Rachael Hartley - Gentle Nutrition: A Non-Diet Approach to Healthy Eating

HOW WOULD YOU EAT IF YOU WERENT TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT?

This is a question I come back to again and again with my clients. If youre like them, your first thought probably involves copious amounts of ice cream, pizza, and french fries. But I want you to sit on that question for a minute and, this time, reallythink about what your answer would be.

My guess is that it would still involve those foods because, well, theyre pretty delicious. But I also think that there would be a limit on the amounts of ice cream, pizza, and fries youd eat because when you knew you could have those foods whenever you wanted, they wouldnt seem quite so special anymore.

Also, because taste buds can get bored, youd probably want a wide variety of other tasty foods, including fruits and vegetables. And you might even enjoy them. With weight loss being irrelevant to your food choices, youd probably stress a lot less about food and have more headspace for other things. Youd eat when hungry, stop when satisfied, and move on with your life until hungry again.

You probably wouldnt emotionally eat very often eitherat least not in the way we traditionally conceptualize it, like crying into a pint of ice cream. Since no food was off-limits, and since you knew you could have it whenever you wanted, youd be more likely to deal with your emotions in other ways, like going for a walk or calling a friend. And if you did decide to soothe your stress with a batch of freshly baked cookies, it might actually make you feel better since you wouldnt be eating those cookies with a side of guilt.

Now, its possible that you might think nutrition would get thrown out along with the intention to lose weight. However, what I think would happen is that youd find it easier to make healthy choices when not distracted by calories or which foods are allowed and not allowed on your diet. Instead of trying to make sense of the cacophony of confusing and conflicting diet rules, youd start listening to your bodythe body that wants to feel good.

What does the kind of eating that Ive just described feel like to you? Exciting? Intriguing? Joyful?

What about freeing? After all, this is freedom food freedom.When you find freedom with food, it opens up space for you to find freedom in other areas of life also: freedom to be yourself; freedom to live a life unshackled from self-condemnation and judgment from diet culture; freedom from the various food rules created by people who know nothing about you, your body, or your needs; freedom from seeing nutrition as being punishing and stressful; freedom to tune in to the still voice of your body and nourish it in the way it wantsand deservesto be nourished.

This freedom is very much possible. I know this because I see it every day in my practice. It is the kind of eating that feels peaceful, nourishing, and gentle.

What Is Gentle Nutrition?

Gentle nutritionis a flexible, non-diet, and evidence-based approach to healthy eating, one that centers on you and your unique individual needs.