Embodied &
Intuitive Eating
Are you sick of dieting?
Tired of constantly thinking about food and your weight?
Do you regularly feel shame about your body and eating habits?
Can't stop overeating or bingeing?
Are you having trouble sticking with a diet for even a short time?
Tired of the never-ending cycle of dieting and being at war with your body and food?
If you answered “YES” to any of these questions, you have found the right place.
If you are looking to create a healthier relationship with food and to make peace with your body, I can help.
My Anti-Diet Approach
A significant amount of research now shows that dieting is not sustainable and leads to many problems, including food and body preoccupation, reduced self-esteem, weight stigmatization, discrimination, distraction from personal goals, disordered eating, increased risk of mortality, and weight gain in the long-term.
Because everyone has different histories and challenges when it comes to eating and body image, I offer two approaches to this work: Intuitive Eating and the Befriending Your Body Program™®.
Intuitive Eating and Befriending Your Body (BFYB) do not create more problems around food and eating, they resolve them, and help you create a healthier relationship with food and your body.
What are the Benefits of Intuitive Eating & the Befriending Your Body Approach?
Reduced preoccupation with food
Increased satisfaction with eating
Less food-related anxiety
Less binge, compulsive, or uncontrolled eating
Less emotional eating
Normalization of your relationship with eating and your body
Being able to keep any food in your house without having to eat it all right away
No more dieting
Body acceptance and appreciation
Feeling better in your body
Higher self-esteem and self-confidence
Increased self-compassion
Intuitive Eating
You may already have heard of Intuitive Eating, which is a flexible style of eating where you follow your internal sensations of hunger and satiety to determine when to eat, what to eat, and when to stop eating.
It is a process of relearning instincts you were born with and once knew, and thereby helps rebuild your trust in your body, which we lose through dieting and restricting. We are born Intuitive Eaters, but cultural messages to diet and lose weight often cause us to stop listening to our bodies and start listening to dieting rules instead.
Intuitive Eating is founded on the evidence-based work of Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, and their book, Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach.
For some, learning and implementing the principles of Intuitive Eating may be enough to normalize relationships with food and the body. For others, a deeper, more comprehensive approach is required. For those that need a little more support, I offer the Befriending Your Body Program.
The
Befriending Your Body Program
Befriending Your Body (BFYB) is a unique eight-week, one-on-one, Somatic Self-Compassion Recovery program that teaches you the skills of embodiment and self-compassion for healing from disordered eating and making peace with your body, food, and self.
This somatic program is the first of its kind, grounded in polyvagal theory and the evidenced-based practices of interoceptive awareness, self-compassion, and mindfulness. It is a unique psycho-educational program founded on the brain-based knowledge of eating disorders and the world of neuroscience.
This program offers you a new approach to recovery and healing and helps you develop a new, respectful, and trusting relationship with your body, food, and self for integrated and lasting healing and freedom within your body and from the constraints of Diet Culture.
Throughout this program, you will:
Gain knowledge about the internal workings of your brain, body, and nervous system.
Discover Interoceptive Awareness, a “new language” you will share with your body, which helps you to grow true self-care and intuition. This is the inner communication within your body that has been lost along the way.
Develop a new respectful and trusting relationship with your body, food and self for integrated and lasting healing and freedom, and sustained recovery. No more white knuckling your way through this!
Learn how this knowledge can assist you in regulating the tough emotions such as anxiety, fear, and shame, that keep you stuck.
Learn how the powerful skills and practice of self-compassion can help soothe the toughest moments within your nervous system, as well as your emotions and thoughts, to keep you moving forward.
Gain greater self-knowledge, self-discovery, and self-connection.
Gain greater self-kindness towards yourself and your body.
How Does BFYB Work?
This program is based on Dr. Ann Saffi Biasetti’s doctoral research, pilot study on the program, over 30 years of clinical experience working with those struggling with disordered eating and body image, personal experiences, and on her book, Befriending Your Body: A Self-Compassionate Approach to Freeing Yourself from Disordered Eating. This book is the companion book to the program, which you will purchase ahead of time and read a chapter a week along with the program.
Each week we will begin with a somatic practice and then you will learn the primary principles of each phase of recovery as we develop this new body language and skills. There will be additional guided practices and self-reflections to build embodiment and self-awareness to support you in moving forward in your growth.
Please note: the program is much different than the book, and much of what you learn is dependent on your reading the coinciding chapter week to week.
After the Befriending Your Body Program
After completing the BFYB program, some people find they wish to learn and follow the Intuitive Eating principles. Implementing these principles is much easier after BFYB as you will be living in a new, embodied way, which removes many of the challenges you would otherwise face trying to eat intuitively.
