How to Challenge the FOOD POLICE and Eat Intuitively | Enlightened By Intuitive Eating Episode 4

Hi guys, I’m Abbey Sharp and welcome to Abbey’s Kitchen. In another episode from my series Enlightened By Intuitive Eating, I’ll be discussing Principle #4 of Intuitive Eating: Challenging the Food Police and, how to reduce food waste.
A reminder that everything in this video about Intuitive Eating is for entertainment purposes only and you should always seek the advice of a health care provider for your unique case.
Other videos I've done about Intuitive Eating:
Alissa Rumsey: alissarumsey.com/
/ alissarumseyrd
@alissarumseyrd
Amee Severson: www.prospernutritionandwellne...
@amee_rd
Research Links:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...
www.ericberne.com/transactiona...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...
Here are some other videos about me and my personal life that you might like:
Insomnia: www.youtube.com/watch?v=99ONm...
HAES vs weight loss and my stance: www.youtube.com/watch?v=svgKU...
My orthorexia story: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDmkS...
Some important links:
My book, The Mindful Glow Cookbook affiliate link: amzn.to/2nev0lf
The best baby feeding & eating gear (amazon #affiliate) amzn.to/36h1r4a
My favourite supplements (amazon #affiliate) amzn.to/39pGV3j
My favourite kitchen appliances and tools (amazon #affiliate) amzn.to/2ubQnXV
My favourite healthy snacks (amazon #affiliate) amzn.to/2ucC6dD
My favourite healthy breakfast foods (amazon #affiliate) amzn.to/2SK8b6s
My favourite intuitive eating books (amazon #affiliate) www.amazon.ca/shop/abbeysharp...
My favourite healthy meal ideas and snacks (amazon #affiliate) amzn.to/39oA3mC
Check out my blog for healthy recipes, parenting tips and tricks and busting nutrition myths and diets: www.abbeyskitchen.com
If this video on Intuitive Eating was helpful, please leave me a comment below with your thoughts!
Xoxo Abbey
Video Contribution By:
Katey Davidson, MScFN, RD, tasteofnutrition.com/

[@abidance6444]

This diet talk is honestly so detrimental. Last year I had a friend who sadly passed away from organ failure due to being severely anorexic. After going back to work after being off for a week due to grievance, I went to the kitchen as someone had brought in cake. I grabbed two slices, one for me, one for my work colleague who was busy. Someone made a joke about me being a piggy and I BROKE DOWN. I know in normal circumstances it wouldnt have affected me so much but all I could think was what might have happened with my friend if there weren't people who went around making people feel guilty, even as a 'joke', for eating things like cake or sweets.

[@ddowner77]

Omg-how tragic. Yeah, people are very cruel and they just expect everyone else to just be okay with it- because ‘it was just a joke...”

[@TeaLaRee]

I'm so sorry for your loss and that someone was so inconsiderate.

[@emilykay1283]

I work with children at a daycare and it is honestly so sad how many kids around the age of five or six talk so negatively regarding food and their bodies around snack time. It shows how early diet culture kicks in and how much their parents actions impact them.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Emily Kay totally 😞

[@notverysur3rightnow145]

A lot of people do that at school I used to, because I ate intuitively and was fat. It's horrible how negative people are about their body now

[@abidance6444]

My sister teaches a primary school class and the other day was talking about diet. Saying people have different diets depending on allergies ect. All the kids thought that diet ment dieting. Not that it just ment, your diet is what you eat

[@breel4769]

My parents really got me stuck on the finishing all your food thing. We grew up poor so wasting food was a huge sin. It’s hard for me to break that mentality with myself and my children. Lately we just put the leftovers in the fridge, no matter how small, because we have boys and they play sports so they are always hungry so chances are in an hour or two they want more. Makes me feel better knowing that someone will eat it and now I don’t stuff myself or give my kids the same problems I had 😖

[@AbbeysKitchen]

That's a great tip! Love me some leftovers

[@biancacolmenares620]

This is a problem for me too! My parents grew up poor, but we were doing better so for us it was more "be grateful" We still have to tell my dad that he doesn't have to finish all of our plates and I have to stop myself from eating everything. But I do hate to waste food....

[@stephanied6711]

Same

[@nikiichan]

Yes!!!! I grew up with my mother constantly telling me how sometimes all she ate was a cup of black tea and a slice of bread because they grew up so poor. My grandmother used to threaten to tie the food I left on the place into a scarf and put me out with the rats if I didn't finish my meal. Now, I make it a point to serve myself less so I don't feel pressured to finish it all. I bought a set of boxes so I can portion out the leftovers. I make a shopping list and always ask for a to go box at a restaurant so I do not feel like I need to finish all the food just because it is tasty and I am grateful for having it. The fear of scarcity effects me more than I thought it would. :/

[@merlejanson3759]

I also grew up poor and we, the children, had to finish our plates. I often felt nauseated and hid my food in my school drawers. Bad memories. We would be punished when we didn't finish our meal.

[@catherinecase1142]

My mom’s most used phrase at meal time was “just eat what you want.” Now I see it as it intuitive eating in a nutshell 😋 I’m grateful she never put any pressure on me to clean my plate or stop before I was full.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Catherine Case so wonderful!!

[@nataliaa.1094]

@Savannah Longest my mom would tell me not to eat and didn't cook anyway🙆 I'm not sure if that's any better, totally f@#cked up my eating habits ... My son is a picky eater as well. He has to try everything but doesn't have to eat it if he doesn't like it. That has been working out quite well + I remind him that he can stop eating when he is full which he do es most of the time anyway + there's no judgment concerning food (like "good" or "bad" foods).

