Why would you want to work with an Intuitive Eating Counsellor?

Intuitive eating can’t be that hard, surely you can just buy a book on it and give it a go? Well, if that works for you, that’s fantastic! I would love for people to be able to incorporate it into their lives and use one of the many amazing books that have been written by equally amazing nutritionists and dietitians (have a look at my resources list for inspiration!)

But why could working with and intuitive eating counsellor be helpful for you?

1. Stepping away from diet culture can be challenging

We are immersed in diet culture, it’s literally everywhere you look. If it’s not overtly advertising the latest weight-loss ‘solution’, it is shaming you into feeling ‘unhealthy’ and guilty for not eating ‘the right things’. Navigating through the jungle of weight-bias and fat-shaming can be hard, and you may initially feel like it’s you against the world. You may have lots of well-meaning people concerned that intuitive eating will not solve your weight-problem and therefore not be the best thing to do; you may have doctors tell you that the only way to health is through weight-loss; you may be enticed by the clever marketing strategies of the diet and wellness industries.

Having someone to have your back while you are working all this intuitive eating stuff out, someone who can reassure you that you are doing great, someone who can support you with practical advice, someone who guides you to find what works for you, can be super helpful.

2. Issues might come up that need unpacking

While you are figuring out how to incorporate the intuitive eating principles into your life, some things might bubble up to the surface that you may wish to confront and explore. An intuitive eating counsellor will know how to deal with this. They will know what questions to ask in order to unpack unhelpful thoughts and beliefs, and they can support you in reframing them.

You may think you have asked all the important questions, but when you delve deeper into the intuitive eating principles, questions may come up that you find difficult to answer just by reading a book. If you are working with a counsellor, you can ask them to clarify, point you in the right direction, help you find the answer within you.

3. It’s useful to have support to stay on the right track

It will be easy to be swayed away from intuitive eating while there are still diet mentality remnants lingering. This is totally normal for most people, given how all-encompassing diet culture is in our society. Having someone to support you and remind you that intuitive eating is not something you can fail at, but that it is a process that needs patience and practice, can be invaluable to move forward on your journey.

4. To have someone to bounce thoughts and ideas off

As mentioned above, having someone you can ask questions as well as bounce ideas off can be very helpful. Your immediate friend and family network might not have the insight into the intuitive eating framework to help you much with this, or they might inadvertently make you feel like you are barking up the wrong tree (as they themselves don’t understand what intuitive eating is). Which leads me into my final point:

5. To have someone who knows the framework well (as there is a lot of misinformation out there)

Working with someone who knows the Intuitive Eating framework and the HAES® ideology well is crucial to making sure you get the right information and support. Someone with a limited understanding of IE might just simplify it to the ‘hunger and fullness’ diet, or even misuse it to sell you a weight-loss plan. There is a lot of misinformation out there, and some self-styled wellness gurus have cleverly co-opted some intuitive eating terms to advertise their meal-plans and ‘lifestyle’ programmes. You will need someone who’s not afraid to bust some myths, is keeping themselves informed of the latest research, and keep you on the right track when it comes to what intuitive eating is all about.

Working with an intuitive eating counsellor can help you get into intuitive eating more deeply, work on stuff you need to process before you can move forward, be supportive when you feel you are on your own with your journey and provide you with expert advice that you can rely on. An intuitive eating counsellor will be your sounding board for thoughts and worries, will help you find answers to your own questions by prompting, reflecting, being curious and letting you be the expert of your own body and health.

I don’t have all the answers for you, but I can support you in unlocking them from within you!

If you want to find out if working with an intuitive eating counsellor is the right thing for you, book a free 15 minute discovery call with me.