Episode 110: How To Create Structure In Intuitive Eating SOLO EPISODE
Episode 110: How To Create Structure In Intuitive Eating SOLO EPISODE
In this episode we sit down with....your host, Katelyn Parsons.
Katelyn Parsons is a Certified Intuitive Eating + Body Image Coach, Speaker, and host of the weekly podcast, Body Truth.
After years of struggling with bulimia and disordered eating, she not only found recovery but recognized a crucial missing link in the wellness industry- empowerment + individual sustainability around health. This inspired her entrepreneurial journey and life mission to shift the conversation toward healing our relationship with food and body.
For the past 4 years, Katelyn has helped countless creative leaders transform their relationship with food and body image through an integrative, evidence-based process so that they can move through each day feeling more present, empowered, and comfortable in their skin, without worrying about what to eat.
You’ll also find Katelyn snuggled up with her cat or strolling the beach in sunny San Diego with her husband and their pup Winnie.
In this conversation I talk about:
Practical tips for creating structure in your intuitive eating journey
Why structure will benefit your relationship with food and your body
Intuitive eating is highly personal and will look different for everyone
The rebellious period that may arise with intuitive eating
Reflection questions to guide you in your journey
Connect with me...
IG: @katelyn.parsons
Website: katelynparsons.com
Resources we mention in this episode…
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TRANSCRIPTION Episode 110: How To Create Structure In Intuitive Eating SOLO EPISODE
Katelyn:
Hey, welcome back to the show. I'm your host, Katelyn Parsons, I am also a certified health coach, I help ambitious leaders stop binge eating and create easy, empowering relationships with food and themselves. I'm so stoked to be with you today, we are talking about something that I love debunking and getting into when I work with clients, and also just speak around the topic of intuitive eating in general, because a lot of people think that when you start to create an intuitive eating practice, that everything goes out the window, and there's no structure, and it's very hippie dippie, and do whatever you want. And it just can feel really scary at first, especially if you're coming out of diet culture, and you're somebody who is used to having a plan, following rules, following what somebody else is telling you to do, or what somebody else is telling you to eat, or how to eat or what not to eat a highly structured environment. So if you are thinking, Okay, I like the idea of having an intuitive relationship with food and building trust with my body. But I don't think this is for me, because I need a little bit more guidance and structure in my day, you are in the right place. And I am here to spread the word that it's both and that you can make that happen. And I actually recommend creating structure when you're building an intuitive eating practice. So let me let me share how you can do this, as you are healing your relationship with food, and beginning to eat more intuitively and become an intuitive eater. Let me tell you why I think it's so important first, and why I've found it so beneficial for me, and how I've seen this become so beneficial with clients in terms of creating structure around an intuitive eating practice. So if you're thinking about how you would feed a child, who needs guidance, and needs, needs, hand holding and attention around, eating throughout the day, this can be a good example of where to begin navigating this for yourself. So I know you're hurting adults, I know that you are empowered and amazing and highly talented and intelligent. And all of these things I'm going to ask you to just take a moment to consider starting at the beginning of this and really taking on a beginner's mindset of this. So if we're thinking about a kid, kids are born intuitive eaters, so they know they feel it in their body when they're hungry, and when they're full. And they've got a lot of other things that they're excited about in life, whether it's going outside and playing or hanging out with their friends or watching TV or riding their bikes or whatever. Kids are amazing when we think about creating an intuitive eating practice, because they are such great reminders of where we come from, and also how we came into this world in our relationship with our bodies and food. That being said, Kids also need guidance. So yes, when you put food in front of them, they will most of the time if there's no other restriction being implemented from external circumstances, they'll most likely eat what's on the table and stop when they're satisfied when they're comfortably full. And then come back and ask for a snack later on perhaps or, you know, raise their hand and say they're hungry. But if you are taking care of a kid, you are probably not going to send the kid off to school without having breakfast first, right? If they are going to school, you're probably going to send them with some lunch or some lunch money or at least trust that they will be taken care of by other caretakers at school to provide lunch for them at a at a pretty regular time as well to they'll get a snack in the afternoon, they'll get a snack mid morning, having dinner at the end of the day and just building that in for a kid rather than saying like, well, you figure it out that just offering that that structure for them is something that we just naturally do when we are taking care of children, because we're also teaching them that this is how they take care of themselves and helping them survive in in the world. So if we're looking at how we do that for kids, I like to ask the question, how can we start doing that for ourselves again? So this isn't about creating a bunch of new rules around food. This is about practicing the principles of intuitive eating with structure in the day that works for you. This is really individualized and personal. Everybody has different schedules and priorities and lifestyles.
