Many of us spend years of our lives attempting to get to a so-called “healthy weight” in order to prevent illness, increase our quality of life, and find true happiness. In this pursuit of weight loss, whether it’s for health reasons or solely appearance-based, there comes out of it a bigger problem, to say the least. The dilemma has created whole load of problems, including weight stigmatization, fear of eating certain foods, eating disorders, low self-esteem, discrimination, food guilt, body shame, and Weight GAIN. But that is not the extent of it! We pass these problems down to the ones we love the most, pretty much guaranteeing that they suffer in all the ways we have in this diet culture we live in. All of this has been backed by a substantial body of research.

We’ve all been there! Denying ourselves of our favorite holiday treats, and then craving them even more only to overeat on them later on. This overeating typically turns into overwhelming shame and guilt that we typically associate with eating these “bad” or “forbidden foods.” We think these particular foods are going to make us fat or cause us to gain weight if we eat them. What a depressing way to live life! Ditching that diet mentality and finally creating peace with food and our body can lead to greater well-being and increased life satisfaction. What better time to begin a practice like this then during the holiday season?

One of the reasons I believe so many people have not heard of intuitive eating is that it is misunderstood and therefore, not enough people give it a fair shot. There are 10 principles after all, and each one is somewhat complex. But once you ease into the process, and continue working through the principles with enough self-compassion, the complexity lessens and you wonder why you never heard of it before. Here is a list of some of the main intuitive eating myths that I come across, and the actual truths behind them.