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Connect with Jenn

📲 Instagram: @the.intuitive.nutritionist

🖥 Website & Free Resources: theintuitivenutritionist.com

Episode Transcript

Ryann

Friends, I’m so excited to finally have Jen, otherwise known as the intuitive nutritionist, here with us today. I’ve been trying to get her on here for forever, and she’s the busiest person ever. And we finally have her here today. So Jen, thank you so much for taking the time to come chat with us and to come on the podcast today.

Jenn

Yeah, I’m so excited to be on here and yes, we’ve been waiting for this for so long. Life is crazy, but I’m really excited to dive in and chat more about intuitive eating and yeah, this is going to be great.

Ryann

Yes, the intuitive eating queen herself. So for anybody who does not know you yet, what is your story and how did the intuitive nutritionist begin?

Jenn

Yeah, oh boy, this could be a really long story, but I’m gonna try and keep it like as brief as possible, but give you like some of the key points of my story. It’s kind of a long one, but just in general, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I was younger, like before going to university, I wasn’t sure. I know I wanted to help people, but at the same time, when I was a teenager was when my struggles with food and my body really were at like an all-time high. And making the decision of like where I’m going to go for my career path and which direction I’m going to take, I was just so confused. But I was really obsessed with health in general.

So at that point, I was like, OK, let’s maybe go into kinesiology. So that was what I started studying. And then I switched into nutrition. And I tell people this all the time. I think my switch into nutrition kind of happened for like the wrong reasons. I really looked at food as a way of changing and really restricting our bodies to manipulate them to be the version of what society kind of tells us we need to be, right? And yeah, I made that switch and I’m so happy I did because I don’t think if I did that, I would have learned about intuitive eating when I did. And this is so cheesy, but I learned about intuitive eating and quite honestly, it changed my life.

Like I no longer felt like I was stuck obsessing about food and feeling out of control around food and that I like really hated my body and I hated how things were going. And I was trying to use nutrition as a way to control that, right? And intuitive eating just kind of let me let go of the control and live my life. And that’s really why I started The Intuitive Nutritionist. And it didn’t start out as The Intuitive Nutritionist. If anyone has known me for a while. I had a couple other names before that, but this one is really like, I think it embodies me the most and like this brand and business is really my heart and soul. And I’m so excited to share the passions that changed my life with others to hopefully also change their life and, and move away from the typical health trap that diet culture puts us into and just feel your best. That’s kind of where I’m at.

I know you mentioned I’m really busy and to let everyone else know why, I’m currently doing my Master’s in Nutrition Communication and my dietetic internships to become a registered dietitian. That in itself is keeping me pretty busy. But yeah, I just still love sharing everything about intuitive eating. I’m almost a certified intuitive eating counselor. And I just can’t wait to help others find this lifestyle that’s just so empowering and fulfilling. And your life doesn’t have to revolve around food and restriction. So that’s kind of me in a nutshell.

Ryann

I’m already so inspired from the first two minutes. The way that you talk about it, it’s just like so peaceful, and that is the whole point. It’s for us to be able to feel good, and I think there are so many misconceptions about that kind of beast, so I can’t wait to dive into that. But first and foremost, for anyone who is maybe hearing about intuitive eating for the first time or kind of understands it not really. How would you define intuitive eating?

Jenn

It’s a tough one because it encompasses so many things about health. Like it’s just an all-round holistic way of looking at our bodies and health. But by definition, it is a self-care focused eating framework and even when I say that, it’s like, what does that really mean? To me, it’s all about doing whatever makes your body feel its best and not living by anyone else’s rules, being authentic and true to you, enjoying the food that you eat, having no more room for deprivation or guilt around food, and showing your body the respect that it deserves, quite honestly, like nourishing it all round. And the best part is that you get to decide what feels best for you.

Like you are at the center of intuitive eating. And I will say like intuitive eating, it’s almost like a radical concept in today’s society, which is so funny, it’s like, yeah, focusing on you and what you want, it just seems so out of touch, right? But like society is trying to tell us like what to eat, how to eat, when to eat, what not to eat, like do this, do that, like that’s what society kind of focuses on and quote unquote diet culture. So it’s a struggle to switch into the intuitive eating mindset, but again, it’s all about finding your version of authentic health and focusing on what makes you feel your best and what makes your body feel your best. Yeah, that’s kind of intuitive eating in a nutshell. There’s 10 principles, lots of things go into it. I could talk about it for days, but pretty much sums it up.