[@azlizzie]

Same. Thankful for chill mamas! Mine never forced us to finish plates that we didn’t fill. If someone else filled our plate how would they know how hungry we were? If we filled our own plate, she did ask us to attempt to finish it but would help us take smaller portions in the future and reminding us of the discomfort of taking more than our share. We learned quickly to take small portions.

[@mathildavere8966]

I wouldn't condone shaming or bullying your kids of course, but I'm glad my parents trained me to eat a variety of foods.

[@auntpurl5325]

Wish I'd known this when my kids were young, but at least I do it now that my daughter is 20 and seems to be a pretty intuitive eater despite my mistakes. Grace!!

[@channel0athena]

I would love to hear a podcast from you (if you don’t already have one?). I could listen all day!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Athena A I’ll think about it!

[@DaxIsAName]

I second this. Or a podcast recommendations list from Abbey.

[@vickygatzima4071]

Abbey Sharp Please do!!!

[@indira.r]

@@AbbeysKitchen Totally agree!!

[@carrieweatherholt3210]

Agreed

[@BodyImageFitnessLLC]

I wish I had grown up learning intuitive eating. I grew up in the 80s at the height of the diet culture. My mom was always either on a diet to lose weight, or else eating every sugary treat she could find in huge quantities , and I developed those same habits. It was literally either feast or famine. Food was either good or bad, nothing in between. That meant you were either good or bad depending on what you ate or didn’t eat.That mentality stuck with me for years as did my sugar cravings. Once I went whole food plant-based, I finally feel like I have the freedom to eat as much as I want and feel as full as I want without any guilt, and my sugar cravings are reduced too. I can eat intuitively. Usually I find that I can’t even finish all the food on my plate. I finally feel like I am nurturing my body and not following some sort of craze such as eating more proteins/restricting carbs and fats, etc. I eat mostly unprocessed but still have treats in my day. Sorry this is kind of rambling, I hope it makes sense!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Lori Vance oh totally does!

[@jackiehammerton]

Abbey (and team), I want to thank you so much for this video. I’ve suffered from binge eating disorder since I was twelve, and recently I’ve been battling bulimia for the past three years. After watching your videos I’ve started to actively change my mentality towards food. Recently I’ve really started to tune in to my natural hunger signals and letting the “Observer” and “Nurturer” really take the wheel and this has been pivotal in my recovery. I used to spend like 90% of my brainpower thinking about food and meal planning. Now I’d say it’s about 60% and dropping. I’m respecting my hunger signals, not judging myself (I just had pasta for lunch today which used to be against my Food Rules and boy was it yummy!!), I’m feeling more nourished and (surprisingly) I haven’t binged in over two weeks! The ironic thing is that by listening to my actual hunger cues and allowing myself to have a little bit of everything (yes, even dipping my bread in olive oil and letting myself have that second piece of chocolate) I’ve unintentionally slimmed down. Please please please keep flooding us with information and encouraging us to heal our relationship with food. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[@maripaz951]

Intuitive eating has made me enjoy so much more of a variety of food and actually find pleasure in foods flavors !! Crazy how much better food tastes when you have no guilt around it

[@AbbeysKitchen]

amazing. totally

[@cristagalli96]

Keeping a food journal has absolutely showed me what keeps me fuller longer and feeling best and I love that you call this "The Food Anthropologist" because I have my BS in Anthropology 😂 I'm apparently an anthropologist in all aspects of life!

[@OMGitsaClaire]

Freezing a meal's worth of food at a time is really great! You're essentially making your own TV dinners of food you know you like so on days you are just too tired to cook a whole homemade meal you have options. It's also great to take to work for lunches. Not only that but if like me you have food allergies and/or digestive issues, you can make sure it's food you can actually eat without getting sick. I used to work a job where some days I was in the office on the computer all day and some days I was walking 7+ miles through the woods digging holes every 20 meters. On my heavily physical days I would come home exhausted and hungry (despite trying to pack more food than I thought I would eat in the field). I lived in a very rural area so fast food wasn't even really an option. Making and freezing meals for myself on days I had more energy made sure I had meals to eat on days I just couldn't handle cooking.It's also really great for single people because most recipes make four or more servings. You don't even have to put a lot of active cooking time into it. One of my favorite recipes I made was a crockpot tikka masala and it was basically just dump the ingredients in the slow cooker and let it cook on low all day. Freeze it in portions with some rice, then reheat and top with yogurt. Soups, stews, and pasta can work really well for this too. I even made some that were mini meatloaves, mashed potatoes, and green beans like actual old-school tv dinners. If you batch cook and freeze something every 1-2 weeks you should pretty quickly build up some choices so that you don't get bored or feel like you're eating the same thing everyday.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Claire Woerner great tips!

[@jokl89]

Claire Woerner this sounds so good! I wish I’d have a bigger freezer! I’m thinking about preserving though, should work well with stews and soups.

