The other night I was with my friends Asia and her fiancé John. We were hanging out at Asia’s house, sitting around the dining room table, firing conversation off from every angle, as usual.

John and I got on the topic of intuitive eating and dieting, and everything in between. I shared with him that I would never want to do a diet again, mostly because of how much it would trigger all of the old habits that I HATED that came with dieting – bingeing, obsessing, counting, less-enjoying, etc…

I shared with him that today, my sugar cravings are almost non-existent. I eat less sugar today than I ever have, and it’s not on purpose. It’s not something I try to do. Rather, I have less desire for sugar than I ever have. It doesn’t “call my name” everyday.

I said to him, “two weeks ago, for example, my friend was coming to visit and while I was shopping at Whole Foods, I bought a pint of Talenti to have at the house for us, thinking it would make for a fun girls night.” Pajama’s, Talenti, deep conversation… what sounds more fun?

“Two weeks later, that pint of ice cream is still sitting in the front of my freezer, unopened.”

Then he told me “you should blog about that.” SO, I am – ha! Thanks John! 

I ended up forgetting about the ice cream while my friend was in town and haven’t had the desire for it since. It’s not that I WON’T ever eat the ice cream, or that I shouldn’t eat the ice cream, or that I shouldn’t have any sugar. No, none of these things make me, or you, bad.

It’s that there was a time in my life where I would have NEVER been able to see a pint of ice cream unopened in my freezer for more than a few days (and even THAT would have been long), and THAT’S what makes these things a bigger deal today.

Years ago, I would have for sure eaten the pint of ice cream the day that I bought it whether I wanted it or not – just because it was there. If I were to take this one step further, in the past two weeks, I’ve had some stressful/challenging days. Add THAT into the equation and I would have DEFINITELY devoured that ice cream by now.

I know that some of you are in this same place. Where you feel like you can’t keep certain foods around for more than a few days, or maybe even a few hours before you devour them. You feel like they have power over you, and you wish you could control yourself around them. You TRY to control yourself around them.

You would LOVE to be able to think about food less, wouldn’t you?

You WANT to be in a place where you can buy ice cream and leave it sitting in your freezer, without feeling constantly pulled to eat it. You want to stop worrying that you “won’t be able to control yourself” if you bring it into the house. You want to feel NORMAL around food.

I so get it. I’ve experienced it, my clients have experienced it… I’ve lived it. For YEARS.

I’m going to say this once (even if you don’t believe it yet).

This SAME freedom can be yours. 

I’ve found freedom, I have clients who have found the same freedom, and if we’ve found it, there’s NO reason why you can’t find the same freedoms.

Listen to what some of the women I’ve worked with say:

“I no longer fear ‘bad foods’. I listen to and honor my body, understanding when and how much to feed her. I have embraced my body as it is, and love the woman I am today.” – Kelly

“This is about so much more than just food – it’s about embracing who I really am, finding my joy, and being the best I can be.” – Sarah

“Being happy after so many years of being miserable because food took all the power in my life is the greatest feeling in the world. I am in control of my own life and I have Paige to thank for that.” – Margot

You can get all of the details about working with me one on one, just like these girls did, here. 

Amazing testimonies, right?

But I know, the how-to is the hardest part, right? You might be thinking, okay, but how. What are all of the secrets I need to know to get to this place of feeling free around food. Feeling free in my body… There must be secrets. I’ll be you’re even HOPING there are secrets.

The truth is, there are no secrets (ahhhh!). It takes working-on and working-through. It takes growing through challenges and stretching yourself. It takes celebrating your small successes, making the process as pleasurable as possible, and getting through it. Experiencing the growth.

A couple of books I recommend: 

• Why Weight?
• Intuitive Eating

I also recommend one of our Finally Free courses:

• Ditch diets & make peace with food for good in 12-weeks
• Jumpstart or restart your intuitive eating journey in 28-days

I find it helpful to have a coach when working through these things – someone who can listen to you, cheer you on, and help you stay focused on where you’d ultimately like to be.

Someone who you’re willing to be open with, who you go to for support, and who you look up to. Someone who has been where you are and can guide you toward the other side (if you’re interested in working with me in private coaching, see my services here and get connected with me by filling out this form).

Things that helped me the most in healing my relationship to food:

• learning to feel calm around food
• giving myself permission to eat all foods
• focusing on feeling good vs “being good”
• putting an end to restricting myself
• focusing on gratitude and enjoying my food
• learning to nurture my primary food areas (non-food sources of nourishment in life – relationships, self-care, spirituality, etc…)

I hope this post encourages you. I hope this post is the one you go to when you want to KNOW that you can find freedom with food – the one that gives you hope. Take my word for it, these same freedoms ARE available to you. It might be hard to see now (I thought the same thing), but it’s true.