Enjoy the occasion.

With Halloween around the corner, the annual time of parties and eating approaches. This year, decide to enjoy the company and the occasion - more than the food. It is a habit when we diet to focus on food at a party instead of the party, the fun, the company and the occasion. The result is we miss stuff.

Worrying about food challenges and weight control puts pressure on you to obsess about food and eating. The result is you are knocked off balance emotionally. That's when self-destructive eating takes place.

Enjoy the company- but connect with your 6 senses first! It's a way of really being in the moment. Talk about what you sense. This is a great conversation starter because everyone gets pleasure through their senses.

Whether it's business, or a casual social environment, enjoying your self by connecting with your senses, you will be showing that you respect your self. You will send signals without using words, that you have priorities. Everyone respects that.

If a fellow reveler thrusts a huge slice of pumpkin pie your way, cut it in half, and find a plate to slide the extra on, so you won't be tempted. Smell the pie and really taste it. Ask another guest if she has tasted the pie. Instead to talking about how much you're eating, enjoy the flavor. Talk about the celebration, and how time flies, and how good it is to reconnect with people, and catch up on what has happened since the last time.

Before you go to a party, resolve to take a pause every time a food challenge or temptation is part of an event. Re-balance your perspective to enjoy the celebration by respecting your self. This is a personal decision. No one will notice and you will be in control. Then, enjoy the party.

Eat slowly, talk more. Eat less, enjoy it more. Focus on celebrating with your heart more than with your stomach. You will leave the party feeling great, and tomorrow you will wake up feeling in control.

Try this:

While you're eating with family, on a date, or at a party, stop eating. Put your fork down and ask the person sitting next to you to tell you about their day. Let your self be distracted from the food. Let your self enjoy the company.

Celebrate Your Self!

It’s time to celebrate, celebrate ourselves!

Yes, we are on the cusp of Spring and every fantasy and reality it brings! Trust that feeling of excitement, and let your senses guide you to eat to celebrate your Life.

Eating Cake with dignity:

Betty Jo wrote: Tomorrow is my birthday, and I promise to eat my cake with dignity.

This is an example of how natural and easy it is to eat intuitively. Betty Jo has made a promise to herself to connect with what feels dignified to her when she celebrates her birthday! Wow, it is an amazing feeling that happens when we make that kind of commitment.  Try it. That feeling is a direct connection with your intuition. As soon as you decide to eat cake in a way that honors your body and your emotions at the same time, you are activating your intuitive connection. Congratulations, Betty Jo!

Betty Jo Tucker is a highly respected film critic and self-confessed movie addict.  Her weekly radio show is full of zero calorie tasty insights and tidbits, and her love affair with the big screen is contagious. www.BettyJoTucker.com  Happy Birthday, Betty Jo! 

We all have a coordinating and guidance system inside us. We call it gut instinct, or 6^th sense, or our intuition. The coordinating job of intuition is to connect messages you get from your 5 senses with your emotions and thoughts, and to prioritize them so that your best interests are served. Some people seem to have a more pronounced 6^th sense than others because these people trust their 6^th sense. A commitment to feed your self cake with dignity is the beginning to connecting with this empowering natural gift.

This is a fact that you can absolutely depend on:
Your intuition is never destructive.

Linda wrote: I don’t know if I will be as strong as you when faced with a similar temptation.

20^th century diets are full of reward and punishment. Most of the punishment is self inflicted either as demeaning conversation with yourself or by physically abusing your body with binging or purging. 20^th century diets are based on you not liking your body! OUCH!  These diets create a mentality where you are constantly passing judgment on your self, judging if you are being ‘good’ or ‘bad’.  This is not intuitive. Suspicions and doubts are attitudes that interfere with the ability to listen to your 6^th sense.

Self-judging short circuits your intuition because is it shows a distrust of yourself. Ask yourself this question:  If you cannot trust your self, who can you trust?

The first step to being an intuitive eater is making a decision to be deeply honest with yourself about your thoughts, your feelings and what you want for your body. Linda suspects that she is weak around cake, and she doubts that she will be “strong”.  The fact that she wrote this shows that she is open to seeing herself trying to eat cake with dignity. That takes strength to say! Linda, when you long for a solution, it’s natural to feel restless. Don’t interpret that as fear, instead see it as an opportunity to honor who you are. Part of eating with dignity is to trust your self.  When you trust your intuition to focus you in the protective direction of your eating goals, you will find it easier to make decisions that feel good to your body. 

To connect with her intuitive truth, there are 3 steps for Linda: (1) recognize her emotional urge to eat a lot of cake, (2) connect with what she really believes about this and how her body feels, and (3) commit to herself, to use dignity and enjoy eating the cake.

Once you realize that you are in control, there is no need to allow self-defeating judgments to drive your eating.  Instead you will recognize that by listening to your 6^th sense, you feel a calm inner balance. Balance is what keeps us in the comfort zone of being self-protective. 

Every step, whether it’s a baby step or a leap, is huge as we connect with our intuition. Congratulations, Linda!  Your honest comment tells me that you are on your way.

Access your intuition by being honest with yourself. You can’t lie to your self and connect with your 6^th sense at the same time. But have no fear, just like your eyes see, even when you are not ‘looking’ and your ears respond to sound, even when you are not ‘listening’, your intuition never abandons you.

