Non-diet dietitian, intuitive eating counselor, and food and body liberation coach. Twice a month I send you a letter that includes stories, lessons, practical tips, and encouragement on how you can live your most authentic, liberated, unapologetic life.
The first step most people skip
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Welcome to another installment of The Unapologetic Life, my monthly(ish) email where I share stories, tips, and tools to live your most authentic, intuitive, liberated life. Hi Reader, As the new year begins, I'm seeing a familiar message all over the place... New year. New you. It can sound hopeful, but I find that actually, for many people, it quietly carries the message that who you are right now isn’t enough. That you need fixing. That your body, your habits, your eating must be overhauled to be acceptable. And for most people, that kind of pressure is not only unhelpful, it’s harmful. One of the most common pieces of advice I give clients early on in our work together is this: Notice what you notice. Yes, “just” notice. Not fix. Not change. Not analyze or judge. Just notice. Notice what’s happening in your body. Notice your thoughts. Notice your feelings, your urges, your energy, the sensations in your body. The practice of noticing - and gently bringing your attention back to the present moment, again and again - is where the real work begins. This is where change actually starts to happen. Because sustainable change doesn’t come from forcing yourself to behave differently. It comes from building awareness and curiosity about your experience - your body’s experience - and learning to understand (and then hopefully, respond to) the information it’s already giving you. When we try to make changes without this foundation, those changes rarely stick. We’re often responding only from our brains, without considering body knowledge: the signals, needs, and patterns that live beneath the surface. Here's an example: a client of mine came to me for help with her sweet tooth and her habit of eating lots of sweets, especially at night. She had tried getting rid of all the sugar in their house, but this only worked for so long. Instead of telling her to stop eating sugar, my advice was: "When you get the urge to eat something sweet, take a pause and notice what you notice."
A few of the things she noticed (on her own, and through our discussions in session together):
-Her cravings for sugar were much higher on days where she hadn't had breakfast.
-She paired eating sweets with watching TV, and this was how she wound down at the end of a busy day.
-She avoided sweets all day long, and only "allowed" herself to have them at night.
These new awarenesses gave her a place to work from, because having sugar/sweets in the house wasn't actually the root problem.
This year doesn’t need a reinvention. It needs awareness. It needs compassion. It needs you, paying attention. Noticing. So as you move into this new year, consider this a different kind of intention: slowing down enough to notice what you notice, without judgment. That’s where meaningful, lasting change starts. So today, if nothing else, see what happens when you slow down just enough to notice what you notice. Warmly, Alissa P.S. If this idea of noticing resonates with you, my book Unapologetic Eating goes much deeper into this work. (Chapter 5, in particular, expands on these themes and offers practical ways to build awareness and reconnect with your body.) Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD, CDN, CSCS Author of Unapologetic Eating |
The Unapologetic Life
Non-diet dietitian, intuitive eating counselor, and food and body liberation coach. Twice a month I send you a letter that includes stories, lessons, practical tips, and encouragement on how you can live your most authentic, liberated, unapologetic life.