The Subject is Always Love

IntuEating

The Subject is Always Love

Spring is the season of Love. Love shakes us up and opens our eyes. We try new things. We ask new questions. Love, especially at the beginning, is fragile. That’s why when love blooms we intuitively pay closer attention to everything we can see, hear, taste, touch and smell. It’s exciting and important.

Good love, like good eating fills us with energy and confidence because we love with heart, mind, body and soul. Eat with Love. 

•    Smile between bites when you eat. This relaxes your body to digest better. It opens your heart for loving. 
•    Look at what you eat. Taste with your eyes to tease open new possibilities. Be curious about what it is. It’s best not to rush love.
•    Eat less than you think you need to leave room for an unexpected dessert. You will have more energy.

Food is love. Receive it with gratitude. Intuitive tools like sensing dignity and being curious side-step stress and guide smart choices. Shake-up your eating routines and check-in with messages from your body.  

•    Make the choice to respect your body by noticing how you feel when you eat. Sense potential.
•    Baby yourself with tenderness. This means: don't' stuff food into your body. Only eat when you're hungry and taste every bite. Loving is giving yourself every chance for healthy satisfaction.
•    When you eat: relax, get energy and satisfy yourself. 

       What you put in your body is your choice.

You are in control.

The way to get positive feelings is to take positive actions.

Love is sharing without judging. Love your body and your good health. You don't need to explain how you eat to anyone because eating is personal. If someone makes a comment, just say you're practicing intuitive eating. Being true to yourself is common sense.  

Intuitive Eating

Lucid Living

Fine Tuning Your Sensual Thinking

#janebernard

Chocolate, Libido & Binging

Valentine's Day is packed with libido raising chocolates and other waist expanding temptations. How do we enjoy it without being trapped by the sweetness of the treat?  Of course the celebration of love is a good thing. How do we avoid unhealthy temptation and embrace tasty love?

To separate love and libido from unhealthy temptation when you're enjoying a treat, look at your sweet and your sweetheart and check-in with the way you feel.

1. Confusing eating with satisfying intimacy causes disappointment that leads to binging. The libido thrives on anticipation, not big meals. Taking it slowly keeps you in control. Plan a light meal like tapas and put on some music. All of our senses connect with libido. Be creative with the way you choose to enjoy your treat and your evening. Rub a piece of chocolate across your lips and try to have your partner lick it off without either of you laughing. Of course, laughter is a libido boost- way more than chocolate. Libido is the drive for physical intimacy a feeling of anticipation, an openness to possibility and romantic potential.  If you feel this:

• Be true to yourself by taking your time. Patience heightens anticipation which makes your experience more exciting.
• Take it to a higher level with eye contact while you savor your treat. Also give the verbal pleasure signal of "mmnnn". 
• Just take a nibble, because you want your body to be relaxed for the next part of the evening. Feeling full signals your body to focus on digesting food. That kills libido.
•  Say Thank you! and mean it. Let the big picture come into focus naturally. 

2. Love, like eating, is an inner connection.  Food only represents love when we savor it; binging is a kind of disconnect. A great and enduring love affair is founded on open communication and mutual respect. The loving way to eat is to keep open communication with your body by tuning-in with your senses before and while you eat. It's the intuitive way to respect your body and to respect yourself. Love feels like a light in your heart, or it is a peaceful, gently exciting sense of being appreciated that is relaxing and deeply affirming. Real love is a direct connection with dignity and self-respect.

• When chocolate represents love and you take a nibble, your energy will soar. This is a happy feeling that lasts as long as you stay true to the feelings of dignity and self-respect.
• Get sensual. Love yourself by eating lightly and let that lightness connect with your heart. Touch your partner's fingers. Smile while giving your partner eye contact. Make love with your eyes - if you dare!
• Share a taste with your partner and say, Thank you! from the heart. You will feel satisfied, leaving the remaining chocolate as a symbol of love and anticipation for the future.

