Welcome Back! And If you are like “Uh, Tessie, what do you mean?… it’s my first time here!” Well then… Yay! Welcome 🙂 We are learning how to Elevate our Food & Body Relationship through my 7-Step System Called Eating Intuit.

The process is about healing our relationship with Food and Body so that we are at peace with food. It’s about loving our bodies EXACTLY as they are on any given day… And it’s about the magical unfolding of our highest purpose as we continue to work through life’s challenges.

If it is your first time here, I encourage you to review the Previous blog titled “Eating Intuit: Step 1- REVEAL”.  This is where you will have the opportunity to discover your biggest challenges with Food & Body, where they come from, and What you want your relationship with Food & Body to look like.

After we are grounded in our awareness of where we are RIGHT NOW… We move to step 2.

Eating Intuit: Step 2- RELAX

Learning how we handle stress, and how stress may be coming from places we don’t think of (like that tiny little, small judgemental thought you have about yourself if you eat a doughnut… or the day in day out self-chosen STRESSORS we bury ourselves in… i.e.- reaction to your coworker/boss/loved one… spiraling to negative town if you’re late or stuck in traffic… )

What we are not taught… is that this daily low level chronic stress contributes directly to our body having insufficient digestion, sub-optimal metabolism, decreased fat and calorie-burning capacity, low immunity, low mood, etc. What I’m saying is…

If you are a constant dieter, meal skipper, fast eater, calorie restrictor, over-exerciser, negative body imager (it’s a thing), pessimist, viewer of food as enemy… then I’ve got news for you… Your body is more likely to hold on to fat, lose muscle, get sick, be depressed, binge eat, emotional eat, overeat and basically just break down.

Now, I think this is a good time to tell you that NOT ALL STRESS IS BAD. Eustress (positive, motivating stress brought on by things like a promotion, a new move, a new relationship, a big presentation or performance, having kids) is a similar chemical reaction in our body as “distress (like the things above plus uncontrollable events like loss, car accidents, outside events, having kids lol, etc.)”

So the point is not to eradicate all stress, but to PRACTICE RELAXING into all of life’s uncertainties. Step 2 is about practicing how we perceive all events in our life. Read the following below, and if it pertains to you, just answer to yourself:

1. What if I could see my food & body challenge as a lesson my body is trying to teach me?
2. What are my most common self-chosen stressors on a daily basis?
3. What would it be like if I honored and adored my body every day?
4. How would my relationships be different if I always assumed people had my best interest in mind?
5. When do I feel most relaxed?
6.  What might be different if I took 10 deep breaths before I eat?
7. How might I feel, and how might my body respond, if I took at least 15-20 minutes to eat, and really enjoyed each meal?

If you don’t know the answer to some of these… Well, that is what experimentation is for! Many of these practices are inspired by the book The Slow Down Diet by my mentor and colleague Marc David.

RELAXing is step 2 for a reason… without this, nothing else we try will work for long term health. If you want a deeper scientific explanation of how stress plays out in our bodies in present day, watch this video!  It’s animated, has a tiger, and relates caveman-day fight or flight response to our modern-day environment.

Leave a comment. Let me know how you get your relaxin’ on! And don’t forget to download your  FREE Stress Reduction Checklist HERE!

Next up…  Eating Intuit: Step 3 – RESTORE…

Related posts:

Eustress Me Out!… In a Good Kinda Way. A Scientific Explanation Behind Our Eating Behaviors Relax… You’ll Lose Extra Weight Making Self-Care Your Priority: What You Can Do