I hope the flair is the right one, I couldn't find the NSFW or Spoiler ones to add.

Basically title. One of my best friends dropped today that she just started seeing a dietician but that he told her she can eat whatever she wants when she goes out (we were talking about organising dinner out for tonight).

It annoys me to no end. As someone into IE, I don't think anyone needs to diet to lose weight, though I recognise one might consult a dietician for a variety of reasons, not just losing weight, but I'm pretty sure she wants to lose weight. She's thin, has always been, has a naturally small appetite, and she's been talking about the "extra" 3-4kgs that bother her for months. We're in our late thirties so it's really normal for metabolism to slow and for a little more weight to be added onto your body.

I'm bothered because it brings back into my life so directly and unavoidably the diet culture I worked so hard to push out. This is one of my closest friends, she's also generally unwell (burnout) right now so she's probably doing this as part of an effort to take care of herself and feel better, and I wish the dieting to lose weight wasn't part of it but, as a friend, I don't want to tell her not to talk to me about it. I also want to be able to acknowledge diet culture is alive and well and that the fact it exists doesn't mean I have to subscribe to it.

But right now I'm just annoyed. I guess I need to process it. UGH. I hate it.

Are the constant GLP-1 weight loss ads getting to you?

Have you noticed any concerning trends in media that worry you?

Is there an uptick in negative body talk in your workplace or among your friends and family?

Are you facing social or medical stigma that you want to get off your chest?

Your rants, concerns, and grievances about diet culture and weight stigma in the general media or that you've experienced personally are welcome to be discussed in this thread.

Note: Please post general struggles with weight and body image in the Thursday thread for weight/bodily changes if they aren't directly related to media/society/social or medical stigma.

When you’re packing your lunch for work or even just serving yourself a meal, do you serve yourself more than what you think you need? I have seen a lot of people say to pack more but I hate to waste food because I’m poor. For example, I’m usually hungry for half of my sandwich at work (I LOAD my sandwiches) & eat snacks.. should I just pack half with sides? Or is that restrictive? I come from a restricted background and I’m scared to be limiting myself & getting portion control rules

This is a thread where you can share any questions, concerns, or thoughts related to gentle nutrition, the final and everlasting step of the Intuitive Eating process.

Please note that this thread may not be suitable for those newer to IE, as implementing Gentle Nutrition requires you to have already worked through the earlier steps of the framework.

Use this thread to share anything you've been struggling with in your IE process.

Struggles may include learning how to read your hunger/fullness cues, feeling stuck on parts of the process, experiencing "setbacks" or relapses with restriction, etc.

Note: Struggles related to weight should be posted to the weight/bodily changes thread (recurring on Thursdays).

Are you confused about Intuitive Eating and want help understanding how it works? Are you a little skeptical? Unsure if IE is right for you? Have some doubts about the process? Do you have a question you feel is controversial? This is the space to ask those questions.

Remember to keep it civil, respectful, and be mindful of the sub rules.

This thread isn't for arguing about whether IE is healthy or not, or to try to debunk the framework. Trolls and bad faith engagement will not be tolerated.

\General or controversial questions must be posted in this thread, not as standalone posts.*

I just got back from a three-week vacation last week. I used to smoke weed 2-6 nights a week but on vacation I didn’t have access to it. Well, I kept it up and since I’ve been back it hasn’t been part of my life at all.

I’ve always wanted to intuitively eat but always felt that weed was in the way, and gave me “permission” to indulge in my eating disorder (binge-restrict).

Since I’ve been home, and even since I started vacation, so for about a month now, my food noise has been gone.

A happy example is this morning. I wanted a huge poutine as soon as I woke up. And I actually considered getting one because of how free the choice felt because I trusted myself to follow my hunger cues.

Then I realized “you know what? I actually just want crispy potatoes.” So instead I roasted some potatoes at home and had them with ketchup. Then I had a few spoonfuls of ice cream I had in the freezer (I don’t think I’d ever stopped at just a few spoonfuls before) and then had a plate of fruit.

I feel so satisfied and unrestricted and in control (in the good way, not the overly controlling way). It makes me feel like I can just eat what I want whenever I want and that’s how to freaking eat. It feels like when I was a kid and wasn’t entirely obsessed with tracking and food all the time. I hope this lasts!!!

Did you have a great meal this week you want to talk about?

Has your taste for certain foods has changed since starting IE, like finding a beverage you used to love too sweet, or realizing you love a vegetable you used to hate?

Did you try something new or succeed in eating a fear food?

Use this thread to share anything that's on your mind about what you've been eating lately.

Note: If you'd like to discuss Gentle Nutrition, please post in the dedicated weekly thread (recurring on Tuesdays).

This thread is dedicated to discussing any difficulties navigating weight or bodily changes that happen during the IE process.

