Food allergies range from the merely annoying to the frighteningly deadly. Because people with food allergies often have a list of “bad foods,” they tend to think that intuitive eating principles can’t work for them.
But this week, consider trying my 4 Part Plan for intuitively eating while still attending to your food allergies.
1) Take a deep breath and check in with your belly. If you’ve already checked in with yourself and know that you’re hungry, check in with your belly and ask it what it wants. I find that, very often, even if my mouth is saying “bagels!” my stomach is saying, “Dude, bagels mess us up. Can we at least compromise and have some brown rice bread?”
2) If you’re not getting a clear response from your stomach, give it some non-allergenic options. Let your stomach mull it over and digest your options. Try to pick food from a number of different categories (like different greens, different proteins, etc.) until you hit on ones that feel right.
3) Feed yourself what your body is telling you. Now here’s the tricky part. I truly believe that the vast majority of the time, if you’re checking in with your stomach, it’s going to lead you toward non-allergenic foods. If you find that this isn’t the case for you, consider the potential consequences of eating the allergenic food, and whether or not you think your body knows what’s best. Because this can be risky, it’s something that I would recommend chatting about with me, so that we can come up with what would work best for you, whether trying the food in question, looking for suitable alternatives, or even consulting your doctor.
4) Focus on feeling good, not being perfect. Eating well is not about eating perfectly. Eating well is not about eating 100% organic or completely avoiding sugar or any other rule that you’ve told yourself is required of you. Eating well is about listening to your body and nourishing your body.
Want to learn more about whether or not this tip is appropriate for you considering your food allergies? Then check out Soul Food.
Golda is a certified holistic health counselor and founder of Body Love Wellness. She counsels women and men throughout the country on how to get off the dieting roller coaster, give their bodies what they really crave, and love their bodies and themselves. Golda's counseling and activism work have been featured on CBS's The Early Show, ABC's Nightline and Time Out New York. For more support with healing your relationship with food and your body, get your free copy of Golda's Top Ten Tips For Divine Dining by clicking here.