And so first and foremost, this is about deciding that you want to do this, and then getting clear on how to make that happen for you. So I will give an example of what this might look like. For just somebody in general, this will ebb and flow. But a structure around intuitive eating, building an intuitive eating practice would be saying this is I eat breakfast every day, between you know, 8am and 9:30am, that's when I'm having breakfast, I have my snack. And that's usually between 10 and 12, or 10 and 1130. I have a reminder on my calendar to have a snack, I check in with myself around. When I'm doing all of this as well, too. I'll get to that in just a moment. Let me go through the structure. I'm getting off topic. So breakfast snack, and then having a time structured for when you're having lunch, sitting down having lunch, making sure that you're getting food at the very least, for lunch, and then having a snack in the afternoon. Having dinner in the evening, during a certain time really picking and deciding what works best for you, generally speaking, and then dessert if you like building that in or you just want to create the option to have that as well or snacks after dinner, whatever works for you. But building a structure, a flexible structure, because we have to take into account that not every single day is going to go according to plan. And not every single day is exactly the same. So when I say a flexible structure, that's why I gave the example of will breakfast is generally speaking between eight o'clock and 930. Because that's when I have recognized my body is hungry. And that's when I can prioritize actually feeding myself just like you would a kid making it happen. And giving myself the space to check in with all of the other things that we are going through in the intuitive eating process. If you're brand new to intuitive eating, this might not make complete sense. And just to be clear, I'm not going to go through all the principles of intuitive eating. There are 10 principles. And the reason why I love building structure into a day is because I think that it really gives somebody an opportunity to get curious about these principles more consistently, and just building that check in process all the time. So for example, if you're acknowledging you're having breakfast between eight and 930 that also gives you the opportunity to create a mindful eating practice around breakfast if that feels good for you if that's available for you. It gives you the opportunity to check in with what your body is telling you how hungry you are, how full you are after you eat, what you want to eat, what you want to decide to eat based on what foods you know, make you feel certain ways And also just expanding on all the other nuances that can feel overwhelming when you're just getting started. And this is also why I think that structure is so important because it gives you a space to really practice. And just creates the habit and the consistency with all of this. And also, consistency in your day around eating and building and some structure around eating rebuilds the trust with your body, that food is coming. There's just so many benefits to this, there's, in my opinion, more benefits than there are not around building some structure for feeding yourself readily and consistently, consistently during the day. This also really helps with eliminating binges, and healing binge eating patterns. When you're feeding yourself consistently throughout the day. As well, too. I have a whole episode on healing binge eating, I can't remember what number it is off the top of my head. But you can definitely go back and listen to that, which also goes into some of the more nuanced restrictions around things that pop up that often relate to binges. But just by building in a structure around how you're eating, when you're eating, feeding yourself consistently, every day. It does. Let your body know that food is coming. It rebuilds the trust with yourself. It helps eliminate binges, it helps to create a space for you to explore all these other principles of intuitive eating.
And in my mind, it's just easier to right. Like, for example, you probably brushed your teeth around the same day, or same time every day. Generally speaking, right? I bet if you were to go through every day of the week, the average time that you brush your teeth, like time of day or times of the day, probably averages out to a really consistent hour. Like for example, I bet, like for me, I'll just use myself, I probably on average, brush my teeth in the morning at nine o'clock every day, like after I eat breakfast and whatnot. And I probably brush my teeth at eight o'clock at night after I have dinner and dessert and all of that when I'm getting ready for bed. And it doesn't happen on the mark every single day at the hour. But generally speaking, that's the structure that I've created for myself, because it's important, I have a really clear why around the benefits of brushing my teeth. It means something to me that is promoting my health. So the intention around this habit is there. And I've also made that decision that this is when it is happening. And I've also created the flexibility to let it ebb and flow as well too. I'm sure there are some days where I wake up and brush my teeth much earlier than that at let's say seven o'clock, when there's probably days where I brushed my teeth later around 10 o'clock. Right. So but the point is, I'm still brushing and I'm still creating the space to exist. Now I know that our relationship with food is much more complex than brushing our teeth. But I hope that that gives you just a general example of how you might already be creating patterns like this and structures like this in your life that are working for you without even realizing it, and how beneficial that is as well to one thing I want to say before I wrap this episode up is if you are feeling resistance to building Instructure around feeding yourself consistently during the day, in tandem with an intuitive eating practice, that is actually very normal. There are some people who go through this healing process. And there's no timeline on this everybody's path and practice around. Healing Your relationship with food looks completely different. But