[@anyafrashuer6458]

CRM archaeologist? My life was like that: weeks on end of just fieldwork, followed by weeks or months of office work. Sometimes both within the same week. Walking miles digging 3m deep holes or sitting hunched over a desk. I was also running a lot in preparation for an ultramarathon. For field days when I had to carry my lunch, Epic and Lara bars were what I ate because it had to be shelf-stable in my pack. If we were out of town for the week, then I would meal prep on Saturday or Sunday (depending on when I had to drive to the worksite) and have a full dinner waiting for me to heat up at the end of the day. Our company always booked us into hotels with micro/fridges. I would even meal prep breakfast as I couldn't eat what the hotel put out due to Celiac disease. The first night in the field, I would grab a bag of salad mix and cherry tomatoes to have with some meal prepped chicken. I found that my diet at those times in the office was unhealthy; eating a lot of high-calorie fast food or unhealthy grab-and-go food from the grocery store. One very stressful week at the office I picked up a 6-pack of soda and a whole cake from the bakery and just ate that for dinner for 2 nights. Meal prepping during those office stints really helped me get away from the mindless "grab anything I crave" eating. In order to make meal prep a habit, everything was easy to make - throw veggies in pans (one each of a cruciferous veggie and one of a starch), toss with olive oil and seasoning, and roast in the same oven as a roast of meat. I usually did pork roast, with broccoli or Brussel sprouts, and sweet potatoes, potatoes with onions, or butternut squash. I would also put chicken breasts in a crockpot and shred when done for salads and have hardboiled eggs on hand. Quite often my breakfasts were just similar things to the dinners as it was easy to make extras of all the roasted items. I never got bored because I always made the things I really liked.

[@OMGitsaClaire]

Anya Frashuer I was CRM for the US Forest Service for two years through an apprenticeship program. Loved the job but every day was an adventure; shovel tests, field walking, and ground survey mixed with sign repair, cemetery access road checks, and lots and lots of time spent on ArcMap and writing site reports. My forest also did a lot of work with the public and even developed a history themed geocache challenge to get people out to non-sensitive sites in remote areas that most folks had no idea existed.

[@anyafrashuer6458]

@@OMGitsaClaire I did a seasonal stint with the Forest Service out in AZ, where it was just a pedestrian survey and there was almost no office work. In FL, CRM involves 3meter deep shovel testing with the spacing depending on probability but I also was a project archaeologist and spent quite a bit of time in the office writing reports (and ArcMap!). In both cases, my eating was probably better when in the field than in the office. Either because I had meal prepped for out of town work (FL), or ANYTHING was at least a 45-minute drive off the mountain (AZ) and we worked 10-hour days. I wasn't diagnosed with Celiac until last year while in grad school, so I really did not have any restrictions while in the field. Now, I find that I don't meal prep like I used to, but I am also not eating a cake for dinner because I spent a stressful day writing reports in an office.

[@b2h316]

Can you do a video on teaching intuitive eating to Children? How do you approach food with your child when they are surrounded by the media and other people's "diet culture" marketing views on foods?

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Brittany 2H it’s on my list!

[@helenbrady9066]

After 40 years of yo-yo dieting and intermittent fasting I have finally had it with all this restrictive eating! So I am so happy to have found your series of videos on Intuitive eating Abbey - thank you. I grew up with a Mum always on a diet (not that I blame her) and over the years I have accumulated a lot of food police thoughts. The main ones I battle with are around eating bread and fats. For a long time I’ve done Weight watchers and Slimming world (popular in UK) where everything has to be low or 0% fat and bread is restricted. So I know it may take time but I know I want peace around food now and just live! (Btw, I would be interested to see what you thought of Slimming world as a diet - I did it in and off for so long!)

[@AChickandaDuck]

I used to be kind of hung up on food waste too - I was raised with the “finish your whole plate and you’ll get dessert!” philosophy. Now if I feel full, I’ll give the rest to my dogs. If it’s something they shouldn’t eat, I remind myself that eating it when I don’t want it is just as wasteful as throwing it away!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

yess totally. Thanks for sharing!

[@tammymasson2343]

So very glad you're doing this series. When you say it takes time, I think a lot of people still don't understand. It can take months and even years. It is definitely a learning process to unlearn all the diet culture voices and beliefs that are deep inside us. This is the second year I've been practicing intuitive eating. It has been tremendously freeing. I've lost some weight, but not all (yet?), but I am happy and way more comfortable with food, and with eating in front of others without shame or other negative thoughts.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Thanks so much for sharing your journey with us Tammy

[@marengray646]

Intuitive eating is my goal as i break off ALL THE FOOD VOICES of an eating disorder!!!! Love your videos😍😁

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Maren Gray thank you!!

[@annad.l6087]

My personal issue with intuitive eating is that I often under eat because I don't feel hungry all day or I get busy and forget about it. Obviously this is not an issue most people deal with.

[@stitchedbycarly]

I totally get that! When I'm busy I will prioritize work, or sometimes can't really feel my appetite throughout the day, especially the week before my period. On those days I try to remind myself to eat or prepare snacks in advance so I don't unintentionally fast and feel drained and tired by the end of the day.

[@Hulachowdown]

Same... I didn’t know that most people didn’t get so busy that they just ‘forgot’ to eat until a few years ago. I love food but I often just forget half the time or just don’t really want to eat more than one or two big meals a day( I’ve always been a grazer versus eating three square meals. )

[@Hulachowdown]

Jenna Hardy Pedersen I totally agree, I had hyperthyroidism my entire youth and now that I am being treated for it my appetite is a bit more normal. I still eat less than most people I know, even though I am active, but I don’t go all day with no food and have absolutely no desire to eat anymore.

[@abigail607]

Smoothies/liquid calories

[@emilyjayne7165]

Abbey's second video on intuitive eating covered this issue kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpbVfKNsob6Cjac . She speaks about establishing enforced regular eating before following the rest of the intuitive eating steps. When you don't eat regularly for long periods of time you tend to lose your hunger cues, and the only way to get them back is to actually eat regularly for a time, even if you don't feel especially hungry. Once your cues return, you can then start the process of observing them and responding to them. If you want more in-depth guidance on how to approach the regular eating part of the process you can look for resources from eating disorder treatment, as this is often the first step in treating eating disorders.