3. Temptation, created by emotions and stress, causes binging. Taking control of the temptation can be a turn-on for both of you, because it makes priorities clear. Take control by focusing on the big picture. Your priority is to appreciate each other and the meaning of the celebration. What you eat should compliment the evening, not rule it. Temptation is an urge often accompanied by a subtle feeling of frustration, a whiff of self-defeat in the air. If you feel this:

• Remember to be true to your body and your heart, together. To stay connected with your intuition, use determination to feel good about your experience.
• Take a taste and savor it with a "mmnnnn". Look your partner right in the eye and feed him/her a taste.
• Say Thank you! and mean it. 
• Thank yourself because you are focused on what you want and who you are.  You are honoring yourself. Love will find you through your smile as temptation turns into self-confidence. You will feel it.

Plato said, At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet. I guess, in a perfect world we would all be poets. Enjoy your chocolate, dance with your libido and fall in love all over again this Valentine's Day! Be loving towards yourself. Write a poem about chocolate instead of eating it, or share it with a stranger. Tweet about it. Remember, whether it's a cold winter day or hot in July, Love for you is in the air every day.

For more common sense ways to deal with temptation and frustration around eating and to learn how to tune-in to your body with intuitive sensual thinking download: Am I Really Hungry, 6th Sense Diet:Intuitive Eating

Eat What

Have you noticed what an invasion it is - that people constantly tell us what to eat!? Putting anything into your body is sensual. It's a personal balance, a comfortable place - where cravings are satisfied, but you are not stuffed. Sensual eating puts a high value on comfort. Don't let anyone tell you what to eat because they cannot feel your hunger - or your comfort level.

The intuitive way to deal with generic diet advice is not take it too seriously. Instead, we may listen to what we hear, and then balance it with how we feel - - before we take it to heart. Eating is extremely personal. It's natural self-defense to think for yourself. It's intuitive to respond to what your body needs.

A healthy diet changes with the seasons. Listen to the weather and you will lose weight. Nature is a spontaneous response to changes in the environment. Nature continually trims the fat and fuels for efficiency. What you eat needs to be a genuine, spontaneous response to your unique needs, stress and goals.

Every day, I hear about someone who is losing their hair, has a gallstone or worse -- as a result of extreme dieting.T oday, I heard about a man who lost 60 pounds in one month.  He died 2 months later. Extreme dieting ignores healthy signals from your body.

Everyone in the world has different fingertips, DNA and digestive systems. Your body is impressively unique. Use sensual eating to respect your body. Sensual means to tune-in to your physical appetite by using your senses.

• Vary what you eat.  
• You will eat less because the taste is not a habit. Habits make us overweight because they are not a response to genuine needs.

Nothing is good to eat all the time, except Love. Love is something that nourishes us through all of our senses Love is so complicated, except when it comes to meals. Be spontaneous. Eat what feels right. The best love is felt spontaneously.

• Intuitive eating is being tuned in sensually to how you feel and to following nature. Your senses are spontaneous. Here's how:
1. Smell, taste and see your food. 
2. Only eat what you love.
3. Remind yourself of your eating goal. Eating goals include:

• Get Energy, 
• Build Muscle Mass, 
• Lose a Few Pounds, 
• Celebrate.

• Enjoy food physically and sensually. 
• We know it's important to eat for good physical energy and quality of life. The equally important sensual reason to eat, is to satisfy appetites for the pleasure of eating and the pleasure of sharing the pleasure.

Eating is social. You are sensual. The next time your friend wants you to try something, give it a taste. Then, check in with your body. If it doesn't feel good, it isn't for you. Eating is intimate. It can be sexual, sensual or simply to survive. It's easy to tell the difference. Bon appetite! (*J

For practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

Find Love.

When love is in the air, can you recognize it? It feels like tenderness and passion at the same time. It's a combination of wanting and expecting and it's a signal to be good to yourself.

Feed your soul by honoring your body. We honor our body when we respect it. It feels like love.  Notice what you sense with your eyes, ears, nose, mouth and heart. That's the beginning.

"April showers bring May flowers." Everything we do has a result. The result of being good to yourself by honoring your body is: liking the way you look and feel. Flowers of satisfaction bloom when we're true to ourselves.

Satisfaction connects with self-respect. You can't have one without the other.  Eat for satisfaction. You will like the way you look and feel in the morning.

