​​​Sparkle & Shine
Trusting Your Inner Wisdom
By Joan Bender

I often get hunches about foods before I eat them or during my first couple of bites. In the beginning, I would ignore the hunches. I can't tell you how many times I've ignored them and felt sick afterward. The more this happened, the more I started to listen to my own inner wisdom over external messages like product labeling.

As I traveled recently, I picked up a packet of non-dairy creamer and read the ingredients. To my surprise, under allergens, it
listed milk. I wondered how many people with a dairy sensitivity consumed this product thinking it was non-dairy and felt lousy afterward. As someone with gluten and chemical sensitivities, I have to be  careful about what I put in my body. It was a good reminder to read labels thoroughly, and to trust my own intuitive hunches over product labeling.

There was a time, when our food didn't have labels, and we had to use our inner knowing to make decisions about what to eat. As a health coach, I help woman to rediscover and trust their inner knowing. I find that the women who come to me often have a good idea of what foods bother them, but they either don't want to believe it or they have lost trust in their knowing abilities.

Some women are very tuned in to their bodies. They have a good idea what food or group of foods might be bothering them, but because they sometimes have reactions and sometimes don't, they get confused. One of the reasons for is that many of our foods are not pure anymore. They contain additives like chemicals, thickeners, colors, preservatives and flavoring that may cause reactions. Therefore, it might not be the pure form of the food that creates problems. It might be one or more of the additives. Another reason is that sometimes people look at foods too broadly. They feel fine when they eat yogurt and some cheeses bother them while others don't. This leaves them feeling confused, because part of the category of dairy bothers them but not the whole category. So how does one make this shift to listening and honoring their inner wisdom?

Before eating, pause and notice if any impressions come to you. If you are experiencing any reluctance about eating something, honor your inner guide and stay away. There have been times when I was given something gluten free, and ate it despite feeling reluctant and then had a reaction to a preservative it contained. In those cases, I was thinking with my head and not with my gut. My head was focused solely on gluten, but my inner guide had a greater understanding of whether the food was right for me at that time.

Do you have an interest in Learning more about intuitive eating? Food & Mood E-course

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