Why I’ve Decided to Follow an Intuitive Plant Based Diet

Here’s what intuitive eating means to me. Following an intuitively plant based diet is a way to honor your body, mind, & health without harsh dietary labels.

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about a personal decision of mine & why I have decided to make this life change. Now I know everyone has different beliefs regarding food. What you choose to feed & nourish your body with is a personal choice. I definitely have my own beliefs. With that said, I have learned so much & continue to learn everyday, which then influences the decisions I make to better suit me & my needs. In saying so, I have wanted to follow a plant based diet for a while now but as of the first of January, I’ve done it! But intuitively. I have decided to follow an intuitively plant based diet, & here’s why!

Before I even begin to talk about my decision to eat & follow an intuitively plant based diet, you might be asking yourself. Madi, what the HECK does it mean to eat intuitively??

I’m right there with you.

This time last year I had NO idea what it meant to eat intuitively. Let alone ever saw those words together in the same sentence.

Eating intuitively is a way to respect & honor what your body needs. It tosses diet culture out the window & allows you to focus on what your body is trying to tell you. By eating intuitively, you are able to find what works for you, you are able to tune into what hunger & fullness really feels like, & you are able to do it all or lack there of without any judgement. Judgement mainly from yourself.

Like it or not, we all (I assume) have cast judgement upon ourselves or on others regarding the way they choose to eat. It can be…well that person eats too healthy or can you believe the CRAP that person puts into their body? We’ve all been there! And that judgement doesn’t stop right then & there either! It trickles down to your own relationship with food & eating habits.

I know for me personally, I have definitely had an interesting relationship with food for a long time. Honestly, I think I could & will share that separately in an entire post. For women especially, I think relationships with food can quickly become judgmental, negative, restrictive, & even harmful. Thankfully, I have never experienced the latter, but I can definitely attest to what it feels like to judge my own food-intake.

This time last year, I was desperately trying to give up dairy products.

I have had a dairy intolerance basically my entire life but never gave it up until last year. Oh & what a process. Let me tell you. I remember being in Sweden & literally beating myself up (figuratively speaking) for getting a gluten free pizza with cheese on it. “AVOID DAIRY” was written everywhere in my planner & was at the top of my monthly goals until it was etched into my mind. I judged myself for months every time I ate it before I finally gave it up for good.

This is just an example. Believe me, I could go on.

As some of you may or may not know, I’ve been living in Canada since November & honestly, it’s been quite transformative for me. I’ve learned SO much in such a short amount of time. I met this gentleman named Ron who runs a healing spa circuit that I’ve been going to here & he has been kind enough to share so much of his incredible knowledge with me.

Ron & I have frequently talked about the power that WE have to heal ourselves. Through diet & lifestyle choices specifically. He has been plant based for years.

When I told him a few weeks ago that I’ve been plant based since the beginning of the new year, he mentioned that I should begin to notice more light & love coming into my life. I instantly knew what he was talking about, because I already had felt it.

This brings me to my decision to convert my already gluten free & dairy free diet into an intuitively plant based lifestyle.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, everyone has their beliefs regarding what they think is best for them on a personal level regarding food.

So here’s what I believe.

I believe a plant based diet promotes healing.

So you might be thinking, why not just make it easy & call yourself a vegan? They’re plant based right?

Right.

But I want to eat in an intuitive way that benefits my body & how I’m feeling without a restricting label. The last time I had any type of meat was at the end of December 2018. It was one of my resolutions to transition to this new plant based diet lifestyle & so far, I’m really proud of my efforts.

With that said, being that this plant based decision is based off of what I feel is intuitively right, I have still been consuming honey & I’ve still been consuming Vital Proteins Collagen Peptide blends. Both are animals products. But I don’t use these two daily…only when it feels right.

Being that I’m still very much learning how to fully meet my nutritional needs through a plant based diet, I also like the thought of using the collagen peptides as an additional protein source. And I love honey. These two things are just something that I’m not ready to give up yet.

Next year around this time, I’ll check in with myself, see where I’m at & what I feel like my body needs. But my goal is to continue this long term, so I will give myself some grace & take it month by month & then year by year. This intuitive plant based lifestyle is all about honoring how I feel & gravitating towards foods I believe my body needs at a specific time.

This intuitively plant based lifestyle is a way to honor my body, my mind, & my healing journey. Although I’ve only been plant based for just under two months, I truly can feel a shift in my life, the way I feel, how I view food, & my thought patterns as a whole.

We all are learning, no matter where we are in life. As I continue to learn & explore this new journey of eating intuitively, I will definitely be sharing all that I can with you all, because I think it’s important. In relation to anything in life, I think it’s so crucial to be informed & to have knowledge…it’s then up to you to decide what you want to do with it.

I would love to hear any thoughts you may have regarding what it means to be an intuitive eater! Do any of you follow a plant based diet…or is it something you would like to explore!

Let me know your thoughts!