saw the mother trying to coax her to eat, but the girl was just too interested in looking around, saying hi to other people in the restaurant, and she even got up to check out flowers in the restaurant. Then she went back to her seat, started talking to her brother, and then finally (after about 5 minutes) she took her first bite of pizza. And then it hit me — that’s what Intuitive Eating (also called mindful eating) is all about. About getting back to that place where *life* is more interesting and fulfilling that food isn’t so important anymore.… Read more

Will Work For Food

Dinneen — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:30:53 +0000

A few weeks ago I had a bit on an epiphany. It was after lunch. I had eaten a small lunch so a few hours later was hungry and decided to have some of the nuts my husband had bought. But these weren’t a can or container of nuts. These were “real” nuts. You know, the kind with the shell still on them? There were Brazil nuts, almonds, and walnuts. So I took a handful and started opening them one-by-one with a nutcracker (let me remind you I haven’t done this in years). As I was doing this I realized I was putting effort into eating. In other words, I had to WORK to get my food. And anyone who has opened nuts with a nutcracker knows that it takes time. With the time and effort it took, after about five minutes I had eaten about only 7 or 8… Read more

The Magic Answer to Your Weight Struggle is Closer Than You Think

Dinneen — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:03:32 +0000

It seems every time I turn on the TV, there’s news of some celebrity, personality or public figure and their battle of the bulge and war on losing weight and KEEPING it off. Many of us can relate. Even Oprah. Yes, Oprah I wrote about Oprah’s weight gain (and losses) last year here in my blog. Many people in the spotlight, like Oprah — and even past winners of the reality show The Biggest Loser — can’t seem to keep the weight off. They lose, then gain, lose, and then gain again. And it’s the same for many of us! What the heck is going on? For one thing, we keep looking to external factors to determine what and how much to eat. We’ve spent years listening to others to tell us what to eat, so we’ve been disconnected from our bodies. If we listen to our bodies correctly, it tells… Read more

Do You Know How to Listen to Your Hunger?

Dinneen — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:25:13 +0000

You’ve probably heard over and over again “eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full.” Good advice, but often people tell me that they don’t even know what hungry feels like. They either feel hungry all to time, or can’t decipher if their “hunger” is true hunger or emotional hunger. Many people on their weight-loss journey have lost their ability to even know what real (ie biological) hunger feels like. And it’s more common than you think. The Clock Strikes 12 For some people it’s simply because they’ve never allowed themselves to be hungry. They eat all the time. Or they eat simply because it’s meal-time. The clock say’s 12 noon so they just eat. They’re not really hungry, but they’ve been eating at this time for so long they actually think they’re hungry. But their body isn’t giving them the signals. They have just been on… Read more

To Count or Not To Count (calories, that is) – That is The Question

Dinneen — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:48:01 +0000

A conversation started between me and some other people on (and off) Twitter today. It all started when my friend at Miz Fit Online blogged about what she eats, because a lot people are curious and want to know. She talks about how personally she doesn’t count calories or points, doesn’t go hungry, doesn’t think about macronutrients, but instead ’eats clean.’ She says: “The cleaner you eat the more calories you can consume while not gaining weight.” In short, for her, eating clean is: “High quality foods which are as free as you can get them of not-found-in-nature additives.” And I do the same. She also says how people are sometimes surprised that she doesn’t eat like a bird. And I don’t eat like a bird either (people are often shocked when they see I eat like a ‘normal’ person). In her post, Miz Fit also said: “a… Read more

The Inside Scoop on Losing Weight

Dinneen — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:54:49 +0000

Women (and some men) all over the world have been talking about Oprah these past few weeks, and her constant battle of the bulge and war on losing weight and KEEPING it off. Many of us can relate. I even wrote about Oprah’s weight gain last month in my blog. Many people in the spotlight, like Oprah (and winners of the reality show The Biggest Loser) can’t seem to keep the weight off. They lose, then gain, lose, and then gain again. And it’s the same for many of us! What the heck is going on? For one thing, we keep looking to external factors to determine what and how much to eat. We’ve spent years listening to others to tell us what to eat, so we’ve been disconnected from our bodies. If we listen to our bodies correctly, it tells us what to eat. The problem is, we’ve… Read more