If you struggle with your relationship with food and your body, you are not alone. According to a Harris Poll, 70% of U.S. men and 80% of women suffer from food guilt. As a result, the dieting industry is a $71 billion industry that has people doubting themselves and their bodies. These statistics tell me that many people are suffering with their food and body image-and diets are not working.

There is an alternative; one that differs from the typical diet plan and has very different results. It’s a process called Intuitive Eating and here’s what it helps you do:

Finally, stop dieting (which does more harm than good)
Discover which foods satisfy you and to eat them with ease and freedom
Honor your emotional health as much as your physical health
Recognize and truly take care of your body’s needs (like hunger, energy, sleep)
Be kind to yourself and quiet the “inner bully”
Realize your worth is not tied to your body size
Stop feeling like you need to shrink or be fixed

Intuitive Eating is an effective, research-based methodology that allows you to make peace with food and your body. As you learn more about it, you may feel resistance, which is expected because this approach differs from what many learned growing up in our diet-obsessed society. When I first learned of this practice, I too felt some inner resistance. It took time to unleash from the years of food rules. If this is coming up for you, please notice it, and get curious without judgment.

Intuitive Eating involves breaking the cycle of dieting by removing the polarizing “good” and “bad” food labels that create the mental diet cycle; approaching food from a space of emotional neutrality (identifying the root causes of any emotional eating); and learning to manage and reduce the stressors in our lives to make it less likely to eat emotionally, while at the same time improving overall health. Making peace with food by letting go of any eating plan allows you to respond more to what your body needs and wants in terms of when you eat, what to eat and how much to eat. This helps you discover a sustainable process for long-term success, health, and wellness, and to rediscover the pleasure and satisfaction of food.

We all know the brain wants pleasure. When you deny yourself pleasure from food, your body will crave it in other ways (part of emotional eating is seeking out pleasure). If you’re like most of my clients, you’ve become accustomed to following a diet or food plan and spending a good amount of time feeling hungry or lacking energy – because you’re not eating in a way that truly satiates and gives you good energy. The goal is to choose foods that satisfy and energize. With Intuitive Eating, you experiment, tune into your body and start to understand what foods fill you up and give you the energy to do all the things you want (and need) to do.

This program begins the process by which you can redesign your relationship with food and your body.

Regina Basterrechea is a functional nutrition and lifestyle practitioner with Nutrition on a Mission. She is offering a Making Peace with Your Plate^™ 14-day group coaching program and can be reached at (760) 799.6550. For schedule and more information, visit www.PersonalNutrition.Coach.