INTUITIVE eating with Karlie Lunt

Trust. Intuition. Self-compassion. Self-love. Intention.

This week, I had the amazing opportunity to collaborate with the amazing Karlie Lunt! Since being introduced to Karlie's work I have learned the true meaning of what intuitive eating looks and feels like for me.

I asked Karlie to share a bit about her, what exactly it means to eat intuitively, and 3 steps to creating a healthy relationship with food:

“Hello everyone! I am Karlie Lunt

I am a functional nutrition counselor specializing in intuitive eating + a Certified Yoga Instructor

Today I hope to share with you some of my experiences and others who currently or in the past have struggled with their body image and their food choices, so that if you relate, you know there are so many others who feel the same, and that there are ways to get back in connection with your body that is backed by plenty of science, and that doesn’t require you to go on another strict diet. In fact, you change by learning to love yourself, to show up in ways that support and uplift you regardless of what other people may tell you is right or wrong. Because at the end of the day, you are the expert of your own body. No one else knows what you go through as well as you do. You slowly start to re-learn to lean into your intuition, knowing that it won’t guide you astray and that there is a ton of knowledge within you. 

With Intuitive Eating you begin to turn all of your attention inwards. Overtime, you start to trust your body and its signals more and more. Until it's a habit. It’s no longer a conscious thought, it’s second nature. You begin to have a deep sense of trust for your inner voice. 

I started my work in functional nutrition. 

I wanted to help people get to the root of their chronic health issues with the amazing power of food. I saw a lot of success while working with clients, but when I would check in with them to see how things were going after our 1:1 work had ended, most of them had “fallen off” or were not able to keep up with the changes we implemented. I knew it wasn’t a lack of willpower, because I had very determined clients. When most of them were saying they couldn’t seem to keep going with the changes, I knew something was missing. To be completely transparent, it was a little discouraging for me as a provider, because I worked really hard to implement changes for my clients in slow + sustainable ways, while still being drastic enough for my clients to see changes in the first couple weeks. I felt I had found the happy medium, but still my clients weren’t seeing long term shifts when I wasn’t there to “keep them accountable” and my main goal with this work was to change my clients lives in ways that they could shift to a point where they no longer needed me regularly. Of course I am there when they need a pick-me-up, advice on something they’ve never faced before, or even support every month or so, but not on a weekly basis. I want my clients to move on to trust themselves & their inner voice, and to make choices that serve them, regardless of what other people think. 

I was searching for that “missing piece” and to make a long story short, I heard about Intuitive Eating. I immediately felt a connection and started studying, reading, connecting with others who had tried intuitive eating, and following leaders in the industry. I fell in LOVE. 

I shifted my work to Intuitive eating and my clients felt a huge weight off of their shoulders. Their root belief around food and the value of their bodies did a 180. 

Once they recognized that life was ever changing, they understood that no one diet or set of rules would be applicable to every challenge or change in their life. It is just too strict that way. 

They went from feeling like their food choices were never good enough to feeling confident in choosing foods that made them feel good. From the inside out.

They went from wanting to get skinny and lose weight on the scale to feeling a huge sense of gratitude for their body, here and now. 

They went from worrying about every calorie tracked to finding JOY again in their experience with food. 

They went from feeling completely stressed about every ingredient that was in their food to focusing more about how each food energized and supported their bodies! 

WOW 

This was a huge shift for me and my clients.

I had never felt this sense of accomplishment in helping others in my work before. 

I still very much value the nutritional makeup of foods and still acknowledge and see how foods affect us differently. 

But I also now see that that is only one piece to the huge puzzle that is life. 

In today's world we have a huge focus on the nutritional components of food that we’ve become obsessed over. When food is also about the FUN that it brings into our lives. The CONNECTION we have over shared meals. And the NOSTALGIA we feel when eating foods we grew up on. It is so much more than calories in calories out. It is a dynamic relationship that we should appreciate on all levels. And I love getting to share that with others. 

Intuitive eating is a holistic self-care framework that honors your physical, emotional and psychological well being with the same importance. 

It’s an inner journey of self discovery that puts you front and center as the expert of your own body. 

You start to believe that the food choices you make are not reflective of your value as a person. 