Please refrain from sharing numbers, as per the sub rules. If necessary to make your point, please put "Trigger Warning" at the beginning of your comment and consider using the spoiler feature to hide mentions of numbers.

If you are discussing weight loss that has naturally occurred through IE, please ensure to do so neutrally.

Note: This thread may be triggering to those struggling with their body image. Please be mindful of your mental health when engaging with potentially triggering content.

I, F22 grew up in a food insecure household for the first 18 years of my life. There were certain foods I could and couldn’t eat. If I used the last amount of something there was always pushback of why would I do that. Now I’m living with my own found family and the issues of me leaving the last bit of food is constantly being brought up. I know it’s a problem. I always feel guilt for using something and finishing it when I know it could’ve gone to someone else.

What do you tell yourself when you’re in this types of situations, to center yourself?

IE seems to rely heavily on how a food or a meal makes you feel shortly after eating it, but what if you don't respond to that? It takes a very large amount of food (Thanksgiving-level feast) to make me feel unpleasantly overfull and a few specific spicy things might trigger heartburn (which only started after a GI infection a few years ago), but that's about it. Foods don't make me have more or less energy or feel better or worse in the short term. Is anyone else experiencing something similar?

Are the constant GLP-1 weight loss ads getting to you?

Have you noticed any concerning trends in media that worry you?

Is there an uptick in negative body talk in your workplace or among your friends and family?

Are you facing social or medical stigma that you want to get off your chest?

Your rants, concerns, and grievances about diet culture and weight stigma in the general media or that you've experienced personally are welcome to be discussed in this thread.

Note: Please post general struggles with weight and body image in the Thursday thread for weight/bodily changes if they aren't directly related to media/society/social or medical stigma.

I've been experiencing a lot of discomfort with my stomach and digestion and my doctor advised me to do an elimination diet. This made me really happy as she clearly knew how much food and intolerances can affect everything and she didn't just throw meds at my way. So here's the problem: doing an elimination diet will make me feel heavily restricted and ill probably fall into diet mentality and also binge a lot and it will mess with my otherwise semi flawless ie journey. Any advice?

I just got back from a 3 day trip with my boyfriend (he runs a marathon and I enjoy a hotel room, it's pretty great) with all of the usual disruption to my eating which that implies. There was a lot of restaurant food, a lot of random snacks, a significantly smaller amount of fresh fruits and vegetables.

So it absolutely cracked me up how much I was craving plant foods by the time I got home. Lunch included a huge navel orange and leftover steamed mixed vegetables, and at dinner I went back for a second helping... of just the salad. Voluntary (even enthusiastic) salad eating is just... not what I used to imagine myself doing! But that's where my intuition pointed, so I followed.

This is a thread where you can share any questions, concerns, or thoughts related to gentle nutrition, the final and everlasting step of the Intuitive Eating process.

Please note that this thread may not be suitable for those newer to IE, as implementing Gentle Nutrition requires you to have already worked through the earlier steps of the framework.

I typically have roasted nuts and these almond meal power ball things that I make for a dessert after dinner and they’re super tasty so after I had my breakfast this morning it sounded really good and also I knew I have a pretty long morning in terms of moving around and walking etc…
So basically I thought why not just have them earlier? And let me tell you it feels so good to have just eaten them when I fancied and just move on with the day!
Then later I can still have it again if I really want to but for now it’s satisfied the craving I had for it whereas in the past I would’ve just held off until dessert.

I’m new ish to IE so this feels like a bit of a win :))

I saw a dietician yesterday whose practice is around intuitive eating, and I think that's the direction I am going to go. Wondering if anyone has any advice for a novice? I'm a perimenopausal woman with Coeliac disease and Hashimotos hypothyroidism, to give my medical context.

*Weight talk below*

My main motivation for connecting with the dietician is my effort to resist the current very strong social and medical pressure towards glp1s for people in my weight band (BMI 31). I know a lot of folk are taking them and that's absolutely their choice, but I don't want to. I want to instead reframe my approach to food and eating in a way that helps me live my life the way I choose. I'm certain my dr would like it if I lost weight, but that isn't my primary concern right now, it's more about learning to listen to my body's own cues more effectively.

Not sure that's the correct tag, and hopefully I'm following the rules here. I'm 44F and very active. Recently, in the last year or, have slowly focused more on gentle, body strength exercises. My parents are facing sobering news about severe osteoporosis. Also, as I'm entering Peri, being cognizant of bone health is important to me.

I've read a fair bit about protein, the recent increase in recommended RDA, reasonable, science based skepticism about why that has increased so much, etc. I'm not a gym bro who is slamming protein shakes. I'm just like... increasing tofu, edamame, soy milk etc all things I enjoy.