Ryann

I love that and I love that you bring in that it is primarily self-care focus in a sense that we are eating to make ourselves feel good. And that’s what our bodies want is for us to feel good. And at the core of it, our bodies know how to make us feel good. We just need to listen. So I love that.

And I also love that it’s doing what makes your body feel best. And that is different from person to person in the sense of, okay, getting in tune with what makes you feel your best.

Jenn

Totally. Yes, you got that. You nailed that. Everyone is so different. We’re all so different.

Ryann

Yes. I know that like, okay, so with eating in a way that your body feels best and this self-care focused eating, what does that look like?

Jenn

Yeah, I think that again, it looks different for every person, right? So it kind of depends on what’s going to make you feel best, but generally, we are looking at nutrition and I think this is a big misconception with intuitive eating that you don’t think about nutrition, but the whole basis of it is kind of that. Like it came from two registered dietitians. So thinking about like, how is my body gonna best function in a day? And typically, like we wanna eat consistently throughout the day. And if you’re skipping meals, or if you’re not having meals that are balanced, that might not make you and your body feel its best. It might not give you enough energy.

You need to do all the fun and amazing things that you do in your day, right? So I don’t think there’s really necessarily an answer of what it looks like, but it is focusing on giving your body enough fuel and enough energy and satisfying our emotions and just taking care of ourselves and being more in tune with our bodies. Kind of listening for those cues and reflecting on what they actually mean and putting them into practice. So again, looks different for everyone, but yeah, overall just paying attention to how we feel when we eat certain things and the emotions that come up and really kind of putting all those puzzle pieces together to find something that works best for you.

Ryann

I love that. So for those who are listening that maybe have been out of touch with hunger and fullness for a long time, have been wrapped up in diet culture for a long time and are kind of out of touch with maybe what makes them feel good or they don’t know what makes them feel good, like how do you recommend somebody begin their intuitive eating journey? Like how do they get started on this path?

Jenn

Yeah, I think there again, and this, it’s never a satisfying answer that it is different for everyone. But I think a great place to get started is just to learn about it more, right? And the intuitive eating book by Evelyn Triboli and Elise Resch, that one is the original one. I highly recommend everybody read that book. If you don’t like reading, it’s also available in like audio version. I know that you can also get it through a lot of like libraries. You can rent the ebook for free or the audio version for free.

So definitely look into your local library, but learning about it and learning why dieting and diet culture makes us feel that the way that we do, when we feel out of control around food and like we don’t know how to eat, learning why all of that happens and our body’s response to it can really set you up in a way that empowers you to come back to the inner wisdom of your body and really dive into intuitive eating. So I don’t think there’s really a place to start and this is where working with a professional who knows intuitive eating well is really helpful because they can guide you to where is a good place to start for you specifically.

But definitely just learning about it and getting curious is the best place to or best thing to start thinking about. Getting curious about why things have been the way that they’ve been and how you can shift that and how that makes you feel and how different foods make you feel. Lots of reflection, lots of getting curious, right? That’s how we’re really going to come back to our inner wisdom and kind of forget all the rules that we’ve been told since we were so young. But yeah, my biggest tip to get started is to get curious and really kind of break all those diet culture rules that we’ve been taught our whole lives.

Ryann

Yes, and that is not easy to do. It is not. And I love that you say get curious in the sense that, you know, becoming aware of these things is the first step really to being able to break them. So just becoming aware of maybe the diet culture thoughts that are going through your head or, you know, aware of these rules, like you said, that you might have, like that can help so much in just understanding like where the starting point is to kind of get curious. So I so appreciate you saying that because yes, it is like, it is all this unlearning again, as you said. So with that said, I feel like something that is very linked together and kind of hard to separate is intuitive eating and losing weight. And so with this, why is focusing on weight loss and intuitive eating kind of counterproductive?

