Diet culture loves abbrevs, and IF has come to be recognized as its newest demon darling — intermittent fasting (essentially, legalized disordered eating). But alas, at Essence, our view of IF actually stands for INTENTION & FRAMEWORK.
Intuitive Eating can seem very confusing at first — novices often whine that “you’re telling me to eat ice cream and pizza all day — that’s not healthy nor intuitive.” Homie — you’re right. That wouldn’t be healthy nor intuitive. (And that’s not what we said, fool). It’s ALL about INTENTION + FRAMEWORK. It’s not about *THE ACTUAL FOOD* product. So intuitive eating doesn’t equal pasta. It can. Or it cannot. If your INTENTION and decision to eat pasta is a calm, confident, happy one — then you’re intuitively eating. If your FRAMEWORK is that “I am ALLOWED to eat pasta ouhhhh it’s good to be bad” — your framework is deranged. The same exact food eaten with different I.F.s can either be gloriously intuitive or tragically diet culture besmirched.
Think of a photograph of yourself. If your intention on posting it was to get as many likes as possible through this deranged world of validation, your intention is ill. And now imagine how the frame of a picture; or how you edit it; can completely change the result. That’s I.F. — but with food.
If your intention and framework when eating is intuitive; you’re #feedingyouressence, butterfly. If you keep finding that something is awry with either, it’s time for us to talk.
Essentially Yours,
The Essence Team