Celebrate your choices by using your 5 senses to connect with your intuition. Spring is a time of new beginnings. Every meal is an opportunity to begin eating with dignity. We know from experience that everything worth achieving takes effort.  Being and intuitive eater is a new experience. Honor your efforts by not judging your self.   

Visualize your ideal body when you eat and as you eat, Celebrate your Self.

The Intuitive Diet: Q & A

A Sound Bite of Insight

Eating connects with all of your appetites: a hunger for comfort, a craving for love, a passion to understand who you are, and a thirst to know how to protect your self and live the best quality of life. All of this is intuitive. Beyond eating, your intuition is always present and coordinates everything in your life as it’s happening.

My name is Jane Bernard. My 1st book, Fine Tuning, Connecting with Your Inner Power was written during a time when I felt nothing but emptiness and was searching for my passion. This is what happened: On the way to connect with my passion, I discovered my intuition. I also discovered a lot of amazing opportunities! By fine tuning my senses, I learned that individually they are amazing and that together they are my Life force. Fine Tuning is not an intellectual book, but it is full of truth. Joey Reynolds, the radio personality, says that every page has a “sound bite of insight”. (more at www.FineTuningBook.com)

You were born with 6 senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing, and your intuition. Your intuition, the 6th sense, is your inner drive that puts you on the path of possibility. It is the sum of your potential and it is always available. Your intuition connects your heart, mind, body, and soul. When your senses are set on automatic, often you will make choices that you later regret.

Every person has -at least once- suddenly intuitively jumped out of harms way. According to a study done by Dr. Jennifer Murphy at the Army Research Institute, as your intuition tallies cues, big and small, it sends out an alarm so you can react physically before understanding in your mind, before recognizing why. This means that you can count on your intuition as a clearing house where eating options crystallize and priorities are realized. Use your intuition to make eating choices that keep you on track. Fine tune your senses and start to feel the buzz.

Because I speak and write about connecting with your intuition, many people have asked: “Can I use my Intuition to lose weigh?” The answer is yes, and I decided to write about it, and this blog is a taste of what will be in The Intuitive Diet book.

Questions people ask:
-Does everyone have intuition?
Every living creature has intuition. It is your 6th sense and the most common way people refer to it is, “the survival instinct”. Your intuition connects you with what makes sense.

-Why do some people seem to have better intuition than others?
Some people trust their intuition more than others. For example, police, soldiers, nurses and artists all tend to rely on their intuition to know the truth.

-How can eating be intuitive?
After all, eating is part of your survival instinct. Nothing is more basic or more your intuitive than the will to live. Every animal has it.

-Does every animal have intuition?
No. Only people have intuition. However, every animal is born with strong instincts. All animals except us live by their instincts. Instinct is spontaneous. Human intuition is an internal guidance system that balances what you’re sensing with what you’re feeling and what you know from experience.

-What is the difference between instinct and intuition?
Instinct is a kind of clarity and intuition is a kind of focus. Instinct is a part of nature, so when you trust your nature you will tune into your instincts. Intuition is a coordinating and guidance system inside of you. It is through your instincts that you perceive your intuition. Intuition is a uniquely human wisdom.

-What about a “gut feeling?”
A gut feeling is usually an intuitive response. If you have a gut feeling you must determine whether it is your 6th sense protectively guiding you, or if it is guilt of some other emotion that is pushing your button.

-How do I know if it’s my intuition?
Intuition is never destructive. Your intuition will never guide you to do something destructive to your body. Just like your other 5 senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing, your intuition will protect you or lead you to a pleasurable experience. If you think your ‘gut feeling’ is to eat a 2nd or 3rd huge slice of pie, or an entire box of cookies, or a whole quart of ice-cream, think again. Something else is pushing you to do things that hurt your body and ultimately your self image. Once you master the core tools for staying connected with your 6th sense, you won’t be confused by manipulative emotions.

-How can intuitive eating make me aware of portion control or healthy eating?
Because your intuition is the clearing-house for what you have experienced as well as what you feel and sense, portion control and eating what your body needs becomes natural.

-What is the best way to Fine Tune my senses?
Use them. For example: Use your eyes. Whether you look at what’s in front of you not, it will still be there. If you ignore what you’re seeing, you might trip, fall, or crash. Also if you cover your eyes, you are hiding from your self. Look at what is in front of you and you will create what you want. Decide to be brave.

The Intuitive Diet is a practical, natural approach to successfully achieve and maintain your healthy weight because it’s custom tailored. Reading this blog will help you recognize reliable intuitive choices about what to eat. You will learn to use your intuitive tools to overcome dilemmas about what, when, and how to eat to be your healthy weight.

To really get answers about weight control, I interviewed dieters and non-dieters and learned that people who are “naturally” their healthy weight have two important traits. I learned the secrets and I learned the tools that will keep you connected with your 6th sense.

Intuitive eating is effective, not abusive. It is not just about food, it’s about you. It is a way of self-respect. You will see your self, and eating, differently. You already have all of the answers, and I’m going to help you connect with what you know. Get ready to smile.