Jenn

Yeah, and this is a huge question a lot of people have because it is so common to have the desire for weight loss. And I just want to acknowledge that and say that it’s okay that you have that desire. Like, it’s the way that society sets us up. No matter what body size you’re at, it tells you we need to always be thinner and more toned and you need to change your body. Like all of the messaging, marketing, like things we hear from other people around us is kind of setting us up to like, you always have to be smaller. And I just want to acknowledge that and hold some space for that because it’s not an easy thing to let go of. And the whole phrase, and you may have heard this about intuitive eating if you’re at all familiar, but it’s to put weight loss on the back burner.

And the reason for that is that as long as you’re at war with your body and trying to change your body, it’s going to be really difficult to make that peace with it and with food because the whole weight loss industry is telling you to restrict yourself and not do this and make yourself smaller. And to really find that peace, holding onto that desire isn’t serving that. And there’s a lot more that goes into the weight conversation as well. Like Health at Every Size, that entire movement has really shown that you can be healthy at every size and that is true. And the research has shown it then again and again, that healthy behaviors determine health more than weight does. And I think it’s a concept that a lot of people don’t wanna accept and that will take some time.

And not saying that you can, you have to just get rid of that desire completely, but focusing on it is not going to allow you to actually tune into your body and your body’s needs. If you’re trying to constantly control it.

Ryann

Yeah. Yeah, totally. And so well said. And going off, I mean, I think that it’s so important to recognize like if you are somebody who has been so focused on weight for so long like that’s not something that is just kind of flip off with a switch and like that’s okay like that is valid that is understandable that is something that you’ve been focused on for so long and so like having that thought of okay like we’re just gonna put it on the back burner it’s not gonna be our primary focus if you can’t let go of it, like, that’s okay, but we’re just gonna put it back there for now, and like, just see what happens. So, I love you for saying that.

Jenn

Yeah, yeah, just hold space for it, right? Like, see and reflect on why that desire might be there, and again, get curious about it, and just, yeah, put it on the back burner because you can be enough and very healthy without pursuing weight loss.

Ryann

Yes, okay, so I have two comments that I want you to address that I feel like come up a lot when talking about intuitive eating. First and foremost, I know a lot of people are scared that if they allow themselves to eat whatever they want, they will eat everything and never stop, or they’ll eat everything and gain all this weight. What do you say to this, or how do you help people kind of connect with this and kind of let go of this fear?

Jenn

Yeah, so again, really common. So I want to start by saying the out-of-control feeling that kind of underlies this conversation really stems from restriction. And I know a lot of people don’t really put those two things together, like, no, I’m restricting and controlling what I eat so that I don’t have that out-of-control feeling. But if you’re restricting, you do get that out of control feeling. So that, if I start eating this food, I’ll never stop, happens when you tell yourself that you can’t have it. And then when you finally get your hands on it, you feel like you can’t stop eating it because your body thinks you’re gonna take it away again. It’s just a human response to being told that we can’t have something if it’s off limits. And then that desire grows and grows, and then you get that out of control feeling around food. So acknowledging that the restriction might be fueling that out of control feeling is really important, right? Cause it’s not you, you don’t have a character flaw that’s making you feel out of control about food. It’s just like a human response to restriction.

Yeah. And breaking food rules and making peace with all foods is really key to stopping this out-of-control feeling. So if you like level the playing field for all food, you’re not going to have that like intense magnetism towards the off-limit foods anymore, because they’re not going to be off limits anymore. And I know it’s like a radical concept because of diet culture, but it’s so worth it to not feel out of control. Like, you can have a box of cookies in the house and not, like, eat all of them. You might forget they’re there. Or, like, have a container of ice cream in the freezer, and you find it, like, a month later being like, oh yeah, like I had ice cream instead of finishing it all at the one time and then feeling really awful about it. Right? So putting all foods on the same level just kind of gets rid of that out of control feeling. And I will say it’s not easy to get to that point.

And there’s typically like a rebound period of what the heck is going on when you start letting yourself have full permission to eat all foods. And you might feel a little bit more out of control at that point because you’re bouncing back from the years of restriction potentially. But your body is a lot smarter than you think it is. And over time, those absolutely magnetizing foods just become food and you can use your inner wisdom to truly decide what is going to make you feel best at any moment.