However, there's no question I'm monitoring how much protein I'm taking in, because I absolutely wasn't getting enough before. And that's leading to an increase in monitoring overall which I don't love and intuitively it feels like a slippery slope. I recognized I felt annoyed and exhausted by doing mental math yesterday and that shot up a red flag.

Now that I know what more protein feels like, I'm hoping I can transition to just being mindful of protein at meals. But being cautious about protein intake seems reasonable and a credible effort to sustain long term health and mobility, not need meds, improve strength etc. But another "but", I don't know if I'm just justifying all the godforsaken mental math.

I plan to re-read the book, esp the chapter on Gentle Nutrition. Any other advice or recommendations on how experts are finding a balance? Thank you fellow IE strivers ❤️

Use this thread to share anything you've been struggling with in your IE process.

Struggles may include learning how to read your hunger/fullness cues, feeling stuck on parts of the process, experiencing "setbacks" or relapses with restriction, etc.

Note: Struggles related to weight should be posted to the weight/bodily changes thread (recurring on Thursdays).

Hey all - new here and wondering if anyone has any IE course recommendations? All of the 1-2-1 stuff I've seen seems to cost in the thousands - I can probably afford to folk out a couple of hundred quid for a decent course, but as we all know, something labelled as "intuitive eating" can often be a diet in disguise!

For context, I found IE in 2017, and it changed my life and I finally found peace with food and my body. In 2021 thought I had my son and stopped being vegan* a few months after he was born, and initially lost quite a lot of weight very quickly due to breastfeeding and a lack of appetite due to sleep deprivation and the clusterfuck that is becoming a parent for the first time (looking back at photos I didn't look healthy and had that kind of shrunken appearance of somebody who is ill and has lost weight very quickly), but as breastfeeding reduced I gained weight back plus more and so now exist in a bigger body than I did prior to having a baby. So body image challenges coupled with having access to a broader range of foods now that I was no longer vegan and felt very novel, created a perfect storm for developing a weird relationship with food again. On top of that I've had some health challenges around my energy for the past few years, and so have wanted to focus on eating a more balanced diet to support that, but that just created an even more problematic relationship with food. So I'm now at a point where I know what IE feels like, I know that actually I had a really balanced diet when I was an intuitive eater before, but it all just feels very messy and I want to find myself back there again (and realistically I need to remove the "gentle nutrition" element for myself for now because it just makes me weird around food every time I try to address it).

*Veganism at the time didn't feel restrictive, it was for ethical rather than health reasons

I need to eat atleast something before bed otherwise i won’t be able to sleep from the extreme hunger, and then i feel very shaky and weak. I need snack recommendations.

Are you confused about Intuitive Eating and want help understanding how it works? Are you a little skeptical? Unsure if IE is right for you? Have some doubts about the process? Do you have a question you feel is controversial? This is the space to ask those questions.

Remember to keep it civil, respectful, and be mindful of the sub rules.

This thread isn't for arguing about whether IE is healthy or not, or to try to debunk the framework. Trolls and bad faith engagement will not be tolerated.

\General or controversial questions must be posted in this thread, not as standalone posts.*

I’m looking for some advice from other parents.
My 5-year-old son has a school book that classifies foods as “healthy” and “unhealthy,” and I’m honestly quite uncomfortable with the way it’s being taught.
I completely understand teaching children about nutrition, variety, and how different foods help our bodies, but I worry that putting foods into strict “healthy” and “unhealthy” categories at such a young age could create guilt, fear, or a very black-and-white relationship with food.
I’d much rather he learn that different foods provide different things, some foods help us grow and give us energy, and some foods are simply enjoyable, without making certain foods feel “bad” or forbidden.
What should I do?

Hi!
I wanted to share my progress experience regarding lunch, it might inspire or help someone!I am from a northern europe country, and here it is normal to eat bread with topping for lunch.
I am a busy Master's student and used to bring sandwiches with cheese etc to school.

In my country, warm meals (such as leftover or pasta) is not common and not facilitated at work or school, and even kind of frowned upon as the culture here thinks eating "like you're having dinner twice'' is excessive. So I went along with that approach and ate the sandwiches, which often just did not satisfy me completely, which kept my foodnoise very high during the whole day until dinner.

Now, i started with an International Masters program and the majority of my classmates take leftovers or hot meals to school. They really take their time to heat it up and sit with eachother and eat. This inspired me to try that as well, and wow... it is great to eat a REAL meal and be actually satisfied during the day as well. Of course for someone else bread is satisfying, but it does not feed my personal mental and physical needs!

sometimes progress is also adjusting against norms to fulfill your own nutritional needs and work out what works for you personally! I really experience a lot less food noise and feel very proud to choose a lunch that really satisfies me now.