Raising intuitive eaters includes trusting your kids to listen to their body, and giving them the vocabulary & tools to listen to their body. But, how do you actually get your kids to listen to their body? How can you teach them the vocabulary needed? How do they learn to listen to their bodies?
According to Evelyn Tribole (the co creator), Intuitive eating is a compassionate, self-care eating framework that treats all bodies with dignity and respect. It is a dynamic interplay of thought, emotion, and instinct rooted in listening to your body’s sensations through a process called interoceptive awareness. WHOA… you mean it’s not just eating what I want when I want? And on that token, it’s not just letting your kids eat whatever whenever. That’s where gentle nutrition comes in – especially when it comes to supporting the growth and development needs of your children.
They, (just like us!) need to know what they feel, how to describe it, and that they have us listening. They need us to coach them, and that can feel super hard if you’re battling your own negative self talk.
Chances are, you’ve had similar statements said to you and so have your kids. So, why aren’t these statements helpful? It perpetuates the idea that they shouldn’t trust their bodies and that you don’t trust them. It also reinforces that we don’t trust our own bodies.
We all want our kids to have a healthy relationship with food and it starts by teaching them to trust their bodies while modeling food positive language.
In my group coaching program, Blissful Meals Family Program, I teach you how to repair or improve your own relationship with food while instilling a strong sense of intuitive eating for your kids. We want to save them the years of dieting we struggled with, and it’s possible with body and food respect.