Ryann

Yeah, and I love that comment of the over magnetizing food just becomes food. Like that’s a goal, right? It’s for us to be able to enjoy food, obviously, but not have it be the most exciting thing in our lives. And I know when I was really struggling with binge eating and just food in general, it was like, all I did was think about food. And when I actually got to eat, like that was the most exciting part of my day. And not saying that food can’t be exciting, but like, let’s have life be exciting. And the food is just a piece of it.

Jenn

Yeah, I totally agree. Like you’re, we eat so often in a day and your whole life doesn’t have to revolve around that. You don’t have to spend all day thinking about what you’re going to eat next or like trying to prevent that binge from coming. You can just enjoy it. Enjoy your food and let it all be food. And that all serves a different purpose in our lives. Just have that space or having that space to feel like you can live your life without feeling stressed about it all the time is amazing.

Ryann

Yes. So, going off of that, another thing that I hear very often is that if I allow myself to eat what I want, I’m not going to eat anything healthy or how is eating whatever you want healthy? What are your thoughts around allowing yourself to eat whatever you want and kind of this like health factor?

Jenn

Yeah, well first to that I want to throw a question back at that one. So that is, is putting yourself in the constant state of stress that comes with restriction and dieting and always falling off the wagon and then binge eating and then starting another diet again, is that cycle really healthy? Is that in itself healthy? Because I don’t think we think about that, right?

No one wants to think about that, but I feel like that is worse than the intuitive eating or what people think intuitive eating is, right? And I think that whole idea that if you start intuitive eating and allow all foods to be on the same level that you’re gonna eat quote-unquote junk food all the time and that’s it is a huge huge misconception. Like that is not at all what it’s about. Intuitive eating, like I mentioned before, includes gentle nutrition and understanding nutrition from the standpoint of just honoring your body.

And actually true nutrition info, not all the BS you hear from diet culture, like actual legitimate nutrition within intuitive eating. Nutrition is absolutely part of that and it’s just focusing on what’s going to make our bodies function optimally, have the most energy, and just feel satisfied. I think that all of that is healthy, really healthy. And I think everyone really doesn’t think that their bodies knows what’s up because I think everyone really has a lot of mistrust there. And our bodies know what we need. Like we’ve been evolving as a species for so long, like your body knows what foods feel your best and function optimally and letting yourself find that inner wisdom that we all have will really help.

So I think this one really relates to the previous like comment we had or that question about feeling out of control like I think that point of not healthy is the feeling out of control and only eating the junk food, right? And that’s just not going to happen. It’s not how it goes. And if you talk to anyone who has gone through the motions with intuitive eating and is now like fully in their embodied intuitive eater, they feel amazing and they don’t just eat like the junk food all the time, right? Like they eat a variety of foods and they feel amazing while doing it. And they’re very healthy. And the research also shows that those who are more, opt to eat intuitively, have better health outcomes. So, there’s a lot that goes into that, but I will say, it is healthy and the alternative of the diet cycle is not, in my opinion.

Ryann

So well said. And I think it’s so important for us to draw attention to that kind of distrust with our bodies that is kind of causing this feeling of anxiety, but also recognizing, like, as you said, like, like, the goal, again, is to feel good and like our bodies know what to do to make us feel good. And so when we allow ourselves to listen to our bodies and allow all foods to fit in the sense that, okay, if I’m craving pizza for lunch, so I have pizza for lunch, I just automatically crave some more vegetables later in the day or some other, like, it’s amazing, like, how, as I’ve been listening to my body, when I have more fun foods or when I have a little bit less nutrient-dense food later in the day, almost to just even it out on its own without me even needing to pay attention to it, because it’s just like, it knows what to do.

Jenn

Yeah, I think that’s such a cool statement that you just said. And the first time I experienced craving vegetables, I was like, what the hell is going on? This is really weird. You don’t crave vegetables, but a similar scenario, like when that happened to me the first time, like I had just had like a few previous meals that didn’t really have many fruits or vegetables, which is totally fine, but my body was like, yeah, like, give me some more nutrients. I want I want some more vegetables and I did and I think our bodies are really really smart. Once you start to listen to them, they know and they know what nutrients to like point in your direction or give you like the signals to have those foods. So I think that’s really cool. I’m glad you brought that up.

