Intentional Intuitive Eating II: the penny theory

I want you to think of a penny. Are you picturing it?

Perfect.

Now, I want you to turn it over in your hands, noticing the word YES marked clearly on one side and the word NO, boldly labelled on the other. 

I’d like you to imagine throwing that penny up in the air - seeing how high you can make the YES go. 

Yup. That’s it. 

Really throw that baby.

I want you to notice that the NO goes as high as the YES. Not more, not less.

Exactly as high as the YES goes, each and every time.

Now, let’s do something different:

I want you to hold that penny tightly in your hand. Keep the YES still, confined, locked up - and notice that the NO is locked and confined as well.

This, my lovely lemon loaf, is how I help women work through Myth #2 of Intuitive Eating: the misconception that IE teaches you to eat everything in front of you or everything that crosses your mind, at all the times, no matter what. 

Many a woman has gotten stuck at a point in the IE process when this feels like the truth - eating every she sees, unable to stop, feeling messy and uncomfortable and anything but intuitive. 

“I have a NO problem!!” she’ll shout at me from her Zoom room.

“I've lost my NO!!!!”

And then the spiral of I can’t do this, this can’t be right this isn’t healthy, what a crock of sh&t, etc begins. 

It's impossible to be intentional with your intuitive eating if you don’t feel like you can say no to anything - I think we can agree on that. 

What’s important to remember here is - the penny. 

Your ability to say no - to stretch and bend and soar in your decision making - is directly correlated to your ability to say YES.

And most women have never been taught how to say a full, whole-hearted yes.

When you don’t know how to say yes to your hunger, or appetite or desires (when it comes to food and so much more) - your YES is stifled.

Under the guise of medical advice and being healthy, and "keeping your weight in check" - you've likely been encouraged to live in a near constant state of low-grade to mach-10 YES RESISTANCE your whole life. 

When your YES is cooped up in your sweaty palm, unable to breathe or see the light of day… well, guess what? That’s where your no is stuck too.

Because of this - we tend to spend the early phases of IE reclaiming YES and learning how to play with it again. To throw it up and catch it with confidence. But WOOOOHOOO can it feel like Space Mountain on steroids. When that YES is soaring through the air, it feels like it might never come back, like you might never catch it, like it’s gonna fly out of reach - taking your NO along with it. 

This is not the end.

It's not the goal of IE or the ideal outcome.

This messy bit is just schooling you in how to DISCERN - to use your YES and your NO equally and effectively. Knowing that they are connected and directly related. 

If you’re under the assumption that IE is a free for all - you’re missing the point of IE and the importance of a really big step in the process. Let's fix that.

Stay tuned for next week when I break down Myth #3 - the last of the big misconceptions that get in the way of Intention Intuitive Eating.. and then, the following week I'll share next steps for those looking to take their IE to the next level.

XO

Jill