[@helenavapenski]

Once my daughter at 4 years old, I told her to take some chocolate as she is always light weight an she told me, no mum I am not hungry I can't eat 😊 And I was so proud that she has strong internal feeling of when she is full, she is now 16 and eats when hungry and stops when full 💕

[@lillianmarie9469]

A year later and this is one of my favorite videos you've published. 🥰 Personifying these inner voices as external characters can be a wonderful and cathartic journaling exercise. No, it's not a perfect model or a "how to", but rather a thought exercise to get us reexamining the way we view food. The emotional and social aspects of food are unquestionably critical in the role of health and wellness. And I LOVE your up-front caveats about the role of privilege in intuitive eating!

[@rachelunger5038]

My mom was constantly dieting as far as I can remember and I realized I did it a lot through my life too probably because it’s what I was used to seeing. It’s freeing to not restrict certain foods and to not put a “good” or “bad” label on foods. I’m so much more aware of how much you hear this kind of talk literally everywhere you turn because of your channel. Thanks!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Rachel Unger so glad

[@Lindagnzz]

I am so glad I found your channel! I want to change my relationship with food, I don’t want to eternally be on a “diet,” I want to learn to eat what fuels my body!

[@kailabonnell1637]

Hi Abbey! Love your videos. As a physical and health educator, these elements are key to integrate into high school classes. Thank you for taking this time to create these videos. Your work is definitely appreciated.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Kaila Bonnell thank you!

[@reaganstaab]

I recently came across your channel and it is so refreshing to hear your outlook. It is so rare to hear a perspective like this. I didn’t realize until watching this just how negative my relationship with food is. I have always told myself I lack self discipline solely due to my inability to follow strict diets when really it is completely normal. My mental health (anxiety and self image/esteem) has been so poor lately following a 6 week weight loss challenge my family held with friends. I had a difficult time losing the weight due to my birth control and stress. This was like a breath of fresh air. I will read the book and also enlighten my mother on the basics of intuitive eating. Personally, shifting my perspective with be difficult due to the food police but maybe if those around me understand my reasoning they will feel more comfort in their own weight journey. Thank you!

[@ashleybookluver7184]

I was just talking to my mom the other day and she said if I wanted to lose weight, I should stop eating by 6pm. That's what she grew up with, but she only eats one big meal a day and drinks soda or something bubbly to fill her up. I pointed this out to her and asked if that type of thinking led her to her unhealthy relationship with food, and she flatly stated that it's what she grew up with and that it was right. High core shook me. I'm glad that this channel exits because I mostly would have taken my mom's advice if not and be miserable. Thank you, Abby!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Ashley BookLuver ❤️❤️❤️

[@hierochloee]

Like many others watching your videos, I am so inspired by you. Every time I feel myself slipping back into disordered habits/ thoughts I come here and feel like I can get back on a road to recovery and peace with my body and food. Thank you so much :)

[@mariathielen7581]

I just discovered your KZbin channel today, and couldn't be happier with your content! Super entertaining but also so educational. During this episode a noticed a hunger cue... I walked into the kitchen and stood there trying to figure out what I was craving. I landed on almonds and m and m's which I've never really thought to eat together, and it's so satisfying. It's funny how if you just stand at the fridge and pantry for longer than usual, you can figure out what you want to eat! Thanks for the awesome videos, I'm now subscribed!

[@auntpurl5325]

I really appreciate the reminder that not everyone is blessed with the means to purchase and eat from abundance. We weren't always able to, and now that we are, we still want to be super grateful AND a good steward of our money. It's not my place to judge another person's food choices. You never know the whole story. Love the freedom of intuitive eating. Side note: I grew up with parents who swore like sailors. It bred a very critical, sarcastic, disrespectful, and dismissive family culture. Our parents reaped what they sowed when we hit the teen years. We treated plenty of people to inappropriate language with our immature filters. Just food for thought. My kids are now adults, and dropping the potty mouth really helped us to be kind to each other and others.

[@AlicedeTerre]

I've been going through the book and learning a lot so far, including identifying past behaviors that were straight toxic diet habits that I tried to fool myself into thinking they weren't. One question I had was that the writers wrote that the nurturer has no downsides, but in a post "treat yo self" society I wondered if the nurturer would ever become an enabler or if maybe that behavior might actually fall into some other previous type.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Linh Hoang good point. I’m not sure, but it would be something to always be mindful of

[@thisisjenny-hello]

I want to thank you for your KZbin content. It is so packed with incredible information that educates and inspires me. I love your "What I Eat In A Day" response videos. I think influencer culture is laden with dangerously unregulated misinformation, and what you're doing provides an important counterpoint. This kind of content serves as a "checks and balances" function. But I really see it as heroic - you are a nutrition vigilante. I am certain this channel has and will literally save lives. I hope more dietitians do this.