Ryann

Yeah, I always think about like, you know, when you’ve been traveling for a long time and you don’t have access to, you know, a lot of food options. So you just have to kind of eat what’s available and it’s most often like snacky foods. And then I know like always after traveling or like a long car trip or whatever, it’s like I just, same thing, like I’m just craving vegetables and not that I feel like I need to have them because I’ve been, you know, eating a certain way, but more just like my body is like, all right, like, I just need a little bit more of this vitamin, like to make you feel good on its own.

Jenn

Yeah, exactly. Yes, our bodies are so smart. Yes, they really are.

Ryann

So going off of that, coming out of diet culture, it is very, very common, or like the biggest thing is, for people to be really out of touch with their hunger and fullness, because it is something that they’ve been denying for so long, or not listening to for so long. So, how do you recommend, or how do you feel like are some things that people could do to get back in touch with that hunger and fullness when they have been denying those cues for so long?

Jenn

Yeah, I think this goes back to something I said before. So getting really curious and practice listening. So you you might be really out of touch of your hunger and fullness cues and that’s okay. We’re not used to listening to them, especially if you have been following something like a meal plan or a tracking app or any of those things. They’re kind of putting us out of touch from our hunger and fullness cues. So it’s okay to feel like you don’t know what they are at first. The whole point of practicing is learning more. So starting by making sure you’re eating enough food is really important.

So like I mentioned before about having meals consistently throughout the day. So you kind of want to aim to have food every three to four hours. If you’re getting out of that routine, you might, not routine, but if you’re getting out of that consistency over the day, you might have kind of really out of whack hunger or fullness cues. But something that is really great is the hunger fullness scale. And this is something that comes from intuitive eating and it’s just a scale of 1 to 10 and it’s a tool to help you kind of explore where your hunger is at.

So you can use it to just check in during the day, you can check in before you have a meal, after you have a meal, whatever you want to do with it and however often you want to use it. But basically, I’m not going to get into that scale too much, but generally you want to stay in the middle of the scale and not get to like, extreme starving hunger or like fullness of like feeling like you’re going to explode or throw up. So we want to stay away from the extreme ends and stay in like, the middle sweet spot of the scale of just like pleasantly hungry, starting to get a little hungry, and then also pleasantly full, like not feeling like you need to go lay down after eating or something like that.

And I think another good thing to point out here is how do you really know when you’re feeling hungry? Like what are the signs of hunger, right? So I think that like diet culture and all the rules tells us to ignore it. So it’s kind of harder, I find with most people, it’s harder to feel the hunger than the fullness. So I just want to point out some ways of listening to hunger that aren’t the typical hunger. So you think of hunger, you think of like the growling stomach, kind of like empty feeling, like that’s hunger, but there’s also like head fog or getting a headache, maybe like an inability to concentrate.

Your thoughts are kind of drifting towards food, like you start thinking about food and what you want to eat. Your mood, you might feel like hangry, really irritable, cranky, you might just like kind of feel dull, your energy might dip, feel like sluggish or lethargic, something like that. All those things can be signs of hunger. So if you’re feeling like this happens to me like almost every day, like I’ll be working, working from home like these days and just like all of a sudden I’m like I can’t concentrate anymore like I don’t want to do work. I’m like, oh yeah, like maybe I should have a snack. Right?

So feeling hunger and kind of getting curious about the different ways you experience hunger might be a fun practice to get into. And yeah, just, I guess looking up the hunger fullness scale, it’s a lot more helpful when you can actually look at it. So I’m sure if you google that you can find an image of it. But that is also a really helpful tool to just start getting back in touch with those hunger and fullness cues.

Ryann

Yeah, and I’ll link that scale in our show notes because that was something that was so helpful for me when I was beginning and not necessarily like having it be something that, as you said, like this is something that you can check in with not having something that runs my every decision. We’re not like transferring one rule to the next, but like using it in the sense of like getting back in touch of, for me, it was really, because I really struggled with binge eating, like getting in touch with that fullness and like trying to figure out what is an appropriate fullness feeling for me, because I didn’t know. And I didn’t understand. So like using that scale and being like, okay, I stopped eating, you know, let’s just say like I had lunch and I finished eating at noon and then at one I was hungry.