Intuition is about satisfying yourself. Dieting is about denying yourself. When you satisfy yourself, you respect your body. When you deny yourself, you ignore your body. Stop denying yourself and find some love.

Love, Respect and Satisfaction are all intuitive. Think with your senses, feel with your mind and be true to yourself. Eat and dance to the music in your soul. Find love.

Here's Aretha Franklin singing R-E-S-P-E-C-T. 
Respect yourself and recognize the love.

What are you craving?

July 4th is Independence Day. 

It's intuitive to crave freedom.

For intuitive eaters, freedom's not just another word. Freedom is self-control.  It's eating what you want, when you're hungry. No rules, no pressure to eat what you don't like. It's positively relaxing.

It's human to have cravings.

We crave love, sex, chocolate, money, happiness, understanding, affection, good health, companionship or a new pair of shoes. The list is personal. When you have a craving and your eyes look at food, ask your self, Am I really hungry? Most cravings are not for food, they're social.

Eating intuitively puts you in control of your choices. It's trusting and listening to your body. Instead of planning what to eat in advance, intuitive eater's look at food options and ask, Am I really hungry?

If you believe you're craving food, eat protein. People who diet are usually hungry for protein. Fruit and salad won't satisfy you if you need protein. Eat a handful of almonds or walnuts if you're on the run, and your body will relax and the craving will be satisfied. Nuts are a dense protein that take time for your body to metabolize.  When you eat what you need, suddenly there's time and freedom for other cravings to be satisfied- even if it's as simple as craving a good nights sleep.

 The 15 Minute Solution is about candy and craving.  It's a method you can trust to know if you're craving is social. Do you want affection or another piece of pie? Take control of your craving and feel some relief from the pressure. Connect with a freedom from cravings.

When you're alone and craving a container of chocolate ice cream, use The 3 Minute Rule, and you'll realize that you know what you want.

When you feel trapped by cravings, it's an uncomfortable gnawing inside. As you practice eating intuitively you'll know yourself better, and free yourself from cravings. When you recognize what's pushing your buttons and use your intuitive tools to keep an open mind, you make choices that bring long-term satisfaction.

When you are in sync with yourself, you always find choices. Ask yourself, Am I really hungry for food? and if you're not sure, give yourself the freedom to say, no. 

Take the plunge. Keep an open mind. Tune into yourself and eat intuitively. Nobody craves a ball and chain and restrictive dieting is a ball and chain. Nobody wants to feel trapped and when you don't feel in control of yourself, you feel trapped. Give yourself a chance.

Happy Independence Day from New York City!

Let the golden lights of the fireworks shine a path of eating freedom for you.

Wanting the love.

Everybody knows "food is love." Everybody intuitively wants love. That's why, at a celebration, where food is abundant, it's common to overeat. 

It's not surprising at Thanksgiving, a holiday of appreciation and feasting, to discover that you feel stuffed, instead of comfortably full. Maybe the sweet potatoes with marsh mellows were better than you remembered, and the vision, you intended, of portion control didn't work. Stuff happens, and it's okay. What really matters, is that you are aware of what happened that didn't make you feel good about your self, and that you commit to be kinder to your self next time. 

Don't beat yourself up. 

It is intuitive to forgive your self, because forgiving your self is a sign of self respect. Doing this will help you automatically be more prudent about eating choices over the rest of the holiday season. It is human nature to fall down, and it is intuitive to get back up and to keep going.

Because intuitive eating is having a flexible approach, post Thanksgiving is the time to cut your self a little slack. At holiday meals, the natural focus is on socializing. However, your intuition still is there. You are changing the way you want to maintain your optimum weight. Since you've already started being aware of your body, and of messages from your 6 senses, intuition is automatically part of  your food choices.

Intuitively: You take control of your eating by staying connected to what is really important to you, which is the way you feel, and the way you look.

Intuition is not something that you force on your self. Instead intuitive eating is a way of trusting your self to eat what's in your best interest for your optimum health - even when you're "socializing."

Stay committed to intuitive eating by choosing to forgive a holiday slip up, and try to maintain more vigilance the next time spirits are merry. Everything worth achieving takes time and effort - including getting the habit of being an intuitive eater.

Enjoy the holiday and enjoy eating. You deserve the love.<3