[@DemeterAurion]

I really hope you'll continue this series! It's been helping me so much

[@jocelinecarter3553]

I am so thankful Abbey, it's crazy, you have helped me so much. Everytime, I almost go back to my eating disordered lenses and get anxiety bc of food, ( I had them since I was 12 yrs old and I'm 20 now) I watch your videos. Lol, I don't know if I'm making sense but I am really really grateful hahaha :). I mostly speak French, my English is probably not well written sorry :p.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Joceline Carter thank you, merci 😊❤️

[@veronicaisik8945]

Love this series! I found that my intuitive eating stopped around age 6 because of when I entered kindergarten and there were strict times set for when and how long to eat- for 13 years I had only 20 minutes to eat lunch. I got so used to eating my entire meal in less than 5 minutes so I had time to socialize and do homework. My family has however always been mostly intuitive with the, exception of the ideology of eat what you take. Now I’m in college and I’ve been attempting to heal my relationship with food for about 6 months( ish) I’ve learned that not only am I someone who likes to eat frequently throughout the day- I take forever to eat! It was so strange to go from downing a whole steak dinner in 5 minutes or less to take 15 minutes to eat a cup of soup. So great, so freeing!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Veronica Isik ❤️🙏🏼

[@feebeci]

I love this way of thinking , but I don’t want to give up on my physical goals . I’m excited to lose weight

[@AbbeysKitchen]

feebeci see my previous video on this!

[@corhydron111]

I know this may be a very weird tip but perhaps it will be useful to someone: Whenever I eat at home, I try not to use plates. I eat as much as I can straight off the cutting board, the pan or even off the table (I obviously wash the table before and after). This way the meal feels more like a snack I grab quickly and not like a fixed portion, and that allows me to eat exactly as much as I feel like having at the moment.

[@gwenmaisybug3864]

I'm sure this would work for others but not for me. I need to eat off a plat so that I can see what a normal portion is. If I eat from the entire batch, I'll probably end up eating the whole thing, even if I feel physically ill from consuming too much food. :(

[@AbbeysKitchen]

corhydron111 I can see how this may work for you and as the other comment says, not for others. It may not always work in all social settings though!

[@christinecooper4256]

"Diet rebel"-- nice to have a name for what I experienced after years of forced food restriction as a kid. Thanks for giving us some illumination and direction on this

[@jennfischetto]

I read the book not too long ago, but hearing you explain this chapter helped a lot. I LOVE your explanations. Also, it made me realize that a lot of the times I cook or eat and "hear" my mother making negative food comments, it's the food police. Some of the comments I "hear" (don't actually hear, lol) are ones she made or things I think she would say. I'm sure some of that is my own diet culture thoughts scolding me. Wow! This helped put a better perspective on that. Thank you, Abbey!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Jennifer ❤️🙏🏼

[@charliesourire]

I have such a big problem with A-->B thinking! But breaking that cycle has been so, so liberating. Even when people make stabs at my weight, I'm no longer sent into a spiral about it. And I also feel so much better about my progress in other areas. It's not about losing weight for me anymore and I'm feeling much healthier, even though I've actually gained weight. Being able to acknowledge that progress isn't linear and that I'm making progress regardless of the results I may or may not see, has honestly turned my whole life around.

[@elizablair2816]

For years, I have dealt guilt from a family member and I still struggle with it as a adult. I eat a over all well balanced diet and active life style. At the end of the day I like to relax with a bit of dark chocolate or a cookie and I have to catch myself feeling the guilt. Thank you, Abby for making such a insightful encouraging video! Diet culture has been so mentally damaging to me and watching this made me realize how messed up it is to deem food as bad or good. So many of us need to work on living a balanced life and not constantly be in our heads worrying about the kind of food we eat!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Eliza Blair 🙏🏼❤️

[@amberclay2667]

Intitutive eating has helped me become more inclusive of all food groups and types. I used to restrict my sugar intake and feel guilty if I did eat any dessert but now with intitutive eating, I dont feel guilty at all and I understand the importance of balance and moderation! I listen to my body and have a much healthier relationship with food. I bought your cook book and I am so excited to start cooking nourishing meals!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Amber Clay so glad to hear that! And thank you 😊

[@AshelinFox]

I always find that I buy more groceries than I actually need. What I do, personally, is make fried rice or stir fry with the remaining vegetables at the end of the week. This way I'm not wasting food or money by letting them go bad and having to throw them out, and I am more likely to want to eat stir fry or fried rice as a leftover meal, as opposed to making something else.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

mm nothing beats fried rice! Great tip!

[@kellimarvel7436]

Thank you for taking the time to explain all of this! It is extremely helpful.

[@carolynevans6361]

Just loving this series! So well done!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Carolyn Evans thank you!!

[@morwennahill952]

This series is so helpful and Intuitive Eating now feels feasible. Thank you!

[@AngelicaGarcia-ec1vt]

Yes, journaling my food voyage, to get more in touch with intuitive eating sounds great!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

awesome

[@ghillies4life]

I just found your channel and I'm loving it! I am a definite Type A personality and am very prone to restrictive and disordered eating as a control thing (OCD). I've never had an eating disorder per se, and I've always been a healthy weight (and athlete), but I have to actively stop myself from being a calorie restricter. I had my first child 8 months ago, and I'm really trying to create a positive relationship with all foods in the home so that she starts her life that way. (Also using a combination of traditional and baby-led weaning for that reason). One of my best friends is an RDN, and she has been very inspiring to me, but your info is so helpful too!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

ghillies4life thank you!

[@auntpurl5325]

Love the distinction between the nutition informant and food police and diet rebel. All three voices are familiar. This was super helpful. Curating the voice of the food anthropologist and gentle nurturer is so interesting.

[@rileyj5491]

Hi Abbey! Loved this video, as usual, ha. As someone who has been living with crippling anorexia for many years (been in and out of different treatment programs and hospitals, etc) I feel the “Food Police” on a whole different level. Since my struggle is very public at this point, (my BMI is at 14 so it’s hard not to notice) it’s really hard for family, friends, colleagues, whoever is around, to NOT have questions and/or concerns when it comes to my eating. It’s SO hard to try and drown them out and I often just have to chalk it up to their “curiosity,” but sometimes I feel so bitter for giving people a pass. I wish more people could understand that policing others’ food choices is not their job and it’s so incredibly inappropriate/harmful. Thanks for shedding light on this topic!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Ryan Monaco so glad it has been helping!

