How to Raise an Intuitive Eater: Raising the next generation with food and body confidence

by Sumner Brooks

There is a very instinctual trust with our bodies that we are born with, but many adults don’t know that experience when we speak about it—it’s far too faded to grasp anymore. That trust is easily broken in this culture. It can be broken by many things, all of which are traumatic for our body. One way it can be damaged is related to how we are fed and how our bodies are perceived in the world. When that trust is broken, whether it’s because an early caregiver can’t or won’t feed an infant enough milk or formula, or because a young person repeatedly hears they need to do something to control their size, shape, or appearance—a part of us is lost. That part is the space that genuinely believes we are good for this world, that we have something important to contribute, that we are lovable and worthy of having our needs met, and that the people we need the most to take care of us will meet those needs. When we lose that part, we doubt our worth. This becomes internalized over time until we stop questioning it, and it becomes our own inner critic.