Inner Voices That Sing Praise Be To YOU!

Last month a client described how she still counts calories even though she broke up with dieting a decade ago. Her mind doesn’t obsess over staying below a certain total number of calories anymore, but the habit has remained and she says this voice makes her feel small; it’s effectively telling her she can’t trust herself to eat what she needs.

Intuitive Eating gives us tools to Notice, Narrate, and Give Thanks that replace our critical inner voices with ones that lift us up.

Here are three actions you can take this week to cultivate your own nurturing and empowering inner voices.

Notice: When you engage in calorie counting, macro-counting, weigh-ins, and similar diet-mentality habits, stop and notice. Bring in a neutral, non-judgmental inner voice:

“I’m weighing myself.”

“I’m counting calories.”

Practice noticing your diet mentality habits without judgement, as often as needed.

Narrate: Walking into a room and judging who’s thin, fat, pretty, or not, is an unconscious response for many people. The media constantly put images of air-brushed, thin-bodied women in front of us and projects a message that if we want to be hot, successful, and loved, we should look that way too. 

Instead of critiquing others’ bodies and simultaneously comparing yourself, try to narrate for a few moments the next time you enter a large meeting or social gathering:

“The sofa in this room is blue.”

“The air is warm here.”

The phrases are short and the tone is neutral. 

Give Thanks: When we put down our own bodies in front of others, we are inviting them to do the same. If you're a parent who makes sabotaging comments about your body, this may teach your children to create their own critical inner voices. When I was 19 years old and struggling with body acceptance, I put a sheet over the full-length mirror in my bedroom because I routinely judged my belly and was tired of feeling bad about it. My client, who I’ll call Laura, also judges her belly, but is practicing replacing those critical thoughts by giving thanks for what her belly does.

“Thank you belly for holding my organs.”

“Thank you belly for supporting my back.”

“Thank you belly for giving me three children.”

Do you have a body part you frequently put down? This week try thanking your body for what it does for you instead. 

How did that go? I’d love to hear from you.