[@SamanthaKamilos]

Seriously great video, so much good information. I love the concept of the food anthropologist. While I am currently utilizing the "restrictive" ketogenic diet, I'm using it as a tool to retrain my thoughts around food. I absolutely do NOT think carbohydrates are BAD even though I currently choose to restrict them. Because the foods are so satiating and ketosis reduces hunger, it has made it easier to reduce my overall caloric intake, loose weight, and learn to listen to my hunger cues. I was once trapped so badly in the cycle of eat mostly carbs, sugar crash, binge again on more carbs, eat more carbs, repeat forever and ever, I had to do something to break the cycle. For me keto has been that answer. While on this diet I've learned to actually know what hunger even is, versus the hypoglycemia carb crash monster I used to mistake for hunger. It's working for me SO WELL and I know I'm on my way to eventually being able to introduce carbs again in a healthy balanced way because I'll be way more in touch with my body and more educated so I can eventually eat more intuitively and not have to track so much. For now I track because it teaches my what a serving of everything even looks like! I used to have no idea. Also, mini suggestion, as a video creator myself, the jump cuts with a frame resize almost every single sentence was just a little distracting to me. I love seeing some dynamic change but maybe every paragraph, not every sentence. Just my suggestion. Still loved the video!!!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Samantha Kamilos good feedback!!! Thank you

[@DeannaFaye]

I try to teach others about intuitive eating in a very normalized, casual way, because I hear diet talk and food policing around me pretty often. Your videos are super useful in learning new ways to explain it!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Deanna Molnar thank you!

[@nikiichan]

The sweater you are wearing in this video looks SO COMFORTABLE!!!!! It feels like it would lead to really soft hugs. Not sure why I am having sweater envy just after this heat wave in Vancouver.

[@nancyhorio]

As always, I am learning a lot. Such great and helpful information. Thanks Abbey!❤

[@lauravo3355]

Oh. Trying to avoid food waste totally explains me eating more than I'd like. Good idea on "planning leftover meals"

[@clara-sophievogel7377]

Hey Abbey, this episode really hits the spot! I am pretty educated, 29 years old and try to eat more intuitively, but often my parents or coworkers still get in my way by policing the food on the table. My parents always had this super unhealthy relationship with food which, for me, led to restriction, binging, guilt and lastly obesity. Now I'm working hard to silence all these voices and listen to my body instead! 🤞

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Clara-Sophie Vogel amazing!

[@nihany7460]

Very helpful video as always Abbey. And on a totally different note: I had to laugh when you said regular yogurt vs. plain Greek yogurt because for us (I'm from Turkey) what you call plain Greek yogurt is "the regular yogurt" (we don't call it Greek yogurt obviously, neither do the Greek people, it is called yogurt) and what people in North America (and also Europe I guess) call yogurt is not even considered as yogurt. It's amazing how much food culture determines our vocabulary around food.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Nihan Y totally

[@AmyLameyBobamey]

If you had your own podcast I would listen in a heartbeat. The intuitive eating podcast world neeeeeeds you and your more accepting stance on (easy, sustainable) weight loss. I love your style of teaching because you explain concepts in depth without sounding condescending and you let your actual personality shine through. It's so refreshing!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

AmyLameyBobamey thank you!

[@christencooper122]

I swear this spoke right to me!! I do almost all of those things ❤️

[@anitafoss1937]

I love this video because I have a limited budget and have been "cooking once to eat twice" or more for years. This allows me a wide variety of food without waste and eating what I enjoy ( steamed asparagus) vs the carrots my adult children prefer. I could eat the carrots, but I'd rather have the asparagus they hate.

[@Bananakacke]

My tips on how to eat intuitively and not waste that much: 1) keep a food journal, not only about what you're eating but also about what and how much you usually throw away and what you crave but don't have. That way you know what you are craving and what to buy more/less of or just completely omit if you never end up eating it. 2) Don't buy in bulk or on offers just because you can but don't need it. For example don't buy a large amount of tomatoes just because they are cheap if you know that you can't eat them all before they go bad. 3) If you can't finish what you cooked or ordered but you know you probably won't eat it in the next few days just freeze it. That way when you crave it again you can just reheat it. You can also cook big portions of soups, stock etc. at once and freeze them individually to make these foods easier and more accessible. 4) pickle or can your foods, you can pickle cucumbers for example or cook lots of tomato sauce if you have too many tomatoes and store it in jars (please look up how to correctly can your food first). 5) Use things like onion peels, carrot tops, cauliflower greens etc that you normally wouldn't use. You can make a veggie stock, drain it and freeze it for example or make a homemade pesto out of the green part of your carrots etc. 6) If you want to eat out, consider using apps like Too good to go, that way you can eat nice food that you crave but also prevent it from being thrown away. I hope this helps!

[@indira.r]

Abbey, thank you so much for this! You freeze cookies after or before you've baked them?