When you can eat your “forbidden foods” anytime you want…. It’s not that exciting anymore.. you no longer feel the need to binge or stuff yourself full, fearing you won’t get them again. 

The goal is to create more consistent, sustainable health habits for long term and lifelong health. 

Step one:

Honor your hunger and your fullness. 

Honoring hunger and fullness is the first step to building a healthy relationship with food. You rely on and trust your body's internal cues. Versus external rules, plans, and directions. That’s the foundation. When you let go of a certain type of eating plan or diet, then you can respond to what your body needs and wants every day. 

You might have a higher energetic output one day, or be more stressed, maybe there’s a change in routine, so the expectation that we should or need to eat the same every day, doesn’t make a lot of sense. 

Think about it, hunger is the only physical socially acceptable cue to ignore. 

Like when you have to go to the bathroom, you don’t judge it and shake it off or put it off for another hour…. You go to the bathroom within a reasonable time of feeling that internal cue that your bladder is full. So why not do the same with hunger? Honor it. 

Step two: 

Create sustainable consistent health habits. 

Develop a “most of the time” thinking. 

Diet culture programs you to believe that it’s “All or nothing”

“Black and white”

It tells you….

“Don’t miss a single day” 

“You’re a failure if you cheat your meal/workout”

“If the weight doesn’t go down this week you did something wrong”

And I’m sure you can easily hear that negative voice in your head. 

Now you switch your mindset to “most of the time”

Such as…

“Most of the time I go for a daily walk, I sometimes miss when I’m out of town or feeling down, but I know how good it makes me feel consistently, so I do it most of the time”

Or 

“I typically exercise 5 days a week, I love moving my body and trying new things, of course some weeks I’m sick or feeling bored of my routine, but most of the time I’m moving!”

Or 

“Most of the time I cook dinner at home, but just yesterday I was so busy I had no energy left in me in the evening so I picked up pizza on the way home. I was less irritated for my family when I got home because I took not cooking as an act of self care for myself” 

Or 

“Most of the time I eat a couple bites of chocolate after dinner to satisfy my cravings, but today I had the whole bar. Sometimes my needs are different and I let myself have the whole bar without any of the guilt”

Step three: Rediscovering the joy in food and eating

When I ask my clients what foods they enjoy, most have a hard time answering. They say, “No one’s ever asked me that before” 

We use it as a little project over a week to think about what foods they really love, and what if those foods they haven’t eaten in a long time. 

It’s actually a really fun process getting to hear about them trying their favorite foods again. Once you try, you’ll start to feel the joy you get from having a delicious meal, not just one you’ve put together for the sake of meeting your MACROS and calories. Because at the end of the day, your body will learn to signal to you when you’re hungry, and when you’ve had enough. Just like your body has the intelligence to tell you when you need to use the bathroom, and when you’ve emptied yourself. They’re the same. 

Your body has the ability to let you know, you just have to be willing to listen and to trust. 

I hope that if you’re intrigued, you’ll start questioning some of your old habits, and experimenting with some intuitive eating principles so that you can be more connected with your internal wisdom.”

Intuition is one of our greatest gifts. It is a deep trust within ourselves that we know what is best for us and at times, that can be clouded by judgment, fear, or resistance. 

I wanted to collaborate with Karlie because the practice of trusting your intuition and eating to fuel your body goes hand in hand with building resilience. Trusting that you know what you need and that you’ll act on it + providing yourself with the correct foods/tools that will allow you to feel connected, fulfilled and continually moving forward.

I love asking myself “What do I need today?” without judgment or putting energy towards trying to guess the answer. 

Your intuition will guide you if you allow it—no judgment or resistance to the answer and action necessary.

Self-compassion is a must when seeking changes. Providing yourself with a completely judgment-free and compassionate space to explore new habits, thoughts, and even failures will bring you a sense of self connection and love. And when you feel a deep sense of self-connection and love, you’ll see that everything you desire is attainable. Truly.

To learn more about Karlie and her work: Karlie | INTUITIVE EATING + FUNCTIONAL NUTRITION COUNSELOR (@wellnessbykarlie) • Instagram photos and videos or you can reach her directly at wellnessbykarlie@gmail.com.