Okay, well, maybe I didn’t eat to complete satiation. Okay, that’s what that feels like. And like thinking back and being like, okay, like that feeling that I had when I stopped eating my lunch, like maybe that was around like a six and like maybe like, you know, next time I’m going to try to have like a few more bites and like check in what that feels like to see and then let’s see like how long I’m satisfied then and like not saying that it’s going to be the same every single time, but I know that that helps me kind of figure out okay, like, this is what that feels like just based on okay, when am I getting hungry again? Like when is my body like moving through that food again? And kind of like recognizing and checking in, as you said, like, again, what that feels like versus what we’re taught that it’s quote unquote, supposed to feel like.

Jenn

Yeah, I love that too. The whole point about fullness that you just mentioned is awesome. And it made me think of another point about getting to the comfortable point of satisfaction is like checking in with what was in your meal. Like what kind of foods were part of that meal? Like, did you have some kind of balance within it? Again, not looking at it like any kind of rule, but just getting curious about it. Like, for example, if you have a salad with just like lettuce and vegetables and dressing, that probably isn’t going to have you feel very satisfied for very long. Incorporating all the food groups and different types of foods when you have meals is really important to meet that satisfaction and fullness and feel full for more than 20 minutes. So getting curious about what’s going into your food as well and just seeing what kind of combinations make you feel your best.

Ryann

Yeah, thousand percent. So with that said, can you intuitively eat and count calories or macros? Why or why not?

Jenn

So my opinion on this is that it’s the absolute opposite of intuitive eating. So no, I don’t believe that you can count calories or macros or points or anything for that matter while intuitively eating. I have so many people tell me that they just don’t know how to eat. And I really believe that this is because we get stuck in and we’re told that we need to follow these things like counting our calories or macros or meal plans or whatever it is to be able to eat the quote-unquote right way, right? And I would argue that like that’s not the right way because those are rules that someone else thought of for you. Like they don’t know your body and they don’t know all the other things that go into your energy needs.

There’s so many things that affect us day to day and some app is not going to tell you those things. Really listening to your body is more important than following those things and I know it can be scary to let go of. I’m someone who used to use MyFitnessPal all the time, like every day. Everything I ate would go into it and I know it’s really scary to let go of that, but it’s so worth it. And working with someone who can help guide you through and out of that is also really helpful if you feel like you can’t do it alone. But yeah, short answer is no, I don’t think you can count things and intuitively eat. It’s taking you out of touch from your own internal cues.

Ryann

A thousand percent and something that took me so long to learn is that we are not supposed to eat the same amount of energy, the same amount of food, or I shouldn’t say supposed to, but our needs are different day to day because we don’t do the same thing every single day. So if you’re trying to like hit this same number every single day. That’s with the expectation that you are, you are burning the same amount of energy every single day.

And as you said, there’s so many different things like, that go into how much energy we burn throughout the day and not necessarily things that we think of like, your workouts, yes, but something as simple as, you know, I stood a little bit more today than yesterday, or I cleaned my house and like that, you know, use a little bit more energy or I’m on my period or I am stressed or like I didn’t get enough sleep or like all these other things that make us have different energy needs every single day like this isn’t supposed to be again not supposed to but our needs are different every single day.

Jenn

Yeah, they are. And that’s like the beauty of intuitive eating is that it’s flexible with all of that, right? Like you’re the one guiding it. So you can have enough for your body and what your body needs every and any day, depending on what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter. And it’s not going to be this strict rule of counting a certain number of things.

Ryann

Yeah. Okay. So this last one is a biggie that I am so curious about your thoughts or how you help people with this one. So how do you get over the fear of gaining weight when it comes to allowing all foods to fit?

Jenn

Yeah, I think along like similar to the weight loss question, I have another like, I guess, statement to throw back at this one. So what if I told you that over 95% of people who go on diets to lose weight gain that weight back and even more sometimes? So really, dieting is setting you up for weight gain in the long term. And just let that sink in. to lose weight. And sometimes you can be quote-unquote successful in doing that, but over two to three years you’ll likely gain it back or more. So just kind of coming to the realization that that’s the typical outcome of dieting, is it really that scary to pursue intuitive eating? Because there is no research showing that intuitive eating is going to for sure cause weight gain.