[@cati101]

Your sweater looks so cozy, i want to hug you. 🙂

[@_commonthread]

One little suggestion would be to reframe “I’m not a pessimist” (22:20ish) as a way to change your mindset, to “I am an optimist” or “I’m an optimistic person”. Framing it in a positive instead of a negative can really help with changing mindsets and behaviours :)

[@Sazzay96]

Wondering if you would ever do a video on intuitive eating for people who have restricted schedules/opportunities to eat. Or maybe you have some resources I could find? For the most part I consider myself an intuitive eater, however during the week my schedule forces me to 'overeat' to compensate for the fact that I wont be guaranteed another opportunity for 5-10 hours. For example I start work at 5 or 6am, and am NOT hungry at this time. However I make myself eat because I know my lunch break wont be until 1-2pm. maybe 3.... maybe 4pm... who knows (life as a junior doctor....) I assume so many people would be in the same boat!!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

mm this is a great suggestion! I'll look into this

[@kimberlyw2591]

Agreed! Weird class/work schedule makes it hard to consistently pack food or find a convenient time to eat it (meaning near a microwave with 10+ minutes to spare)

[@BuffTaanJai99]

I work 2 jobs and am a sudent. I work 530am to 10. Classes 11 to 3pm. Work again 4 or 5pm to midnight or later. It sucks!! Its hard to eat normally

[@blurazz1808]

This is exactly me!! I wake up at 5am every morning and I’m never hungry in the morning for food besides coffee. I eat my lunch at work when I have my break (I don’t get to choose) at 10:30am. I can’t eat again until I get home. I have an hour commute home! Most days I don’t eat after my lunch until 7pm and by that time I’m starving and tend to way overeat.

[@LivReiners]

Abbey! You are just amazing and explain it so well! Thank you so much!!!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Liv Reiners so glad

[@PurpleNinja420]

Abby you are seriously the best! Thank you for making great content!!!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Willow Fusee thank you!

[@KW-cv5me]

My period tracking app had a pop up ad selling a "How to lose 10lbs and keep it off" guide if you purchase an app upgrade. w. t. f.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Kalala ugh

[@insideself1471]

Wow, packed with loads of good info, thanks. A lot to take in but so needed!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Debra Goring thanks!

[@rasikavinod]

deeply thanking you for this abundant guidance abbey 🌻

[@inesa5369]

Thank you Abbey! This kind of content is really helpful and insightful!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

So glad :)

[@rachelsalamone2207]

Thanks again! You’re a Godsend!

[@azlizzie]

Also this video is so jam packed. I have watched it twice and learned more. I suspect if I watch it a third time I will hear something new that didn’t sink in past the first novel concept.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Elizabeth Coleman totally! It’s a lot

[@faycarretta280]

I just wanna share my personal experience with "positive thinking". I was depressed and had an ED for about 4 years and any talk about "positive thinking" just made me more miserable because it felt disingenuous and fake. I was finally able to see a psychiatrist and a psychologist and I can tell you that it made such a HUGE difference to start my medication and have two professionals I could rely on. I don't think everyone can "fake it till you make it", sometimes you really need to get help from someone who has the appropriate set of skills to help come out of "the dark side"

[@ddowner77]

These videos are great so far... I am really loving this- I learned a lot from noom but felt like I was actually starting to get caught in the red is bad-even though that is not what it means...I am so tired of hearing that I should not eat something when I want to....

[@DouceVipere]

I’m glad to live in the countryside, where family gatherings happen around a “matanza” when we cook all of the pig, “produce” enough lard to cook for months and all that meat goes on the plate with vegetables, beans, rice and a number of different desserts.

[@isabelpalacios185]

This vídeo helped me a lot. Thank you so muchos Abbey. (Isabel from Madrid)

[@estellelerecouvreux3916]

This is fantastic ! And it's destroying all my belifs about food. It's scary , bit feels good

[@emmakilburg9221]

Wow you really didn’t have to call me out like this Abbey😂 jk, thanks. I have really struggled with that all it nothing mentality for the past few years, and I’m using your videos to try to stop this infinite cycle of restriction and binging. You are so helpful❤️

[@xiadani_figueroa]

Hi, Abbey! I know this is off topic, but I was hoping if you could give me your thoughts on Kefir? and do you recommend it? I am starting to add limited dairy back into my diet, and was wondering if this would be a good option. Thank you in advance! 💛

[@liudmilalevitina628]

Hi, Abbey! Thank you for the series. I have two questions: 1. How to deal with overeating as an unhealthy coping strategy? Overeating is not always caused by restrictions. Could you cover it in a video? 2. Can you eat intuitively if you take medication that interferes with hunger and/or satiety cues, or other hormones?

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Людмила Левитина yes I did cover a bit of number one I think in episode 2 or 3 but your second question is one we will address

[@lisacho2725]

New subscriber here. Your videos are SO helpful. I really like how you give suggested words to think/say to myself. And I love you giving me weekly homework! One thing- could you increase your mic volume? My phone volume is 100% and you're not as loud as I'd like.

[@b2h316]

Freeze it. Freeze it. Freeze it. My sister loves when she gets to house-sit because she gets to eat all of the soups and prepared meals that I have been squirreling away in the freezer. Just this evening I had leftover soup from last month for dinner because I didn't feel like cooking

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Brittany 2H yes!!

[@gnat14784]

hey abbey! question for you- so i have this weird pattern where i eat enough calories every day (and way more than all of my friends), but i am literally always mentally hungry and always want to eat more even when i don’t need to be eating. i don’t restrict foods and i’ve never dieted, and i’m within a normal weight. but i feel pretty guilty and upset with myself pretty much every time i eat and always go to bed thinking i’ve eaten too much that day. do you have any advice?

[@stephaniedecuir8217]

I love this ❤ progress is the way to success 😍 thank you so much for this

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Stephanie Decuir thank you!

