There is only ONE thing we know about human nutrition for sure — there is NO one ideal human diet. The only common denominator between all the healthiest cultures throughout the world is that they are eating whole food that grows where they grow — regardless of the macros or caveman like-ness of their local cuisine. Everything else is theory and fad — and as you’ve probably noticed, the nutrition Opinion du Jour changes a lot!
Despite the fact that there is no ideal nutrition destination — I see this quest as one of the main driving factors behind body and food insanity — from constant obsession and researching, to yo-yoing between clean eating and binge eating, to full blown disordered eating labels like anorexia, bulimia and orthorexia. It can all start off with the best of intentions to be healthier — but the quest itself sets up very specific biological and psychological mechanisms that can make you feel real crazy, real fast.
Your body is an amazing self-correcting being. It gets a paper cut and knows exactly how to fix it. If you paper cut yourself 10 times — it will heal itself in the exact same order in the exact same way every time. HOW does it do that?! That is Wolverine shit! It’s that type of intricate intelligence that runs everything in your body, right down to your ideal food choices and weight.
YOUR IDEAL DIET IS INSIDE YOU
Your body came with it’s own instruction manual to effortlessly maintain it’s healthiest size and state. Trying to control your body from the outside will always, always, always (did I mention always) backfire — your body is smarter than any diet theory you will ever try to squeeze it in to.
YOUR BODY HAS A VOICE :: It knows exactly what it needs, how to look and feel its best, how to handle any stress or emotion that comes its way — effortlessly — and it’s always talking to you. Its voice is strangled when decisions are made from the outside-in (ie. based on a scale number, a menu plan, someone else’s advice, an intermittent fasting schedule, a well-intentioned comment, a rude comment, a nutrition fad)
YOU ARE YOUR BODY’S KEEPER :: Your body relies on you to love it, nourish it, and respond to its needs. Your #1 job is to protect it. No one else can do this and no else is better equipped.
IT’S NOT ABOUT THE FOOD :: Your current beliefs and behaviors around food and weight are mechanisms that developed for intelligent reasons. Rather then looking at those behaviors as bad or broken — we can use them to create the exact life that you want.
BODY TALK
There are biological, neurochemical and psychological consequences to trying to fit your body into an external food structure:
- Mood issues, emotional instability, depression/ anxiety, flawed decision making, decreased self esteem and self-trust
- Increased fat storage enzymes to make it easier and easier to store fat
- Increased obsessive thoughts and anxiety around food, traveling, restaurants
- Constipation, sensation of bloating, sensation of feeling full quickly
- Hunger and fullness signals become inaccurate and unreliable
- Hormone cycles shut down
- Physical and mental fatigue
- Hair loss
THE INTUITIVE BODY
With all the current nutrition confusion, Intuitive Eating has become a buzzword. Unfortunately, many people find intuitive eating hard to apply in the real world…and I think that’s because there are a few missing pieces to the standard approach. It often gets boiled down to the “Just-eat-when-you-are-hungry-and-stop-when-you-are-full Diet”…which may be true in theory, but it just isn’t a physiologically or psychologically accessible starting point for most people. It’s true that we are all born intuitive eaters — but as adults stuck in food insanity, there’s usually some major foundation work that needs to be done in order to be able to return to that effortless state.
Here’s how I see people successfully move from FOOD INSANITY to the INTUITIVE BODY:
- RESTORE | Biological and energetic imbalances
- BREAK | Old neurochemical patterns that are driving current goals, decisions and behaviors
- BUILD | The emotional world you want to live in
- LEARN | Sane nutrition skillz
- LIVE | The intuitive body
With the first 4 steps in place — intuitive eating becomes almost automatic, letting you reclaim that full freedom around food and to live in a body you love…but without that foundation work, intuitive eating can become just another tool that makes you feel like you are failing.
Dr. Lisa Lavoie is a Los Angeles-based licensed Naturopathic Doctor. She is a primary care physician with a special focus on female mental health including depression, eating disorders, weight and body image. Her absolute passion is to show women that they aren’t a medical label and that they don’t have to settle for a life of pain, struggle or disease management.