There are many online female body-positive, life-coaches, who claim to have a great deal of previous personal experience with diets and dieting.

The majority of them appear to be aged around the mid-thirties; with bodies that never became morbidly obese, but instead generally maintained at or near a normal body weight. 

Most of these online gurus of normal weight claim that they once bought into our advertisement culture which demands excessive thinness; that they dieted, restricted and binged in attempts to achieve an "ideal" body, but eventually decided to accept their normal bodies. They then began some type of intuitive eating, which caused them to continue maintaining their body at a normal weight.  Now they put themselves forward as experts who accept money to “coach” others along the path that they have discovered for themselves.

The concept of being able to trust one’s body to tell one what and when to eat (Intuitive Eating) is an appealing one.

I like the content of much of what proponents of IE have to say, and think that their message might hold true for people who have bodies that have always been near a normal weight (within 20-50 pounds). 

Unfortunately, people who have bodies that are well into obesity, or are “reduced obese”, have increased their number of fat cells, and have ratcheted their Set Point up to the place where trusting their body NOW,...  and following its eating instructions, ... will simply take them, and keep them, at or near the point of their highest bodyweight.

My own opinion is … IF you can accept having a body that stays at-or-near your highest weight, then trusting your body to tell you what to eat could bring a great deal of relief and peace of mind.  At this point, I’m not there.  However I cannot help but find what they SAY appealing.  Below is one of the articles written by one of these  “Life-Coaches”.

Organic Food and The Fuck It Diet
                by Caroline Donner

My prescription for obsessive eating or orthorexia is : eat. Let go of any and all food rules and restriction and acceptable eating amounts. Eat more than you ever thought you should. Neutralize all foods. Allow binges (and by doing that, it becomes not a binge.)

Eat and eat and eat, and eat the things you are scared of, until eating is just eating and food is just food.

It works. Especially when you are supporting your emotions and fears, and helping create a new expansive identity beyond food an...

REMEMBER:
STARVING WORKS.

She let go.

Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear.

She let go of the judgments.

She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.

She let go of the committee of indecision within her.

She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.

Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

 
She didn’t ask anyone for advice.

She didn’t read a book on how to let go.

She didn’t search the scriptures.

She just let go.

She let go of all of the memories that held her back.

She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.

She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go.

She didn’t journal about it.

She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.

She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.

She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.

She just let go.

She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.

She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.

She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.

She didn’t call the prayer line.

She didn’t utter one word.

She just let go.

No one was around when it happened.

There was no applause or congratulations.

No one thanked her or praised her.

No one noticed a thing.

Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort.

There was no struggle.

It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.

It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be.

A small smile came over her face.

A light breeze blew through her.

And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…



                                Poem by Rev. Safire Rose