[@yaeltieleman322]

I've just discovered this channel, loving the information and the view on food! One small question though, on the idea of going grocery shopping with a list: here in the Netherlands, we've been hearing the "always make a list" argument for decades and decades, and I think I remember some articles from a few years back about a (then new) psychological study that refute this. That in many cases, strangely, people even try to compensate for the restrictiveness of the list by adding more and more things once they're in the supermarket. So since this video is only a year old, I'm wondering: have insights on this subject changed once again?

[@The_Food_Police]

U called me out🤣 I've been destroyed😝

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Food Police lol!

[@christinak74]

All the cookies! Yeah, I usually want all the cookies...So I just go ahead and freeze half that batch right away. lol

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Christina Murphy 🙌🏼🙌🏼

[@hayleerodriguez2711]

I’m at this stage of the IE book! I’m learning to assert myself to my parents around conversations with food.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Haylee Rodriguez amazing!

[@dmsjt5181]

If I’m full, even if I have one or two bites left, I’ll wait 30 mins to an hour (or until I’m hungry again), and finish it then. And yeah, starting out with a smaller portion and adding more if you need to is smart. We do that with ourselves and our kids and it makes a big difference.

[@Chris-su6bf]

I’m a little confused. If humans have evolved to crave fat and sugar and hold onto the weight, and since our present environment and food is mismatched to how we evolved, how can humans even have the capacity to eat intuitively? This isn’t meant as a negative comment I’m just genuinely curious :)

[@christinefournier685]

I love your serie about intuitive eating. I am wondering how to eat intuitivly when we have to pack lunch.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Christine Fournier it takes time to learn how much food to pack, but the goal is that you pack foods that nourish you and allow yourself to enjoy them all guilt free

[@ls-dn6ug]

Please review Emma macdonald's what i eat in a day! Very curious of what you think of it :)

[@TeaLaRee]

Sorry I know I commented already but your "bad candy" kid analogy sparked memories. My son who is autistic has STRONG food aversion so starting out I was freaking out he wouldn't eat anything but "bland" color or only texture specific foods. I would get all the lectures from teachers to playground moms etc on how it's bad I feed my son what we do but I've heard of other autistic kids having to be fed with tubes because their aversion is strong they gag or choke . I am grateful my son EATS and I'm grateful those parents can feed their kids even if it's through a tube. I'm DONE with organic diet moms telling me. His doctor says he's healthy and meeting his milestones, enough.

[@peternorton7665]

Abbey, your dictation, is on point in this video..dammm

[@AbbeysKitchen]

peter norton thank you!! I have been trained in public speaking etc

[@sunshiness8948]

Bravo! Loved this

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Sunshine SS thank you!!

[@giulia6253]

The "transactional theory of ego" resembles a lot Freud's model of the psyche! So interesting to see this kind of phylosophical approach to nutrition 🤔

[@dianadrza4739]

I am wondering how to introduce intuitive eating when having health issues such as PCOS, endometriosis and achalasia. I mean doesnt actually matter what condition but if I can assume that junk food isnt doing me any favour I have severe bloatings and cramps but I crave junk food . How to go about it?

[@jennieeveleighlamond]

In order to not eat All The Cookies (which I could totally do) I roll and cut out the cookies, then put them on the pan in the freezer before cooking. When they are frozen, I stick them in a freezer bag and can take out a reasonable amount to cook nice and fresh and hot whenever I want cookies. I do the same things with muffin dough. Once they are frozen you can pop them out of the muffin tin and stick them in a freezer bag to cook only the amount that you can eat and they will still taste freshly baked, not baked and frozen and thawed.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Jennie Eveleigh Lamond awesome!!

[@christinefournier685]

Great tip ! I didn't know you could do that with muffin dough. Thank !

[@jennieeveleighlamond]

@@christinefournier685 If you have a nicer muffin tin than the cheapo dollar store one that I have you might have to use muffin liners, because the tin won't bend easily enough to pop out your frozen muffin dough. I make sure to grease the tin, just as if I were going to bake them right away so that they won't stick to the frozen sides when I bed the tin to get the muffin dough out (just as if it were an ice cube tray). Before baking grease your tin again and put the frozen muffin dough in the greased tin so that they won't stick to the sides after they are baked.

[@julia.md2b707]

How do you navigate still eating a balanced diet though? I only ever crave ice cream and other processed foods. I never look at kale and think wow that looks good.

[@petras868]

I'm struggling with eating intuitively even tho I desire to practise that. My mother used to always say she's too fat or that she shouldn't eat any carbs ever since I was little. She also didn't buy us any juice or cereal because it was bad for us and it would make us fat so we always ate it at our friends' houses. Growing up in the early 2000s so diet culture is deep in my brain and also living my preteens around 2013s sickly Tumblr eating disorder culture. I'm trying to learn and find my balance.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Petra S it takes time! ❤️

[@sassydoe9407]

On my current reading list: French Woman Don't Get Fat The Joy of Half A Cookie The Mindful Diet Reshaping It All 😊 Good information here Abbey. I think there are those that will have a difficult time implementing the concepts. For me intuitive eating is my own baby and an individual plan and lifestyle.

[@AbbeysKitchen]

sassy doe thank you!

[@bredman9348]

I have a question. Added sugar isn't good for you, and I know that a little won't kill you, but shouldn't you try to avoid it as much as possible? Like, I wanna be more healthy and that includes cutting out the amount of added sugars in my diet. I don't think its getting obsessive, and as valentines day is coming up, I will probably eat more sugar, and that's ok. So my question is, what is the line between knowing when something is unhealthy for you, and choosing not to eat it, and restricting a certain food?

[@maddicouture7131]

i would love if you made a podcast! i always want to listen to your videos while working out!

[@AbbeysKitchen]

Maddi Couture I’ll think about it!