If you are looking for a new and unique approach to rediscovering a relationship with your body, food, and especially with yourself, this program is for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Intuitive Eating
The length of our work together will depend on your current relationship with food and your body, and how quickly you make progress. Some people need more time to integrate Intuitive Eating than others. Everyone moves at their own pace, and I am committed to helping you make lasting changes, rather than quick, unsustainable ones. The frequency of Intuitive Eating coaching depends on each individual. I recommend starting with weekly sessions to get the momentum going, and then spacing the sessions out once you feel more confident implementing the Intuitive Eating Principles on your own.
Befriending Your Body
The Befriending Your Body Program is done weekly for eight weeks. Once you complete the program, we will assess how you would like to continue with the work (possibly integrating Intuitive Eating), and what level of support would best suit you. We may continue to meet on a weekly basis for a while, or you may wish to start to space your sessions out more.
It’s never too late to learn how to be kinder to yourself and to your body.
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I know what you're going through. I’ve travelled a long and often bumpy road on my way to finally reaching a healthy relationship with food and my body. I went on my first diet at 24, which led to years of disordered eating and then an eating disorder. I was miserable, stressed out, obsessed with food, and had lost my self-confidence. My body could not sustain this harsh treatment and it eventually broke down.
After a serious health crisis, I realized I needed a new approach. I fully committed myself to the Intuitive Eating process, and became a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, a Registered Intuitive Eating Counsellor, and a Certified Befriending Your Body Teacher.
Through this work, I am happy to say that I have come to a place where I am at peace with food. I eat when I'm hungry, I eat what I want, stop when I'm satisfied, and don't think about food all day long. I value and take care of my body and accept it the way it is. And yes, once in a while the old thoughts and habits try to creep back in, but with the skills I now have I can have compassion for myself and then move on in the way that is most supportive.
You are not alone.
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Please note: My coaching programs aren't appropriate for people struggling with active eating disorders (i.e. those who are engaging in dangerous behaviours such as purging or severe restricting). If you have an active eating disorder, please see the National Eating Disorder Information Centre for referrals instead.
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Fees are payable, by cash, cheque, credit card, or Interac direct deposit at the time of each session: $125 per hour for individual sessions
Some extended health plans cover counselling provided by me, a Professional Counsellor registered by the Canadian Professional Counsellors Association and the Canadian College of Professional Counsellors and Psychotherapists. Check with your health plan provider or administrator to find out if you are eligible for coverage.
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A minimum of 48 hours notice is required for appointment changes. You will be charged for any missed appointments or sessions cancelled less than 48 hours in advance.
Please call 604-761-6701 or email kira@kiralynne.com to book an appointment.
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Some of my favourite intuitive and mindful eating books:
Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
Befriending Your Body: A Self-Compassionate Approach to Freeing Yourself from Disordered Eating by Ann Saffi Biasetti
Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison
The Wellness Trap by Christy Harrison
Health at Every Size by Linda Bacon
The Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
The Diet Survivor's Handbook by Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel
The Wisdom of the Body by Hillary L. McBride
Eating in the Light of the Moon by Anita Johnston
The Yoga of Eating by Charles Eisenstein
When Food is Love by Geneen Roth
Further Intuitive Eating Resources: -
The process of healing our relationship with food and our body is one of unlearning and learning. We need to unlearn all of the lies we have been told about food, body size, dieting, and weight loss attempts. We need to unlearn the blame and shame we have been taught to put on our own bodies for not fitting into society’s ideals. Our bodies were never the problem, diet culture has been the problem. The process of healing involves deconstructing the lies, discovering a different perspective, and finding freedom in the process.
We have all been impacted by diet culture and have been taught that if we are not able to lose weight and keep it off, we are to blame. It is no surprise then, that most people who come to see me want to lose weight. You may have been dieting, bingeing, and weight cycling for years. You may not be aware that there is another path available. I focus on Health at Every Size, Befriending Your Body, social justice, trauma-informed care, non-dieting, and Intuitive Eating to support you in transforming your relationship with food and your body. I am here to help you reclaim your life from diet culture, body shame, and trauma.
In this practice I believe:
Weight and BMI are not indicators of health.
Pursuing health is not a moral obligation.
Dismantling systems of oppression is part of our responsibility as counsellors.
While weight stigma harms all of us, it harms the largest bodies the most.
Recognizing and naming our privilege is important.
The relationship between therapist and client is central.
That therapy is a collaboration.
That any focus on weight loss is harmful and unethical.
You cannot tell if, or what kind, of eating disorder someone has by the size of their body.
Whether you are new to this perspective or have been doing healing work within this framework for a while, I look forward to going on your journey with you.