It really comes down to the fact that you could gain some weight when you start intuitive eating, you could stay the same, or you could lose weight. No one knows that. Everybody’s different. Every body is different. And the way it goes is going to be dependent on you and everything that has like led you up to that point, right? It’s very specific, very individualized, and you can’t tell anyone if that’s going to be the way that it’s going to happen. And it comes down to your mindset, right? This big conversation of body image. You’re not going to be able to fix body image by changing your body. It’s changing your mind and the way that you think about your body and your relationship to your body or relationship to food. It’s a really big mindset thing and it takes a lot of reflection that having your body reach a stable weight that’s healthy for your body is what happens with intuitive eating over time.

So dieting makes us go into this thing called weight cycling most often, and that just means that you’re going to likely lose weight if you do a diet and you follow it for any period of time, but then you’re going to gain that weight back and maybe even then some. And then you go on another diet, you lose weight, and then you gain it back, etc., etc. It’s like yo-yo dieting, right? Like our weight is fluctuating. And the research shows that that in itself is worse for health than just staying at the same weight you were at the beginning. So staying at any stable weight, coming back to like health at every size, that’s going to be the best thing you can do for your body.

And if it fluctuates a little bit with intuitive eating, intuitive eating will help it stabilize. And that is how you can honor your body and then also work on your body is, it’s mindset is really, really important in this journey. And I know it’s scary and it can be scary. And I would say again, like hold space for that, hold space for that fear and get curious about it. And again, like I said, working with someone is really helpful to move through these fears because yeah, it’s a big leap, but it is so, so worth it in the long run. And yeah, I honestly wish that everybody could be an intuitive eater and I hope that everybody can kind of shift that way one way or another, but it takes time to get over fears and know that that’s not gonna happen overnight. So yeah.

Ryann

And I think recognizing that this is a practice in the sense that this is not necessarily something that you master. I definitely mindlessly eat still from time to time. I definitely overeat from time to time. I definitely am too busy and don’t eat enough from time to time. It’s a practice and being able to recognize, okay, like bring yourself back and just kind of recenter yourself is still part of the whole process, but understanding that there’s no right or wrong with this. It’s just, again, like as you said, like doing what feels best for you. And if there are days where life happens, that’s okay.

Jenn

Yeah, yes. And I love that you brought that up because there is no perfect with intuitive eating. Diet culture and everything in that health trap space makes us feel like we need to focus on this perfect way of eating and you need to be good. You need to follow these rules and be good. And sometimes that doesn’t always happen. Like you said, like I sometimes mindlessly eat, that’s fine. It’s okay. And I will also go times where I forget to eat. And then I’m like, oh man, like I’m so hungry. I’m like way past like an eight. I’m like a 9.5 on the scale, but it’s just like getting to the point where you’re like, okay, that’s okay. It’s okay if I do these things that aren’t perfect because no one’s perfect. We’re all human, right? So just knowing that there’s no such thing as perfect with intuitive eating.

Ryann

Oh, so well said. So to wrap up today, I would love to ask you some random questions just to have everybody get to know you on maybe a deeper or different level than they do on Instagram. So with this, just answer with the first thing that comes to your mind. Are you ready?

Jenn

Oh, I’m ready. I’m excited.

Ryann

Peanut butter or almond butter?

Jenn

Almond butter.

Ryann

And smooth or crunchy?

Jenn

Smooth.

Ryann

Yeah, me too, me too. What is something totally random that you’re talented at?

Jenn

Totally random, oh boy, I don’t know. The first thing that comes to mind is design. Like I guess it’s very different than nutrition and intuitive eating, so I do design.

Ryann

I would say so as well. When you did your design rebrand, I remember I asked you, I was like, who did this? Because it was so good.

Jenn

Thank you. Yes, I’ve always loved art growing up. I guess a kind of random thing to go with that is like, I got an art award in high school.

Ryann

Oh my God.

Jenn

So yes, that is I guess a random fact.

Ryann

Would you rather have a rewind button or a pause button on your life?

Jenn

Ooh, a pause. I would rather do a pause.

Ryann

Yeah. What is the weirdest snack you like to eat? Like something that somebody else would think is weird, but you’re like, this is so good.