there are many people who start doing this work and have a lot of triggers and thoughts and feelings come up around building in a consistent practice. And so if you are feeling that resistance, I want to encourage you to get curious. Just take a big compassionate breath. Know that that's really normal and start examining that a little bit more quickly. Why is that happening and also, can you give yourself permission for that to exist with the intention of perhaps coming back to the idea of adding in more structure at a later time, when you're coming out of diet culture. One example that I can share with you that I've, I use often with clients is when you go to college, and you are getting out of your house that you grew up with, grew up in, really spreading your wings and stepping into your independence and doing things on your own for the first time in a lot of ways. It can feel overwhelming, it can feel really liberating, and exciting and exhilarating. And if you're anything like me, I went to college and had no structure at all, I didn't want any structure, I was so sick and tired of structure, and following rules, and following expectations of other people. And all of the things that I got to college and was just like, no rules at all, I'm doing all the things I'm doing exactly what I want when I want. And I just found myself in that rebellious phase, for a pretty good amount of time. Well, guess what? It didn't work out very well. So if you're like me, and like many people who go to college, you probably studied at weird hours of the day, drank too much, maybe worked too much. We're in weird relationships with friends with boyfriends or girlfriends, or all of the things because you were figuring it out, you were figuring out your new independence and identity. And so that, and then I'm sure you probably got through that. And realize, actually, a bit of structure in my life does help me feel grounded and solid, I have more guidance, I have more rhythm, I'm able to accomplish more things. With a much gentler approach on my nervous system, taking care of myself, all the things and so whether you were intentionally deciding this or not, you most likely probably moved into more of a structure in your life, whether it was in college, or after college, getting into a career or a different type of relationship or your life changing in some way to kind of create that for you. The same is true for building an intuitive eating practice and healing your relationship with food. There is a rebellious period, I call it the Fuckit phase of intuitive eating. This doesn't happen for everybody. But this certainly happened for me, where I decided I wanted to be done with diet culture, and all the rules and all the things and anybody telling me anything around food. And just in the face of giving myself the permission to eat all the things whenever I wanted, however I wanted. Without this being attached to my binge patterns, this kind of showed up in a different way and as part of my healing phase. But that that happened, I learned a lot through that. And then I realized, actually, this doesn't feel so great anymore. This is fun. And I think that I decided this isn't the relationship that I want to be in with myself. Because it's also not really helping me move forward in a really empowering way. And I realized there were some other things that I could adjust to partner with myself. And my relationship with food, my relationship with my body, my relationship with me a little bit more consistently. And one of those things was structure.
So just deciding, really getting clear on what would this look like? What are my thoughts about structure right now? What feelings am I having about those thoughts? Do I need to shift my thoughts at all around this and how do I actually create a structure around how I am nourishing myself throughout the day? That would feel good, that would feel empowering and easy and fluid and progressive and, and not concern constricting or restrictive or forced or judgmental or all of these things and so deciding on how you want to feel when you're building this is really important as well, too. So those are my thoughts on this. This was kind of an inspired episode, I don't have any notes or anything, this is something that I love coaching on and really helping clients unpack for themselves. And like I said before, this process of building structure around an intuitive eating, eating practice is highly personal, it is physical, mental, emotional, all the things, which is my jam when I am coaching anybody. And so this is, this is something that I just, I think is really, really important to talk about, and is highly personal as well, too. So I hope that you walk away feeling empowered. And give yourself some space to just let your own thoughts digest around this and decide how you want to move forward, decide what would creating a nourishing structure around food look like for you right now? How would that feel? What would that give you permission to do? And also, when will you know, it becomes disordered. This is why it can be really beneficial to work with somebody when you are healing your relationship with food and your body. Because a lot of these patterns are layered complex. There's a lot of sneaky restrictions that are tangled up in all of this as well too. And so having somebody to guide you, give you objective feedback, and really help you get clear on the answers for yourself can be wildly beneficial. This is why I'm such a big fan of coaching and getting my own coaching, coaching others. I just think that it is one of the best ways that we can change the world and move forward and heal and really do incredible things with our lives. So if that's something that you're interested in, click the show notes book a breakthrough call with me, I only offer one on one coaching at this time. So if that's something that you are interested in, hit me up in the breakthrough call, we can talk about how that would look for you, in all the things to get you on your way to becoming an intuitive eater without making that your identity having that just become a part of your life so that you can live a really fabulous friggin life. Okay, I will talk to you later on. And I hope you have a great week. Bye.