Jenn

I wouldn’t say this is really a snack, but this is something that like a lot of people think is really weird. I think we might have talked about it before, but I really love, and I mean like love, everything bagels with some almond butter, apple slices, and cheddar cheese. I feel like it’s a weird combo, but it tastes so good. I love it.

Ryann

It’s so funny that you say that because I was thinking that that is what you were gonna say because we did talk about it. And then after I messaged you about it, I was like, why is this so weird to me to like eat together, but like, wouldn’t be weird to me separate on a snack plate?

Jenn

Yeah, yeah, no, it’s so good together. I need to check myself right there. It’s like an explosion of flavors. It’s just delicious, I love it.

Ryann

What is one of your biggest pet peeves other than diet culture?

Jenn

Oh man, I think today, in our world today, is when people are on their phone when you’re talking to them and they’re just like totally forget to respond to you because they’re so sucked into their phone that is a huge pet peeve of mine.

Ryann

Totally agree. What did you have for dinner last night?

Jenn

I had risotto with mushrooms and peas and like parmesan cheese it was really yummy.

Ryann

That sounds so good. For sweets, are you a fruity or chocolatey person?

Jenn

Okay, like both, but I mean, I can’t pick both. I really love chocolate, so I’m going to say chocolate.

Ryann

What is something new you want to learn this year? more about like astrology and that whole world of like energy and spirituality, that stuff.

Jenn

So I would really like to learn more about that for sure.

Ryann

Me too. I was just in this mastermind and the end of it we were talking about human design. Have you learned anything about human design?

Jenn

Yes, I just learned about human design and I have been like trying to wrap my head around it. There’s so much that goes into it, but I find it very cool. It’s amazing. Yeah. What type are you?

Ryann

I’m a manifesting generator and when I got, I mean, it definitely makes sense based on how, you know, both of our things are and how we talk about it.

Jenn

Totally.

Ryann

It was funny, I don’t know if you relate to this, but when I was reading through all of the things that it described, I was like, I feel like this thing is reading into my soul in the deepest, most invasive way ever. It was just too spot on that I was like, this is creepy.

Jenn

Yes, I felt the exact same way. That’s so funny. Yeah, it’s wild to learn about that stuff. I just love it.

Ryann

Okay, so maybe at the end of the year, we’ll have Jen come back on and she’ll give us a totally different podcast on spirituality, design, all that good stuff. I mean, I would absolutely love that. And last question, if you were a coffee drink, what would you be and why?

Jenn

Oh, I love so many different coffee drinks, but I think the one I’ll always go back to is a caramel macchiato. They’re just like, I don’t know everything about it. It’s like the perfect balance of like espresso to the foam and like everything, but like also the sweet bit of caramel. I just, yeah, I love that. I don’t know why it would be me, but maybe the balance of things.

Ryann

Yeah. Do you like them hot or cold?

Jenn

Both, depending on the season. So, I live in Ontario, so I get both really hot weather and really cold weather. So, during the winter, I like them hot, and during the summer, I like them on ice.

Ryann

Yum. And where can everybody find you, connect with you, ask you more? Where are you at?

Jenn

Yeah, so I hang out most of the time on Instagram. So my handle is the.intuitive.nutritionist. And you can find me there. Feel free to DM me if you have any questions. And you can also check out my website. So it’s www.theintuitivenutritionist.com and on there I have a free guide to start mindful eating if you’re interested in that. And yeah, check that out. There’s a blog, all the fun stuff, but mostly I’m on Instagram, so you can find me there.

Ryann

And I’ll link all of those below also. I know she didn’t say this, but she is the queen of reels and TikTok. So you have to go check her out to go check out these reels. I mean, I watch these and I’m like, how does this girl think of this? This is so good.

Jenn

Oh my goodness. You’re too nice. Thank you for that.

Ryann

Of course. Well, Jen, thank you so much again for sharing all of that, for giving us that knowledge and just coming on, especially because you’re so busy, to enlighten us with all things intuitive eating.

Jenn

No, honestly, like this kind of stuff lights me up. So I am so happy we could do this. And thank you so much for having me. It’s been such a pleasure talking to you and chatting about all things intuitive eating. I hope that whoever’s listening took something away from this. Again, if you have any questions, just feel free to reach out.